A Jew in Palestine......Syria Edition?

Whats happening in Syria???? I have NO IDEA!

2011-04-19T12:37:00.000+03:00

As I said in my previous post I really have no idea what is going on in Syria. Even though I live here what I see in the street and what I see on the news seems to be completely at odds with each other. I have however noticed a change in the mood in Aleppo. Just a week ago I was complaining that I couldn’t sleep at night because of all the young guys driving around honking their horns and cheering for Bashar until 3 in the morning. Now I am sleeping quite well and the number of flags and Bashar window decals has decreased dramatically. I have also noticed a change in the attitude of the Syrians I know here. At first they would all tell me not to worry and that nothing could really happen in Syria, and that everyone loved Bashar. Now they seem worried, and tell me not to travel in certain areas. Personally I think the Syrian people have plenty of reasons for revolution, and this idea does seem to be spreading despite concessions from the government. Sadly many of these concessions come at the same time as security forces are using live ammunition on protesters, which has caused a lot of hostility from the people towards their government. I still think the media has been irresponsible and tried very much to make Syria out to be the same as Egypt, when it is obviously not the same, but I wouldn’t say that nothing is happening here. The question of what is happening or what will happen is completely over my head though, and I think it’s completely over the heads of most people. So just keep that in mind when reading or watching CNN or Aljazeera. They like to pretend they know what’s happening and what will happen, but I’m pretty sure they are as clueless as I am.

On a completely different note I have decided to leave Syria a few weeks early on May 1st. This really has very little to do with the situation here since I don’t even have a good idea what the situation is here. The only reason I would say it has anything to do with the unrest in Syria is because it will allow my mother to sleep better at night. The real reason I have decided to leave a little early is financial. I came here under the pretence that I would be working enough to pay for Arabic lessons and save money. This has not turned out to be the case. I will be lucky if I come home having saved enough to cover the cost of the plane ticket to get here. Also my chances of finding good summer employment are greatly increased by coming home a little early. My Arabic has greatly improved and so I can say I accomplished my main goal of coming to Syria and now it is time to go home.

My plan as of now is to be home in Chicago for the summer and then head to Jerusalem at the end of August to begin a Jewish studies program at Pardes. I have a lot of other plans for what I will do while I am at Pardes including bringing as many fellow students as are willing over to the other side of the wall, and volunteering at the Jewish/Palestinian Pre school at the YMCA in Jerusalem, but those stories will have to wait for “A Jew in Palestine….. Jerusalem Edition.”

What Revolution???

2011-03-28T11:49:00.002+02:00

If I didn’t have access to the news and someone asked me if there was anti government sentiment in Syria I would laugh at them. Since Friday Aleppo has seen only mass support for Bashar Assad, the president of Syria. The roads are clogged with people driving their cars, plastered with pictures of the president, around playing loud patriotic music, honking their horns and shouting chants in support of Bashar. It’s actually rather annoying since they tend to continue well past my bed time. Luckily, I do have access to the news, so I have seen, heard and read about what is happening in many parts of Syria. People are demanding justice and large government reforms, and as of yesterday it seems they may be getting what they want.

The whole situation is very confusing to me. I see and read about mass protests in other parts of Syria, and then see hundreds maybe thousands of people in Aleppo loudly showing their support for the president. Also while watching a report on Aljazeera the other day I noticed they made a point of saying that even in Daraa while people were protesting for reforms they WERE NOT calling for Bashar to step down. It seems he really is quite popular, and from what I have read it seems like he does actually want to make reforms, but there is some question as to how much control he really has.

Another interesting thing is that while I have seen mass showings of support for the president. The media, even beloved Aljazeera, as been slow to publish anything about support for the president, and even when they do it is at the bottom of an article about people being killed in a protest against the government. On Friday night while watching Aljazeera on TV there was a protest against Aljazeera in Damascus for not showing the whole story, and hundreds of people threatened to storm the offices of Aljazeera if they didn’t start to report on both sides of the story. I can’t pretend that I have and real idea of on what’s going on here, but it does look an awful lot like the media wanted Syria to be like Egypt so they made it look like that as much as possible and ignored everything else. Which is not very responsible journalism if you ask me.

The last thing that has confused me are the stories coming out of Latakia. This is a port town that is rather heterogeneous compared to most other small towns in Syria. There were large protests there for reforms in government, but the state run news claimed there were also unknown people shooting randomly at protesters and security forces alike, and this is why the security forces had to open fire. It is also why the army was called up to intervene in Latakia. The director of my school told me his sister lives in Latakia and she said a lot of this was true. He told me bashar’s uncle who was sent to Paris while ago has been trying to cause problems, and sectarian strife in the hopes claiming power in Syria later on.

I cannot verify the truth of anything I have written here except for the support I have seen with my own eyes in Aleppo, and even then I have no way of knowing what the true motivation behind that show of support is. If I have learned anything from the last few days its that all major news agencies are also businesses and as unbiased as they claim to be everything must be taken with a grain of salt, because you never really know whose truth they are reporting, and why.

For all the worriers I am completely safe and sound, I actually spent all of Saturday in Turkey, which was fun and weird. The idea of driving over a border and suddenly not understanding anything I read or hear is very bizarre. We went to Ghazziantep, which is a very nice little city, and I had a lovely day with my Arabic teacher eating the best Baklawa (baklava) I’ve ever had, and wandering around the city. I think we are going to Antakia (another city in Turkey) next Friday, so we shall see how it compares. Also last Friday I went on a field trip to Kassab a small town in the mountains, and had an awesome day playing in the woods, speaking Arabic and making new friends. So besides political strife things are definitely looking up for me in Syria.

People Can Surprise You... For Better and For Worse

2011-03-14T14:14:00.001+02:00

So I want to make a clarification. I don’ t think the average person in Syria would have a problem with the fact that I am Jewish. I don’t even think they would have a problem with all my time in Israel/Palestine once I explained my uber lefty leanings. The reason I can’t tell any one here who I am or where I have spent most of my time the last few years is because of the security forces in the government. From what I have read it seems they are not as bad as they used to be, but there is still a sense here that there is always someone listening, and while I would like to trust every new person I meet, there is really no way for me to know who they really are. I know I’m making this sound like a spy movie, and its really not. I just wanted to make it clear that the average Syrian does not hate Jews and it’s only for fear of being over heard by the wrong person that I stay quiet.

Along those same lines I wanted to share two stories to give a small picture in to the minds of an average Syrian. Keep in mind though that my sampling is very small so maybe average is not the right word. The first story made me a bit sad but I think was positive in the end.

I was teaching my second level English class, which consists of two teenage boys who are cousins, and two University students one woman and one man. I was teaching the words most and least, after teaching any vocabulary I try to get the students to use the vocabulary as much as possible in sentences, or by answering questions, so when I asked them which was the least popular football (soccer) team and the first answer was “the Jewish one” I was not prepared. This was not the first time I had heard someone fail to make the distinction between Jewish and Israeli, but it never gets easier. I decided, especially since the student who said this is about 16, that I needed to educate, at least, my four students on the difference between Israelis and Jews, and why it is important to make the distinction. In the end the instigator apologized, and I felt a little better.

Story number two is a little more positive. I mentioned my wonderful Arabic teacher here before. Some times I think if it wasn’t for her I would have just given up and gone home early. She is truly above and beyond any teacher I have had. She has taken me all over Aleppo, brought me to her house, and to the school she works at. She has become a close friend as well as my Arabic teacher. She is Muslim, wears Hijab (head scarf) and doesn’t drink eat pork etc…, but she is very open about other peoples life styles, and she is now the fourth person who knows I am Jewish, although I haven’t mentioned my time in Israel/Palestine yet I probably will before I leave. She has a master’s degree in Semitic languages, so she actually knows Hebrew, only biblical Hebrew but still impressive. I’ve had a feeling they she knew something for awhile, because since she knows Hebrew she probably notices that most of my grammatical and even some vocabulary mistakes in Arabic are because I am thinking in Hebrew. I still didn’t want to say anything though until one day after she took me to the school she works at.

The school is a Muslim elementary school on the out skirts of Aleppo. It is called Al Quds School or Jerusalem School. It was strange for me to walk in to a school in Syria with a giant picture of the Dome of the Rock on the front gates, but I didn’t think too much about it until a few hours later during the third class. I don’t even remember how it came up, but some how the topic of Jews and Israel was raised, and I heard my Arabic teacher say almost the same thing to her students as I had to my small English class just a few days before. For me it was uplifting to hear a Arab teacher explain to her Arab students that there was a difference between Jews and Israelis and that is was important to make the distinction. Also at one point one of the students asked her if I was Jewish because of my name, which is also an Arabic name, but as I am obviously not Arab they were curious. Her response was that she didn’t know, but that maybe I was and it shouldn’t matter any ways, people are people no matter what. I wish I could have video taped this and shown it to all those people in America who think all children learn in school in the Middle East is how to hate Americans. Those people should really meet my Arabic Teacher.

It is so sad to think there used to be sizeable Jewish populations in Damascus, Aleppo, and a few other cities, and now they are all gone except for about 40 left in Damascus. There is no example of a Jew who is not an Israeli for Syrians to see in the streets. Most of my students have never left the Middle East or even Syria, so it is more than likely they have never met a Jew, or if they did they didn’t know, for example me. I would love to tear off my mask and tell them that I am sad I wont be celebrating Purim or Pesach this year, but its really not a good idea, so I will have to do what I can in the confines of my public identity, and hope that there are enough other teachers like my Arabic teacher to stop this generation from growing up thinking Jew and Israeli are synonymous, and that a person’s religion or nationality matters more than their humanity.

Actually the way things are going right now I think we could use a few more teachers like that in America as well.

Sorry Syria I think I liked being a Jew in Palestine more :)

2011-02-12T11:30:00.000+02:00

So several people have asked for an update on my life in Syria, and while we all know I am the world’s worst blogger I figured I could at least try for once a month. sorry its long!

I had two weeks before I started teaching when I first got here. I spent some time getting to know Aleppo, and then went to Damascus to visit an old friend and play tourist for while. The old city of Damascus is amazing. I wandered in it for hours, and still didn’t see everything. The best part though was meeting one of the few Syrian Jews still left in the country. The friend I was staying with knows him, and she introduced us. He told me there are only about 50 Jews left in the country, and people just keep leaving. He took my friend and I to one of the few Synagogues still in use in Damascus. It was beautiful, but also sad to see all the aging books, that will most likely never be replaced by new ones, as there would be no one to read them. I also got the opportunity to meet up with a professor I know who was leading a study trip in Syria, as well as a friend whom I had met on a similar trip in Israel/Palestine last year. It was nice to see some familiar faces in such a foreign country, and I felt energized and ready to start teaching and studying when I came back to Aleppo.

My main goal in coming to Syria is to improve my Arabic, and so far that part of the plan is going very well. I have an amazing Arabic teacher who, on top of giving me private lessons 3 days a week, has also been taking my on mini field trips on my days off. She is also working with a group of students from Universities in Washington DC, who are here for a few months to learn Arabic. She has taken me to a few of their events and will be taking me on any of the sight seeing trips they go on, which is nice, because most of the people I’ve met here have been here for awhile so they’re not so in to sight seeing on the weekends.

So far I am really enjoying teaching English. I have to say teaching English to adults who actually want to learn the language is definitely easier than teaching Hebrew to 12 year olds who would rather be playing Nintendo. The lesson plans are pretty much done for me. I just have to adapt them a little to each class, and if there is time try to add some games or other fun activities. My students range in age from 13 to middle age, but most of them seem to be around my age, so it is easy to connect with them, and keep the class from getting boring. One of my younger students is named Hiba, and while she is only the third Hiba I’ve ever known I think there must be some kind of magic to this name where you must be adorable if you have it.

It has also been very interesting seeing the reactions of my students to the events in Egypt. People here do not talk about politics. There is great fear of the security forces here. You never know who could be listening or even if you do know who’s listening you never know who they might be working for. Even with all this though I can tell people are very interested in Egypt. Every television in every shop I pass is tuned to Aljazeera and you can see people glued to those televisions watching the throngs of people in Tahrir square. It is very unlikely that something similar will happen in Syria. The economic situation in Syria is not as bad as it is in Egypt, and Bashar al-Assad, the President here is actually fairly well liked, so there is not the same mix of desperation and animosity, but who knows. Just watching the news here makes it seem like anything is possible.

So as far as studying and working go life is good, my social life, however, is another story.

I remember the first time I went to the West bank. I was about to start an Arabic language program at Birzeit University. At this point in my life I had travelled to Israel several times, but never ventured to “the other side” and here I was deciding to spend several months there. I told people I wasn’t worried, but in reality I was terrified. I was convinced I wasn’t going to be able to tell any one that I was Jewish or about my “Zionist upbringing.” That first week was hard for me, as I realized just how difficult it would be for me both practically and emotionally to keep lying to all these very nice people I was meeting.

Then, I don’t remember who exactly it was, but one of the staff at Birzeit was talking to the group and he said something that has always stuck with me. He was talking to us about Birzeit and Palestine being an open place. Where it matters more where you stand then who you are. This is when I knew it would be ok to tell the truth, and I’ve never looked back. I don’t mean to say that when I am in Palestine I run through the streets screaming I’m a Jew in Hebrew, but I am pretty open about my religion and my past with any one who I become friends with whether they be American, German or Palestinian. I have never gotten a negative reaction to my identity, at worst I get indifference, at best I get genuine interest in how a nice Jewish girl like me ended up in Palestine. This experience has been extremely positive for me, and I often share it with people I know who are still convinced that Palestinian animosity for Israel comes from hatred of Jews, and not an oppressive occupation.

About 6 months ago I was living in Bethlehem, and while I was having an amazing time I realized I was not accomplishing one of my main goals, which is to learn to speak Arabic at least on a conversational level. I had thought about going to Syria to study Arabic, because almost everyone I’ve ever known who speaks Arabic well learned in Syria. Sadly I didn’t have the funds to just run off and study. Then I hosted some couch surfers one of whom had been teaching English in Aleppo, Syria. I thought hey this is perfect. I can work to support my self and also take Arabic. So I contacted the school, had an interview, bought a plane ticket and a little over one month ago I found my self in the Damascus airport.

I had been told by friends who had travelled to Syria that its not a good idea to tell people I have been in Israel, or that I am Jewish. Here when people talk about Israel they don’t even say the actual name for fear of who might be listening. They call it Disneyland. Which is funny to me for several reasons, one that Walt Disney is fairly well known as an anti Semite, and also for the reason that while I’ve been to Israel/Palestine half a dozen times I’ve never been to Disneyland. I heeded my friends’ warnings and even when I had my interview over skype, I told the school I was in Chicago, when I was actually in a friend’s apartment in Beit Sahour.

I knew I was going to have to be careful, but I thought this experience would be like my experiences in Palestine. I thought that I would be able to be more open about my identity after getting to know people. This has not been the case. Currently there are only three people in Syria that know that I have spent time in Palestine/Israel and that I am Jewish. In the last few weeks I have met tons of new people and always the questions are, “have I traveled in the middle east before, how did I decide to come to Syria, what was I doing before I came here, and what do I plan to do after I leave. I’ve never thought I was very good at lying, but so far I think people buy my answer of having only travelled in Jordan and Egypt, being an international relations major, wanting to work on my Arabic, and having a friend who taught at the school where I am teaching last year, which I guess is technically all true.

I have really been enjoying my time in Syria so far. I have an amazing Arabic teacher, and I am really enjoying teaching English. Its been very interesting to watch my students try to grasp my language. The people here are warm and friendly, but every time I meet a new person, and give them a false story I feel like someone is kicking me in the stomach. It is hard to make friends when I can’t tell people about the two largest parts of my identity. I also often wonder if the Syrians would still be so warm and friendly if they knew. Deep down I think they would be. Like the teacher at Birzeit said it’s more about where you stand then who you are, but because Syria is a place where you never know who is listening and who they work for, its better if I just keep lying, as painful as that may be. I joined a gym while I’m here so I just have to hope the endorphins will keep me up beat until its time to go home

Change is good

2010-02-15T00:16:00.000+02:00

oh dear another month…. I think if there were an award for laziest blogger I would get it ☺
There have been some interesting changes in my life since I last wrote, and all for the better so that’s good.

First of all we started doing some painting at the center I am building for Paidia. I think the last few months I was getting a little depressed because I have not been doing what I set out to do here (play with children and speak Arabic all the time) because of the set backs Paida has experienced my role was changed from coordinator of the stepping stones program to basically manual labor and building of this leadership center. In the beginning It was fun, but then Jason was kicked out, and it was really only me and Saleem and some times various volunteers, and then Andrew came and he was supposed to take over. I was quite relieved as it was stressing me out to be in charge of something I knew nothing about. Unfortunately about three weeks after Andrew got here he had to go back home for a family emergency. Once again no ones fault, but I feel like I get left with a burden that should not be mine, and on top of everything it was just going very slowly partly because there were so few of us around to work on it, and partly because the weather started getting yucky soooo when we finally did some painting and built a path and a wall and I could actually see some progress that was exciting and made me feel a little better, and starting at the end of this month I will be spending more time on programs and less time on the center so I think that will also do me a world of good.
I also joined the gym here. Ive been meaning to do this for about 5 months, but didn’t get around to it for one reason or another. Finally I was getting so gloomy about work and bad weather that I decided I needed an endorphin fix or I was going to crash and burn, so I’ve started running again and it really is amazing the change I feel in my self. If you are ever depressed I seriously suggest running a few miles its like drugs only legal and with less negative after effects.

Another change I have had is that I started to take a class at Pardes. Pardes is what I have dubbed the egalitarian Yeshiva that several of my friends study at. They were having a course in studying peace and conflict resolution through Jewish text and I jumped at it. I’ve been taking it now for a couple weeks and I love it. I love learning again, and the people in my class are extremely intelligent and insightful. I also just like being in a community of Jewish learning for a few hours every week. It’s very refreshing.

Experience number three is Encounter. So, many months ago my friend Robert’s wife Avi sent me an email with a job listing for the program director for an organization called Encounter. Encounter takes Diaspora Jews that are spending some time in Israel on trips to the west bank. Many of them are rabbinical students doing their year in Israel. They bring speakers and generally do their best to give as much of the Palestinian narrative as possible in 36 hours. It’s an amazing program and even though I was not really qualified for the job I applied any ways. To my surprise I did have an interview but not the job, but a couple months ago. I heard from the director or Encounter that she would like to meet with me and see if there was a way I could work with Encounter in another capacity. So we met and had a “not interview” After our meeting I was invited to come on the next Encounter tour to see what it was they did. I of course accepted and prepared to go on a tour of the city I live in.

The tour was two weeks ago. I call it a tour because I’m not sure what else to call it, but it was much more than that. It started with an orientation the Sunday before. We got to know each other a little bit, and talked about what to expect on the trip. It was all a bit weird for me to be with so many people who had never been to the west bank before. While I know I myself had 2 years ago almost to the day experienced the same fears and apprehensions that these people were experiencing I was still surprised at many of the questions asked, and assumptions held, and this theme continued for me for most of the trip. It started early Thursday morning. The group came from Jerusalem I met them at the Hope and Flowers school out side of Bethlehem.

I wont go in to the details of each speaker over the course of the two days, but I found I was constantly biting my tongue when someone asked a question or made a comment that I found to be outrageous The one thing I was unable to bite my tongue about was when I heard several people talking about the one sidedness of the presentations and speakers. I had a few conversations about this, and it was amazing to me that I had to explain that of course it was one sided. We already know the Israeli and Jewish narrative, and our speakers have a limited amount of time to talk to us. They’re going to use that time to tell their story not the Israeli one. While I was frustrated much of the time I did make one realization that gave me so much more respect for my fellow participants on the trip. Most of the information that we took in over the course of 36 hours I have been able to slowly take in over the course of several years, and even at that rate it was hard and painful for me. I can’t imagine hearing so much that goes against what you think you know in such a short time. It is very hard, and for the most part people were very open to listening and only wanted to learn more when the trip was over. Over all this was an amazing experience for me. I learned so much about my self and my peers. I hope our conversations will continue. I gave an open invitation to the group it they wanted to come back to Bethlehem or any where in the west bank really I would be happy to host or help. Well see what happens with that. I am also really hoping to do more with Encounter. Their work is so important, and I would be honored to be a part of it.

Ok that’s it… today is my favorite holiday Singles Awareness Day! See my posting from two years ago to view my thoughts on this lovely day esp in this lovely country.

Correction

2010-01-18T21:43:00.000+02:00

sooo apparently I was misinformed. The reason the settlers refer to the structures at osh Ghrab as illegal is because technically the land still belongs to Israel. The land was confiscated by the IDF and they left but the confiscation order doesnt have an exiration date so until there is an official order for the land to be returned to the ownership of the municipality it is technically Israeli land. This however does not change the fact that the land was taken in the first place and as far as I am concerned is really Palestinian land and in no way are the settlers entitled to take it over for their own purposes.

Anarchists, left-wingers and international activists

2010-01-17T16:21:00.000+02:00

wow a whole month has gone by. Its amazing how time flies when you’re not blogging ☺

Its not that nothing has happened I just lost my desire to write for awhile, but now it’s back in full force. I think, due two a few recent events. First was the detention and deportation of an American friend of mine, and the continued detention of another friend. Here is an article about the situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8458566.stm

If you read my earlier posting about visas you already know the situation here, and how hard it can be to get a valid visa if you are an international who is here for other than “legitimate” reasons. Ma’an is a Palestinian News agency, but Israel does not grant work visas to their journalists. Jared has been here on three month tourist visas for two years he is known by the IDF and many government officials because of his job, and it is only now that Israel claims they must deport him because he is a security threat. Jared was scheduled to have a hearing today. I haven’t heard any news yet on what happened, but it seems more than likely that he will be deported just like Faith was a few days ago. These two people are as far from a security threat as I could possible imagine. They are just internationals trying to live and work/volunteer in the west bank and according to Israel that means you are a security risk.

