Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Ana tabanay
Arabic for I am tired. Today I worked at the Palestine Wildlife Society from 8-1 then went to Jerusalem with Jiries to get insurance so I can drive his car, then Shorok helped me with Arabic for a couple hours, then Jiries' brother and sister and their spouses came over and we hung out and had dinner outside, and then I talked to Shorok and she told me a crazy story that I will write about tomorrow. For now, I need to get some sleep because I have to be up in 6.5 hours to go to work. Tomorrow work from 8-1 then Jiries and I are going to Ramallah (the capital of Palestine) to go to a graduation party and maybe go shopping. Gah.. I need sleep. I promise I will write a long and interesting blog entry soon!
Monday, June 28, 2010
"They had guns, we had rocks"
The other day I included pictures of the settlements on top of the hills along the way to the Dead Sea. Looking at those pictures again I realize they don't express the gravity of the situation, so today at my first day of work at the Palestine Wildlife Society I took a picture out the back window of the settlement that has its sights set on taking over Bethlehem.
This settlement, Jebel Abu Ghanin, is on Palestinian land
Here is an idea of how much the settlements have [illegally, by international law] spread over Palestinian land since the establishment of Israel:
In 2001, the Second Palestinian Intifada started after Sharon visited Alqaska Mosque to provoke the Muslims and declared that it was the site of the destroyed Second Temple. The Palestinians did not start the Intifida as non-violent resistance; they used guns to fight the Israeli soldiers.
The Israelis retaliated and instead of shooting at the people who were shooting at them, they started firing at civilians, using 500mm guns and bombs. They bombed many houses and they forced the people to leave their homes to survive. One of those areas was the neighborhood that I am living in right now. Across from Jiries' house there is an Israeli military camp, called Ush Ghirab (next to the community center), which the Israeli army used to shell the houses across from it. If you click on the picture above, the enlarged version shows the Israeli military watchtower in the distance.
This the the wall inside of Jiries' dining room, the missing chunks are from bullets:
The house I live in now was shelled every night for 2 years. The family I live with had to relocate into town (Bethlehem) every night so that they would avoid the bullets. The bulletholes can still be seen in the walls outside and inside. Jiries was the head of the Palestinian National Committee that relocated people into different houses- he rented apartments for people, fronted the money, and was later reimbursed by Arafat's government. To get them to stop firing at his apartment building , which was filled with foreigners, Jiries wrote to the Secretary of the State through the American counsul to inform them that the Israelis were shelling American property. With the interference of the State Department, the Israelis stopped firing at his house but continued to shoot at his neighbors. Isam is Jiries' brother who lives upstairs- during the Second Intifada his daughter Rawan was in their house when she heard a few gun shots, and the second she walked out the door to escape from the house a bullet wizzed inches from her face. The house next to us, where Jiries' uncle with 7 children lives, was bombed from an Israeli helicopter. These are just a couple examples of the terror that has been experienced by hundreds of families in the Occupied Territories.
This is the building that Jiries rents out to foreigners, in the upper right you can see where a rocket hit it. Jiries said in one night that building was hit with around 40 rockets within 2 hours.
So how does this affect you?
This is a short clip on US aid to Israel compared to the money we send to the rest of the world, it is only 2 minutes long, please watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8A6oXdjkhY
Another youtube link that might be of interest to you is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXFd48-W7JQ
It dozens of pictures from all around Beit Sahour- right around 3:50 you see pictures of shelled houses- the one the has an entire wall blown off is Jiries' neighbor
This settlement, Jebel Abu Ghanin, is on Palestinian land
Here is an idea of how much the settlements have [illegally, by international law] spread over Palestinian land since the establishment of Israel:
In 2001, the Second Palestinian Intifada started after Sharon visited Alqaska Mosque to provoke the Muslims and declared that it was the site of the destroyed Second Temple. The Palestinians did not start the Intifida as non-violent resistance; they used guns to fight the Israeli soldiers.
