A Ropes Course is Born, Haifa, Picking Olives/meeting a nice settler, trials and tribulations of driving a scooter in Palestine

21/10/09
Monday I was in the office all day with Rachel helping her do research for a grant.  I was looking up articles on ethical leadership. It was actually pretty interesting, but that was a small problem because I wanted to read all the articles instead of just skimming them so I didn’t find as much as Rachel wanted I think, but at least I was some help.  In the Afternoon Jason wanted to borrow Rachel’s car so he could go to Hebron to buy some parts we needed for the ropes course, and Sarah (Jason’s wife) needed their car to pick up her mother who was coming to visit. So Rachel gave Jason her car and we also ended up taking Hibba (sarah and Jason’s 1.5 year old daughter) to the office with us for the rest of the day. Needless to say I got even less done when I was being distracted by an adorable toddler, but I think it was ok in the end. Eventually we went back to Rachel’s apt we kept Hibba until Sarah came back from the airport and then Rachel was nice enough to give me a ride home when Jason came back. I want promptly to bed because we were starting the next day at 7am.

Tuesday Rachel picked me up at 6:50 AM!!!!!  I am not a morning person having to get up this early is just not nice ☹ but I some how managed. When we got there we had to wait awhile any ways because the welding guy wasn’t there so we did more cleaning and tied knots for all the ropes that would need to go up eventually. We worked hard all day. Attaching cables to the beams and getting the beams ready to go up. Eventually the guy with the crane came to put the beams up everything was going well until the last beam was going to go up and we found out that the way the holes had been made in the beam was wrong and we had to take the beam down and take off and re attach the eyes on the beam this was pretty sad and then on top of all that the crane dropped the beam on a tree and a wall while it was moving it so the tree was sad and the wall has a hole in it now. Jason and Ben were pretty pissed about this but they managed to keep calm. At this point it was almost dark so we decided to end for the day and all go have dinner together, and then pass out to get some sleep for the next 10 hour day.

Wednesday started pretty much the same as Tuesday. I was supposed to climb up the beams to do more cable attaching but I climbed about half way up and my fear of heights got the better of me so I decided I would be more useful on the ground. So I spent most of the day attaching and detaching tools to ropes for the people who do not have ridiculous height phobias. At the end of the day we had got a lot done and it was actually starting to look like a ropes course. I went home and collapsed.

Thursday was same as Wednesday but we finished by 3:30 it was a great feeling to have finished with time to spare. It was also a great feeling to see what we had created. The center isn’t ready for kids yet, but the ropes course looks great and with a little more work well have the only ropes course in Palestine ☺ The center where the course is will also have a composting toilet, permaculture garden and chicken coop. These will be used in several of the other programs PAIDIA does and I can’t wait to see the finished project.

Friday I went to Jerusalem and met up with Yvette and Jean Marie who I studied at Birzeit with last year. Yvette was just visiting and Jean Marie is studying at St. Annes church in the old city. We all hung out and chatted at the church. It was really interesting. Yvette is from The Netherlands and she is working in their foreign affairs office focusing on Somalia. It was interesting to hear about her adventures in Somalia, and the work she is doing, but we also talked a lot about how countries and NGOs throw all this money at places like Somalia or even Palestine (which is no where near as dangerous) but they wont send their staff their for security reasons. Because of this these countries and NGOs have no idea what is happening with their money, and a lot of the time its not getting to the people who need it the most or the projects being funded are not being finished. This is one thing I had not thought a lot about before. I realize in some places it is too much of a risk to send people, but when USAID gives tons of money to random projects in the west bank but then wont allow any of their employees to go see if the projects are being done its ridiculous. There is a playground close to one of PAIDIA’s sites that was funded by USAID and it is basically a death trap for children.  It is not unsafe to send people here to check up on projects. I live here and have never felt unsafe. So I think if I’m okay the USAID people will survive as well.
Our chat went on to several other topics of international affairs and some how ended in Yvette and I lamenting our singledom (we have to think about ourselves sometimes) Yvette was going to Tel Aviv and I was going to Miriam and Naomis for Simchat Torah so we said our goodbyes and cya laters and went in our separate directions.