The other event is actually retaliation to something some friends and myself did. In Beit Sahour is there a very nice park called Osh Ghrab, where Paidia has our climbing tower. Across the road from the park and up a hill is an abandoned army base. When the IDF left this base the ownership of the land reverted back to the Beit Sahour Municipality, but there is a group of settlers who are trying to reclaim this land and take it over. They call it Shdema. They meet there almost every Friday and make speeches and are generally not nice. There used to be racisit and nationalist graffiti all over the site on the old buildings that said things like “this land is only for Jews” etc… Last Friday my self and some other people (mostly Jews) went to the site and spray painted versus from the bible and rabbinical sayings that pertain to how what these settlers are doing is against Jewish ethics and values. Such as Do not steal, do not covet your neighbor’s house etc… ask me if you want pictures. While we knew this was unlikely to unharden the hearts of the settlers we thought it may be the only way to get through to any of them. We also knew it would upset them to see they were being fought with what they think of as their own words. Sadly, we did not foresee their reaction. This past Friday they decided to retaliate by going to the Park across the road and spray painting Jewish Stars and other sayings similar to what used to be on the army base buildings all over the park. IDF soldiers that were present at the time allowed this to happen and did nothing to stop them. Arutz Sheva an Israeli right wing news agency did an article on it. (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135548)

In it I, and my friends are referred to as anarchists, left-wingers and international activists. While I don’t see any of these names as insults or negatives I do think it is interesting that they lump them all in to one category, and also that they don’t think for one moment that this was done by fellow Jews, some of whom are very pro Israel, just not pro crazy settler. In the article the settlers are referred to as Nationalist Activists and it talks about their “ongoing effort to make sure the recently abandoned military base site does not fall into enemy hands.” It also says “Shdema activists went down to the illegal structures the Arabs built at the foot of Shdema and spray painted all of the Arabs' illegal structures from within and without, on the walls, doors and floors.”

It is utterly amazing to me that someone who calls them self a journalist can actually print something like this. This land legally belongs to Beit Sahour. Im not sure what laws they are looking to when they site the buildings and climbing tower at Osh Ghrab as illegal structures. I would like to just dismiss these people and say they are the crazy minority, but they are growing and it scares me and makes me wonder if peace will ever be possible here as long as these people filled with so much hatred are allowed to have so much freedom and power.

On a lighter note, before all of this happened I had Christmas in Bethlehem! This was quite the experience. I went to my first Christmas mass at the Lutheran Christmas Church. It was nice. They had the service in Arabic, English and German, and we ended with a candle light procession while singing silent night to a reception. Then we had dinner with all 20 of us, Katie, Bethany and I all had guests. At some point all the lights went out and when they came back on there was some guy dressed as Santa Claus giving out hats, masks and noise makers. I wasn’t sure if it was Christmas or Mardi Gras. After Dinner we went to Manger Square, which is a large square outside of the Church of the Nativity. There were a bazillion people there. They had built a large stage and there were concerts and performances going on. It was pretty great. We ended the night with wine and cookies at our house. I think over all a pretty great Christmas. One thing I have learned while here is that there are three different dates for Christmas. The catholic/protestant one is Dec 25th. Then there is the Greek Orthodox Christmas, which was a week ago, and last but not least is the Armenian Christmas, which is on Tuesday. The one on the 25th is the most celebrated, but the lights stay up until after Armenian Christmas. So If you live here you get three Christmases…. Its almost as good as eight days of Chanukkah ☺

Jordan is for lovers, and adventures in pissing of Haredim by praying

2009-12-19T16:19:00.000+02:00

YEAH!!!!!! I GOT A THREE MONTH VISA!!!!!!!

I was legit worried about this but I used my magical Hebrew speaking powers and conviced the lady that I was going to get a student visa but hadn’t had time before I left, so she told me in a very stern voice that it was very important that I get my student visa and then she gave me a three month stamp woooo! I could feel a huge weight lifting off of me after that. It was the perfect end to a wonderful vacation.

Wadi Rum was beautiful and fun. We hiked on Monday and Tuesday and Monday night we slept in the middle of the dessert and saw more stars than I have ever seen in my life. We also saw a bunch of shooting stars it was very cool. We were also serenaded by our Bedouin guide, and his cousin, who played the oud. It was a wonderful evening. Tuesday we hiked the tallest mountain in Jordan (look it up its not as impressive as it sounds) Then we headed to Aqaba to meet Sandra at our hostel. We spent the next 36 hours relaxing in beds, on the beach and by the pool. We did some snorkeling and wandering of Aqaba but mostly we just lay around, which was amazing. Thursday morning Naomi and I headed back to Eilat and I got my golden ticked aka three month visa. We we welcomed back to Jerusalem with cold and rain ☹ but we survived the treck home and made latkes for dinner (yum!)

Friday Morning Miriam, Naomi and I woke up at 6am to go to the Kotel (western wall) for Rosh Chodesh. We were participating in a half prayer service half demonstration with the organization Women of the Wall. It used to be illegal for Women to hold group prayer at the Kotel. There was a court battle and now it is allowed only on Rosh Chodesh, and women are still not allowed to read Torah or wear Tallitot there. This is one of the many things that makes me question the claim the Israel is a democracy. At last months service a woman was arrested for attempting to read Torah and wearing a Tallit. It is simply mind boggling that prayer could be considered illegal just because of the gender of the person who is offering the prayer. It makes me very sad and angry that the “leaders” of my religion have decided that I am not allowed to pray in the same fashion or places as men are. As we were holding our service and singing we were called bastards, Nazis and several other not so nice names. Most of the yelling was in Hebrew, but at one time I heard a man in an American accent telling us that we were “responsible for the death of six million Jews” I’m sorry what?!?! How messed up in the head do you have to be to think that women praying out loud at the Kotel is what caused the Holocaust? The whole experience was sad and on top of everything it was cold and raining the whole time. In one news article a Rabbi said it was Hashem crying because of our deeds. Naomi said if anything it was Hashem crying for the treatment we received while trying to execute the simple act of prayer.

Shabbat was spent going to Kol Haneshama ( a reform synagoge in Jerusalem) for services which is always a nice familiar Shabbat experience, and dinner with some lovely ladies of Pardes. I should be heading back to Bethlehem in a few hours unless I get some indication that a good bye party is happening in Jerusalem this evening. I am excited to be going home, to see my roomates and to sleep in my own bed after so long.

Shavuah Tov and Merry almost Christmas!

No visa for you!

2009-12-12T23:37:00.000+02:00

A of all I re read my last blog post and realized the end is rather preachy, so sorry for that and Ill try not to do it again. I should know enough that any one who is reading this is my friend and probably doing many things in their own right to make the world a better place.

So this post is mainly going to be about visas and the Israeli government’s aversion to giving them to people. It started (at least on my radar screen) with the denial of Sarah and Jason’s application to extend their visa to December 30th. They as you know had to leave several weeks ago to the sadness of every one here. Soon after we learned some other friends of ours also had their visa application sent to committee, which is exactly what happened to Sarah and Jason before they were denied. I learned about a week ago they theirs was also denied and they will be leaving very soon. Then one of my roommates went to Germany for a few days to renew her visa when she returned she was told she had to go to the ministry of the interior, and was not even any visa. Most people at least get 2 weeks or a month, but she got nothing and now just has an appointment at the ministry and is doing her best not to freak out. Just a few days ago another friend of mine told me her application to extend her visa was also denied. She is studying at the conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, but she is not Jewish. This is the reason she was given for not being able to get a student visa. All of these people are either studying or doing good works in the community. None of these people are a security risk to Israel and none of them are looking to live here permanently. The worst story is when my former roommate from when I lived in Birzeit came to visit me. She was denied entry completely. The scary thing is that she told them she was coming to visit me, and they told her that she was being denied because my visa expired on December 14th, which is does. I am not sure that this is the real reason she was denied, but it makes me a bit nervous. They have also changed their rules for check points. There are three check points (Bethlehem, Beit Jallah, and Beit Sahour) where people can go in and out of the west bank. On Thursday I tried to go out through the beit Jallah one with one of my roommates and we were made to get off the bus and told we were no longer allowed to go through that check point, and that we had to go back to Bethlehem and go through that check point. I am not sure what is going on, but it seems to me that the government is trying to make it more and more difficult for internationals to be in the west bank. Which makes sense from their position. They don’t want us here to see, document and publicize all the shitty things they do. All of this is making me very nervous as I am leaving for Jordan tomorrow for my first visa renewal run, and now I am less confident that I will get my three month visa stamp or even be let back in the country. So if you think about it between now and Thursday night send some positive energy my way.

On a lighter note, on Friday morning I went to Tel Aviv for a Human rights demonstration. (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447411598&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull) It seemed like there was a sign there for every marginalized group in and out of Israel. The most prevalent were for Palestinians in Israel as well as in The west bank and Gaza. This made me just a little more hopeful than I usually am. It was nice to see Israelis enmass in support for Palestinian rights. I just wish there were more of them, but hopefully some day. The march/rally was very spirited and a really great experience over all. My only problem was that it was in Tel Aviv. This sort of thing is much more needed in Jerusalem. If we could get all these lefty telavivians out of their bubble to protest at sheik Jarah for example I think it would be much more effective than walking the streets of tel aiviv, but I guess you have to take what you can get and hope this will be come something bigger and further reaching.

Okay don’t forget to think of/pray for me that I get back in to the country on Thursday!

Oh and HAPPY CHANUKKAH!!!!!

Goodbyes, My first Ikea encounter, building things, and thoughts on Thanksgiving...

2009-11-25T23:21:00.000+02:00

The last two weeks have been rather tumultuous with some fabulous ups and pretty upsetting downs. The week before Jason and Sarah left we spent hanging out as much as possible, and Jason trying to impart as much information as possible to me before he left. This was a bit stressful for me. I don’t really like to be in charge of things, esp when its not something I know a whole lot about. (i.e. building a compost toilet) On Thursday we started building a different wall with tires and Jason was busy doing other things around town most of the day, so it was me and Saleem and some other volunteers. Every time I asked Saleem to do something he would say “yes boss” I found I did not like this at all, but he was mostly kidding. After work on Thursday Bethany and I went to a birthday party with Rachel. We didn’t know the birthday boy…. But every one was friendly and we knew some people there. It was a little weird. The birthday boy was the fiancé of a girl who works at the American School in Beit Jalla, and the party was at the school. It was very laid back just some snacks people hanging out…. And then they decided to play some games. The first game was sort of an evolution of taboo and charades put together. Every one had to write down three names of famous people real or fictional that every one would know. There were about 3 Mohamed’s and 3 Jesus’ in the pile. I chose the little mermaid, Simba and Bon Jovi…. Some people had trouble with the last one (oops) the game was entertaining and my team won! The next game was a combination of never have I ever and musical chairs. The person in the middle says something they have never done and if you have also never done it then you have to move chairs. Except the person in the middle can lie and the people in the chairs cannot. So two statements were “I have never been to church camp” and “I have never worn a cross” I was the only person who got up for these. This is just to give you an idea of who I hang out with these days ☺ aaany ways it was fun in the end. And after this party Rachel and I went to hang out on the roof of some other friends and watch the stars so it was a good end to the evening.

Friday was Sarah’s last ladies lunch. It was very sad but there were no tears yet. After lunch Rachel and I took Hiba for a few hours so Sarah could get some stuff done. Fri night was the going away party for Sarah and Jason this was amazing. We moved all the furniture in Erich and Candice’s house so there was a dance floor and they even got a small keg from Taybeh (Palestinian brewery) it was a crazy and wonderful evening.
The next morning all of PAIDIA had breakfast/brunch together at Sarah and Jason’s house and just hung out for awhile. Then we went back to Erich and Candice’s to help clean, and then Rachel took me home.

Monday was a sad and strange day. We had our regular PAIDIA morning meeting sans Sarah and Jason. After the meeting we all went to Sarah and Jason’s house to help them pack up the car and say a final see you later (never goodbye). Originally they were going to borrow a van, and Rachel and I were going to drive them to the northern border with Jordan, and then take the van back with a stop over at IKEA. It turns out they didn’t get the van but a friend drove them in their SUV. Even though we weren’t needed any more Rachel and I decided we were too sad to do any real work that day, so we drove formerly Sarah and Jason’s now Erich and Candice’s car to IKEA any ways. I have never been to an IKEA before in America or anywhere else. It was quite the over whelming experience, but they do have a lot of fun things, and Rachel and I did our best to over come our grief through shopping ☺
Tuesday we had a sushi fundraiser for PAIDIA so after some meetings Saleem and I went over to Rachel’s to help her make sushi. It was only my second time making sushi and pretty fun. The fundraiser went well and hopefully well get some donations out of it.

Friday was the first party in my apartment that I was able to attend. My roommates and I were pretty excited about it. It was really fun we had a lot of people, and every one seemed to have a good time. My friends Naomi, Miriam and Amy came from Jerusalem. Amy had been to the west bank before, but it was the first time for Miriam and Naomi. These are my two friends I wrote about before that recently found out their apt is on the Palestinian side of the green line and were upset about it because they’re crunchy lefties. They spent most of the day touring sadly I was working so I couldn’t join them, but eventually they made their way to my house. I think they had a good experience. I have read both of their blog entries about coming to Bethlehem and it seems to have made them contemplative, which is definitely a step in the right direction… contemplation and questions is what lead me to where I am today. I am pretty sure some more friends will be coming to visit me, and I relish the opportunity to show them Bethlehem and the west bank and especially the checkpoints and the wall. I think it’s important for people to see the wall up close and from the Palestinian side, it really opens your eyes.

Saturday I went to lunch at a Palestinian family’s house with my roommate Bethany. It was very nice and they didn’t even mind that I was a vegetarian they just laughed at me and made a few jokes at my expense. That evening we went to a conference being put on by ICAHD. It was comparing the South African apartheid to the Israeli occupation. At first I thought they were going to just try to show the similarities, and say it’s the same thing, (which is very annoying to me since they are very different), but they actually did a very good job of talking about the similarities and differences, and how we can learn from the truth and reconciliation commission and try to do a better job if Israel and Palestine ever even get to that point. It was a very interesting evening over all, and I got to say hi to Jeff Halper and he remembered me, which is always nice.

Sunday Rachel took Bethany and I to the cellcom store in Jerusalem to get our Internet fixed and also to the grocery store. Most grocery stores in the west bank are very small and you often have to go to a few to get all the things you need or want, so its always a little exciting to go to a grocery store in Jerusalem it seems soooo big it’s a little over whelming. At the cellcom store I think I got hit on by a very friendly soldier. He wanted to know where I lived and what I was doing in “Israel” I didn’t feel like having THAT conversation esp with someone in uniform, so I told him I lived in Talpiot and was studying at Pardes (thanks Miriam and Naomi) and then I just sort of turned away and tried to end the conversation because I don’t like lying. I also don’t like that I have to lie to have a normal conversation here but I guess that’s what I’m trying to fix.

The last few days have been a bit hectic. I have been given a lot of responsibilities after Jason left and so now I am preparing to build things when I have no experience what so ever building, especially a composting toilet made out of tires. This was a lot more fun when Jason was in charge and I just did what he told me, but I guess this is good experience for me, and will build character. We’re supposed to pour the floor of the bathroom tomorrow and I am just a little bit terrified that nothing with work the way we think it will and it will be a huge disaster, but I’m hoping for the best, and either way when its all over it will be thanksgiving. I just made two pecan pies and my apt smells amazing. I can’t wait for all the deliciousness tomorrow.

I love thanksgiving. In my family we have always gone around the table before we eat and said the things we were thankful for, and this has always made this time of year a time of reflection for me. In my family we know about the small pox, land stealing and general crappiness of the way the native Americans were treated, so there is no thought to celebrating the pilgrims and Indians and how nice they were to each other. For us it has always been about being together, which is harder than one would think, and thinking about all the blessings in our lives. It is strange to be in Palestine of all places for thanksgiving. I would like to say I am thankful for the fact that no one is trying to take my land and give me small pox, but this is made more difficult when someone is trying to take the land of Palestinians all around me. Last week there were two house demolitions in East Jerusalem. This has nothing to do with security these were not the homes of terrorists, just normal families who built with out the impossible to get building permit from Israel. Soooo I think im going off on a rant again. I just hope this thanksgiving you will think about all the things we take for granted, like food, water, and a roof over our heads, and give some thought to those people who do not have the luxury of taking these things for granted. As Americans we may see what happened to the native Americans a bad thing that happened in the past, but it still happens every day all over the world, so just remember that as you’re slipping into your food coma tomorrow, and maybe just maybe think about what you might do this year to cause a few more people to have a little more to be thankful for next year.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ☺

Two week highlights and why the ministry of interior is evil

2009-11-08T22:04:00.000+02:00

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?????

More scooter injuries, and teaching Palestinians that vegetarians don't eat chicken

2009-10-27T19:59:00.000+02:00

Thursday I rode the scooter to the center with out incident (go me!!!) and there was much stuffing of tires to be done to buid the wall of our composting toilet. This work is a bit tedious but time goes by relatively quickly when I have Jason and Saleem to entertain me ☺ some of the people from Bustan Qaraaqa (http://www.bustanqaraaqa.org) came by to help with building and stuff. Alice is the one who actually knows what she is doing. So she comes and makes sure were not building a death trap and helps with a lot of the labor as well. Jason didn’t need his scooter that night so I got to drive it home once again. When I got home I had a facebook message from my new friend Jeremy. Apparently because his father was born in Israel the Israeli government is forcing citizenship on him if he wants to work here. Sooo he was inviting people to a mock aliya party on Friday night. It turns out we were going to the same place for Shabbat services/dinner any ways so I told him I was in.

Friday I fell on the scooter….. again ☹ I was driving it to the site where I was supposed to help Saleem with the impact program which works with a group of teenagers to help them with their leadership, teamwork and communications skills. These kids will eventually be ambassadors of the Palestinian cause in other countries so we are supposed to be giving them the skills to tell their story to foreigners. I fell on the scooter while trying to go down a very steep unpaved hill. I tried to slow down but it skidded and I fell….. oh well I guess its part of the learning process. My knee was killing me since I had now fallen on it twice, but it still worked so I wasn’t too worried. I hobbled the scooter the rest of the way to the park and then met up with Saleem. We did programs with the kids for about an hour and a half. It was supposed to be 2 hours but they were 30 mins late (welcome to Balastine) They were working on trust with in the group that day so we did a lot of excercises for that and then they spend some time talking about what they did and how they felt about it. I only understand about 25% if that so I didn’t always know what was going on but I got the general gist and was able to be helpful and talk to them a little. After the program was over I went to girls lunch and then Bethany gave me a ride to Jerusalem on her scooter.
I went to Shabbat services with Miriam and Naomi at the Jewish renewal community. They were pretty great. There was lots of singing and music and dancing and just general enthusiasm for praying. We also participated in the potluck afterwards. It was very tastey and all veggie which was great for me. Afterwards we met up with Jeremy and some other friends on the Tayelet to drink wine and talk about political things. It was a very interesting and fun evening.

Saturday I slept in and then went back to Bethlehem. I had a pretty chill afternoon/evening. At around 9pm Rachel and Audra picked me up to go to a pork BBQ. It turns out we were the only women and foreigners there, which I think Rachel and Audra knew but I didn’t really think about it until we were there, but every one was very nice no sketchiness. When I told the host I was a vegeatrian he said no problem we have chicken. I thought he was kidding but 20 minutes later he was trying to give me chicken so I had to explain I didn't eat that either. I am always afraid of being rude they were pretty cool about it, they even grilled onions and tomatoes for me because they were afraid I wasn’t going to have enough to eat. We stayed til after 1am, so I crashed pretty soon after I got home.

Sunday Bethany and I sat around in our pajamas all day. We did a bunch of Arabic studying, but all in PJs. I got dressed for about 30 mins to go buy groceries, but then came home showered and put the PJs right back on. Im so glad I have a full weekend.

Monday I scootered to the office for staff meeting, and then there were lots more meetings about the impact program and the center. In the afternoon Jason and I did more tire scavenging. For dinner that night I went to some friends of Bethany who were making Mexican food. It was delicious. They are going to have dinners every Monday from now on, so that should be nice. I also recruited one of them to volunteer at the center on Thursday (woot!) After dinner we hung out with Katie for awhile and then bed time.

Today I woke up with some “tummy problems” basically I needed to stay with in close proximity of a bathroom, and since were still building the bathroom at the center I told Jason I wasn’t going to make it. I barely ate all day, but I just ate some noodles and seem to be okay so far. Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow problem free and be productive.

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

2009-10-22T00:11:00.000+02:00

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.

Driving, Beer and building a ropes course

2009-10-04T17:03:00.000+02:00

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….

DO NOT GET IN FIGHTS WITH PALESTINIAN TREES!!!!!

2009-09-26T11:57:00.000+02:00

Lesson of the week….. DO NOT GET IN FIGHTS WITH PALESTINIAN TREES!!!!

