Allison in Wonderland

Poor Jiries stays up ALL night checking on the water for 2 nights every 15 days. He makes sure the well is full and the water is still running into it. There is one direct line coming from the government, and you never know how long they are going to give you water for (1 hour, 4 hours). Jiries stays up to make sure the water is coming through on that line and if any point it stops he puts another line he has (that he paid for) into the well to make sure it fills up and all the storage tanks are all full. They have lots of storage tanks (an underwater reservoir in between his house and the apartment building) and they need to be sure they are filled- Jiries' well supplies 28 people. They need it for washing, drinking, shower, toilets, etc. Sometimes the water doesn't come for up to 20 days and they only get 8 hours worth, tops. The Atrash family does not have a water shortage problem- not because the city provides them with plenty of water, but because they are smart enough to have a lot of underground storage. Like them, a lot of people here rely on water storage. Israel controls the water amount that is distributed by the Palestinian Authority. Even in Area A, Palestinians cannot dig wells without getting Israeli permission, which it does not give them. Right outside of Bethlehem is the biggest aquifer in the country (including Israel) right under Mount Herodium but Israel has monopolized the water to supply the surrounding settlements.

My life this week (continuation of last blog post):



The other day, Wednesday I think, I worked at the PWLS and edited documents from 8-1 Jiries and I went to Jerusalem to get insurance so that I cant drive his car. It took 40 minutes to go through the checkpoint BUT this time I didn't have to get out and walk through the maze! We got the insurance and then went to a few stores, but everything was ridiculously expensive and I didn't buy anything. In Jerusalem there are big malls and lots of stores along the streets, and kids younger then me walk around casually with massive guns slung around their shoulders. It makes me me wonder why the US is giving them so much money...


When we got home we covered the grapes outside with paper bags that have holes punched in them so the bugs/bees/birds can't get them... they will be done in TWO WEEKS! I can't wait.

There hasn't been a lot of rainfall so many of the grapes have gone bad, and in this picture Tata Huda is collecting the bad grapes we cut down from the vine.




Then went to Rawan's birthday party, she is pregnant with twin girls


I worked on Thursday doing more editing, then Jiries picked me up at 1, I showered and put on some shorts because it was sweltering hot out, then we took off for Be'er Zeit, where his sister Violette lives. Be'er Zeit is right near Ramallah, the temporary capital of Palestine. Ramallah is north of Jerusalem, so Jiries and I got to cut through Jerusalem, but since his mom does not have a permit she had to take a taxi around the long way. The road we took is an Israeli bypass through Palestinian land so it has the wall on BOTH sides of it. One time Jiries brought his mother to Ramallah to see a doctor and they got a permit to travel through Jerusalem between the hours of 7 am and 7 pm. It took a long time at the doctor's office so by the time they reached the checkpoint it was about 7:10 and the Israeli soldier, a girl about 18 years old, said they couldn't pass through, and they would have to take the long Palestinian road. Jiries said he got so mad at the girl and asked her how she would feel if her mother was sick and someone was making her go the long way for a stupid reason. The solider called over her superior who was equally rude and Jiries was so infuriated the police ended up getting involved. Fortunately a nice solider ended up letting them go through to avoid further conflict. On the way to Volette's we also passed the place where Arafat is buried and where Jiries used to work for the government.

Her son just graduated from high school and her husband's side of the family was throwing a huge party for all their relatives who graduated from high school or college. There were a couple hundred people there and it was outside at a restaurant. Be'er Zeit (which means "Well of Olive Oil") is beautiful, Violette lives on the side of a mountain that is covered in olive trees. The party was really fun and I met a lot of really nice and interesting people.


This is Jiries and a guy who has 5 daughters, 5 sons, and one donkey