I forgot to mention... I'm back

Incase anyone has noticed the year-long gap between the last two posts, my final year of grad school is to blame there. Rather than run the rat race to the tenure track job that many of my beloved classmates ran (and won... mabrouk!) I went the non-traditional route and decided on a bit of a career shift and skills gathering endeavor. Not sure exactly where that shift is going, somewhere between human rights work and cultural programming... but the first move took me back to Palestine to take another look at the options here and to get my Arabic up to speed. Since this place is the subject of my MFA thesis, which is sitting in boxes and rolled up in tubes in 4 locations across 2 states and another country, I'm also hoping to find it a well-lit home in the cultural center of Ramallah in the near future. So I'm in a bit of a prediciment here, sitting right now in.. ahem.. Tel Aviv.. couldn't be further than the right starting point. I'll be moving to either Ramallah or Birzeit pretty soon and starting the Arabic class. This one will do it, I can feel it. All those others got me started but this one, coupled with three months in Ramallah, is going to seal the deal.