And if you want an explanation you’ll just have to read a little further ☺

Sooo lets see I left off the night before I was to start my volunteer work for PAIDIA, and its been quite the crazy start. PAIDIA has been planning a three day carnival for the past few months and it began on Monday. So I got to the office around 9am there was a meeting about lots of things, and then I had a short meeting with Erich (the boss) about what I was going to be doing for the year, and then we went in to carnival mode. I helped with organizing prizes and blew up a lot of balloons. Eventually we fit some lunch in there and then headed to the park where we would be setting up for the carnival. Starting from the moment we got to the park I spoke more Arabic in one night than I have in my life. There were lots of kids when we got there and they all wanted to know what was going on, so I did my best to explain in my sad sad Arabic that we were having a carnival. They seemed pretty excited and kept asking me more and more questions. I only understood about ¾ of them and could only give good answers for about half, but I think that’s ok for not using Arabic in over a year.
We spent a lot of time setting up for the carnival. I was assigned to the climbing tower. This was a lot of fun, but also very stressful. There is no such thing as a line in Palestine, so we did our best to keep kids organized in the order that they bought their tickets to climb the tower but it was pretty much a big mess. By the end of the night I was cold and tired and hungry but felt great about all the Arabic and seeing the kids so happy made up for everything else.

Tuesday I didn’t have to be at the office until 11, so that was nice. The day went pretty much the same just with less meetings and we went to the site earlier to set up. Once the carnival began there was mass chaos ones again, but a good kind of chaos. When I finally got home my roommates were watching the 2008 American music awards what they put on TV here never ceases to amaze me. I watched too for a bit and then passed out for the night.

Wednesday was the last night of the carnival. Rachel was ecstatic as this has been her baby from the beginning and she was ready to be done. I still didn’t have to go to work until 11, but then we went almost straight to the site to set up everything, and so this time we had just enough time to get dinner and breathe for a minute before all the kiddies came. Saddly it was a bit chilly and there were a lot less people there on Wednesday. We had a few climbers at the tower, but mostly I chatted with some other volunteers who came from Jerusalem University College.

It has been very interesting for me to meet so many people that are in Israel or Palestine mainly because of their religion. I guess that is why I am here too, but it isn’t as forefront in my mind as it is for many of these people. I think it seems strange because when I was at Birzeit almost every one was a devout atheist, so I got used to the idea of that being the people who come here, but I was mistaken and its nice to meet Christians who are (as Eddie Izzard would say) relaxed and groovy, and not trying to convert any one, just wanting to help.

After the carnival I went with Rachel to take the students from Jerusalem home, and then she dropped me off at home, and I was welcomed with a plate of apple cinnamon muffins that Bethany made ( I love my roommates!) now they were watching the 2009 Grammys I think, but I was too tired to pay much attention, and I went to bed pretty soon after getting home.

Thursday we needed to do some work clearing the site where we will be building a high ropes coarse. This is when I learned my lesson about trees. We were clearing lots of rubble and large branches. At one point I had to pull a dead branch from a tree. It took some effort but eventually I was victorious (or so I thought) then I lugged the branch to the large pile we already had and threw it on top of the pile but it bounced and whacked me straight in the forehead, which then bled a lot. All in all it wasn’t really that bad, but I learned my lesson and was much more gentle with the trees and their branches from then on. We worked until about 5:30 Then I went with Erich to get a bunch of food for a bbq at his house, (chicken for every one else and a giant eggplant for me yum!) we hung out and talked til almost 1am and since I don’t live in Beit Sahour I ended up crashing in the spare bedroom at Jason and Sarah’s house. Jason and Sarah have a 1 and ½ year old daughter named Hibba and a baby boy named Matthias who was born about a week ago.

So Friday I didn’t really get to sleep in, but it was ok. I got up and played with Hibba until nap time and then I went to a girls lunch in Bethlehem with Sarah and several other American women who are living and working in the area. It was quite nice, and very close to my house. So I walked home and basically hung out with the roommates until Katie and I went to a party at the Permaculture farm run by a bunch of Brits in Beit Sahour. Katie’s sister has a car and lives near by so we got a ride (woot) The party was pretty fun and I met some nice new people. The farm is pretty impressive if you want to know more about it you can look at their web site http://www.bustanqaraaqa.org. These people are doing really good and important work, and they know how to throw a good party ☺ We left a bit early because our ride was tired, but it was a good night, and now I have to get ready for the bbq for all the volunteers for the carnival. And Tomorrow is the night of Yom Kippur so I better start getting in to repent mode. ☺ To all my Jewish friends I hope you will have a meaningful fast this Yom Kippur. To all my other friends don’t eat in front of your Jewish friends on Monday they will not like you for this☺

A Jew in Palestine Part 2 Bethlehem Edition

2009-09-20T22:39:00.000+02:00

14/9/09

So Ive been here for almost a week now and Im just getting the chance to sit down with my thoughts and attempt to get them down on paper (or I guess on screen) Ive been having a million thoughts go through my head since I set foot off the plane at Ben Gurion airport, but it is always hard for me to organize them in to something coherent and readable….. I shall do my best but I make no promises.

Before I get in to all the lovely things I have done so far this week. I wanted to share my thoughts on my first Rosh Hashanah here. One would think that with the amount of times Ive traveled to Israel and/or Palestine I would have been here for the high holidays before, but alas this was my first time, and I found my self to be both excited and conflicted. Which reminded me of feeling the exact same way a year ago when I was here for Pesach.

For most major Jewish Holidays Israel basically seals off the west bank. Only Internationals and Palestinians with permits, and who are over 45 If they are women and 50 if they are men are allowed through. This was particularly disturbing to me a year ago when I went to Jerusalem for Pesach, which is a holiday that celebrates the Jewish peoples deliverance from bondage, and subsequent freedom in a new land (this land). It is hard for me to see how the Israeli government justifies taking away one peoples freedom to celebrate their own. The general argument of suicide attacks could be given, but I have a suspicion that the real reason is so they wont need as many soldiers at the check points so more of them can go home for the holidays. Which is nice for those soldiers, and a complete disregard of the human rights of the Palestinian people.

This Rosh Hashanah (Jewish new year) happened to coincide with the end of Ramadan. Israel promised that despite the border closing, they would still accommodate for the over 300,000 Palestinians expected to head to Jerusalem for the last Friday of Ramadan. But…….. “A report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affiars (UN-OCHA) noted that last week at least 60 percent of Palestinians were denied entry to East Jerusalem on Fridays, and noted that entry of eligible Palestinians ‘proved difficult due to physical obstacles and lack of adequate arrangements on the checkpoints.’" (http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=226653&MARK=border)

I saw this first hand when I was crossing through the check point from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. When I first got there the line was not moving at all, and eventually I figured out that this was because there were no Israeli soldiers at the gate. I was worried that they had just closed it and left for the weekend, but about 20-30 minutes after I arrived two soldiers eventually made their way to the gate to decide who got to go to Jerusalem that day.

Every one pushed forward towards the gate and was trying to show their papers to the soldiers. Most of the young men were turned away. I was trying to edge my way forward, but I haven’t quite got my Palestine balls yet and I was still being the polite American I was taught to be, so my progress was slow. Eventually a man next to me pulled my arm and yelled at the soldiers and pushed me forward. In effect basically saying “look she’s blond you can let her through” This was very nice of the man, but I always feel a little guilty getting special treatment at check points…. Any ways I made it through with no more problems and got a bus for the 7 min ride to Miram and Naomi’s street. Im pretty sure If there was no check point and I could drive straight from my apt in Bethlehem to Miriam and Naomi’s apt in Talpiyot it would take about 10 mins total. It took me about an hour this time and could have taken much longer, and if I were Palestinian I probably wouldn’t have made it at all.

In ten days Jews all over the world will ask the people in their lives and God for forgiveness for the wrongs they have committed against them. As someone who wants to work in the field of conflict resolution I both long for and worry about the day when Israel will have to ask for the forgiveness of the Palestinian people for the many wrongs they commit against them every day.

Ok now that Ive written my rant for the week I will let you know about all the not so angry things I did this week. Also, a reminder from last time, this blog is also for me to remember things so if I go in to boring details I apologize I want to remember everything!

Soooo I arrived on Monday night. I was picked up at the airport by Rachel, who works at PAIDIA. (in case you’re wondering what the hell im doing here check out pidev.org) We stopped at McDonalds on the way to Bethlehem from Tel Aviv. Not the best gastronomic start for my return, but I was too tired to argue. Rachel took me to my apt in Bethlehem. I met my roommates we all hung out for a bit and chatted, and then I was exhausted so I showered and passed out.

Tuesday Sarah, the person I have mostly corresponded with from PAIDIA, came to get me from my apt at 10 and gave me a little driving tour of Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, which is where PAIDIA is located. The tours were pretty quick as Sarah was scheduled to induce labor and have a baby later that day. I also met her very adorable daughter Hibbah, who was afraid of me at first, but warmed quickly. Sarah took me to a produce place and grocery store to get some essentials, which was basically tomatoes, cucumbers, pita and Humus. Then she took me home. I decided to finish unpacking. And plan for my excursion to Ramallah/Birzeit the next day.

Wednesday I left my apt around 1:30 to go to Ramallah. I was told by my friend Rima to take a bus to Jerusalem and then to Ramallah because that would be better. I think maybe she would be correct at other times but it is Ramadan so traffic is heavier and this time it was pretty horrendous. First of all I took a wrong turn on the way to the checkpoint so a 15-20 min walk turned in to almost an hour to get to the checkpoint. Then there was a very long line, lots of pushing and shoving. Finally I got through and got on a bus to Jerusalem. But this time it was almost 4 and traffic was rather slow. Then I got on a bus to Ramallah, and I thought everything was going to be a breeze from there, but it seems some things have changed since I left. It used to be that if you were driving in to Palestine you didn’t have to get off the bus, but this time they made us get off and walk through the checkpoint and then I had to catch another bus to Ramallah.

It was nice to finally be somewhere that I was familiar with. I met up with my friends Yousef and William and we went to the only restaurant open/selling alcohol in Ramallah during Ramadan. I was starving since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was about 5:30. So we got some pizza, and beer (ya know traditional Palestinian food) and chatted for awhile. Some how we got on the topic of marriage, and I was trying to explain to them that I didn’t think divorce was such a big deal, and you shouldn’t have to stay married to someone forever if its not working out. They both disagreed with me, but we had a good debate. Eventually we made it to Birzeit. I went for a walk by myself just to think and reminisce a little. It was a bit sad actually. I kept walking by peoples doors wanting to ring the bell and play with them, but knowing they didn’t live there ne more. After wandering for awhile and a quick email check at living stones I went back to William’s store, which he is very proud of, and hung out with him and Yousef for the rest of the evening.

I got back to Bethlehem Thursday afternoon, after some adventures in the old city. I then spent the rest of the day decorating and beautifying my room. It is now covered in photos of the last 4 years or so of my life and some pretty scarves. Then spent the evening bonding with my roommates which was very nice.

Friday I headed to Jerusalem for Rosh Hashanah and had the adventure described above. I got to Naomi and Miriam’s apt in the early afternoon. I helped them clean a bit since they were doing all the cooking. Then I went to dinner with Miriam to her cousin’s house. Most of the family was very nice and sane, until I was telling Miriam’s great uncle that I was from Chicago, and he said something about oh whos that guy from Chicago, and Miriam’s cousin who is our age says “Barak HUSEIN Obama” and the great uncle says oh yeah hes from Chicago, after which the young cousin says “originally from Kenya” Miriam and I just looked at eachother in shock. Seriously? Really? An Israeli Birther wtf! I can understand not agreeing with his policies, but a birther??! That’s just ridiculous. The rest of the meal went very well though and we definitely ate some delicious food.

Sat Morning I learned about synagogue hopping. We decided to go to Kol Hanishama (The reform synagogue) first and then left after the torah service to go to Kedem which is a egalitarian conservadox carlbachish shul. They don’t have their own building they they do have a lot of spirit. I am still not totally comfortable in non reform services, but I followed along well enough and knew mostly what was happening, and the singing was great. The best part was seeing OSRUI people at both services……because OSRUI people are EVERY WHERE! After the service we went to a pot luck lunch of mostly Pardes students. Pardes is I guess best described as an egalitarian yeshiva. I think most or all the teachers are men, but the students are mostly young anglo men and women of fairly liberal backgrounds. They are also also young people who have decided to dedicate this year and probably more of their lives to Jewish text study. They are all interesting and many of them funny, and I think a very good group to have around for holidays. Lunch was delicious and afterwards I vowed for the third time in a week that I would never eat again. Sat night Naomi and I decided not to go to services and to just got for a walk make our own dinner, and just generally chill. It was a pleasant evening that ended in Pecan pie….enough said ☺

Sunday morning I was awoken by Miriam to go to second day services I don’t normally observe the second day of Rosh Hashanah, but since the first day was on Shabbat they could blow the shofar, and I needed to get my shofar fix for the year, so I went with Miriam to another shul that was orthodox and also fairly egalitarian. There was a mechitzah (divider between men’s and women’s side) but it was down the middle and women participated in the service. There were also about a million babies and toddler, so when I got bored I had lots of cute faces to entertain me. After services Miriam, Naomi, and their roommate Sarah were hosting a lunch, so we went back to the apt and prepared for the guests. I have to say Miriam and Naomi pick their friends quite well. This was one of the most entertaining lunches of my life. Lots of laughing and fun stories. The only downer was when Avi, one of the guests informed the hosts that they technically lived on the Palestinian side of the green line. I kind of knew this already, but didn’t feel the need to tell them since there wasn’t anything they could do about it. Talpiyot (where Miriam, Naomi and most of Pardes lives) is thought of by most Jeruselemites as just a suburb of Jerusalem, but that’s how a lot of settlers feel about where they live.

Im not sure I would call it a settlement, but the conversation made me think about the fact that most Israelis and Jews even if they are fairly liberal still see all land to the west of the 67 green line as rightfully Israel’s and while that may be true legally. It does not explain away the 700,000 Palestinians that were kicked out of what is called “Israel Proper.” I think it is important that some day Israelis and Jews realize that while a two state solution may or may not be the answer to everyone’s problems the Palestinians had a lot more than the land east of the green line taken from them, and are owed something for this

Ok I went off on a political tangent again its hard not to do when im living here. But its passed my bed time and I start working at PAIDIA tomorrow so I need to get some sleep to make a good first impression. I realize this post is 4 pages long. Ill do my best to scale it down in the future, but like I said before no promises ☺

two month summary

2008-07-15T18:22:00.000+03:00

So its been awhile and a lot has happened in my life since the last time I wrote. Like my computer dying, playing in Europe, and beginning a new Semester at Birzeit University. I now have a new computer which is pretty nice. It’s a mac and I am quite happy with the switch I have made. I don’t think I will ever go back to PCs after this. Out side of a new computer I have also started the new semester at Birzeit. Its kind of weird. When everyone first came I had a bit of Déjà vu I remember my first day at Birzeit I was so nervous and still a little scared. Now I know my way around Ramallah and Birzeit. My Arabic has improved astronomically, and I have some good friends to play with. It gives me a comfy feeling. Most of the new people seem pretty cool, but a lot of them have chosen to live in Ramallah, and I don’t have class with most of them so I haven’t met all of them. The other issue is that Omar is not here. Now I have no right to complain since obviously the fact that Omar is still in prison is much worse for him than for any of us, but it was Omar that really got everyone together and made parties happen last semester, and I feel like now that he is not here people are less cohesive and have more broken off in to small groups, but I am making some new friends and having fun with the old ones. Also on Sunday we had our first group field trip to Qalquiliya and to see parts of the wall. This was the first time I met some of the PAS students and got to know a few people.

This week is the Birzeit festival, which means there are lots of crafts and food for sale and concerts every night. This has caused a few of the Ramallah crew to make their way to Birzeit to check out the festivities. The festival is in the old town of Birzeit, which is an area I haven’t explored so much so it’s a good opportunity to see more of Birzeit.

Lets see the only other excitement besides the festival right now is the fact that my Visa expires on Thursday and I don’t even have an appointment yet at the ministry of interior to get it renewed, because the ministry says you have to call to make an appointment, but when you call they don’t answer the phone. This is kind of a big problem, but im working on it and hopefully I will not be deported. I have 5 weeks left to go it would be really upsetting if I had to leave before then, but Im hoping it wont come to that. So that’s the summary of the last couple months, sorry I got lazy but I promise to start writing for real soon.

R.I.P. Computer

2008-06-15T13:11:00.001+03:00

Sorry for no updates Im not dead just my computer for the last month. Im getting a new one in a few weeks Ill try to start writing again then.......

2008-05-18T20:16:00.003+03:00

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.

All good things must come to end

2008-05-08T19:13:00.002+03:00

5/1

Wednesday night was a bit sad. We all just hung out and watched football (soccer) only about half of the people there cared about the game. The rest of us just talked, I and tried to keep my self and Marco from falling asleep on the couch. Eventually the game ended, and everyone was pretty tired and wanted to go home. We were all about to walk home, and then Tamer showed up with his car, but not with enough room for everyone, so Sandra, Kyle and I volunteered to walk. We all said good bye to Marco which was sad, but hopefully Ill see him again in a month or so when I go wander around Europe for a few weeks. After walking for about 1 minute Kyle decided to stay at Nick and Santi’s. So Sandra and I walked most of the way home, until Tamer came back for us after dropping off everyone else. We were quite tired and went to bed pretty quickly after getting home.

Thursday we didn’t have class because its Labor day. I did some cleaning, and internet stuff, and then went to Ramallah with Sandra to do some souvenir shopping so she would have presents for her friends when she got home. Then Tasha came and met us, and then we all went to meet some others and Maryanne for dinner, because she was leaving the next day. We had a nice dinner, said our good byes and then we went back to Birzeit to get ready to go to Zan’s later in the evening. Everyone came over to our apt for a little pre party and then we left for Zans around 10ish. Zans was as it always is nothing special but at least a little more exciting than staying around Birzeit all the time. No stone throwing this time, but Santi got into a huge fight with someone and had to be carried out of the bar. I think that was the most exciting thing of the evening. The rest of us left pretty late and passed out in our respective homes.

Friday was pretty much a waste of a day. I didn’t feel like doing anything when I woke up, but I was starving so I finally dragged myself out of bed and went to the store for nourishment, and then I watched Big Fish, which is a pretty great movie. Then Sandra and I hung out for awhile and talked about the events of the previous evening. Eventually I studied a little for my Amiah Arabic exam on Saturday. Then Sandra said she was going over to the girl’s place, so I went with her. Katie was already there and they were also studying for our exam the next day so we did that for a bit longer and then decided to give up and watch the science of sleep. Sandra left before the movie because she had an exam at 8am. The movie ended around 12 and Katie and I began the trek home. Katie was saying something about how she wished she could snap her fingers and we would be home and literally 10 seconds later Tamer showed up in his car, so we got a ride home (yeah Tamer!) We were both exhausted and went straight to bed.

5/3

Saturday we had the exam at 12. I woke up at 9 and studied a little more and then got ready for school. I went to the cafeteria and got my last sandwich from there for a while, and headed to the PAS office to take the test. It wasn’t too bad. Its all oral so its just Sammi talking to us individually and asking questions. I only didn’t know one word he used so I think I did pretty well. After the exam I went to the little art exhibit by the library, since I hadn’t been yet and Tasha wanted to see it. We stayed there for a bit, and then went to get some falafel goodness, and then to our respective homes. I took a little nap and then went to Livingstone’s (the free wireless place) when it opened at 5 to post pictures, and do other internet related things. Sandra had gone earlier to Kyle’s to play beer pong as a pre party to the party at our place that night. When I got back home from Livingstone’s all the Beerpongers were in my apt and they were all as Josh would say “socially lubricated” I was kind of in a weird mood. I had talked to Aimee when I was online and she told me about senior Shabbat, and I talked to some other people from home, and it made me a little homesick. Esp since graduation is so soon and I wont be there. I actually thought about flying home for a little bit, but financially it just doesn’t make sense. Anyways, I sucked it up and started playing catch up with everyone. A fairly ridiculous evening ensued, and it ended as it often does with us sleeping on the roof.

5/4

I woke up first, because the sun was directly on me and I was baking. I got up and got some juice from downstairs to rehydrate myself. Eventually others started to wake up. Some how, we persuaded Wilko to go get breakfast for us, and Santi brought falafel. It was a wonderful breakfast. We had eggs, lebaneh, humus, tomatoes, Watermelon, falafel, and pita. We ate back up on the roof, where it was nice and warm. After breakfast everyone went home, and everyone in my house decided to take naps. After my nap I took a shower, hung out with Sandra, Ramez and Tamer for a bit, and then went back to Livingstone’s to post more pictures (the connection is slow and it takes forever to upload photos to facebook), and I had a gchat date with Sienna. I came back home around 8:30 and Sandra was leaving at 9. There were a few people there to wish her farewell. We said our goodbyes. It was really sad. Sandra and I got pretty close since we lived together. Ill miss her a lot, but I shall see her soon in Sweden so I shouldn’t be too sad. After Sandra and pretty much everyone else left, Vanessa, Tasha, Wilko and I watched Willow. Tasha had moved to my apt that night, because her room had mold growing in it and it was killing her, so Wilko and Vanessa went home and Tasha and I went to bed.

5/5

Monday was weird. I felt like I should be going to class, but there was no class, since the semester is over. Instead of class I got up late, checked my email, and then got my clothes together to do laundry at Wilko’s since he was leaving that night. Thomas called me when I was on my way to Wilko’s and invited me over for lunch so I threw my clothes in the washer at Wilko’s and then walked over to Thomas’s for food. I hung out there for almost two hours and then I had to go back to Wilko’s to take my laundry out of the machine and put in load number two. I stayed at Wilko’s until it was done. Wilko was just packing and and figuring out everything for his journey to Syria the next day. Eventually the laundry was done and I had to get back home to get ready to go to Ramallah for a dance show with Tasha. I said goodbye to Wilko for a month and then headed out. Tasha and I went to Ramallah a little bit later. We went to the Ramallah cultural palace to see a dance group called Cobos Mika from spain. They were pretty amazing. They did hiphop and also modern dance, and they did a lot of funny little sketches as well. When we got back from the show were very hungry, but also lazy, we both went to the store and bought dinners you just had to add water to. Then we just hung out on the balcony with Vanessa, Katie and Hussein until it was late and we were falling asleep. I read for awhile and then went to bed.

