Shit its November!!!! I am not entirely sure how that happened. I’ve been here almost two months now which means only one more month until my first visa run, and I’m not even sure where I’m going yet. This is not entirely my fault. I had a plan but its seeming like less and less of a good idea, so now I need a plan B. I’m starting to think hanging out on the beach at Akaba for a few days would be nice, esp since it will be cold by December…. But well see. Ok enough of my silly dilemma of where to go play in the sun.
Since it has been two weeks I will not do a day by day briefing, also the reason I haven’t written is because life has become not boring, but some what routine. Mondays I go to the office have some meetings do some planning with Saleem for our leadership program with the kiddies on Friday. In the afternoon I go scavenging with Jason for tires, bricks etc… to make the composting toilet. Tues, wed, Thursdays are workdays at the center, and Fridays I do programs with Saleem and then the weekend begins. I guess there is something to be said for daily life, but it just doesn’t seem so notable. I guess there were a few highlights to the last two weeks….
- Thursday I finally made Banana muffins from all the mushy bananas in our freezer. They were delicious and tasted like home, which is always nice.
- Saturday was Halloween. My roommates and I scoured the old city of Bethlehem for cheap and fabulous costumes. In the end we were the Fantanas (the girls in the Fanta commercials) it was pretty hilarious. There was a big party in beit sahour with many of the internationals in the area. It was good times as we all tried to bring a piece of home to Palestine.
- Monday I visited the old IDf army base across from the park we have our climbing tower at. Settlers have been coming here and protesting and being generally nasty. The graffiti was not nice, but Jason and I managed to scavenge some good haul.
- Tuesday we had a group of middle school kids come from the Anglican school in Jerusalem come to “help” at the center. They were not very helpful, and it was raining most of the day so it was not nearly as productive as we had hoped, and I was covered head to toe in mud by the end of the day… oh well
- Thursday we built the inner supporting walls of the toilet. I learned to mix cement and lay bricks (definitely resume boosters)
- Friday night I saw a movie and made some new friends… always a plus
- Saturday I played tour guide in Ramallah and Birzeit for some of my new and less new friends
- Sunday I spent way too much money at the shuk and a Super Sol
Ok so those were the positive highlights and now the biggest not positive at all highlight. Jason (my boss sort of) and Sarah were in the process of applying to extend their visas just until December 30th. They have been here for three years, and were planning to go home December 30th. They already had a plane ticket and everything. Last week they found out they had been denied and have to leave by the 16th of November. This is very sad, and really just ridiculous. They were going to leave in 6 weeks any ways. Now they have to change their plane tickets and they are missing the wedding of a close friend. The ridiculousness and cruelty of the ministry of interior in Israel never ceases to amaze me. It just seems so unfair, but they are afraid if they stay past their kick out date they wont be allowed back for 5 or 10 years, which is just not worth it. I am not sure what all this means for me except maybe a little more responsibility.
It just makes me so mad especially when I just read in haaretz about this crazy settler (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125062.html) who was just arrested for the murders of two Palestinians and possibly others. He was also arrested in Israel in 1997 and told the authorities that he came to Israel specifically to kill Palestinians as revenge for suicide bombings…. Then two years later he was allowed back in to the country!!!! This is just mind boggling to me. Jason and Sarah are good people who have been trying to help in Palestine for the last three years. They can’t get a 6 week extension of their visa, but a self proclaimed homicidal maniac can get in easily and then gain citizenship. Excuse my language, but that is just fucked up, and really something to think about when told that all this crap is for security, whose security?????
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