The Israelis retaliated and instead of shooting at the people who were shooting at them, they started firing at civilians, using 500mm guns and bombs. They bombed many houses and they forced the people to leave their homes to survive. One of those areas was the neighborhood that I am living in right now. Across from Jiries' house there is an Israeli military camp, called Ush Ghirab (next to the community center), which the Israeli army used to shell the houses across from it. If you click on the picture above, the enlarged version shows the Israeli military watchtower in the distance.This the the wall inside of Jiries' dining room, the missing chunks are from bullets:
The house I live in now was shelled every night for 2 years. The family I live with had to relocate into town (Bethlehem) every night so that they would avoid the bullets. The bulletholes can still be seen in the walls outside and inside. Jiries was the head of the Palestinian National Committee that relocated people into different houses- he rented apartments for people, fronted the money, and was later reimbursed by Arafat's government. To get them to stop firing at his apartment building , which was filled with foreigners, Jiries wrote to the Secretary of the State through the American counsul to inform them that the Israelis were shelling American property. With the interference of the State Department, the Israelis stopped firing at his house but continued to shoot at his neighbors. Isam is Jiries' brother who lives upstairs- during the Second Intifada his daughter Rawan was in their house when she heard a few gun shots, and the second she walked out the door to escape from the house a bullet wizzed inches from her face. The house next to us, where Jiries' uncle with 7 children lives, was bombed from an Israeli helicopter. These are just a couple examples of the terror that has been experienced by hundreds of families in the Occupied Territories.
This is the building that Jiries rents out to foreigners, in the upper right you can see where a rocket hit it. Jiries said in one night that building was hit with around 40 rockets within 2 hours.
So how does this affect you?
This is a short clip on US aid to Israel compared to the money we send to the rest of the world, it is only 2 minutes long, please watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8A6oXdjkhY
Another youtube link that might be of interest to you is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXFd48-W7JQ
It dozens of pictures from all around Beit Sahour- right around 3:50 you see pictures of shelled houses- the one the has an entire wall blown off is Jiries' neighbor
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The MOST salt
Today Jiries and I went to the Dead Sea!!! First we went to the sea for an hour or so (it was 120 degrees!) then we climbed up En Gedi Nature Reserve right down the road. We saw tons of illegal settlements all the way from Jerusalem to Jericho on top of many hills in the entire way there, it was depressing. The road we traveled on was a new Israeli bypass that runs right through Palestinian land; on one side it is all Arab buildings and the other is filled with settlement homes. More houses go up every day and Israel is currently building a railway to facilitate transportation between the settlements. The constant expansion is connecting the settlements to one another, essentially creating a wall that is rapidly closing in on the West Bank.
Settlements on top of the hills
We also saw lots of Bedouin homes, which will soon be wiped out and the people forced to relocate once the Israeli settlements creep down the hills
The Dead Sea is the lowest point in the world, there were signs along the way leading up to it.
Camel stop at the sea level point, he almost squished my brains when he did that
The following is some information about the Dead Sea (again, taken from a tourist agency website online which can provide more facts than I can):
"Deep in the Jordan Valley and 55 km southeast of Amman, is the Dead Sea, one of the most spectacular natural and spiritual landscapes in the whole world. It is the lowest body of water on earth, the lowest point on earth, and the world's richest source of natural salts, hiding wonderful treasures that accumulated throughout thousands of years...
En route a stone marker indicates "Sea Level", but the Dead Sea itself is not reached before descending another 400 meters below this sign. As its name evokes, the Dead Sea is devoid of life due to an extremely high content of salts and minerals which gives its waters the renowned curative powers, therapeutic qualities, and its buoyancy, recognized since the days of Herod the Great, more than 2000 years ago.
And because the salt content is four times that of most world's oceans, you can float in the Dead Sea without even trying, which makes swimming here a truly unique experience not to be missed: here is the only place in the world where you can recline on the water to read a newspaper.
Scientifically speaking, its water contains more than 35 different types of minerals that are essential for the health and care of the body skin including Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Bromine, Sulfur, and Iodine. They are well known for relieving pains and sufferings caused by arthritis, rheumatism, psoriasis, eczema, headache and foot-ache, while nourishing and softening the skin. They also provide the raw materials for the renowned Jordanian Dead Sea bath salts and cosmetic products marketed worldwide."
The water made it really difficult to brush my hair after, Jiries thought this was funny enough to take a picture of. The water was beautiful and the perfect temperature- but pretty painful as well. The salt gets in every single cut and stings to no avail. For this reason you can't stick your face in because the salt is very painful if it gets in your eyes. It also tastes terrible if you accidently get some on your lips. The bouyancey made it easy for me to avoid, but not so much Jiries since he had just shaved his face this morning and he said his neck was on fire in the water.
The beach:
Next, we went to the En Gedi Nature Reserve, it was incredible. We had lunch right outside if the entrance and there were prarie dogs running around.