5/6

Tuesday Tasha and I got up got ready and went to Jerusalem. She wanted to buy some presents for people, and she had to send some stuff home and I wanted to finally got a colorful Kafeya. So we went to the post office first, sent he stuff. Then we called Jean Marie to see if he wanted to wander the old city with us. After the post office I decided to call Eyal from ICAHD since he hadn’t gotten back to me yet about when I should come to the office to work. He told me he had just emailed me and that I should come the next day around noon, so I was excited about that. Jean Marie met us at Jaffa gate. I bought a kafeya I bargained in Arabic I was so proud of myself. We walked around a bit. Jean Marie took us to some cistern that apparently is where Jesus drank from or something. Tasha got presents for people. After awhile we we were hungry and talking about going to find food, and Jean Marie just had us come to the church he lives at and got stuff from the fridge and fed us. Free food is always a plus. After our little meal I wanted to go back to Birzeit to go to livingstone’s to try to find a plane ticket to Germany, but the site was being annoying, so I decided to wait. I made some dinner after that, and then Tasha and I went over to Nicks’s to see what he and others were up to. Its so weird… so many people are gone. I feel like our social lives have been diminished so much. We only stayed at Nicks for maybe an hour and half and decided to leave since we were tired. I read at home and went to bed.

5/7

I got up around 9 so I would have plenty of time to get ready and be in Jerusalem on time to meet with Eyal and start working on this project. When I got there Eyal explained to me more about what he wanted, he introduced me to a few more people around the office, and then I started working. I had to asked the staff that does lectures and tours about what they do, how long it takes, what it requires etc… So I talked to Meir first, then Jeff Halper, then I started to do some formatting. I was there for about 3 hours. I showed Eyal what I had done so far. He approved, and then I went to meet Laura Liss (an old friend from OSRUI). Laura had emailed me a few days before to say she was going to be in the area. So we decided to meet up when I was in Jerusalem that day. I met her and her boyfriend at a coffee shop near Ben Yehuda. We talked for about an hour and half and then they had to get back to where they were staying and I wanted to get back to Birzeit, before Yom Haatzmaut (Independence day) events that evening started in Jerusalem. It felt a little weird to be leaving Jerusalem on Yom Haatzmaut, but I just didn’t feel like I could be there. I no longer feel I can celebrate the creation of the state of Israel when it came at the expense of another people. One day I hope I can celebrate the creation of a state where everyone has freedom and independence, but until then, this is no time to celebrate.

I got back to Bizeit went home for a bit and then went to Livingstone’s again. I really wish I could just have internet in my apt, but that is apparently impossible. I really tried to get a ticket to Germany this time, but it was being slow, and then the internet stopped working all together, so I gave up and went home. I made dinner with Tasha and then watched the 5^th element with Tasha. Then read and went to bed.

soo...that was a long month...sorry

2008-04-30T21:15:00.000+03:00

4/1

Today I awoke to a text message from Miriam saying that classes were cancelled for the day. I was curious as to why so I called her to find out, and apparently a student at the university was killed by a settler last night. The settler claimed the student had a knife and was coming to the settlement to harm settlers, but there was no knife found on the body of the student, and I am skeptical of how this settler would have known that the student had a knife to begin with. I guess there is no way to really know, its just another sad casualty of this never ending conflict. Soon after my friend Jean Marie texted me to see if I wanted to come over for lunch since there was no class. He lived in the Village next to Birzeit so I walked down there (its about 25 mins) and we made a lentils, rice tomato onion goodness combination for lunch. It was nice I had never really spent a lot of time alone with Jean Marie he is from the Congo and here working for a catholic church. He has to decide in a year if he wants to become a priest or not. It is amazing to me that anyone would want to be a priest, esp someone who now lives amongst all us sinners, but ne ways he told me all about his family in the Congo and the traveling he did before he came to Palestine. I really love learning other people’s life stories, considering my own isn’t so exciting. After lunch we walked back to Birzeit. Jean Marie went over to Marco and Wilko’s and I went home

Soon after reaching home Tasha called and told me she was with Vanessa and Elizabeth and they were looking for goat lebaneh (a kind of yogurt spread) but none of them could read Arabic or Hebrew so they were having trouble. I said I would come meet them at the store and help. It turns out that the same word is used for goat and for sheep so on the out side of the container of the lebaneh we wanted there was a picture of a sheep, but it said goat, in Arabic and Hebrew so in the end there was success. I went back with them to their house for a bit and used the internet since mine is still not working. Then I headed home. Sandra and I made dinner, and then I studied my Arabic, did my home work more boring things and went to bed.

4/2

I had a normal day of Arabic class and then skidaddled to Jerusalem for another meeting with Jeff Halper. I thought we were going to start my training that day, unfortunately there had been a house demolition that day that ICHAD had been protesting at and Jeff got arrested. By the time I got to the ICAHD office Jeff had been released, and was in the office, but he didn’t have his computer and he was a little out of it. I could see where the IDF had hand cuffed him his wrists were purplish and very swollen. He told me they also dragged him half way down the hill and through a sewage canal. Its so ridiculous. Jeff Halper is probably one of the least dangerous people I have ever met. All he was doing was trying to protect someone’s home from being illegally (by international law) destroyed and for that he was arrested and dragged around. Any ways needless to say he was in no condition to do any real training. He introduced me to all the other ICAHD people and then he invited me to go with him to another meeting he had with a woman who works for a Swedish NGO that works against the proliferation of small arms in conflict areas. It was really cool to meet her and learn about what she was doing. After the meeting Jeff promised to figure out a way to start my training even though he was going to America for three weeks soon, and then we parted ways. I had made plans to have dinner with Raya the day before, so I called her and met up with her on emek refaim at Cafit. Last summer when I was here one night during the two weeks I had of forced vacation before the campers came we went to Cafit and I got this salad with sweet potatoes and feta cheese and other delicious veggies in it I think I have been craving it since last summer, so I got it again with Raya. We stayed at Cafit for almost two hours. Im really glad that Raya and I have kept in touch she is a great friend to have here, and very easy to talk to about everything from boys to my experiences in Palestine. She is also very open to listening to everything I have to say about the occupation. I think im slowly pushing her more to the left (woot) After two hours of chatting and eating deliciousness I realized I needed to hurry up to catch the bus back to Ramallah. We said goodbye and I walked back to the bus station. I was pretty tired by the time I got back to Birzeit so I just did the reading for the next day and went to bed.

4/3

Today I had class then went home and read on my balcony for a bit until Sandra came home with Kyle, Ramez and William to watch the documentary Jenin Jenin. We got through about three quarters of it with slight interruptions from Josh and then Tasha showing up. Then it was getting late and Sandra and I hadn’t eaten dinner yet and we were supposed to leave for Zans (bar in Ramallah) at 9 sooo Sandra and I threw together some salad and lentils. More people came over we drank a bit in the apt cuz drinks at Zans are way over priced. We ended up leaving at about 10ish, but that’s early by my standards. Zans was the way Zans always is…lots of internationals and Palestinians crowded into the one good bar in Ramallah, but we had fun any ways.

At one point Josh was going to the bar to get another drink or maybe to go to the bathroom I don’t remember. There is a glass wall and door between the room we were in and the room where the bar is, and while the door is usually open someone closed it and Josh managed to walk directly in to it making a lot of noise and causing me to laugh for about 10 mins. And then when he didn’t come back for awhile I felt a bit guilty for laughing so much, but I couldn’t help it. The best thing is that someone else did the exact same thing about 20 mins later… you would think people would learn their lesson but apparently not…..any ways we left the bar around 2:30am and as we were walking to get a cab we heard gun fire in the distance…contrary to popular belief this is not so common for me. It was a bit unnerving; the cab driver told us it was going on in Altireh a neighborhood about a 5 min drive from Ramallah city center. It is also a neighborhood where several PAS students live. In the end we never found out exactly why the shooting was happening, but everyone we knew was safe and sound that that’s good enough for now. We miraculously found a shuttle willing to take us all back to Birzeit Kyle came home with me because he was locked out of his apt and his roommate Ryan was in Jaffa sleeping on a beach, and I have an extra bed in my room. So we had a little slumber party, and pillow talk before bed (I miss pillow talk) and then we both passed out.

4/4

I got up at 10 to take a shower and eat something before waking Kyle to do the same and then we met up with Vanessa, Josh and Tasha at 11:30 for our planned excursion to the Taybeh brewery. Taybeh is a beer made in Palestine. It is the only Palestinian beer and sorry guys but it’s a lot better than Maccabee. The brewery itself it pretty small. When you go they show you a 5 min video and then give you a little tour, but that is all pretty short. The fun part is buying cases of Taybeh beer (esp the amber because they don’t really sell the amber in any stores) and drinking them in the olive groves next to the brewery. So yeah we did that. We bought one case and drank well all of it (oops) and then we bought another to bring home with us. We hung out in the olive groves for awhile and then went back to Ramallah for a late lunch. Then back to my house since Katy was having a little gathering for a girl I don’t know who got married recently. So we arrived with a case of beer which other people decided they should drink also, which is slightly annoying but I guess sharing is caring.

We continued our little party until about 10 or 11ish. Some time in there the internet guy also came to install internet in my apt! yeah!!! Unfortunately the wireless router he had was broken so we could only connect with an ether net cable for now. After everyone left I did some stuff online but I was exhausted to I went to bed pretty soon after.

4/5

Class til 2 between Amia and Fusah I met with my conversation partner for the first time. A conversation partner is a Palestinian student that has volunteered to help PAS students practice their Arabic. She is really nice and very helpful and patient with me when Im trying to actually have a conversation in Arabic. Since it was our first meeting we told each other a bit about our selves, and then she helped me with my Amia home work that was due in class in an hour. After class we had a lecture on women in Islam. It was pretty interesting, but a lot of it I already learned from my world of Islam class I took at AU. I ended up having to leave early from the lecture also to meet with a family about a potential babysitting job. Palestinians don’t have babysitters they have relatives, and also children are left unattended from a pretty young age, but this family is a couple from America. The Father Mike is working for an NGO in Ramallah and they had a baby girl four months ago and the mother Gretchen is just now thinking about starting to work a bit, and they also would like to be able to leave the house together. So I met them at the restaurant across the street from my apt. the baby’s name is Nurah. She is soooo cute! They asked me about my background with babysitting and especially babies. I told them about my ridiculous child care resume and they seemed impressed. I said I would email Gretchen some references and she said they would call me soon. Im excited. Im actually going to make a little money while im here! Woo hoo!

After that meetingI went home, took a shower and packed for Jenin. Then at around 5ish Me, Sandra, Kyle, Tasha, Josh, Elizabeth, Vanessa and Tamer piled into a service (aka Sherut aka shuttle van) and drove off to Jenin. None of us had any CDs since we all have MP3 players, and Tamer only brought one CD so we listened to the same music for the two hour drive down to Jenin. Once there we dropped our stuff off at Tamer’s Aunt’s house and then went for a little tour from Tamer and then dinner.

We had dinner in a nice little place that kind of looked like a cave on the inside. Josh Asked Tamer how to say cave in Arabic which is Coz unfortunately Josh heard something else and said something like oh were in a coos (if you don’t know what the means it’s the same in Hebrew and Arabic look it up you will laugh) After we got josh to stop saying coos we had a very nice dinner and then did some more walking around the village that we were staying in, which was next to Jenin. Tamer wanted us to walk all the way up to Jenin University we were walking along a dark road which was surrounded on both sides by farm land. For some reason it reminded me of camp something about walking along dark roads in the middle of nowhere I guess I don’t know. Any ways we were tired so we convinced Tamer to turn around and not go all the way to the university. Right after I don’t remember what but I said some fightin words to Tamer (just kidding around of course) he was on the other side of the road and he said he was going to come and push me down in the road and literally.5 seconds after he said that I fell on the side of the road and sprained my ankle for the second time in less than 3 months I know good job me. It was quite painful and there was no way I was going to be able to walk back to the place we were staying that night I could barely let it touch the ground with out wincing in pain. Luckly a car drove by a little after and Tamer knew the guy driving so I got in Tamer and Sandra came with me and everyone else walked back to Tamir’s aunts house. Once there I just laid down and put my foot up. Tamer went to find me an ace bandage and some drugs. I took a lot of what ever he brought me, and just tried to lay still for the rest of the night. The entertaining part of this was that originally the girls were all supposed to sleep upstairs and the boys downstairs, but apparently the stairs were going to be too much for me so I had a little sleepover with the boys. Which was rather entertaining. Kyle, Josh and Tamer are pretty funny when they get going. There was a lot of ruckus over the choice of Pajama pants by both Tamer and Kyle. Tamers had flames on them and Kyles were reminiscent of something your grandfather would wear when he was a little boy basically old school long johns. So yeah they all laughed at each other for a while. I was a bit drugged out at this point from the pain killers and slipping in and out of consciousness, esp every time Tamer yelled at me to see if I was still awake, but eventually they calmed down and we all got some sleep.

4/6

We awoke to Sandra knocking on the door and yelling at us for still being asleep. I very carefully tested out my ankle and it still hurt a lot but I could at least put enough pressure on it to walk, so I could still go on the Jenin Adventures for the day!

First we took a service to the University. Jenin Uiversity is where Tamer got is BA so he had fun showing us around to all his old haunts. Then we got breakfast at the cafeteria and then we went to actual Jenin. Jenin is really a sad place. Many of the buildings are obviously new, but quickly and cheaply built, because much of the city has been destroyed by incursions from the Israeli military. You can also see bullet holes on almost any building that isn’t brand new. The economic impact is also very obvious here, but the trip was not simply a depressing walk through a ghost town. We made several smallish friends along the way I really wish that blogger would let me post pictures but alas you must check facebook when I get them up eventually. Any ways, like I said, lots of smallish and cute friends. I got to practice a bit of Arabic which was good. Im so proud I can converse with eight year olds. At one point some girls we were talking to asked us if we wanted to come see their school. We thought hey that’s a cool idea so we went…BAD IDEA! We were immediately swarmed by hundreds of little girls who all wanted to talk to us and for those of us of the blond persuasion touch our hair. This was a time I was very glad I always keep a hair band on my wrist. I think I may have lost half my hair if I didn’t put it up. The girls were very cute but they were a bit aggressive in their eagerness to talk to us and the hair touching…eventually we were able to extract ourselves from that situation and we walked in the direction of the main street area of Jenin. We walked around a bit more and then headed back to get our stuff and head back to Birzeit.

On the way back to Birzeit we had to go through a few check points. Most were just pain in the ass and they weren’t even really checking cars or people, but the second to last check point we went through the soldier saw that we were mostly internationals and had us get out of the van then another solder came and took Tamer and our driver to the side. It was starting to drizzle a bit so I asked the Soldier in Hebrew if there was really a problem since it was raining and we wanted to get going. He was a bit surprised that I asked him this in Hebrew and even more so when I responded yes to his asking me if I was Jewish. Then he told me and the rest of us that we should be very careful because Palestine is full of terrorists etc….and also that we shouldn’t trust the Palestinians we were traveling with. Kyle made some comment about how the soldier was the only one with a gun their in other words who’s really perpetrating terror in this situation. He also told me in Hebrew that as a Jew I shouldn’t be spending money in the west bank because I could be supporting terrorists and something else about how he was just trying to look out for me. I just told him not to worry I would be fine with my friends. I really just wanted to punch him in the face. Soldiers at check points while they have a shitty job and are forced to do shitty things do have a choice about how they act at the check point towards internationals and Palestinians and as far as I’ve seen they usually act like their on some kind of huge power trip and love using it at the expense of the Palestinians. I wish some psychologist would come and do a study of how the behavior of Check point soldiers changes while they are on duty. I cant imagine they are all this bad all the time or before they begin their service. Wake up Israel! What are you doing to your population? This occupation is not only bad for Palestinians it is bad for the soul of the Jewish people.

Eventually they let us go and then we made it back to Birzeit. We hung out at Tamer’s house for a bit and then we all went home because we were exhausted. I think I attempted to do home work and read for a bit and then went to bed early.

4/7

I took the bus to school for the first time since I moved because I wanted to give my ankle a bit of a rest. We had class as usual and then I went home on the bus again, and hung out at home for a bit, the internet was working miraculously so I did some internet related things and then Just as Sandra and I were making dinner Wilko called to say we should come over to talk about our upcoming trip to Jordan. We said we be there in an hour had our dinner and then headed over. We talked about what exactly we were going to do. They told me they wanted to go to Masada. I didn’t really understand why but I went along with it. I just explained that if they wanted to go to the Dead Sea on Thursday and Masada on Friday then we would have to sleep on the very hard ground and go up the snake path. No one seemed to mind. So we went ahead with that plan. After we hammered out a few more details Wilko and I went over to Nick and Santi’s to watch a German movie called (in English) “The Edukators” it was a pretty good movie… a little pretentious and I think the ending was a little too perfect, but it had a good message in the end, and I recommend it to all. After the movie I walked back home with Wilko and then went to bed.

4/8

Tuesday we had Palestine question class then I went to Café Laliga with Tasha to get some falafel deliciousness. We ran in to Wilko and Marco on the way and were informed that Wilko didn’t rent a car yet, but was working on it. Tasha and I got our deliciousness and then hung out at my place for a bit.

4/9

Wednesday they had a goodbye party for us. Kind of kidding kind of not. Sandra and Wilko were both worried that Israel wouldn’t let them back in the country when we came back from going to Petra. The party was fun just the average gathering of PAS students and Palestinian friends.

4/10

I got up around 11 and started packing for Jordan. It didn’t take too long. Then showered and got ready to go. Tasha came over around 1ish, and we all went to get food for the first day and a half of the trip, and then headed out in our beautiful jeep. It was a bit funny it was a five seater with a child small seat in the trunk. Rasmeah had to sit there when ever we went through a check point because you have to have your seat belt on. There was a really long line at the first check point a few of us decided to get out and walk a bit along the road and see what the hold up was, but it didn’t look like there should have been a hold up. They weren’t really checking any one just causing traffic problems, as is often the case with check points. When we finally go to the check point they did actually stop us, I think because they saw that we were all foreigners. They asked for Wilko’s passport and then I asked them in Hebrew if there was a problem. I get a little nervous when I speak to the soldiers in Hebrew but I love the reactions I get. He asked me what we were doing there. I said we were students at Birzeit (which in hindsight was probably not the best idea) and then asked if that was a problem he said no, so I asked if we could go then and he waved us on. Its so weird there was no reason for them to stop us and they didn’t do any actual checking we could have had C4 in the trunk and they never would have known, sooo frustrating.

The rest of the drive to the Dead Sea passed uneventfully. We got there and everyone but me got in to their swim suits right away. Except for Wilko none of them had been in the Dead Sea before so they were excited to float, especially Tasha who apparently can’t float in normal water. I’ve been in the Dead Sea enough times and I didn’t feel like being wet and salty so I stayed behind and took pictures for them. Wilko was ridiculous he took a beer in with him and both he and Marco were smoking cigarettes while floating. After they floated for about 15 mins they got bored. Everyone changed and we got our food from the car to make our dinner. We had a nice little picnic. Then we drove to the youth hostel at the bottom of Masada to ask if it was possible to drive to the Roman ramp side from the snake path side, and as I thought it was not so we just decided to suck it up and go up the snake path in the morning. We used the bathroom of the hostel to brush teeth etc…Then we spent a very long time looking for the camp site. It was kind of weird to be there, in that situation. I mean I was at Masada last summer, but that was on the roman ramp side with 42 campers to deal with. This time was just like when I came to Masada with people from Tzuba. Its amazing to think of how I’ve changed since then. I mean I was leaning to the left then, but now I think I’m about to tip over I’m leaning so far. Aaanyways. We finally found the camp site and got ready for the worst night’s sleep ever. To start with the ground was very hard on top of that I slept between Marco and Wilko. Marco snored a lot and Wilko just kept making strange noises in his sleep. Needless to say I was a little sleep deprived the next morning.

4/11

We got up at 4:40 so we could get to the top of Masada by sunrise. We made it more or less. I have to say I was really proud of myself. Last time I went up the snake path I was ridiculously out of shape and I had to stop several times and barely made it to the top. This time I was the second one up (and only second because Wilko is crazy and thought it would be a good idea to run to the top) I went the whole way with no breaks and this was only a few days after I sprained my ankle, sooo yeah go me! We wandered around the top for awhile. It was practically empty, which was kind of nice. After about an hour everyone was bored and we headed down. I have to say going down the snake path is much worse than going up. It was more painful for both my knees and my ankle and my legs were all shaky, but miracle of miracles I did make it to the bottom! We went to a bathroom next to the picnic area washed up a bit and then headed to Eilat. About half way to Eilat Wilko informed us that the car was refusing to accelerate past 90km/hr which is about 50 m/hr (not good on a highway in Israel) so we very slowly drove to Eilat. We found a mechanic in Eilar, but it was late Friday afternoon and they were about to close. We called the car rental place and they told us they would send us a new car if need be, but we just decided to park the car at the Jordan border and hope that it worked better when we got back. We got all the stuff we would need for the next day and half in Jordan and then began the process of crossing the border. Its not bad at all leaving Israel is easy its getting back in that’s the hard part. We went through all the customs stuff and changed some money and then magically we were in Jordan. It does feel a little magical to walk from one country into another, considering I’ve never been to Canada or Mexico, and even when Kelly and I were in South America we were usually on a bus when we crossed the border.