Fri night I went to Kol Haneshama (a reform synagogue in Jerusalem) with Miriam. It is impossible for me to go to this synagogue with out seeing someone I know, but Fri night was crazy. There were sooo many OSRUI (the camp I went to/worked at for many summers) people there. It was nice to see so many familiar faces. I saw Sally and Rabbi Michael Klein Katz. They are probably the nicest and warmest people I know. I promised Sally I would email soon, and we would make plans. Eventually everyone went out in to the courtyard and danced around with the Torah. For those of you who don’t know Simchat Torah is the holiday in which we finish reading the Torah and begin again. So you are supposed to rejoice with the Torah. Its pretty fun. After services Miriam and I met Naomi and the apt of one of their friends for dinner. I was surprised to see Michelle who taught Hebrew at Beth Emet with me this past year. She is living in Ashkelon and was visiting these same friends who apparently all went to Northwestern. The dinner was great and the company was even better. Naomi and Miriam are very good at picking their friends (and Im not just talking about me)

Saturday morning Naomi and I went to Nava Tehila for services. They are a Jewish renewal community. It was amazing. There was lots of singing and dancing and at one point they unrolled the whole Torah and had people hold it up with their Tallits or Shawls. Then there were people who knew what they were talking about in the middle who had you point to a random spot on the Torah in front of you. They then read you what you had pointed at and then made a blessing for you based on what you pointed at. It was a very cool experience, and Im planning to go to them for Shabbat with Miriam and Naomi when they have Kabbalat Shabbat.  Oh also while we were holding the Torah the guy next to Naomi started talking to us. Naomi asked him what he did and he said human rights work. So the night before one of the girls hosting dinner asked me (because I live in Bethlehem) if I knew a person named Jeremy Siegman who worked at Btselem. At The time I did not, but it turns out this guy was that Jeremy (such a small work esp. in Jerusalem) Jeremy gave me his email so we could stay in contact because us lefty Jews need to stick together. The rest of Saturday was pretty uneventful. There was some reading and dinner making and I watched Milo and Otis for the first time with Naomi. (that movie is F***ed up!)

Sunday morning I headed to Haifa to see my pretend family. This as always involved a lot of eating, movie watching and a little bit of debauchery. I was there until Tuesday afternoon. It was great to see everyone, and hang out with Danit. Going to Haifa or even just west Jerusalem is like stepping in to another world for a while. I thought a lot about this on the bus on the way back to Jerusalem.
I often feel a bit torn inside when I move between worlds. A part of me is relieved when I enter Israel. It is nice to be in a place where I can be anonymous. No one stares at me or shouts at me because I happen to have blonde hair and I can wear whatever I want. I also enjoy some of the comforts like ice coffee, sushi and movie theatres, but I also always have this over arching feeling of guilt. I feel guilty that I can come here whenever I want when many of my Palestinian friends cannot, and I also often feel guilty for enjoying the Jewishness of Israel. I know in my heart that the only fair solution is a one state solution. Although, I am very doubtful that it will ever happen. It is also sometimes hard for me to reconcile what I know to be right and what my inner selfish child wants. I grew up as a Jew in a Christian country (yes America is a Christian country) It is an amazing feeling to be in a country where the average shop owner will wish me a happy new year on Rosh Hashanah, and the language I have been struggling to master since third grade rolls off tongues and is written on every street corner. I carry the full knowledge that another people had to pay dearly for these small comforts, and so I continue with my inner struggle and hope that people somewhere smarter than me are going to find a way to figure all this out.

Wednesday and Thursday we had meetings at work and worked at the center. There is so much work to be done before its ready, but I know it will be amazing once it is.  Thursday we started work on our composting toilets (here is some info on that - http://www.lowimpact.org/factsheet_compost_toilets.htm) we are building the bathroom out of old tires and trash and rocks and other found items. It is pretty cool, and I promise to put up pictures when we make more progress. Thursday night we had a little bbque and I went home and passed out.

Friday I didn’t have to go to work (woohoo!) I only got up to go to the Friday girls lunch at 12:30 (10 mins from my apt) Then I went home with the intention of writing a lot I got about 2 days done when Bethany came home and then Katie and it all went down hill from there. We all hung out and generally bonded until about 6 or 7 when we decided we needed wine and cookies. So we went to the store got some wine, went home and made cookies. It was quite lovely. It was nice to actually be home for some of the weekend and hang out with my roommates who I love more and more every day.