The nature reserve is tucked away in the mountains of the Jordan Valley right next to the Dead Sea. It is a sweet place where tourists can climb up rocks and stop every few hundred feet to swim in small pools beneath waterfalls. The oldest stuff unearthed there is from approximately 5,000 years ago. It is supposedly the place where King David hung out when he was wandering around in the desert after fleeing from King Saul, although the En Gedi brochure also says that there is no archeologocial evidence to back that up. However, there is archeological evidence (according to this pamphlet) that a Jewish settlement existed there for over a thousand years dating back to the 7th century BCE.
Here are some pictures, and many thanks to Jiries for being pretty much my personal photographer so that Madre and Padre back home can print out some Alli postcards and stick 'em on the fridge.
Marlboro maaan! Jiries likes to tell me all the time that the Marlboro man died of cancer, not because of cigarettes, but because his wife complained too much and it killed him.
In the background of several pictures is the Dead Sea, with the mountains of Jordan on the other side. After En Gedi we returned to the Dead Sea to swim (er, float) for a while longer before heading home.
I jammed the trunk of The Tank so I had to ride home in a makeshift outfit so I wouldn't have to sit through a 2 hour car ride in a wet bathing suit. It was a really fun day and hopefully we will go again soon!
Settlements on top of the hills
We also saw lots of Bedouin homes, which will soon be wiped out and the people forced to relocate once the Israeli settlements creep down the hills
The Dead Sea is the lowest point in the world, there were signs along the way leading up to it.
Camel stop at the sea level point, he almost squished my brains when he did that
The following is some information about the Dead Sea (again, taken from a tourist agency website online which can provide more facts than I can):
"Deep in the Jordan Valley and 55 km southeast of Amman, is the Dead Sea, one of the most spectacular natural and spiritual landscapes in the whole world. It is the lowest body of water on earth, the lowest point on earth, and the world's richest source of natural salts, hiding wonderful treasures that accumulated throughout thousands of years...
En route a stone marker indicates "Sea Level", but the Dead Sea itself is not reached before descending another 400 meters below this sign. As its name evokes, the Dead Sea is devoid of life due to an extremely high content of salts and minerals which gives its waters the renowned curative powers, therapeutic qualities, and its buoyancy, recognized since the days of Herod the Great, more than 2000 years ago.
And because the salt content is four times that of most world's oceans, you can float in the Dead Sea without even trying, which makes swimming here a truly unique experience not to be missed: here is the only place in the world where you can recline on the water to read a newspaper.
Scientifically speaking, its water contains more than 35 different types of minerals that are essential for the health and care of the body skin including Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Bromine, Sulfur, and Iodine. They are well known for relieving pains and sufferings caused by arthritis, rheumatism, psoriasis, eczema, headache and foot-ache, while nourishing and softening the skin. They also provide the raw materials for the renowned Jordanian Dead Sea bath salts and cosmetic products marketed worldwide."
The water made it really difficult to brush my hair after, Jiries thought this was funny enough to take a picture of. The water was beautiful and the perfect temperature- but pretty painful as well. The salt gets in every single cut and stings to no avail. For this reason you can't stick your face in because the salt is very painful if it gets in your eyes. It also tastes terrible if you accidently get some on your lips. The bouyancey made it easy for me to avoid, but not so much Jiries since he had just shaved his face this morning and he said his neck was on fire in the water.
The beach:
Next, we went to the En Gedi Nature Reserve, it was incredible. We had lunch right outside if the entrance and there were prarie dogs running around.
The nature reserve is tucked away in the mountains of the Jordan Valley right next to the Dead Sea. It is a sweet place where tourists can climb up rocks and stop every few hundred feet to swim in small pools beneath waterfalls. The oldest stuff unearthed there is from approximately 5,000 years ago. It is supposedly the place where King David hung out when he was wandering around in the desert after fleeing from King Saul, although the En Gedi brochure also says that there is no archeologocial evidence to back that up. However, there is archeological evidence (according to this pamphlet) that a Jewish settlement existed there for over a thousand years dating back to the 7th century BCE. Here are some pictures, and many thanks to Jiries for being pretty much my personal photographer so that Madre and Padre back home can print out some Alli postcards and stick 'em on the fridge.
Marlboro maaan! Jiries likes to tell me all the time that the Marlboro man died of cancer, not because of cigarettes, but because his wife complained too much and it killed him.
In the background of several pictures is the Dead Sea, with the mountains of Jordan on the other side. After En Gedi we returned to the Dead Sea to swim (er, float) for a while longer before heading home.