After we got through the last check on the Jordanian side we found two very nice cab drivers who drove us to the village next to Petra and to the Hostel we were staying at. It was called the Valentine. It was pretty nice. They offered dinner breakfast buffets and even a packed lunch. There was a nice hang out area just outside the hostel, and another inside where they had a bunch of movies…two guesses as to the movie they showed that night…..give up? Indiana Jones! The only rooms they had available were for 2 and 4 so we decided to give Marco and Rasmeah some time together and Wilko slept with the girls. Before dinner we went for a little walk around the village and also to find an ATM. Dinner was amazing. They had I think maybe 30 different salads. (Very vegetarian friendly) Everything was delicious, sadly it disappeared pretty quickly, but we were all satisfied in the end. During dinner we sat with a guy who it turns out is doing his PHD work comparing two Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, a Christian one and a Muslim one. He told us a lot of stories about all the horrible things that happened and are still happening in the camps in Lebanon. Those refugees are I think worse off than any others, maybe even than Gaza. After Dinner I took a shower and then Sandra, Wilko and I went to watch Indiana Jones with some other hostelers. Sandra gave up and went to bed half way through and went to bed after they showed Petra in the movie…Wilko and I struggled on to the end and then went straight to bed.

4/12

So by now I found that my Nokia phone that I bought here has the world’s most annoying Alarm clock. It is the voice of a British woman that says for example “The time is 5:40 am its time to get up” over and over until you shut it off. It kind of makes you wish you could find the woman whose voice is on the phone and tell her to do something unpleasant. Unfortunately I was the only one who brought a phone since I’m the only one with Orange (an Israeli cell company) and everyone else only had Jawwal (Palestinian Cell company) and they were afraid if the Israeli border police checked their phones it would cause problems. So yeah we became good friends with the British lady in my phone, and she once again woke us up bright and early to get breakfast before we went to Petra for the day.

We got a ride in the back of a pick up truck which was a bit chilly, but a very short ride so no worries. We went in the area before the entrance it was definitely tourist central. Every little stand and store had something to do with Indiana Jones in the name, and there were tons of souvenirs everywhere you looked. The price to get in to Petra is 21 Dinar. (look it up its expensive) They don’t even have a student price, but we sucked it up and paid our arms and legs to see this wonder of the world. I must say it’s pretty cool. You walk through this amazing cavernous dried up canal that let up to the huge beautiful façade you see if you’ve ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Unlike the movie, the façade is the only thing you see. There is a large room inside but that it, no path of death that leads to a 700 year old knight guarding the Holy Grail…sorry to disappoint. But there is a lot more to see. There are temples and a monastery, and other fun things to climb. There are Bedouins everywhere trying to convince you to take a camel, donkey or horse ride. The Monastery is at the top of a long climb up a mini mountain so there are a lot of people who take donkeys up. (lame)

I climbed up with Wilko after the mysterious disappearance of Sandra and Tasha… this was one of those moments in which I realize how much we depend on cell phones. No one had a cell phone so when we couldn’t find Tasha and Sandra we waited 10 mins or so and then carried on to the Monastery…where we were all supposed to end up any ways. Wilko was kind enough not to run up the mountain this time, so we ascended the path in a quick, but human pace. We reached the Monastery and it quite a sight, but unfortunately neither Sandra and Tasha or Marco and Rasmeah were anywhere to be seen. We walked around a bit, and then climbed a big rock opposite the Monastery and with a good view of the entrance so we would see them when they came, and then we pulled out our packed lunches from the hostel. We munched, exchanged life stories befriended some little Bedouin boys who wanted my chocolate, and then decided to take a little nap on the rock. At one point I sat up and saw Sandra, Tasha, Marco and Rasmeah walking below us. I called to them and we were all reunited once again. Wilko and I got to hear the story of how Sandra and Tasha got a free donkey ride up the mountain because of a Bedouin that was in love with Sandra, and that he had invited us all over for dinner We hung out on the rock for a bit longer until Tasha, Sandra and I got antsy, and decided to wander more around the area. We found a sign that said “View”, and had an arrow pointing up a path, so we followed the path and found what was actually a pretty amazing view. By the time we headed back towards the lunch rock Marco, Wilko and Rasmeah were gone. We headed down the mountain (with out the aid of a free donkey). We checked out some more ruins of temples and more facades and things that are much cooler to see than to read about, and then we made our way back to the entrance of the park. We made it to the pick up place just in time, sadly Rasmeah, Marco and Wilko did not. We asked the truck to wait a few minutes, but then we had to go, since other people from the hostel were also waiting to go back. (yet another time when a cell phone would have been useful…oh well) We got back rested a bit Sandra and Tasha took showers and just as I was getting in the shower our missing party got back as well. The rest of us all got ready, and then we met up with Sandra’s future husband (just kidding…kind of) to go to his house for dinner. We met him in the square and then he took us by car to his house. We didn’t get to see the whole house only the place where we ate dinner, which looked like a Bedouin tent, but it was a room in their house. It was a little strange, but cool. They served us tea and we met the family and then it was dinner time. Now, Sandra is like me a vegetarian, so when he invited her and all her friends to dinner she told him that she was a vegetarian, and he said with out asking her anything about it, that it was no problem. Unfortunately he didn’t really understand what a vegetarian was, because we sat down for dinner and they brought out a huge platter of rice with chicken on it. This was Bedouin style eating so no utensils just pita bread and our fingers. Sandra and I did our best to eat the rice and hope they wouldn’t notice we weren’t eating the chicken. The rice was really good, so not the end of the world, just a little awkward. After dinner we hung out for a bit Rasmeah and Sandra were the only ones who really spoke Arabic so they talked to the family. Sandra talked to our host for a really long time, and it turns out he gave her a very serious marriage proposal and she had to explain that there was no way she was going to marry someone she had only known for a day. Wilko, while not speaking very good Arabic was able to entertain the smaller kids with his “magic skills” and the rest of us just sort of sat around and took in our surroundings. Eventually we had to say our goodbyes because we had to get back to the hostel before 11 to pay since we were leaving very early in the morning. There was a slight problem, but it was all worked out in the end, and we all passed out and got ready to hear our British friend that lives in my phone bright and early the next morning.

4/13

We had to be on the bus to Akaba at 6:30 in the morning. Which meant no time for breakfast (sad) We made it to Akaba, and while some of us wanted to go to the beach there instead of Eilat, we were worried about how long it would take us to get through border control, and also we had no idea what condition the car would be in when we got to it, so we decided to just cross the border and see how the car was doing and then maybe go to the beach in Eilat. We got a taxi from Akaba to the border and then we went through the Jordanian side no problem. Marco and Rasmeah went a bit ahead of us, because Marco has Syria stamped in his passport and Rasmeah has an Arab name. Before we crossed we made up a story of how we all knew each other that didn’t involved learning Arabic in the West Bank. Basically it was that Marco was studying christain theology at some church in Jerusalem and Rasmeah was visiting him. Sandra and Wilko were just random Christian travelers I was a Jew (oh wait I am a Jew) visiting friends and Tasha was here visiting me. Rasmeah and Marco were asked to wait and did not have their passports stamped then I went and I spoke mostly in Hebrew. The first question she asked me was how I knew Hebrew, and so I listed all the places I had studied, but im pretty sure after I said my synagogue she knew she was going to give me another 3 month stamp. She asked me a few more questions like where I was staying and if I had family in Israel, but she never asked me anything about how I knew the other people traveling with me…etc I guess that’s a good thing. She did tell me I couldn’t get another visa by leaving and reentering the country, but I think it will be fine any ways. Sandra went after me and the woman asked asked her when she was flying home. Her ticket is for May 5^th but she was thinking about extending. Saddly after she said May 5^th the woman only have her a visa until May 5^th. When Sandra asked her why she got a visa for such a short time the woman said, to paraphrase, just because she felt like it. Then Wilko went and he was also asked when his flight home was. Wilko does have a flight home for some time in may, but he is planning on going to Damascus for a month for some intensive Arabic studying program and then coming back to Palestine for the summer. The woman, though, only gave him a month visa. Which is fine for now since he is planning on leaving before a month any ways, but I really hope they don’t give him trouble when he comes back again through Jordan. Tasha went last but her story was that she was here visiting me, and she is also American so they gave her a 3 month visa no problem. So then all we had to do was wait for Marco and Rasmeah to be “talked to” we waited 30 mins and then we were hungry. We knew we had some food in the car. I went to the gate to see if I could get it and come back in, but the woman there told me it wasn’t allowed, and even when I explained the situation she said not to worry and that my friends would be dealt with soon. We waited another 20 mins and then I went to the window after another person was done and asked the woman how long it would be until someone would come and talk to Marco and Rasmeah. She told me they were waiting for another officer and it would be 30 mins to a few hours. After that I went back to the gate and begged the woman to let me get food, and after I explained that someone else told me it could be a few hours, she paged someone on her walkie talkie to ask if it was okay and then let me out and just held my passport ransom. I brought back apples, frosted flakes and some biscuits. Finally someone came to talk to Rasmeah and Marco and after talking to them for about 5 minutes they both received 3 month stamps, even though they are both leaving in a month. Its so ridiculous. The ones that are leaving get messed with and then three months and the ones that wanted more don’t get it. It makes no sense at all! If we were all Jews studying at Hebrew University they would have given us all 3 months no problem.

After the stress of getting through the border, we went to the car did some rearranging, and headed the super market to get food for the beach. We bought a bunch more veggies, fruit, bread and cheese, and a big thing of Chumus. Then we went to the beach and this time I swam cuz it was hot as hell. It was so nice I really love swimming. Its such a nice feeling to be emersed in water. Maybe it has something to do with our time in the womb, but for me its rather comforting. I love swimming and also just floating with my ears under water. Its so calm and peaceful. After some time in the sea we hung out on the beach for about an hour. Then one more time in the water then we all changed and headed back to Jerusalem to return the car. The car was actually behaving much better now. We could go over 90 most of the time. The problem was that Wilko managed to take a wrong turn somewhere and we missed the road that would have gotten us back fairly quickly, so it ended up taking us a very long time to get back to Jerusalem, but we made it back eventually. Once there we tried to get a better deal for the car since it was broken half the time, but the guy couldn’t give us much since apparently he had already given us a discount, so we were a bit disappointed but also very tired and just wanted to get back to Birzeit. When Sandra and I got back to the apt we found a few people there. The boys had hooked their antenna up to our TV and were watching a football (soccer for all the AYSO kids) match. A few more people came we all hung out for a bit, but then I was half asleep so I took a shower and passed out.

4/14

After class I called Marco and begged to do laundry at his apt as always. (I don’t know what Im going to do when Marco and Wilko leave that apt I guess Ill have to make friends with whoever moves in after) when I came over I brought a box of matzo ball mix I had bought the week before when in Jerusalem. I bought it because almost a month before Marco had asked me where in Jerusalem he could get Kosher food. I looked at him for a minute and then told him almost all the food in Jerusalem in Kosher. Then we finally figured out what he wanted was Jewish food, and I had to explain there wasn’t much in the way of solely Jewish food. Even things I think of as Jewish are just things Jews adopted from living in the Diaspora. I told him I would make something I thought of as Jewish food one day, so I brought that over. Wilko was also home and when I brought out the box and proclaimed it to be Jewish food he laughed at me (hes German) it even says on the box in Hebrew Kanedelach which is what theyre called in German apparently. Oh well I made them any ways and made a good soup too, and everyone liked it. It made me miss my grandmother a lot. She used to make wonderful Matzo ball soup with light and fluffy balls, except for one big hard one for my grandfather, because he liked the hard ones…any ways dinner was a success. Then Wilko wanted to watch the movie Cinema Paradiso. Marco and Rasmeah were obsessively watching the Italian news, because it was their elections and apparently the Italians pulled an America and reelected a bastard. So Wilko and I watched on my computer in his room. I thought I had never seen this movie before, but about 10 mins in I realized I had seen it, so Wilko decided we had to watch something that at least one of us hadn’t seen, so he got more movies from Marco and we watched The Name of the Rose. It was a pretty good movie, maybe a little dark for the mood I was in, but oh well. I was only annoyed when Wilko apparently fell asleep and then woke up and insisted on rewinding back for the 20 mins he missed from his nap. I ended up not leaving until almost 2. I hung up my wet laundry when I got home then passed out.

4/15

I got up around 10:30 took a shower and then went to Tamer’s house for a traditional Palestinian breakfast, which was my reward for agreeing to teach him Hebrew. His mom made us a wonderful breakfast with home made bread and lebaneh…so yummy. Then we went through some Hebrew words that would be useful at checkpoints, which is where Tammer would have the most contact Israelis. (sad) Then Tamer said his head was hurting and he couldn’t concentrate so we just chatted for a bit.

Then I had to go home to get ready for class. When I got back from class I called Tarek (the internet guy) to come fix the internet, and magically he said he would be over soon. He came and brought a new cord and a new router. He got the internet to work and the wireless worked on Sandra’s computer but not on mine. Surprise Surprise Windows Vista strikes again! So I had to stay plugged in but the cord was long. We sat on the couch for a bit. Then Wilko came over, because he had to use my computer for some program he needed to download. After he left Sandra and I went out on to the balcony. We spent way too much time online and finally went to bed

4/16

Oh shit Im 23! Its not going to be a very eventful birthday. I really wanted to get my presents that Raya told me the day before came from my parents. So I went to class, then left early to go to Jerusalem to get the presents, and buy some Passover wine for the Seder I was going to at the Klein Katz’s. Then I came back to Birzeit with just enough time to sit and open them all, ooh and ahh and then I had to go back to Ramallah to babysit. Yeah I know working on your birthday sucks, but they called and asked and I knew we weren’t really celebrating until Thursday night so I figured why not. I need the money. So yeah I went to baby sit for Noura. She is such a cute baby! I didn’t actually do very much I played with her for a little bit while her parents were still there, but then they put her to bed before they left and she didn’t wake up at all while they were gone, so I just hung out and used their internet. They had skype and a fairly stable internet connection. So I called Dad, and then tried to call mom, but she was busy. Both of them had been trying to call me earlier but I couldn’t talk then. Then I decided to call Amber, because I missed her and I couldn’t remember her email address. Miraculously she was not working so we talked for awhile. It was really nice to hear her voice, and what she has been up to. The parents got home at around 10:45 and then I went to meet some friends in Ramallah. It was the Ramallah municipality anniversary, so there were concerts and other performances going on. Most things were over by the time I got out, but I saw a bit, and then we all went back to Birzeit together, and I went to sleep pretty quickly after getting home.

4/17

Class…..I did some cleaning so people would think we lived like the slobs we are when they come over for the party. Sandra, Marco and Rasmeah went over to Santi and Nicks to make Lasagna and a cake for my pre party birthday dinner. They came back with the food just as I was getting out of the shower. I got dressed and was ready for dinner, but we had to wait for Wilko to come with none other than a watermelon filled with…. (mom cover your eyes) Vodka!!! Once Wilko got there we ate a delicious dinner. The cake was a bit under cooked in the middle but it was still delicious so its all good. Then slowly more and more people started to come and well a big party that destroyed my apartment ensued…enough said…. A few of us decided at about 3 in the am that it would be a good idea to sleep on the roof even though it wasn’t so warm, so we bundled up dragged mattresses up the stairs and slept on the roof…it was actually quite nice…minus the very loud call to prayer at 4:30 in the morning.

4/18

The next morning we were all useless, and the apartment was sad. Eventually we dragged our asses out of bed and went to get falafel to help cure our hangovers. We had our lunch then went back to the apt laid around for awhile. Then Katy had to go to Jerusalem to get her new passport (she lost her other one in a fountain in Tel Aviv) Sandra did some cleaning, and I went back to bed for a bit. I got up again around 3 took a shower and then Tasha came over and me her and Sandra talked about the failures of the opposite sex for awhile, Then Katy came back we decided to go for a walk and get a new squeegee since Katy broke our old one the night before. We came back and Katy and I did the rest of the cleaning since Sandra did a lot already. Then Kyle came over and we all tried to watch Willow for awhile but everyone was falling asleep so we gave up, Kyle and Tasha went home and Sandra, Katy and I went to bed.

4/19

I got up around 10 to shower and pack for Jerusalem/Haifa. Then I went on line to find a text for the Seder. I was asked to bring something about Dayenu. I tried to write something my self, but it was hard, so I eventually found a modern list of Dayenu and printed it out. It was basically what I would have written if I was that smart or creative. Below is the text.

After doing all that I went to the produce store and bought a kilo of dates to bring as dessert for the Seder, and then I headed to Jerusalem. I had learned the day before that Israel was closing off the entire West Bank for the duration of Passover. I was a little worried I would have trouble getting through, but the closure only applied to Palestinians, so I was fine. I was still very disturbed, by the closure. I was going to Jerusalem to celebrate my freedom as a Jew and at the same time the Palestinian people were being held prisoner with in the West bank, just so the Israelis could feel more secure in their own freedom. It doesn’t seem right. It actually seems to go against the very nature of Passover, and being a Jew. How can we let this happen, how can we as Jews be okay with celebrating our own freedom when it comes at the expense of another people. When I eventually made it to the Klein Katz’s for seder I was already very antsy about this whole thing. When I talked to some of the other guests one on one who asked me what I was doing here I told them I was studying Arabic in the West Bank and that I had been worried I wasn’t going to make it, because of the closure. Most people had no idea what I was talking about, so I explained that Israel had closed off the entire West Bank for Palestinians for Passover. Most of the reactions I got were of sympathy, but the word security was usually thrown in there. Security my ass, but that’s that best I could do that night. I feel strongly about this, but I was also brought up to be polite when a guest in someone’s house and I didn’t want to ruin the seder with my anger.

The Seder itself was another story. We had two rabbis and a lot of intellectuals. Everyone wanted to talk and add something all the time. We didn’t eat dinner until almost midnight, and then the seder didn’t end until about 2:30 am. Definitely my longest seder ever, but it was interesting, and Jomi helped keep me awake. It’s a good thing I didn’t actually drink 4 large cups of wine though or I would have passed out before dessert. I walked back to Rachel’s from the Klein Katz’s. When I got in Rachel was in bed, but she said she had also just gotten home a bit before. We were both exhausted and went promptly to sleep.

4/20

Rachel and I both got up around 11:30. Rachel’s friend Chana was coming over for lunch, so we set the table and got food ready. Matzah ball soup…mmmm. Chana came around 1:30 we had lunch, did some learning from a book that Chana brought, and then Chana went home and Rachel and I took naps. We woke up again around 4ish and laid around and talked and then we were supposed to go to this super orthodox seder in Meah Shearim. It was a big ordeal that you didn’t even RSVP for, and in the end Rachel and I decided we didn’t really want to go that much, so we hung out for a bit longer, and just talked for a few hours. I started talking about Palestine and the conflict, and I felt bad, because to Rachel it probably felt like I was lecturing her, but she is going in to the profession of Israel advocacy and I cant let her do that with out hearing from the other side first. One thing I really like about our friendship is that we can have talks about Israel and Palestine and completely disagree and not get angry with each other and still go out for dinner after wards. Which is what we did. Amazing! I went out to a restaurant on Passover! They had a special kosher for Passover menu and everything. Before we left for dinner Daniel called me to talk about meeting up on Monday. Daniel is a friend of mine from when I lived on Kibbutz Tzuba. He said he was coming to Jerusalem around 1 on Monday so I just told him to call me when he was here and I would meet him. By then it was almost 10pm and Rachel and I were starving. We got delicious Passover food….then walked around for a bit and then it was almost midnight so we decided to go home and go to bed.

4/21

I finally met with Eyal, one of the ICAHD, coordinators today. We have been emailing back and forth for almost 2 months now, so it was great to finally meet him. I gave me some more stuff I have to read and memorize to lead tours, and then he asked if I could come work in the office for some time, and I said that when I was done with classes I could come, so that will be nice. I mean I have nothing to do until the summer semester starts to its good that Ill be working for ICAHD. After that meeting I went back to Rachel’s for a bit, then Daniel called and I went to meet up with him. I had some trouble finding him, and he didn’t have a cell phone with him, but eventually we were reunited for the first time in about 4 years (yeah!) We got lunch at the same place Rachel and I had dinner at the night before…because its delicious and Kosher. Daniel asked me about what I was doing and I once again went on a mini rant about the occupation and its effects on the Palestinians, but Daniel didn’t seem to mind, although I don’t think he had ever put much thought in to it, before then. Danit called me somewhere in there and I told her I would head to Haifa in an hour or two. After lunch I said goodbye to Daniel and then headed to Rachel’s. She was going to the shuk (open market in Jerusalem) and asked if I would join her, and since I love the shuk I did. While I was there I bought some halva and candied Pecans as a present for my pretend family in Haifa. After the Shuk We went back to Rachel’s drank some water and then I got my stuff and headed to the central bus station to go to Haifa.

When I got there, there was a huge crowd around the escalators, but no one was moving up. I asked what the problem was, and was informed that there was possibly a bomb either in the bus station or on one of the busses waiting to go out, so they had to do a sweep of everything before letting people go. I called Danit to say I was going to be a little late, and then hung for about 20 mins until they made an announcement that people could go. Once I got up the stairs the bus I wanted only filled about half way up and then left. I think there was another one waiting right after. I got to Haifa a little less than 2 hours later. Tammy and Israel (Danit’s Mom and Dad) picked me up, which was a little awkward, since Tammy has no idea that I’m living in the west bank learning Arabic. Its not because she is right wing or anything, she just is such a worrier that I was afraid she wouldn’t let me leave the apartment if she knew. So I told her I had been in Jordan and now I was in Jerusalem studying Arabic there. It was 7ish by the time I got to their apt. Danit and I ate dinner, then hung out for a bit and watched the news, and then some Israeli reality show called the kitchen. Then we met up with Yotam, Itai and Elinor at a restaurant, and just chilled there for awhile. Itai was really interested in what I was doing in the west bank and if I had made friends with Palestinians etc… I really wish that Israelis could go to the West bank and I could show him and everyone else that its not such a scary place for Jews, and that Palestinians are people just like everyone else, but alas the Israeli government likes to make my life difficult. Elinor had to go meet someone else. The four of us went to Orit’s (Danit’s sister) apt, and I got to see all the pictures from Her wedding in February. We hung out at Orit’s for a bit then we dropped off Yotam and Itai, and Orit, Danit and I got home around 2ish and went to bed.

