Driving, Beer and building a ropes course

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!!!!!

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

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

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

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.......

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

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.