Saturday Jeremy came to Bethlehem. He works for Btselem and has been to the west bank a little bit but he hadn’t been to Bethlehem. So we met up and wandered through the old city of Bethlehem to Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. It was very hot and crowded, but I was a good hostess and we waited in line to go to the little room where the birth was supposed to have occurred.  Jeremy and I talked a lot while we waited and got better acquainted. After the church we walked back to my apt. We only stayed for a bit because I was going to Jerusalem with Bethany to stay at a friends apt to get up early Sunday morning and pick Olives. On the way back to Jerusalem at the checkpoint a soldier asked Jeremy if he was Jewish and he made the mistake of saying yes. The soldier took his passport and told him to stand to the side and kept telling him it was dangerous for him to be on the Palestinian bus. So me being me I told the soldier I was Jewish too and it wasn’t dangerous I was so mad. Eventually the soldier gave us our passports back and we got back on the bus but the whole thing was ridiculous. In Jerusalem we parted ways. I went with Bethany to her friends apt in the old city. Its just inside Jaffa Gate which is actually a great location now that I think about it. We went with her friend Meta and crashed someone’s birthday party, which was quite fun and delicious and came home around 10 to get some sleep before our big day of olive picking.

Sunday was hot and sunny (surprise surprise) we filled our water bottles and headed to the meeting point for the group to go pick olives. Picking olives isn’t that hard in it self but just being out in hot hot sun even for a few hours was enough to drain my energy. We picked from about 10 to 3 with a lunch break. We got a lot but apparently this season is less than last season, but I think it was expected. The place we were picking is just west of Jerusalem. It is next to a settlement. At one point a security guard from the settlement came down to us and asked us if we owned the land. Of course we don’t so we called the real owner, who apparently has a good relationship with the people of the settlement. The security guard had thought we were other Israelis stealing his olives. It was kind of weird. I always assume any confrontation with settlers will be negative. This time I guess you could say it was positive, but the guy still lives on a settlement so he can’t be fully redeemed. While picking olives I was invited to a dinner that Bethany had already been invited to, so we went back to Jerusalem took showers rested and went to dinner. Which was amazing! Then we got a ride to the checkpoint and walked home from there.

Monday there were lots of meetings in the office. First, one for all the staff, then me with Jason and Erich to talk more about the stepping stones program, then with me, Jason and Saleem about the impact program, then going to see the guy at the center where we have the impact program. Eventually lunch happened. After that Jason and I drove around beit sahour looking for tires and bricks to use for building the composting toilets. This was kind of fun. It’s amazing how many tires are just lying around in Palestine. I will never cease to be amazed. We finished around 5 and Rachel was driving to Bethlehem so she gave me a ride home (woot)

Tuesday I met Saleem at the climbing tower. We had to take off the lower handholds because kids kept climbing on them when we weren’t there and they could fall. That took FOREVER but eventually we finished hung out in the office for a bit, and then headed to the center for more manual labor. We worked all day until about 4:30. I ended up walking home, which is all up hill. This is only the second time I’ve had to walk. I guess its good exercise but I’m so tired by the time I get home. When I got home Bethany told me she was going to the AIC (Alternative Information Center) google it. One of the founders of the AIC café in Beit Sahour was giving a talk on advocacy work for Palestine when you go back to your country of origin. It was very interesting, but I was pretty exhausted so Bethany and I went home as soon as it was over.

Wednesday I walked to work. Jason, Saleem and I made a plan for the impact program on Fri morning. I am very excited I finally get to play with kids and practice my Arabic more. After the meeting I drove with Jason back to his house to get his car with all the center supplies in it. I drove his car to the center and he drove his scooter, so I could practice driving it later on. We worked most of the morning. I was exhausted so I didn’t feel I was getting much done. At lunch I drank about half a liter of coke zero. That helped a lot. After I ate I went back to the center and practiced driving the scooter. I basically mastered turning etc… I came back and Saleem came too and we did more work. We almost finished laying the base tires for the walls of the bathroom.  This is very precise work so it takes a long time and then you have to fill each tire with rocks and dirt so they will make a strong wall. We finished around 5. Since I had mastered the scooter I decided to drive it home. All was well until a car stopped suddenly in front of me. I tried to stop suddenly as well but that doesn’t work so well on a scooter and I ended up falling over. I must say it’s a good thing I had a helmet on. I don’t think ill ever drive with out it. I was fine just a few scrapes but I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t had a helmet on I would have hit my head on the ground. Some guys came and helped me up. I took a few minutes to collect my self, hopped back on and drove the rest of the way home with out incident. So now I know I always need to keep a lot of space between me and the car in front of me, and hopefully Ill survive this adventure in scooter driving in Palestine. Once I got home I took a shower sat down and wrote all of this. I hope I wont leave this much time between posts again, but things are busy here. If you’re still reading this I love you…. I guess that’s all for now.