5/8

I read most of the day for ICAHD. They have given me a lot of material to read and its all very dense and full of numbers and statistics so its hard to make myself sit down and read it all, but Im almost there. I met Thomas at around 5 so he could help me plan my trip to Europe and finde cheap plane tickets. We planned everything out but I didn’t buy anything, because I needed to talk to Sandra and Yvette first to make sure they would be available when I wanted to visit. Thomas left after we planned everything out and I stayed to do some more internet stuff. I finally finished went home took a shower and then I went to Zans with Tasha and we met up with Thomas and Hussam. At some point William, Raouf and Yousef showed up as well. Then Thomas disappeared for a long time. I texted him to see what happened and he told me his friend got arrested and he wasn’t coming back. It turns out they went to the store for cigarettes, and his friend who is Palestinians forgot his ID and stuff at Zans, and the police just happened to stop them and when they realized he didn’t have ID they took both of them to the station and kept them there for a few hours. It was all pretty ridiculous, but they got out eventually so all was well. Tasha and I stayed at Zans until almost 2, and then got a ride home with William, Raouf and Yousef. (yea for friends with cars!)

5/9
Fri

We had originally planned to go to Taybeh, but it was raining when we got up in the morning, which is very strange for this time of year… Damn you global climate change! We decided to go to Taybeh on Saturday instead. I started to watch Harry Potter, because the weather was bad, and I didn’t feel like doing anything else, but then it cleared up and Tasha asked if I would help her bring her the rest of her stuff from her old apt to mine. So I went over there we hung out with Vanessa for a bit…then got falafel and then finally back to my place. Later I once again met Thomas at the internet place and I had gotten a message from Sandra telling me I had to reverse my plan because she wouldn’t be in Sweden when I wanted to be there… so I did, and it actually came out cheaper so it was all good. I bought all but one plane ticket. At some point I checked my bank account to see if any of the flight purchases had gone through and I saw a 1200 dollar wire transfer to someone I didn’t know. I called my bank that minute…thank goodness for skype…and they informed me it was just a mistake and they took it off. (Baruch Hashem!) I stayed on line for a while longer talking to people and making all my plans

5/10
Sat

I went to Taybeh with Tasha. We got another case of the amber beer, and had a picnic in the olive tree orchards next to the brewery. Then we called the service that had dropped us off there to come get us. He told me he was in Ramallah, but he would send someone else. The other guy came and then when we got to Ramallah he wanted 50 shekel from us. Which is ridiculous since the ride is supposed to be 9 shekel a person. He was very insistant and didn’t speak any English, but we held our ground and between the two of us were able to convince him to accept 30 shekel from us. We paid him jumped out of the van and headed home to Birzeit with all our beer. I went back to Retaj the internet place to buy my final plane ticket, then back home to shower and get ready for a night out in Jerusalem with Tasha and Yvette. Yvette was already in Jerusalem so Tasha and I went to meet up with her. Normally we would take a bus straight from Ramallah to Jerusalem. Palestinians have to get off at the Kalandia check point, but internationals don't. Sadly we were running late and we missed the last direct bus to Jerusalem, so we had to take a service to Kalandia, and go through the check point. Tasha had a camping knife in her bag that her dad gave her for protection, she forgot about it, and when she put her bag through the xray machine the soldiers saw it. They stopped Tasha and asked her why she had a knife and held up everyone else that was waiting in line. Then they told everyone to go to another line. They let me through and told us we would have to wait for someone to come and say if we could keep the knife or have to leave it. We told them to just take it and let us go, but noooo that wasnt allowed. So they had us wait in a very small holding cell (im not kidding) with two chairs so we sat there for about 45 mins until finally someone came and gave the knife back to Tasha and told us to go. This was the most annoying 45 mins of my life and it just shows that happens when 18 year olds that have no idea what theyre doing are in charge of "national security" but it was eventually a very fun night. We ended up just staying out until the busses started running back to Ramallah. Saddly I found out that the only place in Jerusalem (that I know of) that’s open til 5 was closing because some guy bought the building. That building also happens to be where my favorite bagel toast place is… I am sad It is no more.