4/22

Danit woke me up around 10:30 and told me they were going to go present shopping for her Dad’s birthday the next day. So I got up took a shower and went with them. We went to a clothing store and picked out a bunch of new clothes for her dad. Personally I think buy clothes, even for relatives, is dangerous, but it was her gift not mine so I didn’t say anything. Then Danit dropped me off at the mall by her house because I wanted to look for jeans, since I am down to two pairs, but I was very unsuccessful in my search. I took the bus back to Danit’s apt. It was about 7pm then. Danit was taking a course to make test scores better for getting in to university, and she wasn’t coming back until 11, so I decided to take advantage of the fact that I had internet, and tried to do some blog updating. I couldn’t have done a lot, but I kept getting distracted by people and things, so yeah. At some point I got hungry and made Matzah Pizza (yummy!!!) for dinner, and then watched some of the football match Israel was watching. It wasn’t too exciting until in literally the last 10 seconds Chelsea got a goal to tie the game, because a guy on the Liverpool team accidentally headed the ball into his own goal. I feel bad for him, but it made for an exciting turn of events. Danit came home with Orit at around 11:30. We decided we didn’t want to go out, and watched Horton hears a who instead. It was a very cute movie. Danit fell asleep half way through as always. When it was done I went back and did some more blogging and eventually went to bed.

4/23

I got up around 10 to shower and get ready for going out to lunch for Israel’s (the person not the country) birthday. We went to a steak house, but they a pretty good salad selection so I wasn’t left out. After Lunch Danit and I were going to go to the Zoo, but we decided it was too hot. It was about 100 degrees literally, even the wind was hot. When we got back Danit took a nap. I did more blogging. After Danit left for her course I watched two movies and then she left her course early, and we all went to the beach at around 9 with some of Danit’s extended family to have flowerless chocolate cake and enjoy the weather. After the beach Danit, Yotam and I went to a bar, and hung out. It was funny since we could only drink wine because it was still Passover. We drank our wine and talked and were silly for a long time. I like Yotam a lot he’s always very funny, and when Danit and Yotam are together its kind of like watching a comedy act. I would think they were in love, except that Yotam is gay, so I don’t think that’s going to happen. Anyways we didn’t stay out too late just until about 2ish, and then Danit and I headed home and went to bed.

4/24

We got up around 10 and went to the beach with some of Danit’s other friends. Danit had to work at 4 and I needed to head back to Birzeit any ways, so we stayed until about 2 then dropped off Samantha, and Yotam, and then home. We both took super fast showers. I packed and then Danit drove me to the bus station on the way to work. I got back to Jerusalem, and I still had Rachel’s key so I went to her place to drop it off. I ended up staying a while and talking…and then I really had to go. So I walked to the Palestinian bus station and headed back to Ramallah and Birzeit. When I got back I called Sandra, because we had no water. She said she didn’t know what the deal was, but that it was okay since we still had the key to the apt next door, and it had water. Then she told me to come over to Ryan’s apt because that’s where people were gathering.

I got there and to my amazement, Both Marco and Thommi were there. They are our resident old men and by old I mean 28 and 29, but they don’t really go out with us much, so it was nice to see. I bought a bottle of wine on the way over since it was still Passover so that’s all I could drink. We drank a bit there and then went to Zan’s in Ramallah. We hung out there for awhile, and I learned that the project the German government is paying Thomas for is almost exactly what I want to do with my life… NO FAIR! After we’d been there for about an hour we heard a loud crack, and didn’t know what it was until we realized someone had thrown a rock at the ceiling of the room we were in which is all glass. The glass only cracked the stone didn’t go through, but 20 mins later there were a lot of rocks. They came so fast it sounded like gun fire. People panicked and ran for the door which is also glass. The door was pushed off its track and fell through to the other room of the bar, glass shattered everywhere, and there was a bit of chaos. Im not sure why, but I was rather calm through this whole ordeal. When people started running I just sort of got up and walked calmly to the door. When we thought the rocks were gun fire it was pretty scary, but once we realized it was just angry neighbors, I was pretty much okay. We even went back in to the glass room after everything calmed down. We stayed at Zans for maybe another hour and then decided to go home. We all squished in to a cab and went to our respective homes.

4/25

I slept pretty late today…it was so hot I didn’t want to move so I just kept lying in bed. Finally I got up to do some food shopping, and then called Marco to see if I could come over and do laundry. Which of course he said yes to. I hung out and tried to do more updating of blog, but I kept being distracted, by Wilko who had just gotten back from a juggling convention in the north of Israel. (hes such a dork) A little later Sandra came over, and then Tasha as well. Sandra and Wilko made dinner. I couldn’t eat the dinner since it involved Chametz, but I watched and ate a lot of Wilko’s dates and olives. Marco went to mass at the church in Birzeit, because it was good Friday. When he got back we had dinner on the roof (well they had dinner). Half way through dinner Marco got a call from Italy informing him that one of his friends who has cancer was really dying and not going to make it much longer, so he decided to go back to Italy earlier than he originally planned. Its so sad, I don’t even know what to say. I always wish I had some magic power to make people feel better when bad things happen, but now that I’ve experienced a real loss of my own I know there is nothing that people can say, you just have to wait for time to heal the wounds enough to stop the constant hurt. So yeah I gave Marco a hug because that’s all I could do for him, and then we all decided to go to Santi’s to watch a movie. We stopped at my apt to get movies and then to Santi’s. We ended up watching Teanage Mutant Ninja Turtles, because Santi got really excited when I mentioned I had it. Sandra left early because she was really tired. She called me 20 mins later to tell me that there were Israeli Soldiers in Birzeit so not to walk home alone. The movie was over about 20 mins later. So Wilko Ryan and I walked Tasha home, and then we walked to our homes which are all in the same direction. We got to the square by my house and right in front of us was an IDF armored jeep. They stopped us, and I used my magic Hebrew skills. He seemed a little surprised as they always do when I responded to him in Hebrew. He never asked me how I knew Hebrew, but he asked me where I was from and when I said Chicago, he asked if I was born there. I think he thought I was Israeli or something in which case I could have been in big trouble, but he never asked to see our passport or anything. He asked me where Ryan and Wilko were from and where they lived. I said they were American and German and pointed in the general direction of their homes, and then he said we could go. It was very strange. Ive never seen the IDF in Birzeit before. I know they’ve come since they arrested Omar, but I never had to deal with them, not like Ryan and Kyle. It sort of makes the whole concept of areas A, B, and C a laughing matter. The Palestinians don’t really have control any where. Israel can come in and do what they want when they want, and the PA cant do anything about it. After the jeep went further down the road I said good night to Wilko and Ryan and went home. Sandra was still up and we talked about the shittiness of the the IDF for awhile and then finally went to bed.

4/26

On Thursday I had Sandra had told me she was going to visit Azune, a village south of Ramallah where Sandra did a lot of ISM work last semester. It’s a place where the occupation is in the faces of the Palestinians there almost everyday. They have cerfew almost every night, and many of the young people there have been arrested or shot at by the IDF. In one day I met two boys both under 18 that had been shot by the IDF, and this was completely random meetings. There are so many that the odds are that you will run in to someone who had been shot or arrested. So any ways I asked Sandra if I could go with her to Azune. She called the family she was staying with, and they said it was fine. So we left for Azune around 12:30. We got there around 2ish. First we sat and talked with a family Sandra knew that lived a bit out side the village. Sandra showed me where there had been a small hut for a woman who watched her sheep near by. The hut was demolished by the IDF. I’m not sure what a tin hut has to do with Israel’s security, but apparently someone thought it was important enough. The family we met with first had three daughters. They were all very cute. The oldest was pretty well behaved. The youngest, was practically deaf. Apparently she used to have a hearing aid, but it broke and they don’t have the money for a new one. They have also had trouble getting her to a hospital to possibly fix the problem that’s causing her deafness. The middle child was an angry little girl. She kept picking fights with her older sister, and always wanted to be the center of attention. Most of the time we were there we were in the garden sitting with the father and talking, but then the sheik came by unexpectedly, so we had to go in to the house with the wife. She brought out some apples for us. I started to cut them in little slices for us and the girls, and this is how I made friends with the angry girl. I cant remember he name, but after I gave her a few slices of apple she decided she liked me. She also liked to give me high fives, so we played for a little bit, and I finally saw her laugh and smile. The father told us later that when the IDF come by their house she throws small stones at them. This girl wasn’t more than 7 and she was already angry and throwing stones. She is part of yet another generation that is negatively impacted by the occupation. It is very sad.

After we left that family we walked to actual Azune. On the way we passed a road block, not a check point, just a few very large rocks put in the road by the IDF so Palestinians cant drive a car out of Azune. Once in the village we stopped by and said hello to some other people that Sandra knew, and then we made our way to the home of the family we were staying with. They lived kind of far from the rest of the village up on a hill with a nice garden. These people are poor, by my standards, but relative to the rest of the people of Azune they have a very nice life. The family has 4 boys and one girl. The mother is the nicest woman ever. She doesn’t have much, but she still wanted to give everything to Sandra and I. It was dinner time by the time we got there. She knew that both Sandra and I were vegetarians, so she made stuffed grape leaves for us. These were the best grape leaves I have ever had in my life. I could have eaten them forever. She also gave us flat bread that she made herself and lebaneh to dip in. It was so delicious. After dinner we went and sat in the garden for awhile and talked and played with the youngest son Adam and the girl Laura. About an hour after dinner Ilham the mother came out with dishes piled high with this sweet syrupy cake she made. It was also amazingly delicious. Based just on food I think I could have lived there forever. After sitting for a little while longer. We went inside and watched some strange movie on TV and then Sandra and I were very tired and went to bed. The house only had two bed rooms. One for Ilham and Ishmael her husband and another for all the kids, and there are also some beds in the living room. Ilham gave their room to Sandra and I to sleep on, because that’s how nice they are.

4/27

We got up around 9 and Ilham made us an amazing breakfast of eggs, eggplant, humus, tomatoes, more home made bread, and other delicious things. Breakfast here is really greasy, but so good! After breakfast we finished getting ready for the day and then set out to visit people. First we took Ilham to the internet café to set up and email address for her so she could email with Sandra when Sandra left. The internet place was closed so we went to visit the one Christian family in the village. It’s an old man and his sister. They were very nice and gave us coffee and soda and little chocolates. Then the guy who owns the internet place called and said he was there, so we went back and got Ilham an email address. After that Ilham went back home to get some stuff done, and Sandra and I walked to the playground just outside of the village, because Sandra wanted to show it to me. The actual play ground it still intact, but there was a part of the park with a swimming pool and some other recreational things, and the IDF came and demolished it before any one even had the chance to use them. It really disgusts me what the Israeli government I willing to do just to make life harder for the Palestinians. We walked back from the park and went back to the internet place to hang out with the guy who owns it because Sandra is friends with him. Then he invited us over for lunch. So we went to his house. We met his sisters, who were all really nice, and they had a new kitten that was really cute. Lunch was simple but filling. After lunch we walked to visit some more people and then headed back to our host’s house to rest a bit. We hung out in the garden, for a bit and then went for a walk on the land around the house. Ilham showed us the olive trees, and other things growing on the land. Laura and Adam came with us and they kept picking flowers and giving them to me and Sandra as presents it was very cute. After our walk, we had a nice dinner, hung out for a bit more and drank some tea, and then walked down to the house of another family that Sandra wanted to visit. We sat and talked for awhile about their life their, and I tried green chickpeas for the first time (pretty good tastes like peas) Then the father went with us to another family Sandra knew where the mother had passed away a month ago. It was sad at first when we got there, but after some time more of the kids came home and it was livelier. After we’d been there for about an hour we heard sirens and a loud speaker voice and Sandra told me that meant that the IDF was calling curfew for the night. We stayed for another hour or so and then decided to try and get home seeing as there isn’t much they can do to internationals, even if we’re breaking the curfew. We made it back to Ilham’s house safely and went to bed pretty soon after that.

4/28

We got up around 8:30 with the intention of making one more visit and then going back to Birzeit, but the curfew from the previous night was still on. The kids couldn’t even go to school. We asked Ilham how often the kids missed school she said it was the 5^th time this month. Its ridiculous that these kids are losing their education, because of Israel. These kids are not terrorists they don’t deserve this fate, but the Israeli government doesn’t seem to care about the children of other people. We finally decided to try to make it to the house of our one last visit. We sat for a bit had some tea, and then our last host was able to find a cab driver willing to take us to where a shuttle would pick us up. We asked him if he was afraid knowing that the IDF was in the town center. He said he was only afraid of Allah. That was a pretty powerful statement. He risked imprisonment for 10 shekels from us. Eventually we got the shuttle and got back to Birzeit. I unpacked took a shower, and then Thomas came over, because a few days before when I found out about his project I told him I wanted to help him since it happens to be what I just got a degree in. So we talked about what I thought were possible weaknesses, and how I could help him get in contact with schools in Israel that would be willing to dialogue with Palestinian schools. After Thomas left I tried to study for my Arabic Exam on Wednesday. Then I made dinner for Sandra and me, we ate on the balcony, but it was getting chilly, so we didn’t stay out long. Then I did some more studying till I was tired and then I read and went to bed.

4/29

I went to school early today to use the internet and do some more studying. Then we had our exam for Palestine Question class, after that I walked home, and studied more for my Arabic Exam the next day. I studied until almost 9:30 then I went and got falafel with Sandra, and then we took a little walk and went to visit Josh at his apt, stayed there for a while and then went home and to bed.

4/30

Today was my modern standard Arabic exam. I think I did okay. Ive gotten As on all the other ones, so I think this one will be okay as well. After that Exam we had presentations in Amiah class. I talked about Chicago and how wonderful it is, esp the pizza. It made me a little home sick. After our presentation we learned a song that Sammi (my prof) really likes. Then he let us go early. Today we also learned that Omar had his trial yesterday. His brother and mother got to see him and apparently he is skinnier (which I didn’t think was possible) and has a huge beard, but other than that he is okay, and it is possible he will be released in 48 hours. Its not definite but with any luck hell be back with us in a few days! After class I went home and sat down to finish updating my blog so I could post it when the free wireless place opened at 5. unfortunately I was interrupted when Kyle, Katy and Vanessa came in after being in Egypt for the last week. They looked very ragged, but happy. We chatted for a bit, but then they wanted to take naps since they hadn’t slept in 24 hours, so I let them sleep, and continued writing. Finally I went to the internet place and here I am still typing away, and looking up what im going to do with the rest of my life. I have no idea…but for the here and now I got an email from Eyal the guy im in touch with from ICAHD. He responded to me with a project of creating a comprehensive document with all the educational services that ICAHD offers, which is great, because Im doing this along with being trained to be a tour guide, and it’s a really good way for me get to know all the organization has to offer and all the staff. Im very excited, but now I must go home and take a shower before going to Santi’s for the first real good bye. Ryan left today, but ill see him again in a month. Marco is leaving tomorrow and that is sad, he has been a good friend for me these three months. Ive done a lot of things like this where I live with people and go from seeing them everyday to probably never seeing them again, but I like to think this is different. If I live in Palestine/Israel then it wont be so hard to get to Europe and visit all these wonderful people ive met here. Okay im done now time to post and keep people from thinking im dead. I promise not to wait a month again…oh wait no I don’t, but Ill do my best ;)

so...that was a long month...oops

2008-04-30T21:11:00.000+03:00

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so yeah...that was a long month..oops

2008-04-30T20:53:00.003+03:00

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Damn you Internet

2008-03-31T21:21:00.000+02:00

3/31/08

16 days and counting until my birthday! My mom used to have a rule for me when I was little that I wasn’t allowed to talk about my birthday until 6 weeks before, other wise I would start planning my parties 6 months in advance ad drive everyone crazy. I would like to think that I am not mature enough to not need such a rule but I still get excited about my birthday, even if Im not happy about continuing to get older after 21. okay on to more exciting things.

Friday I got up very early and went to Jerusalem for my meeting with Jeff Halper of ICAHD. It was great. It turns out I was late, because I forgot to set my watch back for daylight savings time, but he was very understanding and we still had our meeting. We talked about my past work in various Jewish communities and which communities I might be able to bring ICAHD to in Israel, and also what ICAHD can do for me as far as training, and money. They can’t pay me obviously, but they can pay for certain expenses and they will train me to lead tours and give presentations. Its all very exciting for me. I am going back on Wednesday after class to begin training and then on Friday Im going on a tour with them. Right after I met with Jeff I went to meet up with Jomi who was with her boyfriend, mother and sister. It was a bit strange for me to be with them. Jomi moved to Israel a year and a half ago and joined the Israel army. Her boyfriend is in the same position as Jomi, but while Jomi is a weapons instructor and never sees combat herself, when I asked her boyfriend what he did in the army he told me he arrested terrorists. This was very hard to hear considering that just the day before Omar and Wissam were arrested by the IDF at 3 in the morning. Omar and Wissam are both politically active, but they are not terrorists. I knew that this is that way it was but to actually hear a soldier tell me that he really believes that everyone he arrests is a terrorist was shocking and amazing to me. I didn’t even know what to say, and out of respect to Jomi I didn’t really say anything, and he had to leave pretty soon after that anyways so it wasn’t so bad. A little later I went with Jomi, her mom and her sister to Tzuba to visit former campers that were on EIE. This was also very strange for me. I remember when I finished EIE I wanted to join the Israeli army. Uri was a great teacher, but he lied to me, well maybe not lied, but he certainly omitted certain details of Israel’s history, to make me think that Israel was perfect and faultless. I worry that these campers are getting the same brain washing, and there is little I can do to stop it. I have toyed with the idea of asking Amy or Gadi or even Baruch if I can do a ICAHD presentation once I am trained to do so, but I have a feeling it wont be allowed, but who knows. NFTY is supposed to be a liberal and progressive organization. They should allow other points of view in their classrooms. We left Tzuba a little before Shabbat and I just had them drop me off near the city center and I walked from there to the bus station near Damascus gate to go back to Birzeit. Yvette texted me to see if I wanted to stay in Jerusalem and go out later, but I was exhausted, and I needed to study for an exam on Saturday. I went home studied for a while and then to bed.

Saturday I woke up with the worst headache, so I went back to sleep for a few hours and then came to class very late. So I had to take the exam after class it wasn’t too bad. After the exam I went home and did some reading on my balcony until Marco called me to say I could come do laundry. Then I went to Marco and Wilco’s to do laundry, and also ended up helping Wilco Grocery shop and ate dinner with them. Then Wilco Started to watch football (soccer) matches in German. It was entertaining for about 10 mins and then I did the dishes as my payment for dinner and using their washer machine, and then I went to Aliya’s where there was a going away party fr Jeff and Michelle, who had been PAS students the semester before and stayed around until now. At Aliya’s I met Thomas a German guy who has been in PAS the last 2 semesters, and is now working on some project with a German NGO in Ramallah. He seemed pretty cool, its always exciting to meet new people here considering the program is pretty small, new faces are good. We ended the evening at Santi and Nicks apt and eventually went home at around 3ish.

Sunday I went on a Wall photography excursion with Kyle, Ryan, Josh and Tasha. We took a shuttle to Amar a city near the Kalandia check point. We got out by the wall, and then walked for a few hours just along the wall and taking pictures. We met some interesting characters along the way, but nothing too exciting. When we got back to Birzeit we decided to get a movie to watch. Tasha told me they had Jumper , which is a movie I have wanted to see since I saw a preview for it like 4 months ago. Unfortunately it is a terrible movie. Jamie Bell’s character was probably the only redeeming factor and even that wasn’t amazing, so that was sad. We watched the movie at Kyle’s and miraculously just as we were about to leave William showed up to tell us that he was going to Tel aviv for a few days etc… and he had his car with him, so he drove us all home (yeah!)

Today, was just normal class, and I finally got my extra mattresses back from Anna, so I was finally able to really unpack. I don’t have a dresser or even shelves, but at least I don’t have to put my clothes on the floor. I was also inspired to decorate, so now my room is beautiful, and It no longer looks like a clothes bomb went off in it. After beautifying my room I went to the girls house, and they made me dinner on the way Tamir drove by me and gave me a ride to their house after making a stop to get Kanaffi (mmmm soo good) and now I am at Santi and Nick’s place fighting with their internet to let me post this since its been 2 weeks now.

2008-03-31T21:14:00.000+02:00

3/27/08

Sometimes the power of my Laziness Amazes even me. Sorry about the 10 day laps I don’t really have a good excuse I just didn’t feel like writing. Any ways it has been an exciting 10 days. Last Tuesday (3/18) after class I got the rest of the Hamentaschen ingredients and a rolling pin and went to Santi and Nick’s house to use their oven to make the “Jew cookies” Tasha and Vanessa came with me and helped as did Santi. The best was when Husssein came over and said “Sara I want to help make the Jew Cookies.” Other people also came over in the process of baking and it was a pretty good Hamentaschen baking party, and everyone loved them when it came time to eat them. We finished around 10ish and Hussein gave me a ride home and did some studying/reading and off to bed I went.