I jammed the trunk of The Tank so I had to ride home in a makeshift outfit so I wouldn't have to sit through a 2 hour car ride in a wet bathing suit. It was a really fun day and hopefully we will go again soon!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Pita bread dipped in Spanish clam juice
....it's what's for dinner
The other day I mentioned I went to a monastery in the desert, and the following is some information about it that I copied from a travel agency website:
"The Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba or Saint Saba's Monastery; 14.5 km east of Bethlehem and a further 6 km from St. Theodosius; is considered to be the oldest ongoing inhabited monastery in the Holy Land and one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, founded by Saint Saba of Cappadocia in the year 439.
It represents a way of life unchanged since the time of Constantine. It has 110 cells and sheltered 4000 monks in the 7th century although today it only houses ten monks. Despite the fact that Mar Saba is reputed to have had a long tradition of hospitality to strangers, women have never been allowed to enter. This regulation persists today, so female visitors must be satisfied with a glimpse of the chapel and buildings from a nearby two-story tower on the right entrance, the so-called Women's Tower."
The "Women's Tower"
The monastery
Today Jiries' sister Amal made a lunch for us that was equally as humongous as the one Hanan (Jiries' other sister) made yesterday. Both meals deserve greater detail; yesterday Hanan made about 8 large pizza-shaped pieces of home made bread and covered them in delicious onions and massive pieces of chicken. Today, Amal made zucchini stuffed with rice and meat (what Jiries made last week), lamb, and stuffed grapeleaves. It seems as if the sisters are trying to outdo each other at the expensive of my figure.
After lunch I practiced writing and reading Arabic for a few hours, and then we brought Niveen (Jiries' other sister) home across town. We stayed at their house for a bit drinking coffee and chatting, and we discussed the possibility of going to a barbeque at one of her son's girlfriend's house. This brings me to my next cultural lesson: here, there is really no such thing as girlfriend/boyfriend- you are either friends or you are engaged. Jiries explained this to me- here, young people hang out in large groups of about 20 or 30 and if they find someone they are interested they might get to know them during the group activities. Other than this, it is socially unacceptable to be seen out in public or in pictures alone.
At some point, the guy approaches the girl's parents (with his entire family) and asks if he may propose to their daughter. If they approve and the daughter consents, he returns shortly after (with his entire extended family which brings candies and gifts to celebrate) and officially proposes to her. The weddings are big, elaborate, and the most fun ever. On the way to the ceremony itself, everyone drives together in a procession and honks their car horns all the way there. For all these reasons, it was questionable as to whether or not we would be able to go to Niveen's son's girlfriend's (I mean, special friend) house since they really shouldn't be hanging out much because they are not engaged (but her parents have met his mom, which is a really huge step).
So we didn't go. Instead, Jiries and I were almost ready to call it a night but decided to go out in search of a place to watch the US vs. Ghana football match (soccer game!). We ended up at Ush Gahrib, the place where we were for dinner and dancing after the epic Tree of Life youth squad soccer team versus the Palestinian practically-professional players. Ush Garib (which translates into "The Crow's Nest") is a community center that was built with funding from USAID, but since it is near an Israeli military camp it has a demolition notice on it so the military camp can expand. It is a great family place with outdoor seating in front of a stage where teenage guys sang to entertain the football crowd during half time, and there was argeela (hookah) all around of course. At first it seemed like the crowd was not partial to either team, but towards the end it was apparent they were not really cheering for the US, and we all know how that game ended. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me, but it was a great time.
On the way home we stopped at a 24 hour store to pick up a few thing, and the old man behind the register had a pet bird hanging out on the counter. The guy pointed to his bird and said to me, "Best bodyguard in the whole world," then he opened up the cash drawer and told me to try to take some money. I reached my hand in and the bird scuttled across the counter and nipped at my hand! I pulled my hand back laughing and the bird gave me a pretty serious eyeball. Then I got to hold him on my finger, but it took a couple minutes of coaxing since he distrusted me after I tried to take his money.
Tomorrow Jiries and I are going to the Dead Sea then we are meeting Niveen, her kids, and her husband's relatives in Jericho. There will be lots of pictures! The water blog will come soon too, I didn't forget.
Masalam!
The other day I mentioned I went to a monastery in the desert, and the following is some information about it that I copied from a travel agency website:
"The Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba or Saint Saba's Monastery; 14.5 km east of Bethlehem and a further 6 km from St. Theodosius; is considered to be the oldest ongoing inhabited monastery in the Holy Land and one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, founded by Saint Saba of Cappadocia in the year 439.
