Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Where in the World is Namaste?

...London?

...Paris?

...Jerusalem?

...Upstate New York?

If you guessed the 4th option, then you win the "Namaste Has Completely Gone AWOL" prize.

Yes, folks, it's true. Yesterday was my previously scheduled return flight to Israel. However, instead of jumping on yet another plane, I jumped in my trusty blue Honda and frantically drove through the autumn leaves to a small university town in upstate New York, where I am now teaching for the rest of the academic year. Yesterday, I was introduced to my new department as "Professor Namaste", which, all things considered, gave me a tremendous giggle.

Gritty details aside, it was an opportunity that I would be a fool to turn down.

I've rescheduled my return to the Middle East for June. June just felt like a better time to be there. Now it looks like I'm about to spend the winter in a very snowy place in the middle of nowhere. This should be very interesting. My one consolation is that there is no constantly recurring gunfire in the vicinity. I'll take the bucolic setting and green rolling hills over gunfire any day. At the moment, it's safe to say that I'm too busy to be nervous about what to do with myself for the next few months. Anyone who knows me knows that I am extremely self-entertained...

Meanwhile, I have a class to prepare for in a few hours...on a topic that is not even remotely close to my field, so I better get a jump on.

Sometimes you just can't hold back the river...

5 comments:

I-66 said...

I can't come up with the proper word to describe you. I literally sat here and thought "She's so..." and couldn't find the word. It's not "nomadic", because that's not what I mean, but it's kinda in the ballpark.

Don't worry, I mean whatever it is in a good way.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I thought I had the corner on surprising people with my moves. I'm happy to share space in that corner with you. Good luck to you!

Anonymous said...

That's so awesome. Good luck!

Except there went my plans to visit next spring.... :)

Anonymous said...

I've been reading a lot about Jordan and the rest of the Levant for a class this semester, and I'm now dyyyyyyyyying to get back to the Middle East for a few weeks.

Congrats on the job and the 180 - sounds like something I would do!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your new posting. With any luck you'll get lots of snow, and plenty of peace to write & finish. So what was the field? In any case Cheers & Good Luck with the new adventure! 'VJ'