Wednesday I got to class a little late, because I was waiting for a shuttle with Sandra and it came very late, but I told Sami he couldn’t be mad at me because I brought him cookies. Sami doesn’t know im Jewish so I didn’t tell him what kind of cookies they were but he said he said they were wonderful. I then gave out more cookies to everyone in my class and the other class during break. Tasha, Elizabeth and I left our colloquial class early to go to Bethlehem with Kyle. Elizabeth wasn’t feeling well so she just went home, but Kyle, Ryan, Tasha and I went to Bethlehem. This was quite the experience. First it took the shuttle almost an hour to go through the check point in to Bethlehem because the traffic was so backed up and then once we got up to the check point they weren’t even checking cars. It is so ridiculous. I check point that only slows down traffic is not doing anything for Israel’s security. If anything its making matters worse because it makes people angry. Once we finally got to the bus station in Bethlehem we weren’t entirely where to go. Kyle wanted to go to the Church of the Nativity, so he asked a random guy in an armored vehicle where it was. It turned out the guy worked for the PA (Palestinian Authority) and he offered to give us a little tour of Bethlehem, so we accepted and climbed in to the car. I sat in the back seat with his four year old son Jabreel (Arabic version of Gabriel) who had an amazing ability to fall asleep while sitting in very awkward positions. I forget the name of our driver, but he took us all over the city, and then dropped us off a few minutes away from the Church. On our way to the church we saw a bunch of posters of a guy who had been assassinated in Bethlehem just a few days before we took some pictures. Then some kids came up to us and said why are you taking pictures of those and pointed out a huge banner of the guy and the guys that were also in the car with him when he was killed. It turns out we were right in front of the guys house. So then the kids invite us into the courtyard of the house, and we ended up meeting his father, and some of his children. It was a very intense experience at apparently this guy had some connection with Islamic Jihadi and also with hizbollah. I have to say I was a little scared, but the people were very nice they gave us coffee, and the father talked to us about what happened to his son. He then showed us the key to his old house that was in what is now Israel proper, and also his pre 1948 passport. The family also gave us posters of the guy that was assassinated. We were there for about 45 mins finally we took our leave and headed for our initial destination. The church was pretty, and cool to look at but held no major significance for me. I took some pictures and moved on. We then took a cab to near by the Checkpoint. We got out where the wall starts and took about a million pictures of the wall. Some of the art work is really amazing, and also the things people write on it are very moving. We went through the check point which was a little weird. It was the first time for me to go through one on foot. When we first went in there was no one there. Finally a soldier showed up to check us through, which they did with little problems. Then we got a shuttle into Jerusalem. We got dinner at a wrap place called Terrintino’s in the city center, and I once again got to impressed people with my magic ability to order food in Hebrew. After food we walked around for a bit. Tasha found an American Apparel store and got excited and bought a bunch of stuff. Finally around 9:45 we headed back to catch one of the last busses back to Ramallah and then the last shuttle to Birzeit from Ramallah. We all went to Tasha’s house and hung out for a while then I walked home with Kyle and Ryan, and passed out.

Thursday, we didn’t have class, because it was the prophet Mohamed’s Birthday and it was also Purim! I went to Jerusalem and tried to meet up with a guy from ICAHD, but it didn’t work out. Then I hung out with Rachel for a bit and helped her pick out what to wear for Purim that night. I left around 5:30 to go to Tel Aviv to meet up and go out with Naomi and her friends. It was so nice and warm it made me so happy. I met Naomi at her Ulpan and got the keys to her apt. Then I met Andrea and we went to Naomi’s to change and get ready. My costume was kind of lame but whatever. First we crashed a Birthright Alumni Party that had all you could drink for 20 shekels. It was entertaining. There were a lot of people there that Naomi knew. I just had fun meeting new people and telling all of them what I was doing and that I lived in a village next to Ramallah. After that Bar lost its entertainment value we went to a street festival on Forentine. That was insane. There were soooo many people you could barely move. I was trying to find/meet up with Lisa, but we failed in the end. I did however run in to Ron a guy I worked with in NFTY this summer. When I told him last summer what I was planning to do this semester he told me Hamas was going to Kid nap me and that he was going to have to come rescue me. When I saw him on Thursday and I told him that I was living in the west bank and that everyone knew I was a Jew and no one had kid napped me his response was “Just Wait” I was annoyed by that but I tried not to let it get to me. If he wants to be an ass, that’s his problem. At this point in the evening everyone was rather tired to we decided to head home and promptly passed out.

Friday we got up and lay around for while. Then Yvette from PAS came and met up with us at Naomi’s apt. Then we went to the beach because it was really hot. I forgot to bring my swim suit, but I did bring my sundress that I got in Chile. It was so nice to be able to wear a dress and lie on the beach. Lisa also came to play with us after a bit. Once the sun started to go down, we went back to Naomi’s for a bit and then tried to find the Parade which was over, but we did find an impromptu dance party on the sidewalk outside of some bar down the street from Naomi’s we stayed there for a bit and danced with the crazy Israeli’s after a bit Lisa met up with her cousin and we made plans to find each other later. Andrea went back to Jerusalem. Naomi was going to a private party that you needed tickets for with her friend Carolina. So Yvette and I got dinner and then met up with Lisa at a bar with her cousin. It was pretty fun. They had good music we danced forever, then we decided to hop to another one, but Lisa wanted to go home so we said our goodnights and Yvette and I went to Bar number 2. Where we once again danced forever. We ended up getting back to Naomi’s around 5, but we had a problem. I had a key to Naomi’s but there is a code to get in the main door. The code was stored in my phone which died at the end of the night. I had to convince a girl on the street to let me put my sim card in her phone, but then I realized the code was saved only to the phone and not the sim, but Naomi’s number was on the sim, so I called her and she told me, but her and Carolina got home 10 mins after us anyways. At this point the sun was coming up and we were so tired, but happily tired.

Saturday we literally rolled out of bed around 12:30 and went straight to the beach. And Stayed there until about 6pm. (don’t worry mom I wore lots of sunscreen) in this time we had a lot of visitors. Lisa came with her cousin to meet up with us. The my friend Moran from camp came to hang out for a bit. Then two of Carolina’s friends came and some of Naomi’s friends. We were a very popular group. It was quite nice and hot and it felt so relaxing to be at the beach all day. We didn’t leave until the sun started to go down. Towards the end I got into an intense discussion with Moran and Lisa’s cousin who is also Israeli about the occupation. It is so hard to talk to Israeli’s about this. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have the right since I didn’t live here all my life, but then I think who else is going to bring this stuff up for them to think and talk about. I don’t know if I changed any minds, but at least I made them think about their assumptions about security and the Palestinians. Finally we all decided it was time to go home. I went back to Naomi’s and took a shower and Naomi fed me and Yvette (yeah Naomi!!!) then it was time to go back to Jerusalem. Yvette and I got on the shuttle to the bus station and then the shuttle to Jerusalem, and who should also get on but Mitchel Kramer one of my former campers from OSRUI. He is here doing EIE The same program I did when I was a sophomore in high school. His parents were also there. I guess this week was the parents week. They asked me what I was doing here so I told them, and they thought it was very cool, so that was nice. They even invited me to dinner, but I had to decline. I texted Jomi to tell her what happened and it turns out she was planning on going to visit the campers on Friday so now I’m going with them to Tzuba to do that which is very exciting. I think about half of EIE is my former OSRUI campers. Okay once we got to Jerusalem I took Yvette to my favorite Bagel toast place for dinner then we met Wilco at Jaffa gate and I went out for the third night in a row (not such a good idea) We had a lot of stuff with us and weren’t sure what to do with it, so I used my magic Jew abilities and convinced the security people at Beit Shmuel (the hostel where the NFTY offices are located) that I worked for NFTY and that they should let us put our bags in the storage room. I did it all in Hebrew too! It worked so we were then bag free and headed back in to town. We met up with Andrea who I now know through Naomi. She was at Constantine, which is a really nice and big dance bar. The best part was that she was there with Two guys from American University. So I said hello to all. Constantine closed around 3:30. Since Yvette, Wilco and I couldn’t go home until the first bus back to Ramallah in the morning I took them to Underground which is a slightly sketchy place, but it was the only place I could think of that would be open late. We left there around 5:30 at which point we were exhausted and decided to take a nap in Independence park until we could get a bus to Ramallah.

We ended up sleeping until about 8:30 and then magically made it to the bus station and then to our respective homes. I literally walked in the door and went straight to my bed and passed out for a few hours. Then I ate something and did some reading until Omar Texted to say that they were showing V for Vendetta at Aliya’s. When I got there it turned out they were actually showing American Outlaws which is the worst movie ever! Don’t ever watch it! I suffered through it though by making fun of every scene and making my own dialogue with Josh. Finally it was over and I went home and to bed! (finally!)

Monday we reviewed for the tests we had coming up Colloquial on Wednesday and Standard on Saturday. After class I had to write my first paper since graduation. It was a little hard for me, but not too bad. I Finished around 10 and then called Rachel to talk to her about/ apologize for a bad thing I did. Once we had more or less made up I told her about Hirsh’s (the rabbi in charge of Avi Chai a program in DC we both did) father dying and that the Shiva was this week. Rachel called Jeremy to get more details and we decided to go to the shiva the next day. I went to bed pretty early so I could get up early to go to Jerusalem.

Tuesday morning Rachel called me and we figured out we would go in the early afternoon. I was in a bit if ahurry when I was finally leaving to go to Jerusalem and when I was almost to the check point I realized I forgot my passport. This is a big problem they could have refused me entry in to Israel, but I explained in half Hebrew half English that I left my passport in my apartment in Birzeit where I was studying, but that I was going to Jerusalem for the shiva of the father of a rabbi that I studied with. I don’t think you could have made that story up if you tried. I also luckily had a photo copy of my passport picture in my wallet so I think that helped at well. The soldier told me she believed me and let me through. On the way to Rachel’s I ran in to Sivan who I worked with last summer in NFTY. I had thought she was living in the States now, but apparently not, so we exchanged numbers and hopefully I shall see her soon. Then I had to go buy black flats to wear to the shiva since it was an ultra orthodox family. I borrowed a long black skirt and long sleeved button down shirt from Rachel, and braided my hair. I looked like I was going to seminary. It was pretty funny. Rachel and I took a cab to the home where the Shiva was (oh for those of you who don’t know what a shiva is it’s the seven day period of morning after someone dies in which friends of the family are supposed to come and give their condolences and share in the mourning process.) We were both a little nervous about going inside, but finally we got up the courage. We walked in and we were told to go up some more stairs to another room where we found both Hirsh and Gavriel (who was our guide when we came to Israel with Avi Chai) sitting and talking. I think it is inappropriate in that world for us to be alone too long with them, so we all went down stairs and Gavriel made fun of my outfit asking if I wore it in the west bank. We sat and talked to Hirsh for awhile. He told stories about his father and then asked Rachel and I about what we were doing, which is always funny, because Rachel is studying basically Zionist education, and Im studying pretty much the opposite. Technically the room was supposed to be divided men and women, but when we came there wasn’t really anyone else there so Hirsh said it was okay for us to sit with him and Gavriel. At one point some important looking orthomen came in and Hirsh hirsh gave us a cue to move away from that area. So Rachel and I sat back with Gavriel for while and talked about life etc… when the men left we decided to also say good bye to Hirsh and leave with Gavriel. At some point before the men came and hirsh had been telling stories about his father he told a story that his father told about how educators should be. The story goes that a man was in the woods with his students and he told one of them to pick up a huge rock. Under the rock there were lots of bugs squirming around and moving. The teacher told his student, “before you moved that rock those bugs’ whole world was under that rock and now that you have lifted it, you have opened them up to an entirely new world and universe that they wouldn’t have known otherwise.” I really liked this story, but also Hirsh was telling this story to talk about the kind of educator his father was, and Rachel looked at each other thinking the same thing, that Hirsh had lifted a rock from our heads and shown us a whole new world in Judaism. Rachel decided to tell Hirsh about this as we were leaving and Hirsh started to cry he was so touched. It felt good that we could bring him a little joy during this time. We said our goodbyes and then Gavriel drove us to Rachel’s apt. We hung out for a bit, and then did some shopping, and then went to dinner. I had intended to return to Ramallah Tuesday night, but the service at the restaurant was sooo slow I missed the last bus back to Ramallah, so I slept at Rachel’s with the intention of getting up early the next day and going to class.

I woke up Wednesday with the worst stomach cramps and serious nausea. It was horrible. I don’t know what was wrong with me, but I spent most of the day lying on Rachel’s couch and drinking chamomile tea and honey. I started to feel better around 5:30 and ventured out to superpharm to get a tooth brush and also some soup to eat. I came back and made some soup for Rachel and me. Then Maryanne a PAS person called me to tell me that ICAHD was hosting Rachel Corrie’s parents that night to talk about her death and what they were doing now about it. It was at 7:30 so I went to that. It was very emotional to watch these two people talk about how their daughter was literally crushed to death by a bulldozer driven by an Israeli Soldier. It hurt my heart a lot. After they spoke I asked Maryanne to introduce me to Jeff Halper (the guy in charge of ICAHD) I told Jeff that I had been trying to meet with Eyal the volunteer person for the past few weeks. It turns out Eyal was there that night but he had left by the time I met Jeff, but its okay because now I have an appt to meet with Jeff Halper on Friday at 10 am! Yeah!!! Im very excited. I have been following this organization for years now to actually work for them would be a dream come true for me. Okay so after meeting Jeff we miraculously got a ride to Ramallah from a guy whos name I forgot, but hes an American teaching English and History at the Friends School in Ramallah. Once in Ramallah I got a shuttle with Ryan back to Birzeit. I made some more soup for dinner, and then did my reading for Palestine question and bed.

Today I got up and no one was home. I putzed around for a bit then got ready for class. When I tried to leave I realized that Sandra had locked the door from the outside which cannot be unlocked from the inside. I called her and it turned out she was almost home any ways so she let me out, but before I left she told me that last night at around 3 in the morning our friends Omar and Wissam were Arrested by the IDF here in Birzeit. I hardly knew what to say or do. I wish I was friends with some high up in the military Israeli, but all my friends had pretty low level positions in the army. Omar and Wissam are not violent people. They are both very politically active in the PFLP, but they are not a security threat to anyone. Especially Wissam. Wissam is the one who got shot in the leg by the soldiers at the Atara check point. He cant even walk yet, and his wife had a baby just 2 weeks ago, what the hell do they need to arrest him for, and Omar I don’t even think he could hurt a fly even if he wanted to. I had been starting to feel like I was living in a bubble here in quiet Ramallah and Birzeit, but I guess its pretty easy for the IDF to burst any bubble they want. No one has any idea where they are or what they are charged with, and we probably wont know for another week maybe not even then. It makes me feel very helpless that there is nothing I can do to help. We just have to wait and see what happens. I hope they let them go soon Its hard to imagine ones friends in prison, especially Palestinian friends in an Israeli Prison. Well as amazing as this may seem life here goes on as normal. Most of us are still going to Zan’s tonight, and Im still going to Jerusalem tomorrow to meet with Jeff Halper and then to Tzuba to visit my campers with Jomi. It seems almost unreal, but that’s the way it is here. The most abnormal and horrendous things are part of normal life.

Making Hamentaschen in Palestine

2008-03-18T21:49:00.000+02:00

3/17/08

Wednesday I went to the doctor in the morning and found out I have a UTI which sucks and proves that g-d likes to punish me for doing stupid things… I went to class it was uneventful…. Then home for a bit I did reading for class on Thursday on my balcony in the wonderful sun. Then we went to Aliya’s for dinner and to watch a documentary called “The Iron Wall” this is a very well made documentary and really sheds some light on the realities of the wall, the settlements and the settlement roads being built. There was also a lot of interview footage with Jeff Halper who is the founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) which is a wonderful organization that I will hopefully soon be working for. Any ways after the documentary everyone hung out for awhile, some people were drinking a bit, but decided to take a break as Ive been going out enough the last few days. I left with Wilco and Kyle and was escorted by the lovely Kyle.

Thursday we Palestine Question class it was about the issue of refugees. Daniela did the presentation. It was actually very interesting because she told us about her grandfather’s personal story of how he and his family were expelled from the city of Lid. It was horrible. People were forced from their homes and then forced to walked many miles in to Jordan in the middle of July. People died of thirst or were forced to drink their own urine. We then talked about the feasibility of the Palestinians returning to their homes and how we thought the refugee problem should be solved. Our prof brought up a survey that had been done a few years ago that I actually knew about, that said that only about 8% of Palestinians living in the diaspora would actually want to move back to their homes in Israel Proper. Most of these people were born in other countries and know them better. I think for a lot of Palestinians in Exile they just want the recognition of the right to return, and the deserved compensation for their trouble, but I obviously have no idea I am not a Palestinian in Exile. I am an American Jew that can come and go from Israel to Palestine as I please. Needless to say class was interesting and very informative. After class I went home with Tasha and Vanessa and we watched Across the universe which is sooooo good! Then we went to my place to hang out for a bit until we got a ride to Zan’s (the one good bar in Ramallah) At Zans there was a Palestinian guy performing (just singing and playing guitar but good nonetheless.)

Friday I got up early and very slowly packed and got ready to head to Jerusalem for the weekend. I don’t think I have ever been so excited to celebrate Shabbat. Its still a bit weird for me to be going to classes on Saturday. Not that I ever kept Shabbat before, but It was nice to celebrate on Fri nights and then rest on Sat.. I left Birzeit around 10am and got to Rachel’s around 12. she had already finished some of the cooking, but she sent me out to the shuk to get whine, Tofu and eggs. I also stopped at marzipan and got some Borekas! Mmm Borekas I think they are my favorite food. I came back with everything and tried to help a little with cooking, and getting the apt ready for guests and dinner. Somewhere in there Jeremy showed up he is now Studying in Yashiva and Shomer Nagiah (means he doesn’t touch women) If you know Jeremy you will understand how strange is was for me to see him in this new persona esp since I hadent seen him in over a year. We haven’t always gotten along in the past, but I think maybe he has changed for the better, only time will tell. Any ways Rachel was almost done with making all the food so I jumped in the shower and then dressed in my frum (Religious Jew) clothes. I always kind of feel like im wearing a costume when I dress like that, but we were going to services at Rachel’s Orthodox Carlbach synagogue, and I wanted to dress appropriately. The service was great. I really like Carlbach Kabbalat Shabbat. Then we headed back for dinner the guests were me Jeremy Naomi and Dana (4 generations of AU) and then Rachel’s friends Jessie and another Rachel. The food was amazing! Rachel is going to make one hell of a Jewish mother some day. And everyone there was cool and interested in hearing about my “fascinating” life in Palestine. Most people left around 11pm and I was falling asleep at the table by then I was so tired. Jeremy and I slept over.

Saturday I slept until 11ish and then put on some more Frum clothing and waited for Naomi and Dana to come over again from Shabbat lunch which was again amazing. Rachel made this sauce that was basically date honey regular honey and pecans it was deeeelicious. After we all stuffed ourselves we went for a walk to the old city and to the cotel, but I had changed in to jeans so I decided not to actually go up to the cotel. Rachel and Jeremy went to the wall to pray Mincha, and I hung back with Naomi, Dana and their friend Andrea that we were meeting there. We sat in the sun and tried to avoid the attention of a mangy looking cat that wanted to befriend us. After Jeremy and Rachel finished they went back to Rachel’s apt and we went to the roof of the Austrian hospice to show Naomi a good view of the old city. Its pretty amazing up there. Every time I see a really nice view from up high I fall in love with Jerusalem all over again its always amazing to me how peaceful everything looks from above when I know its really so full tension. Any ways enough abstract thought… after the view we walked back towards west Jerusalem I walked with Naomi back to Rachel’s. Naomi packed up and left and met Dana to go back to Tel Aviv and I hung out with Rachel and Jeremy until it was time for Jeremy to go to the evening service and then we had dinner which I wasn’t actually hungry for but oh well. Then we did havdallah and then Jeremy went back to his Yeshiva and Rachel and I hung out and talked for awhile. Somewhere in there we looked at the news and front page it said there was a huge tornado in Atlanta where all of our friends happen to be because Robert and Avi got married on Sunday! So we were a bit worried, but then we finally got a call from Alison who told us all was well. Rachel and I talked for a bit more about how much boys suck and whatever else girls talk about when their alone and then it was bed time.

Sunday I got up bright and early and met Jean Marie, Elizabeth and Marco in the old city to go to mass for Palm Sunday. (don’t worry only as an observer) Although I did find out that Marco goes to church in Birzeit every Sunday which was interesting I just assumed everyone on the program was completely secular. Its kind of nice to know there is someone else who cares about their religion…even if it is a completely different one than my own. The mass we went to was all in Arabic so I didn’t really understand anything that was going on, but it was interesting anyways. There was a lot of incense and getting up and sitting down. After the service was over I took Elizabeth and Marco to west Jerusalem in search of a book store with an English Arabic dictionary which we did finally find and then back to the old city to meet up with Jean Marie and Vanessa. Jean Marie took us to a nice restaurant with yummy chumus and after we were nice and full we walked up to the mount of olives for the procession of the Palms. It goes from the top of the mount of Olives to the entrance where Jesus entered Jerusalem. It was pretty cool. There were pilgrims from all over the world, and every one was singing and dancing and waving palms. The only problem is that it was very hot and sunny and there was almost no shade the whole time. Lucky for us the procession ended at the church Jean Marie lives at, so when we got there he let us inside and gave us all water and juice to drink. It was getting pretty late at this point so I headed back to Rachel’s place to get my stuff and then to the grocery store to get some stuff for making hamentaschen. Then back to Damascus gate and the bus station to go back to Ramallah. We headed back to Birzeit grabbed some falafel and then I went home, did my Arabic home work and went to bed!