It represents a way of life unchanged since the time of Constantine. It has 110 cells and sheltered 4000 monks in the 7th century although today it only houses ten monks. Despite the fact that Mar Saba is reputed to have had a long tradition of hospitality to strangers, women have never been allowed to enter. This regulation persists today, so female visitors must be satisfied with a glimpse of the chapel and buildings from a nearby two-story tower on the right entrance, the so-called Women's Tower."
The "Women's Tower"
The monastery
Today Jiries' sister Amal made a lunch for us that was equally as humongous as the one Hanan (Jiries' other sister) made yesterday. Both meals deserve greater detail; yesterday Hanan made about 8 large pizza-shaped pieces of home made bread and covered them in delicious onions and massive pieces of chicken. Today, Amal made zucchini stuffed with rice and meat (what Jiries made last week), lamb, and stuffed grapeleaves. It seems as if the sisters are trying to outdo each other at the expensive of my figure.
After lunch I practiced writing and reading Arabic for a few hours, and then we brought Niveen (Jiries' other sister) home across town. We stayed at their house for a bit drinking coffee and chatting, and we discussed the possibility of going to a barbeque at one of her son's girlfriend's house. This brings me to my next cultural lesson: here, there is really no such thing as girlfriend/boyfriend- you are either friends or you are engaged. Jiries explained this to me- here, young people hang out in large groups of about 20 or 30 and if they find someone they are interested they might get to know them during the group activities. Other than this, it is socially unacceptable to be seen out in public or in pictures alone.
At some point, the guy approaches the girl's parents (with his entire family) and asks if he may propose to their daughter. If they approve and the daughter consents, he returns shortly after (with his entire extended family which brings candies and gifts to celebrate) and officially proposes to her. The weddings are big, elaborate, and the most fun ever. On the way to the ceremony itself, everyone drives together in a procession and honks their car horns all the way there. For all these reasons, it was questionable as to whether or not we would be able to go to Niveen's son's girlfriend's (I mean, special friend) house since they really shouldn't be hanging out much because they are not engaged (but her parents have met his mom, which is a really huge step).
So we didn't go. Instead, Jiries and I were almost ready to call it a night but decided to go out in search of a place to watch the US vs. Ghana football match (soccer game!). We ended up at Ush Gahrib, the place where we were for dinner and dancing after the epic Tree of Life youth squad soccer team versus the Palestinian practically-professional players. Ush Garib (which translates into "The Crow's Nest") is a community center that was built with funding from USAID, but since it is near an Israeli military camp it has a demolition notice on it so the military camp can expand. It is a great family place with outdoor seating in front of a stage where teenage guys sang to entertain the football crowd during half time, and there was argeela (hookah) all around of course. At first it seemed like the crowd was not partial to either team, but towards the end it was apparent they were not really cheering for the US, and we all know how that game ended. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me, but it was a great time.
On the way home we stopped at a 24 hour store to pick up a few thing, and the old man behind the register had a pet bird hanging out on the counter. The guy pointed to his bird and said to me, "Best bodyguard in the whole world," then he opened up the cash drawer and told me to try to take some money. I reached my hand in and the bird scuttled across the counter and nipped at my hand! I pulled my hand back laughing and the bird gave me a pretty serious eyeball. Then I got to hold him on my finger, but it took a couple minutes of coaxing since he distrusted me after I tried to take his money.
Tomorrow Jiries and I are going to the Dead Sea then we are meeting Niveen, her kids, and her husband's relatives in Jericho. There will be lots of pictures! The water blog will come soon too, I didn't forget.
Masalam!
Friday, June 25, 2010
"Hey give me a break, my feet are submarines"
-Loai
Masa alkher (good afternoon) blog fanatics!
First of all, thank you for all the positive feedback I have gotten. I am really glad to know that so many people are following my adventures! If you get a chance please sign up for the "Followers" thing in the left margin- sometimes I feel like I am writing for a mystery audience, but I am okay with that too!
Yesterday Jiries and I spent all morning packing and repacking boxes of zet zeytoon (olive oil!!) to ship to the FCCOL! We had to make sure each box was under 20 kilos but with enough cushioning so that the canisters wouldn't get destroyed. What a job! We cut cardboard for hours to fit boxes in boxes, we taped the boxes up for a few more hours, then taped on sheets of paper with the FCCOL address on them and covered the boxes with "fragile" stickers. The olive oil was produced here in Palestine and all the money made goes towards the Bridges of Hope program- it will be on sale at the FCCOL at some point, if you are there and you see them think of all the manual labor Jiries and I put into making sure they got to the US successfully (and also the great cause the money is going towards)!
