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[chaoticag]

My point is, there's no reason to go to the middle east. It's fucking stupid.

There are reasons, you just have to weight the risks. Suprisingly, the risk of war is almost non-existant in most places. I just wouldn't advise going to Saudi if you are a woman, as it would be illegal to wear a seat belt and you would be surrounded by arab drivers.

As for hiking, first of all, I loathe the outdoors and I easily sunburn. Second, it seems like fliping off my dad as he had a debilitating knee injury years ago that stops him from walking on slanted surfaces, much less rocks.

[Jude]

My point is, there's no reason to go to the middle east. It's fucking stupid.

Uh, you live there why?

I just wouldn't advise going to Saudi if you are a woman

That place seems fucking creepy. And yeah, don't go, even if you would be allowed to as an infidel.

As for hiking, first of all, I loathe the outdoors and I easily sunburn.

this made me cry

[Yanlin]

My point is, there's no reason to go to the middle east. It's fucking stupid.

Uh, you live there why?

I didn't CHOOSE to live there. I plan to move out right after I finish college.

As for hiking, first of all, I loathe the outdoors and I easily sunburn.

this made me cry

Would you PLEASE quote the original on this? Considering every other quote is from my posts and this isn't, it couldn't confuse a lot of people and make them think I actually said that!

[Jude]

His post is right above mine, I figure most people are gonna read the two posts on the page together.

Anyway, awesome pics time

Palestinian countryside near Beit Sahour


This is where King David wrote all those psalms about being alone and desolate


Spring in the wilderness, Wadi Quelt, West Bank




Shepherd in Sorek Valley area, Israel


Sorek Valley




Jewish cemetary, Mt. of Olives


Settler kids in Hebron, on the street they commandeered for their personal use (the grown-up settlers, not the kids)


The first snow in Beit Sahour in 10 years. On the right is Har Homa, the local (illegal, mostly empty, but still being built up) settlement


The wall, in Bethlehem, which is fully within the West Bank


graffiti on the wall


sign on a fence guarding a settlers-only road that winds an extremely circuitous route through a bunch of people's backyards and olive groves in Beit Sahour.  This sign is currently hanging on my wall in my apartment in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Apparently they restock these signs whenever people steal them, so they've become quite the souvenir.

[JoshuaFH]

Are all the pictures supposed to be exactly the same?

[Jude]

Are all the pictures supposed to be exactly the same?

Nope. I just noticed that, and then the forums crashed. Editing now....

[Labs]

Wow. Looks real beautiful there. The only images of the middle east I ever see in the media are war torn city streets and desolate villages with starving goats everywhere. Not saying its all I know, I'm just saying its all they show. I want to go there before I die.

[Jude]

Wow. Looks real beautiful there. The only images of the middle east I ever see in the media are war torn city streets and desolate villages with starving goats everywhere. Not saying its all I know, I'm just saying its all they show. I want to go there before I die.

I sure didn't have a good image of how the place looked before I went. I was picturing my host family's town in my head and I imagined this hot flat dry desert place with some palm trees. Could not have been more wrong, ALL of those adjectives were way off.

Of course, the Negev is like that. Also, historic Palestine is ridiculously geographically diverse; within a space the size of New Jersey, you've got desert, coastal plains, fertile hills, rugged temperate hills/mountains, chalk deserts, grassland...every little chunk is extremely distinct. If you've ever played Morrowind and noticed how the geography changes suddenly and extremely within a tiny area, it's like that.

[chaoticag]

My sister came yesterday, and brought with her some movies. There was a small problem though, our dvd player was pretty cheap, and couldn't play any other region than region 2. That culled down our choices.

Also, what the hell is up with the end of cave story?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Four bosses in a row?

[chaoticag]

Went to Beirut this morning, and I can't decide whether it looks good or like crap. You can drive by the buildings, every one painted and taken care of untill you bump into a bullet riddled house with the paint peeling off. Those are the people who were never able to afford to repair their homes after the war in the 1980's. Sometimes the houses have odd patches of cement to cover up the damage, but it hasn't been painted over. Suprisingly, they had a mosque and a church near each other, with a virgin megastore across the road. Not that the Virgin here has anything interesting to offer, despite being four stories worth of space. I only bought the Katamari game for the xbox, just because I never played any of those.

It is also one of the only places where people honk their car horns in order to magically move traffic at red lights. They haven't had any success so far, but they are still at it. Also, you can jaywalk in front of military styled policemen without repercussion, at least so far as the law is concerned, not that I would recommend doing so. There isn't any public transit, not counting taxis and the occasional shady buses that seem to pick people up at random.

The people only seem to be horrible on the road though, as some random passerby came into the Dunkin Donuts we were in, payed for our food and brought the tray to our table before leaving. That left us a little confused, because how the hell are you supposed to act in a situation like that?

Also, I found it slightly amusing that there was a large sign in one supermarket we went to with "Alcohol" written on it in English, and "Cohol" written in Arabic, but that was mostly due to a random train of thought that I tend to fall into every now and then.

[Jude]

I love reading signs in Arabic.

I'm also terrified of drivers in the entire middle east region. Jesus Christ.

[Zironic]

Went to Beirut this morning, and I can't decide whether it looks good or like crap. You can drive by the buildings, every one painted and taken care of untill you bump into a bullet riddled house with the paint peeling off. Those are the people who were never able to afford to repair their homes after the war in the 1980's. Sometimes the houses have odd patches of cement to cover up the damage, but it hasn't been painted over. Suprisingly, they had a mosque and a church near each other, with a virgin megastore across the road. Not that the Virgin here has anything interesting to offer, despite being four stories worth of space. I only bought the Katamari game for the xbox, just because I never played any of those.

It is also one of the only places where people honk their car horns in order to magically move traffic at red lights. They haven't had any success so far, but they are still at it. Also, you can jaywalk in front of military styled policemen without repercussion, at least so far as the law is concerned, not that I would recommend doing so. There isn't any public transit, not counting taxis and the occasional shady buses that seem to pick people up at random.

The people only seem to be horrible on the road though, as some random passerby came into the Dunkin Donuts we were in, payed for our food and brought the tray to our table before leaving. That left us a little confused, because how the hell are you supposed to act in a situation like that?

Also, I found it slightly amusing that there was a large sign in one supermarket we went to with "Alcohol" written on it in English, and "Cohol" written in Arabic, but that was mostly due to a random train of thought that I tend to fall into every now and then.

For the most part, the People of the middle east are pretty civil. I read an article from a journalist who went to Iraq and found most people weren't crazy screaming terrorists.

[JoshuaFH]

Also, what the hell is up with the end of cave story?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Four bosses in a row?

Yep! Did you enjoy it?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Do you want the secret ending?

[chaoticag]

I didn't finish cave story, gave up and started over because:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gunsmith told me he was almost done with the popgun, but I traded it. That ought to give me an edge in the battle.

[JoshuaFH]

I didn't finish cave story, gave up and started over because:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gunsmith told me he was almost done with the popgun, but I traded it. That ought to give me an edge in the battle.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There are three things you can trade the gun for IIRC. The machinegun from Curly Brace. The Wave gun thing from that bug salesmen, and a laser gun from the gunsmith. I beat the game for the first time with the machinegun.