5/11
Sun

I took a power nap when we got home, but then I had to go back to Ramallah to babysit for a few hours. This was the first time I had sat for Nurah while she was actually awake for most of the time. She took one short nap, but we played and then I took her for a walk around the neighborhood. Unfortunatly no one here uses the side walks so they are not very stroller friendly, but I managed. I got back home around 5:30 napped for a little bit more, but not too much. Finally dragged myself up to make some dinner, and watch the rest of Harry Potter. Around 12 my time Aaron and my mom called since it was mother’s day. I talked to both of them. I asked aaron a lot of annoying questions about the possibility of me working at Beth Emet next year, and then talked to mom for a bit, and told her happy mothers day. Then I passed out probably a few minutes after hanging up the phone.

5/12
Mon

I met Yvette at the bus station to Jerusalem at around 10:30 and then we made our way to the city center to get a sherut to Tel Aviv. I was going to extend my plane ticket at the Iberia office, and she was going to stay with a friend until she left the country on Wednesday. Her friend met us at the central bus station in Tel aviv, and also gave me a ride to the Iberia office which was very nice. I went and extended my ticket. It took about 15 mins and only cost me $45 it was amazing. In the US that would have cost a $100 penalty and the cost of the difference in the price of plane tickets, but Spain is much nicer apparently. After getting my new ticket I called Naomi and met up with her. We went to the beach and sat and caught each other up on our lives. Then we walked around for a bit. She took me to the natural store and I bought premade Indian food (yummy) Then we called Dana and asked if she wanted to grab dinner. We went to en Ethiopian place by the beach. It was amazing. I love Ethiopian food, and def a nice change from my normal vegetables and rice combination. After dinner we walked to get me a sherut to the central bus station so I could get back to Jerusalem on time to get the last bus back to Ramallah. I got back home around 10ish, and everyone was hanging out on the balcony…Nothing new…I hung out with them for a bit, but then had to go to bed so I could get up early and go to Jerusalem to do ICAHD work.

5/13
Tues

Tasha decided to come with me since she had more stuff to mail any ways. We left around 9:30. I got the ICAHD office around 11. I worked there for about 4 and half hours, and then I met up with Rachel. We did some major updating on lives since we hadn’t hung out in awhile. Then Rachel had to go to work and I headed back to Birzeit to watch a movie with Thomas. I got home changed in to some warmer clothing and then headed to Thomas’s. I wanted to watch Boondock saints, but we couldn’t because windows media only lets you change the region you are in a few times, and so we couldn’t play my American DVD on his German Computer it was rather annoying. We watched vantage point instead, which is pretty good until the end which I thought was a little stupid. I made my way home at around 12 and went to bed.

5/14
Wed

Tasha and I left for Hebron around 10ish we got there around 12:30 we had originally planned to go to the Christian Peace Maker’s office because they give tours, but we ran in to some of the volunteers there on our way and they told us hey were going to a long meeting and wouldn’t be back til 4:30 so we decided to just wander around Hebron and see for ourselves, and that’s exactly what we did. We literally walked all over Hebron, The Palestinian and the Jewish Part. This is a place that is really fucked up. When you walked through what is left of the market in the old city above you is always wire mesh, because the Jewish settlers that live in the apartments above, throw their trash out the window on to the Palestinians. We talked to some of the shop owners who said that they also through dirty water and even bleach. This makes me sick. This is not what Judaism is about. Im sorry but no land is worth all the horrible things that are being done to the Palestinians living in Hebron. We walked all over for almost three hours. One amazing part of the trip was going to the Mosque where Abraham, Sara, Rebecca, and Jacob, Joseph, Leah and Rachel are supposed to be buried. I tend to be a little skeptical about all this because in reality we have no idea where these people were buried or if they even existed, but it was a pretty amazing feeling to be in a mosque and seeing what could be the tombs of my matriarchs and Patriarchs. There is a Synagogue next to the Mosque. We could see into the synagogue from a window in the mosque, but I didn’t want to go inside. I was actually a little scared. After the Mosque we went back to the Christian Peace Makers office and talked to them for a bit. It was kind of pointless for them to give us a tour at that point, but I did give them my email address so I could be informed if there were any actions going on that I could help with. Tasha and I got back to Ramallah at around 6:30 and we were starving so we went to dinner at a place in Ramallah that claims it is open 24 hours, but we are skeptical. Dinner was actually really good. It was nothing special just salad and Chumus, but very good none the less. When we got back to the apt in Birzeit everyone was once again hanging out on the Balcony. We hung out for a bit…then I wanted to check email etc so I went and did that. Then back to the Balcony where we stayed pretty late in to the night and then off to bed.