After packing up zet zeytoon, I memorized the Arabic alphabet outloud AND in writing. Then I drove around the crazy streets of Beit Sahour. All in all it was an extremely productive day.
Jiries exhausted after packing up all the zeit zeytoon for hooooours
Today i ate way too much. Also today, we started constructing a fountain in the hang out spot under the grape vines. I mixed concrete!
So, today is Friday......there are 3 holidays here. Fridays are the Muslim holiday, when all the Muslim shopsare closed everywhere and they go to the mosque to pray for Friday prayer. Saturday is for the Jewish people (Shabat Shalom) when they all go to the Wailing Wall to pray and all of Israel is completely closed down. Sunday is the Christian holiday, when you see the Christians go to church, their shops are closed, but it is not very noticable since they are the minority in both Israel and Palestine. It is definitely noticable in Beit Sahour, where I live, since they are the majority here. For this reason you have to do all of your desired business activies before noon on Thursday, and you have to schedule what you are doing and when you are doing it based on who you are dealing with.
Pictures!
Jiries impersonating a Bedouin man in a traditional outfit he produced out of no where
Me and Loai
Shorok!
Nermeen smoking hookah......it has become a nightly activity. Don't worry Mom and Dad, its part of the culture! I am simply immersing myself
Loai and Jiries getting funky
Stray kittens!!! Jiries said I can keep one sometime soon, these ones looked not so healthy (note the eye that looks like it's been punched)
Jiries getting his hair (and eyebrows) cut
Jerusalem at night
Hot, hot lazy day
The fattest pasta in the world, cooked by Jiries. He is an AMAZING cook!
Masa alkher (good afternoon) blog fanatics!
First of all, thank you for all the positive feedback I have gotten. I am really glad to know that so many people are following my adventures! If you get a chance please sign up for the "Followers" thing in the left margin- sometimes I feel like I am writing for a mystery audience, but I am okay with that too!
Yesterday Jiries and I spent all morning packing and repacking boxes of zet zeytoon (olive oil!!) to ship to the FCCOL! We had to make sure each box was under 20 kilos but with enough cushioning so that the canisters wouldn't get destroyed. What a job! We cut cardboard for hours to fit boxes in boxes, we taped the boxes up for a few more hours, then taped on sheets of paper with the FCCOL address on them and covered the boxes with "fragile" stickers. The olive oil was produced here in Palestine and all the money made goes towards the Bridges of Hope program- it will be on sale at the FCCOL at some point, if you are there and you see them think of all the manual labor Jiries and I put into making sure they got to the US successfully (and also the great cause the money is going towards)!
After packing up zet zeytoon, I memorized the Arabic alphabet outloud AND in writing. Then I drove around the crazy streets of Beit Sahour. All in all it was an extremely productive day.
Jiries exhausted after packing up all the zeit zeytoon for hooooours
Today i ate way too much. Also today, we started constructing a fountain in the hang out spot under the grape vines. I mixed concrete!
So, today is Friday......there are 3 holidays here. Fridays are the Muslim holiday, when all the Muslim shopsare closed everywhere and they go to the mosque to pray for Friday prayer. Saturday is for the Jewish people (Shabat Shalom) when they all go to the Wailing Wall to pray and all of Israel is completely closed down. Sunday is the Christian holiday, when you see the Christians go to church, their shops are closed, but it is not very noticable since they are the minority in both Israel and Palestine. It is definitely noticable in Beit Sahour, where I live, since they are the majority here. For this reason you have to do all of your desired business activies before noon on Thursday, and you have to schedule what you are doing and when you are doing it based on who you are dealing with.
Pictures!
Jiries impersonating a Bedouin man in a traditional outfit he produced out of no where
Me and Loai
Shorok!
Nermeen smoking hookah......it has become a nightly activity. Don't worry Mom and Dad, its part of the culture! I am simply immersing myself
Loai and Jiries getting funky
Stray kittens!!! Jiries said I can keep one sometime soon, these ones looked not so healthy (note the eye that looks like it's been punched)
Jiries getting his hair (and eyebrows) cut
Jerusalem at night
Hot, hot lazy day
The fattest pasta in the world, cooked by Jiries. He is an AMAZING cook!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
"Yalla Allison, we need help in the chicken!"
-The women at Tata Huda's senior citizens' home right before they rolled their eyes at me and told me to "just forget it"... again. I think they like me more each day!
