Oookay so the volunteer BBQ wow that seems like a year ago but I guess it was only a week ago. It was quite fun. I ate an absurd amount of grilled vegetables, belayed some people on the climbing tower, played with Hibba and some other children, and generally had a lovely time. Everyone here is so damn nice it’s hard to get over it. After the BBQ some of us went over to Jason and Sarah’s just to hang out and chat for awhile and eventually I got a ride home from Rachel and the promise of a ride to Jerusalem the next day (woot!) I packed and went to bed.
Sunday Morning I was dropped off a few blocks from Naomi and Miriam’s apt. We all just hung out for most of the day and then cooked a very early dinner because kol nidre started at 5 (ew) we ate a lot in an attempt to stay full until the next evening (epic fail) and then headed to services. We went to Kedem which does not associate with any particular stream of Judaism but I would describe as orthodox egalitarian with a good amount of singing so maybe a little Carlbach thrown in there too. (if you have no idea what I’m talking about look it up it will be educational) After services we walked home and this was an event unto itself. No one drives in Jerusalem on Yom Kippur, unless it is a medical emergency, so every one just hangs out in the street. We saw people just sitting in the middle of the street. Also you see bikes everywhere. It was quite a sight. I wish I could have taken a picture, but that would be a no no on Yom Kippur. Eventually we made it through the throngs of people back home. Then, I met Chelsea who is a friend of Sarah’s (Naomi and Miriam’s roommate) who is also a Jew living and working in the west bank. She is working in a school in Nablus. This is to me most impressive. Places like Ramallah and Bethlehem are pretty cushy compared to Nablus so to be there long term is very commendable. We exchanged information and hopefully will be in contact in the future.
Monday Morning was more services; Kedem in the morning from 9am to 1:30 and HUC (reform) in the afternoon from 3:30 to 6:15. Im pretty sure I have never prayed so much in my life. Kedem was my first non reform Yom Kippur service. It was nice. I liked that it was less of a show and more of a community service, but so so so long and so much standing. The HUC service was more familiar, but I was getting faint toward the end so it was not so enjoyable. After the service we had some Juice and challah and then went to a Pardes apt for a breakfast themed break fast (hehehe) the food was delicious as food always is when you are starving, and I met some more nice and interesting people. We were all tired so we took a cab home from dinner. Miriam and I tried to finish watching the second episode of Glee we had started Sunday, but the Internet was having issues so eventually we gave up and went to bed nice and early.
Tuesday Morning I got up and left with Naomi and got a bus back to Bethlehem. I hung out at home for a bit and then headed to the office in Beit Sahour. It turns out there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do that day, but I helped Jason and Saleem with some organizing and some stuff at the site. It was probably good they didn’t have a lot for me so I could go home and do laundry and some other things before Yousef came to say good bye (again) before he left for school in Cyprus. He couldn’t stay for too long because apparently he had borrowed/stolen his brother’s rental car to come (silly boys) but we hung out for a bit said our good byes and that was that.
Bethany had just gotten back from Jordan that night and gotten another three months, so she made this delicious chocolate sauce and we ate it with ice cream to celebrate, so I guess it was a bitter sweet evening. I had to be at the site the next day at 9am so after some roommate bonding I went to bed.
Wednesday was a long hard day. The backhoe guy came to dig holes for the cement for the posts for the ropes course, but he made them too big, so first we had to build walls in all the holes to make them smaller. Then the cement guy came and the truck could only reach some of the holes, so we had to carry cement in buckets to a lot of the holes. If you have never had to do this, cement is really really heavy. At first I could barely lift a bucket but eventually my super human strength took over and I over came my lack of upper body strength. We didn’t finish until it was dark. Jason was nice enough to give me a ride home. I went straight to the shower. Made some dinner and passed out.
Thursday I woke up with a cold (poop) but I still went to the site at 9 to help Jason put water on all the cement holes. Apparently you have to keep cement wet while its drying… who knew. So we did that and then some more clean up of the site. Rachel and Bonnie were there too. After some clean up we decided to go to Jason’s and measure out the cable we had and also we had to build a bed for Ben the guy coming to build the ropes course. After that we were going to take a break and meet at the site again at 2pm when more volunteers were coming, but I was feeling like death on a Triscuit, so Rachel drove me home and I stayed there. I sat on my butt and drank tea and watched TV until bedtime. (this is what I do when I’m sick)
Friday I was feeling a bit better. Jason called me at 8:30 to see if I would be willing to take his car to tel aviv to pick up Ben (the ropes course guy) at the airport. I was half asleep so I said sure why not. I had driven for the first time ever in Israel or Palestine 2 days before and that was only in Beit Sahour. I was a little nervous, esp since Jason’s car is in a sad state, but I guess there is no time like the present to get over ones fears of driving in Israel or Palestine. I got the car from Sarah when we all met for our girls lunch in Bethlehem. First I had to get gas, which wasn’t so bad because Palestine is like New Jersey in that you don’t ever get to pump your own gas. Then I went home for a few mins to make a sign for Ben. Jason called right before I left to tell me I needed to put water in the car so it wouldn’t over heat on the way (good to know) and then I was off. It wasn’t too bad. The car had some issues going up the big hills, but we made it. The airport was a zoo, but Ben saw my lovely sign and I only had to wait about half an hour. On the way back to Bethlehem it was a little scarier. The car actually died a few times, but I was able to bring it back to life (woot) and eventually we made it to Jason and Sarah’s house. Jason drove me home. I made dinner hung out with Bethany for a bit and then went to bed.
Saturday I slept late did some cleaning and then met up with Rachel, Audra and Saleem at Café Sima up the hill from my apt. We hung out for a bit and then Rachel and I drove to Taybeh for the Taybeh Festival. In case you are wondering, Taybeh is the only Brewery in the west bank. It makes pretty delicious beer, and every October they have a festival. It was pretty fun. I think almost every international in Palestine was there. There was good music and food, and at around 7pm half of Birzeit showed up. This was the best part for me. I finally got to see Omar!!! And Tamer showed up too. And Ahmed and William and everyone (well minus one) It was so nice to see Birzeit people. I also ran into Chelsea the girl who lives in Nablus and Rachel also found a crew she knew. It was a pretty good night all in all, but sadly the Beer drinking did not cure my cold. Rachel and I were really hungry when we got back to Bethlehem, so we got pizza at Mundos. And then I went home and passed out.
Today (Sunday) I did a lot of shopping. I have barely done any cooking since Ive been here and this must be remedied. I also finally found Zaatar, which was very exciting. We were supposed to start working on the ropes course tomorrow at 7am but Jason just called me to say we didn’t get the posts and beams we need yes, so we are just going to meet at 9am in the office to figure out plan B and hopefully we will be able to start Tuesday or Wednesday and just work ridiculously hard to get this thing up before Ben has to leave on Thursday night OY VEH!!! Is all I have to say. Its going to be an intense couple of days. As Jason Said a few days ago Palestine is wonderful its just really hard to build anything here. This is true I guess and even more true if you’re an American trying to build something. I hope everything will work out in the end and by the end of this week we will have a ropes course. Inshallah, Bezrat Hashem etc….
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