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 5th but she was thinking about extending. Saddly after she said May 5th the woman only have her a visa until May 5th. 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 5th 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 ;)