So much happens every day here I can barely keep up with writing about it on this blog. Every spare minute I am either on this uploading pictures, learning Arabic, or napping. My Arabic is coming along really well, I can communicate with the older people at Tata Huda's "university" and my English-speaking friends are always pleasantly surprised when I produce the most random Arabic words that Jiries and his mother have taught me (like the other day when I just happened to know that "blood" is "dem").
Constructing sentences isn't easy, but I suppose it never is when you are learning another language, but I love Arabic! I love listening to it, speaking it, how the writing is all phoenetic, and especially how patient everyone has been teaching me.
Since at this point I am a few days behind I will try leave out unimportant details until I catch up. After the Old City of Bethlehem the other day Jiries dropped me off at a family party celebrating one baby's first teeth. It was supposed to be all women but the father of the baby came along and eventually his brothers showed up as well. We ate a special Lebanese recipe that Middle Eastern women specifically make for their babies so that their teeth will be strong. The party was for the baby, so naturally we ate what the baby has to eat (?)... it wasn't bad but it made my stomach hurt. It was like minty oatmeal. The little baby girl was painfully adorable though, which made it a little more bearable.
I don't see any teeth...
Sara (in the picture with her grandmother), the baby who the party was for, is the daughter of Lina, who is the daughter of Amal (both names spelled wrong perhaps?), who is one of Jiries' sisters. We all met at Lina's house then walked to a nearby park. From the park you can see the new giant cemetary on the hill that the FCCOL sponsored when it was first being built. Before the church contributed financially, Jiries said it was an empty junkyard of a cemetary, but the money allowed for it to clean up to the point that people started sending their deceased family members there (preventing settlers from wanting the land) and it started making a small profit.
It is a perfect example of how international generosity and cooperation has helped the struggling Palestinian economy. Donations from the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme have also helped purchase air conditioning for the Sunday School classrooms in the basement of the Greek Orthodox church I go to with Jiries and Tata Huda. We will be going down into the basement soon and I will put up pictures of the happy children in air conditioning! Between the cemetary, the Sunday School AC, and sending students to the University of Bethlehem, the FCCOL has had an invaluable impact on the community of Beit Sahour, and I am proud to represent the church while I am here.
Yesterday- Tata Huda's university, home, long long nap, family bbq (as always). Jiries' youngest sister, Niveen, and her two kids are staying here with us this week.
Today- around midday we drove through the "Valley of Fire" into the desert to a monastary. I have really nice pictures but I am very tired and will put them up tomorrow. It was beautiful!!!
On the way home from the desert we drove up to Mount Herodium, which King Herod's palace is supposedly inside of (because it is an empty volcano). We got to go up pretty far by car, but unfortunately there was Israeli construction all over it so our movement was restricted.
You can see Mt. Herodium from almsot anywhere in the West Bank, particularly from the kitchen window here where I am living. Driving through the desert we could also see the Dead Sea in the distance and Jordan even farther.
Later Jiries and I traveled into Jerusalem (it only took 25 minutes to get through the checkpoint this time, same ordeal as last time but shorter line of cars) and met with two Israeli girls who refused to join the Israeli military and were both jailed and disowned by their parents for doing so. One of them (Maya, who we met on the TOL Journey) is attending undergrad school at Columbia in NYC starting this fall. She will be taking the train to Old Lyme to be meeting us for the TOL Conference, and Sahar will be flying from Tel Aviv. They will each be speaking about their lives and experience, they each have fascinating and upsetting stories. I wrote down almost everything Maya said the first time we met her a few months ago, and tomorrow I will include more information about who she is and what she does to get by and work towards peace (at barely 20 years old).
Tomorrow Jiries and I are going to spend most of the day packaging Palestinian-produced olive oil canisters so they can be shipped to the US and sold at the FCCOL. All the money goes towards the Bridges of Hope program in which about a dozen Palestinian kids are sponsored to go to the US and spend a couple weeks with a host family in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and experience life outside of the occupation. I would love to write more about it but I can barely keep my eyes open. More tomorrow ( fe Arabie= caymahn bohkrah). I apologize for any glaring typos, ana tahbahnay (I am tired), goodnight!
Earlier today: more pictures!!
The Church of the Nativity (where Jesus was born)
This underpass, Koose El Zara, is the main entrance into old Bethlehem. As the story goes, when King Herod found out that baby Jesus had been born he sent soliders in to kill all the newborn boys in Bethlehem, but when they tried to enter the town these arch walls closed in on them.