Monday was a pretty average day we had Arabic class, then I went home for a bit and finally got around to cleaning my new bathroom, so that it is now sparkling clean. Then I was convinced to go to a lecture with Sandra. She said it would be in English and Arabic, but really it was just in Arabic so I left after an hour because I couldn’t understand enough to get what was going on. Then I called Wilco so I could use their washer, since I no longer have one of my own, and now I am here trying not to watch resident evil because it will give me nightmares. Hopfully if I can find a working oven I will be making hamentaschen a much happier activity. Than watching zombie movies. Even if Milo Jojovich is hardcore.

How many times can I go to Jerusalem in a week

2008-03-18T21:47:00.000+02:00

Well its been an interesting few days I didn’t end up moving on Friday, because Hussein was in Jerusalem all day, so he couldn’t come and move me. So after packing and studying for my exam on Saturday I went to Tasha, Vanessa, Elizabeth and Miriam’s house to watch Stomp the Yard. We were later joined by Katy and then Omar. When I first got there Santi was there also and very drunk. Keep in mind it was about 7pm. Santi, Nick, Ryan and Kyle had gone to the Tybeh Brewery that day and its 4 shekels a beer which is a little more than a dollar so they all drank themselves silly. So Santi was over Dancing around the kitchen until we were going to start the movie and then Tasha jokingly said something about it being a girls night since Santi was the only guy there at the time and Santi got pissed off and stormed out of the apt. 15 mins later Nick called asking why Tasha kicked Santi out of the house and we had to explain that Santi was making things up…and then we gave up on our drunken little boys and watched the movie, which is pretty cool to watch, but is super cheesy. Afterwards Hussein drove me and Katy home.

Saturday I had my first Fusah exam it was actually pretty easy which was a relief. I keep feeling like we’re not really learning anything and then I read something or take the exam and realize I have learned and retained a lot, which is always exciting. After class I went to the gym with Vanessa, and then Hussein came and helped me move the Katy and Sandra’s apt. I dropped everything off took a shower repacked my back pack and headed to Jerusalem to see friends. I don’t know but something about going to Jerusalem always makes me feel like im going home. It probably has something to do with the fact that its one of three cities that Ive lived in in my life and that I know well. I walked from Damascus gate to the city center dropped my stuff off at Rachel’s fabulously located apt and then met lisa with her Birthright children on Ben Yehuda. It was weird to be around a birthright group after living in Palestine for a month. I kind of wanted to invite all of them to come visit me when the trip was over, or just slap them in the faces and tell them to wake up and read a book once in a while, but both of those ideas didn’t pan out. After awhile they took the group to a bar so I went with Lisa, and Esther also came out and met us after a while. We hung out for a bit and then Lisa had to go back with her group so I went to underground with Esther. For those of you who don’t know Underground is the sketchiest place in all of Jerusalem, and I would not recommend it to any one, but they play good music and we wanted to dance so we went. The night ended around 4 when the bar closed and then I slept half the day away

Sunday I had an amazing lunch with Rachel, then we went skirt shopping around ben yahuda area and then I headed back to Birzeit. I was sooo exhausted when I came back all I did was do my homework for Arabic class and then went to bed. Monday I had class and then went to the gym with Vanessa, and then went back to Jerusalem to see Esther one last time before she went back to the US. I got there around 8 we went to dinner and then we went to a bar in Jerusalem called Constantine. It was amazing! Not sketchy at all. It was all students which means people actually our age, and no sketchy guys to fight off. And great music. One problem I have well if you can call it a problem.. is that if there is good music I can dance forever! I love it. So we stayed until 3:3o when they started to close and then headed home

Tuesday I helped Esther pack up and move her stuff to Ari’s and then I had to head back to Birzeit I walked to the bus station and headed back. When I got back I was exhausted once again… so I once again did my home work and went to bed.

Will it Never Stop..... Will it Never End

2008-03-07T16:37:00.002+02:00

I think it’s possible that in the past week I have completely lost my faith in humanity. This is why I don’t read the news, but here is where the news is. There is no escape. Last week I was sick to my stomach at the atrocities that Israel was perpetrating in Gaza, and last night I felt similarly when I heard about the shooting at the Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The worst part is that in both of these situations the people being killed are bearing repercussions of someone else’s actions. A child playing soccer in a field in Gaza has nothing to do with the Hamas militant shooting rockets in to Ashkelon. In the case of the shooting yesterday we still don’t know the shooters motives or affiliation, but Hamas has already applauded the shooting and deemed it a “normal response”

“While not claiming responsibility for the attack, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said ‘this heroic attack in Jerusalem is a normal response to the crimes of the occupier and its murder of civilians’.

Taher al-Nunu, another spokesman, blamed the attack on Olmert and Ehud Barak, the defence minister.

‘We have warned before about the responsibility of the escalation in Gaza and warned of Palestinian anger,’ he said.” (Al Jazeera)

Why is it that the people who perpetrate these violent crimes are almost never the ones who are punished for them? Both Hamas and the Israeli government are allowing the people they claim to be fighting for bear most of the repercussions of the violence against each other. Hamas knows that for every rocket they shoot over the border Israel will respond with ten more, and the Israeli government should realize by now that their actions do not go unpunished. It just makes me sick and so angry. If these leaders were really so righteous then they would be putting their own lives on the line and doing all they could to protect their people from violence, especially their children.

My other reason for losing my faith in humanity is the responses to last night. I found out about it when I went to the DVD store with Tasha to get some movies. The guy who owns the store was so happy about the shooting he gave Tasha 3 free DVDs. I had to leave the store I felt like I was going to punch someone. Then this morning I read that other students from the Yeshiva were heard shouting for revenge and things like “death to Arabs.” When will people realize that taking lives for other lives doesn’t fix anything? Usually it just makes it worse. A life is a life I don’t care who is belongs to, but even with all this we some how manage to live fairly normal lives here I still have an exam tomorrow regardless of what happens in Israel.

Speaking of normal life mine was just turned upside down a bit but ill get to that later

Tuesday (3/4) our Palestine Question class was cancelled because our professor couldn’t come to class. Hanadi sent out an email to everyone in the morning. When I got up in the morning I got the email and then remembered that half of us do not have access to internet, so I sent out ten text messages letting people know. Then Vanessa called to see if I wanted to go to the library with her for a bit, so we walked to campus met up with Josh and Miriam, and then after the library I convinced them to come to Ramallah with me to get a web camera from Garry the guy I met through my other friend Miriam. So I met Garry he gave me the camera, it kind of felt like a drug deal, except there was no money or drugs involved aaaanyways. We then wondered Ramallah for awhile. Josh wanted to show us the park in Ramallah, which isn’t really a park and once we got there Josh realized nothing was open because it is still technically winter. Then Josh said he knew where there was a big grocery store so we went looking for it, but that turned out to be a failure as well. By then we were getting hungry so we gave Josh one more chance, because he said he wanted to go to this realy great restaurant, and low and be hold he was redeemed. I have been living off of salad, foul stew, beans and rice, and the occasional falafel for the past month, but at this restaurant they had fettuccini alfredo with mushrooms (my personal favorite food!) we all got very delicious dinners. Then they gave us icecream for free. It was a pretty intense meal, but quite delicious. We got back to Birzeit at around 9:30 and then I proceeded to try to make the web camera work on my computer for 2 hours, but to no avail. I am assuming its because I have stupid windows Vista. But by 12 I had to go to bed so I could get up for my 8am Arabic class the next day.

Wednesday is when life got a little turned around. Right before my second class Daniela (my roommate) decides to tell me that her family found her a place to live in Ramallah so she’s moving out now. I didn’t even know she was thinking of moving. Apparently she told other people a couple days ago also. So I was a little annoyed about that. Its turning out okay though because Katy and Sandra have a third bedroom in their apt that they have been trying to rent to someone for a while, and since I don’t want to live by myself Im going to move in with them. This move has a lot of pros and cons. Their apt is a much much better location. I get my own bathroom, and my own balcony, and the rent is cheaper but they have none of the amenities I have gotten used to having at this apt (i.e. Internet, microwave, toaster oven, washing machine) also my room there has no furniture so I have to get some. Which isn’t the end of the world, but I am all settled here I have decorations and pictures on the walls and all my stuff put away. I hate having to pack and move again, but I guess it will be worth it. And Hussein said he would come with his car and move me so I don’t have to worry about lugging my stuff to the new place.

So yeah after class I went home and Vanessa and Tasha came with we all did laundry since it was our last opportunity to use the machine here then Josh and Elizabeth came over a few hours later to use the internet. Then I went over to katys for a bit to really look at the apt and my room and see what it was like. Nick and Santi were there too and all three of them came back to my apt with me afterwards. We hung out for a bit I tried to do more packing and then we all went to Zana’s for Dinner, and then went to Nick and Santi’s to watch Snatch. And then around 12 Hussein drove us all home, because he is a hero with a car.

Yesterday was the second day of gloriously beautiful weather. So I had a picnic with Vanessa, Tasha and Elizabeth in their back yard. It was quite nice, but it made us late for class. The class was about Arab nationalism and why it failed. Which I already knew, but that’s what I get for taking a class on something I’ve been studying for the last however many years. After class I went home and Tasha came with me. We did more laundry and then at 6 went to Aliya’s to see a documentary on Hamas. It was not the best documentary, but it was interesting. After the movie we hung out and had a few drinks. I ended up getting into an intense conversation with Omar’s brother and one of his friends about my feelings on Israel and the fact that I am a Jew. It was a good conversation. Now that I have decided not to hide my Jewness from everyone I have taken on a different outlook. Don’t worry mom I’m not going to run around telling everyone in the west bank Im a Jew, but I think it is important for me to show that not all Jews esp American Jews support Israel and the occupation, and the only way to do this is to have conversations like the one I had last night.

Okay today all I have done it pack write and eat falafel with Tasha and Elizabeth. I really need to finish packing and move and then start studying for my Fusah exam tomorrow! Also you may have noticed I added a little counter thing at the bottom of the page. I did this after an old friend told me on facebook that she was “blogstalking” me, which made me wonder how many people are actually reading this silliness. So now I will have a number, but if you feel like telling me I am also interested to know who is reading about my adventures.

No wait this is the worlds longest blog post

2008-03-04T01:22:00.001+02:00

Okay so I guess I need to work on writing more often, but life has been busy and a little crazy this past week.

So lets see Monday (the 25^th) was a pretty bad day weather wise. It was raining in the morning when we went to class, and then during class it hailed twice and rained a lot in between, but despite the weather I went to meet up with Miriam in Ramallah. The rain lightened up just enough for me to get to the restaurant where we were meeting. I was so proud of my self that I found it with any problems. I mean I now I’ve been here for almost a month now, but I am so directionally challenged, but anyways I found it and got some tea with Miriam we chatted for a bit and then her other friend Gary joined us. Gary is a very interesting person. He is also Jewish and is here doing economic research. He seems a little quiet at first, but opened up after while and he told me about three very cool things. First was a group that goes hiking in the west bank and they know where they’re going so hopefully Ill be able to join in on that. Second was that he had a web camera he wasn’t using so he is giving it to me for free! I love free things, and third he has been working with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) which is an organization I have followed since high school. He told me they are looking for people to be tour guides for their alternative tours. I don’t know if this will actually pan out to anything especially since I emailed them a few days ago and haven’t heard back, but it would be amazing if I could do that. He said they would even pay me. ICAHD also works with Birthright Unplugged which I would love to work for. More and more since I’ve been here I have really wanted to have an opportunity to share what I know and have learned with others in the American Jewish community. The three of us drank tea and talked for a couple hours, and then Gary had to go home, and I decided I should probably also head for home. I made my way to the shuttles back to Birzeit and went home.

Tuesday we learned about the Balfour declaration and the evils of Zionism in class once again. He is starting to repeat things which is I guess understandable but a little annoying. After class I went to a lecture in Ramallah that Maryann told me about. It was hosted by the Quaker community in Ramallah. The speaker was a social worker and psychologist who specialized in Children and trauma, and since I want to work with Israeli and Palestinian Children who have both experienced a lot of trauma I decided it would be worth it to go. It was very interesting, and I met some very interesting people. I met a woman who runs a physical therapy center for Palestinian children. I think maybe when my Arabic is a little better I will call her to see if I can volunteer there. There was a potluck after the lecture, but I had to leave because I promised I would have dinner with Jean Marie, Marco, Yvette and Elizabeth. I got back to Birzeit with just enough time to go home pee, put on some more layers and head back out again to meet them. We had a very nice dinner in Jifna which is a smaller village near Birzeit where Jean Marie lives. After dinner we hung out at Jean Marie’s for a bit and then took a cab back to Birzeit since it was late and rather cold out.

Wednesday was normal class and then I went for a walk with Vanessa, and got some stuff to make rice and beans. Then we wondered by Katy’s apt and she and Santi happened to be on the balcony and yelled to us to come say hello. So we ended up hanging out with them on the balcony in the sun for a while which was really nice. Then Vanessa and I went back to my apt and made dinner for us, Miriam, Josh and Elizabeth. This was one of those moment when my inner Jewish mother comes out, it makes me so happy to feed other people, esp when they like what I make them. After dinner we went to William’s going away party. William is a Palestinian who I became friends with through Omar. He is probably one of the nicest guys on the planet. He has gone out of his way to walk me home several times since I’ve been here and he also has the ability to fix almost anything. Because of this I was amazed to find that the Palestinian Authority were looking for him. He hasn’t done anything besides be politically involved with the PFLP. The PA wants to arrest him, but they cant stick any except accusing him of harassing international women, which is the most ridiculous thing every considering what I just said about him. So end of story William has to go away for a little bit. We had a little party at Aliya’s to say goodbyes. It started out small but almost everyone came eventually. We went on for so long we ended up having to move the party to Kyle and Ryan’s house where a small amount of debauchery ensued at 4:30am Me Tasha and Kelsy were the only ones still there and I decided walking home at that point would be a bad idea, so Ryan was nice enough to sleep on the couch and let me have his bed (im sure some great feminist leader is rolling over in her grave right now, but its nice to be a girl some times.) Tasha woke me up at 9:30 the next morning to walk home and go back to sleep until 1 when I had to get up for class.

I did miraculously get up for class, but I missed half of it because Lena a friend of mine from AU, who is a Palestinian who lives in Herzliya was visiting Birzeit. She called me when she was at the gate but the guards didn’t recognize her or her friends so they wouldn’t let them on campus so I went to see what I could do. Nothing of course, but we talked for a bit, and then I had to go back to class so we said good bye until that evening when DAM was performing. After class I went home for a bit then we all met up to go to the Ramallah Cultural Palace for the show. I was really excited. Dam is pretty good as far as Rap goes, and well if you know me you know how much I love concerts. Dam was great, but their set was really short, and this guy called Perry Mystique come on, and he was ridiculous. The beats he was rapping to were pretty good, but his rapping was totally off, and he kept doing stupid things like asking if we still liked him. He played much longer than DAM and was not nearly as good. It would have been a very disappointing evening if not for the fact that I got to see Lena again and also Miriam was there. After the show some of us went to Zans which is the bar in Ramallah were all the internationals go. It is very expensive (almost $8 for a Jack and Coke) and both times I have been there its always too crowded. We stayed for a while and then got a ride back to Birzeit from Azeez Omar’s friend. We all went to Ryan and Kyle’s, because for some reason I agreed to go watch a movie, even though it was late and I was sleep deprived. To make things worse Omar decided we had to watch 300 the most violent movie on the planet. I think I fell asleep half way through but when I woke up Hussein was there and he drove Vanessa and I home at around 5, and I drifted off to sleep to the sound of the first call to prayer of the day.

I woke up on Friday at around 2pm I know that’s bad, but I really needed it. Once I was awake I spent most of the day making flash cards for Arabic. In my Amia class we learn so many new vocab words a day so I figure flash cards would be a good way to keep up. I was also checking the news a lot since the violence in Gaza had been steadily getting worse since a students from Ashkelon was killed by one of the rockets Hamas has been shooting into Israel from Gaza. It was some time on Friday when I read that Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defense minister said that the more Rockets Hamas sent in to Israel the greater the Shoah they would bring upon themselves. To quote Al Jazeera (the story was also in Haaretz)

"The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," Matan Vilnai told Army Radio on Friday.

In case you don’t speak Hebrew Shoah is the Hebrew word for Holocaust. I was in shock I read the line about 20 times. I cannot imagine what he was thinking. It is disgusting to hear a Jew using the word Shoah in reference to what Israel is doing is Gaza. Later his office tried to walk back the statement saying he really meant just a big catastrophe, but I have never heard the word Shoah used in any other context than the actual Holocaust. It made me so angry, and it only got worse when the next day Israel sent ground troops in to Gaza and killed over 50 people in one day, many of which were children.

Saturday was a very long sad and angry day. One the one hand I want to go to Hamas and yell at them. I mean they know what they are doing. The know that Israel is going to fight back and with a lot more power if Hamas is shooting rockets at Israeli towns and cities. Hamas is playing with the lives of the people they claim to represent to make a point. It makes me sick, but just because Hamas is wrong it doesn’t make what Israel does right. In the past five days 120 Gazan’s were killed more than half of them between Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we went to class, but Sammi my Arabic teacher is from Gaza and most of his family is there. We could all tell he was very upset. We made it through the first class but at the beginning of the second class Katy was talking about a demonstration taking place at the Atara Check point near My house. So half way through class Sammi let us go and a lot of people went to the demonstration. I did not go because most people were going with the sole intention of throwing stones at soldiers and when you throw stones at soldiers you and everyone around you gets shot at. Im pretty sure I can do a lot more for the Palestinian cause alive than dead or injured. I stayed on campus and went to a lecture about the destruction of Palestinian villages post 1948 war. The lecture was very interesting and I’m glad I went. A few minutes after it ended I got a call from Kyle asking me what blood type I was. About a million images blazed through my head at that moment each one worse than the one before. It turns out Asaan the guys whos works at and who’s family owns Aliya’s the restaurant we always go to was shot in the leg. The bullet went through the bone and he had to be taken to the hospital and have surgery. He is okay now, but he wont be able to walk for several months because of the damage to the bone. A large number of us had planned to go see a Dubka (traditional Palestinian dancing) performance that night, but since half of the people were at the hospital we just decided not to go. I decided I want to be with some people with a calming influence on my life that evening so I texted Marco told him we weren’t going to Dubka and asked what he and Wilco were doing for dinner. He invited me over for dinner and a movie. Elizabeth was over using my internet so she was invited as well. It was nice to be cooked for. Those boys are pretty good cooks I was impressed. Then we watched No Country for Old Men which I didn’t think was all that great, but maybe I just wasn’t in the ride mood to watch more senseless killing. I walked home with Elizabeth at around 11 so we could wake up early to go to Jericho the next day.

Sunday we woke to find that life in the West Bank was more or less normal so we decided to go ahead with our planned trip to Jericho. Our party consisted of Me, Marco, Wilco, Elizabeth, Yvette, Vanessa Vanessa’s friend whose name is escaping me at the moment, and Thommi’s girlfriend whose name is also escaping me now. It was an interesting trip. We went through a few check points one of which the soldier opened the door to the van and asked where we were from in Hebrew and before I could stop myself I answered in Hebrew. He seemed a little surprised, but then asked to see a few people’s passports and then let us go.

We went to the Hisham Palace which is basically ruins of what was once a very large palace. There isn’t a lot left of it, but are some really cool mosaics that have been restored. By the time we were done there it was lunch time, and Vanessa’s friend took us to a place that he knew in which they gave us a ridiculous amount of very delicious food and it ended up being only 30 shekels each. After lunch we went to the mount of Temptation, which is apparently where Jesus fasted for forty days while the devil tempted him. It was interesting and the monastery there now was pretty cool. Also the view from up on the mountain was pretty nice. After the monastery we went to a Mosque further out in the desert which was supposed to be where Moses was buried, I was rather skeptical. But after walking around the Mosque a little we walked around the area for a bit. I really love the desert in Israel. I guess it’s the only desert I’ve ever seen, but its just so beautiful. Every where you look is more beautiful than where your eyes were just moments before. It’s a little over whelming, and for some reason is always makes me want to pray, so I did. I needed some alone time any ways. I walked away from everyone else for a bit and did some chatting with G-d. after while I was followed and my alone time and praying time was cut short. Then it was getting darker and colder so we decided to head back to Ramallah/Birzeit. When we got back to Birzeit we saw that there was a candlelight vigil going on in the square, so we went and joined. A lot of others from the PAS group were there already. It was very moving. After I was informed that everyone was going to Aliyas to buy lots of stuff to help raise money for Asaan and his family while he cant work. I wanted to go home first to get more layers so I walked back quickly. I was escorted by about 10 little boys from my neighborhood. They were asking me all these questions and to my happy surprise I understood and was able to answer a lot of them. It was very exciting. I guess I am learning something here after all. After I relayered we went to Aliyas had dinner and a few drinks. We were there for a few hours and by the time we finally left I was practically falling asleep on the table. I walked home with Josh who lives just a few houses down from me, and passed out very quickly.

Today was not terribly eventful except that everything was messed up on campus today. I was happy to learn that Israel was exiting Gaza today, but then we got to campus and found out that a kid from Birzeit had been shot and killed that night. There were protests on campus and they blocked the entrance at one point. Even our classes were canceled, but after a while things calmed down and returned to normal. The ability of the Palestinian people to “return to normal life” amazes me. I went home read for a bit then I went to the gym with Vanessa. We finally joined a few days ago but this was the first time we’ve been able to go, I almost forgot how good endorphins make me feel. After the gym I headed home to make some foul (pronounced fool) stew yumminess and then wrote this stupid blog entry for way too long, and now I must do my reading for tomorrow and learn about the rise of Palestinian nationalism.