Yilan – No time for regrets

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No time for regrets

Figuring out life by running directly at it.

Category: Yilan

4 Posts

Caitlin! in Yilan.

November 5, 2012 — 7 Comments

Taiwan’s pretty side: Yilan Day 3

major events, Yilan

Taiwan’s pretty side: Yilan Day 3

January 12, 2012 — 5 Comments

Taiwan’s pretty side: Yilan Day 2

major events, Yilan

Taiwan’s pretty side: Yilan Day 2

December 29, 2011 — 1 Comment

Taiwan’s pretty side: Yilan Day 1

major events, Yilan

Taiwan’s pretty side: Yilan Day 1

December 22, 2011 — 1 Comment

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Photography is hard. But sometimes all the elements come together and help you create a photo you love. Leaf didn’t want me to take his picture. It was dark and cold out, he was shaking (as a leaf does), and the colors looked rough with the high ISO. But then I took away the colors, and it just worked. I heard a quote from Rob McElhenney on a podcast yesterday, and it sums photography up for me: “You can be anything. You can do anything. But it’s going to be really f-cking hard.” I thoroughly enjoy photography, but it’s really f-cking hard sometimes. As long as it brings a little joy or understanding to the world (and me), I’ll keep doing it.

While I was in Washington, there was a period of nearly 48 straight hours of rain. But we had plans. So @nurse_jenny and I headed up to Deception Pass one Saturday, and right before we turned off I-5 to head to the pass, the rain stopped. We walked the bridge and on a path, but couldn’t go to the beach below because of flooding. As we walked back to the car along the narrow bridge, we saw a speck of white that didn’t move. Zooming in with my camera phone unveiled a white box made of roughly four pixels. Zooming in on my camera screen revealed a white box made of a few more pixels, but we knew we’d found an eagle. It wasn’t until I got this photo in Lightroom and zoomed in that I saw just how big and regal this guy was. The first time I was at Deception Pass was in April of 2006. Someone else spotted the eagles back then and had to point them out to me. I was pretty proud to spot this guy on my own. #deceptionpass #washingtonstate

From the deserts of a contested Holy Land to the rainy (and snowy) mountains of the Pacific Northwest. #washingtonstate #deceptionpass #iwasobsessedwithraindropsonthattrip

When I was in Bethlehem in the West Bank, my tour group saw fighter jets fly directly over us as they headed toward Gaza: once during lunch near the Church of the Nativity, once while we were in the church and had just seen the cave where Jesus was supposedly born, and once as we returned to the van. That day, November 12, and the two following days, 34 Palestinians were killed and 111 were injured. Eight of those killed were children, three were women. When we travel, we visit lands with history. Some of them have conflicts. All of them have people who have stories that need to be heard. Ignoring those stories and conflicts in favor of our own Western spin, or in order to have a happy go lucky vacation, is wildly selfish. It’s just another way we’re privileged. When I lived in Texas and California I saw fighter jets practicing maneuvers fairly regularly. In the West Bank, I saw them carry rockets to Gaza in order to kill people. And it didn’t faze our Palestinian guides. Or people who lived in Jerusalem. Or, frankly, most of the tourists. Maybe the tourists just didn’t know. For people who live there, it seems rockets and conflict are as normal as gun violence in the States. Racism and discrimination and deep-rooted hatred are rampant in Israel and surrounding territories, but it’s easy for tourists to miss among the gilded crosses and thick walls and tiled mosaics and black robes and heavily armed Israelis around every corner. Travel is an incredible privilege. We just have to treat it responsibly and respect the stories and lives of the people we meet along the way.

Walls 1: The Western Wall, where people, primarily Jews, write their prayers on paper, then shove them between the stones of the wall. Twice a year, all the prayers are collected and buried in the Mount of Olives. The Western Wall is believed by many to be the last wall standing of the former Temple where God himself lived on Earth. Many Jews believe he’s still there, and the Wall is the closest they can get to God on Earth. 2: The Israeli West Bank barrier in Bethlehem in Area C According to the Oslo Accord, the West Bank is divided into three divisions: - A: administered by the Palestinian Authority - B: administered by both the PA and Israel - C: administered by Israel Banksy opened his Walled Off Hotel here (behind me as I took this picture) in Area C so Israelis could visit. They are not allowed to enter Area A. According to a road sign near a checkpoint for Area A, “The entrance to Israeli citizens is forbidden, dangerous to your lives, and is against the Israeli law.” #westbank #banksy

This is part of the facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A sepulchre (or sepulcher, depending on whether you want the red line or not) is a small room or monument, cut in rock or built of stone, in which a dead person is laid or buried. So this church marks the location where people believe Jesus was crucified, then entombed. Then, depending on your beliefs, some other stuff happened. I’ll go into more detail on the building and the fact that it may or may not be where that stuff happened in a blog post. That ladder under the window is the Immovable Ladder. There’s even a barrier to keep it in place. It may have been left there by a mason doing some restoration work way back in the early 1700s. According to the Status Quo agreement set in place in the 18th century, if multiple groups claimed a site in Jerusalem, all of them had to agree to any change, no matter how minor. This is one reason why so little upkeep or archaeology happens in this place - because about six different denominations claim this church. They have to agree on anything that gets done to the place. Including moving a freaking ladder left there by some dude. People have tried to move or steal it. It gets put back. Some people now think it’s a miracle or religious sign because it’s stayed up there so long. I find it to be a religious sign that most people are too caught up in rules and traditions to remember what’s most important. I don’t think God’s super concerned about a ladder. He’s probably more concerned about the physical (and verbal) fights between sects within the walls of this place. #jerusalem #churchoftheholysepulchre

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