5/15
Thur

Today was the 60^th anniversary of the Nakba. In Ramallah there was a very large Rally with lots of speeches and, flags of Palestine and the various political parties. I understood a little of the speeches, but I wish I could have understood more. I think I would have gotten more out of it. We stayed for about an hour, and then decided to walk down the street where Katy, Vanessa, and Hussein were sitting at the French German institute. We stayed there for a few hours hanging out and using them for their television so we could see what else was going on. There was a huge demonstration at Kalandia that ended in rock throwing and rubber bullet, and tear gas shooting. Two of our friends were at Kalandia, and when they came back they showed me one of the “rubber bullets.” I’ve seen the rubber bullets before. They are bullets inside a cylinder of rubber. This was a metal ball inside a thing plastic casing. Im pretty sure it would do some heavy damage if it hit someone. I don’t know what this bullet is for, but its not rubber that’s for sure. After getting our fill of the news, we headed back home to Birzeit. I took a shower and then went to play Beer pong with Kyle, Nick and Tamer. Then we went to Nadal’s Birthday party in Ramallah. It was a pretty crazy party…. Nadal even had a strobe light in the living room. It was a bit intense but fun. We all got home pretty late and passed out.

5/16
Fri

It was a really nice day so I made my self lunch and then went out on the porch to do some reading…then Katy woke up and then Nick came over, so the reading ended and we sat around reliving the antics of the previous evening for awhile. The more and more people came and more reliving happened. Eventually Nick, Vanessa, Kyle and Katy went to Ramallah so Kyle and Vanessa could sign a lease on an apt they are moving to. I stayed home and did some cleaning, and writing. Then at around 8 people started to come over for what was supposed to be Tasha’s going away quiet dinner and movie, unfortunately some people had other ideas and some how it turned in to a party. And I didn’t get to bed until about 4:30.

5/17
Sat

Tasha was supposed to leave at 10 on Sat, but she stuck around until almost 12. We sat around in the disgusting living room until it was time to go. Then she left I went to Tawfeeks with Katy and Kyle to get sandwiches, and then we took naps for a bit, except that we got a call from Tasha 20 mins later saying that the border was closed so she had to come back and extend her flight another day, and go the next day to Jordan, early in the morning. So she came back and we all took naps. I woke up around 5:30 to find that we had no water. I did some more cleaning of the apartment, and then called Thomas to ask if I could use his shower since I was supposed to go over there at 7 any ways. I packed my bag and headed over to be clean! We hung out at his place for a bit. His friend Brandon was there and a girl Emily who is working in an Arab village near Haifa. She might be going to the Medical school at UIC so I got really excited and started talking all about Chicago and how wonderful it is. At around 9ish we headed to Zans, which was weird since I usually only go there on Thursday nights. It was pretty empty. We met up with hussam there and just hung out and chatted for a few hours. Then headed back home Kyle, Nick and Vanessa were over so I hung out with them for a bit and then it was bed time.

5/18
Sun

Today I did a lot of studying so I wont forget all I learned in the last three months and look stupid when Im in level two in a month. Then I wrote a lot, then Katy came home and we cleaned the apt, because it is in a sad state of affairs.