So much happens every day here I can barely keep up with writing about it on this blog. Every spare minute I am either on this uploading pictures, learning Arabic, or napping. My Arabic is coming along really well, I can communicate with the older people at Tata Huda's "university" and my English-speaking friends are always pleasantly surprised when I produce the most random Arabic words that Jiries and his mother have taught me (like the other day when I just happened to know that "blood" is "dem").
Constructing sentences isn't easy, but I suppose it never is when you are learning another language, but I love Arabic! I love listening to it, speaking it, how the writing is all phoenetic, and especially how patient everyone has been teaching me.Since at this point I am a few days behind I will try leave out unimportant details until I catch up. After the Old City of Bethlehem the other day Jiries dropped me off at a family party celebrating one baby's first teeth. It was supposed to be all women but the father of the baby came along and eventually his brothers showed up as well. We ate a special Lebanese recipe that Middle Eastern women specifically make for their babies so that their teeth will be strong. The party was for the baby, so naturally we ate what the baby has to eat (?)... it wasn't bad but it made my stomach hurt. It was like minty oatmeal. The little baby girl was painfully adorable though, which made it a little more bearable.
I don't see any teeth...
Sara (in the picture with her grandmother), the baby who the party was for, is the daughter of Lina, who is the daughter of Amal (both names spelled wrong perhaps?), who is one of Jiries' sisters. We all met at Lina's house then walked to a nearby park. From the park you can see the new giant cemetary on the hill that the FCCOL sponsored when it was first being built. Before the church contributed financially, Jiries said it was an empty junkyard of a cemetary, but the money allowed for it to clean up to the point that people started sending their deceased family members there (preventing settlers from wanting the land) and it started making a small profit.
It is a perfect example of how international generosity and cooperation has helped the struggling Palestinian economy. Donations from the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme have also helped purchase air conditioning for the Sunday School classrooms in the basement of the Greek Orthodox church I go to with Jiries and Tata Huda. We will be going down into the basement soon and I will put up pictures of the happy children in air conditioning! Between the cemetary, the Sunday School AC, and sending students to the University of Bethlehem, the FCCOL has had an invaluable impact on the community of Beit Sahour, and I am proud to represent the church while I am here. Yesterday- Tata Huda's university, home, long long nap, family bbq (as always). Jiries' youngest sister, Niveen, and her two kids are staying here with us this week.
Today- around midday we drove through the "Valley of Fire" into the desert to a monastary. I have really nice pictures but I am very tired and will put them up tomorrow. It was beautiful!!!
On the way home from the desert we drove up to Mount Herodium, which King Herod's palace is supposedly inside of (because it is an empty volcano). We got to go up pretty far by car, but unfortunately there was Israeli construction all over it so our movement was restricted.
You can see Mt. Herodium from almsot anywhere in the West Bank, particularly from the kitchen window here where I am living. Driving through the desert we could also see the Dead Sea in the distance and Jordan even farther. Later Jiries and I traveled into Jerusalem (it only took 25 minutes to get through the checkpoint this time, same ordeal as last time but shorter line of cars) and met with two Israeli girls who refused to join the Israeli military and were both jailed and disowned by their parents for doing so. One of them (Maya, who we met on the TOL Journey) is attending undergrad school at Columbia in NYC starting this fall. She will be taking the train to Old Lyme to be meeting us for the TOL Conference, and Sahar will be flying from Tel Aviv. They will each be speaking about their lives and experience, they each have fascinating and upsetting stories. I wrote down almost everything Maya said the first time we met her a few months ago, and tomorrow I will include more information about who she is and what she does to get by and work towards peace (at barely 20 years old).
Tomorrow Jiries and I are going to spend most of the day packaging Palestinian-produced olive oil canisters so they can be shipped to the US and sold at the FCCOL. All the money goes towards the Bridges of Hope program in which about a dozen Palestinian kids are sponsored to go to the US and spend a couple weeks with a host family in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and experience life outside of the occupation. I would love to write more about it but I can barely keep my eyes open. More tomorrow ( fe Arabie= caymahn bohkrah). I apologize for any glaring typos, ana tahbahnay (I am tired), goodnight!
Earlier today: more pictures!!
The Church of the Nativity (where Jesus was born)
This underpass, Koose El Zara, is the main entrance into old Bethlehem. As the story goes, when King Herod found out that baby Jesus had been born he sent soliders in to kill all the newborn boys in Bethlehem, but when they tried to enter the town these arch walls closed in on them.
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