Tawjeehi day

Today I got up and went to work at the normal time (not late). Today is Tawjeehi (pronounced taw-gee-hee) day, which means it's when the high school students find out their final exam scores which determine whether they go on to university or have to make up several months of high school in the fall. Tawjeehi is the name for the last year of high school. The exams happened a few weeks ago and took 15 days total, students need a score of 50 or above to pass, and to get into the really good local universities they ideally should get above a 70 or 80. At the Wildlife Society everyone was really excited; they could barely do work and kept turning the radio on and hushing the room. They explained to me that the tawjeehi scores for all the nearby school are announced OVER THE RADIO and EVERYONE listens. The director of the PWLS, Imad Atrash (Jiries' cousin), found out that his daughter passed and he was thrilled (but not surprised). The other people I work with listened to hear the scores of their relatives, and relatives of their friends.

Right away we could hear car horns honking outside and whooping coming from down the street. The PWLS people (Rawan, Baha, Imad, and Laureen) explained to me that every year on Tawjeehi day the kids who pass the test drive all over the towns hanging out of their car windows and honking to celebrate their success. We watched and applauded them from the balcony in the back of the building, and we could see people standing outside of their homes also cheering on the graduates. Since I was at work, which is towards the outskirts of town (well not really, but it isn't near the center of town), I did not see how crazy it was there, but I heard the kids were going totally nuts all over the streets. Nermeen and Shorok (who still has one year left) went over to the school and hopped in a car with one of Nermeen's friends and drove around for a few hours with the mob. They said shops were blasting Arabic music and it was a great time..... it is almost 1 a.m. now and the music still hasn't stopped, people are singing at the top of their lungs, and there have been small- but loud- fireworks going off ALL night! It is amazing how much pressure there is on the students and how supportive the community is.


This is Imad Qumsieyah, one of the guys I work with at the Wildlife Society. His brother died a couple days before I got here, and he was a famous politician so a lot of people in town made huge banners with his face on them and there were sign of all sizes hung up everywhere commemorating his life. Imad told me that his brother's son began taking the tawjeehi test the DAY his father died....he scored a 93.


Kids hanging out of cars for tawjeehi day



The wall painting midday! Jiries worked on it all day.


My favorite dish, cousa mashey, which is zucchini stuffed with meat and rice


Painting on the side of a gas station done by the famous British artist Banksy


A mosque in downtown Beit Sahour


A mosque under construction a couple hundred yards from Jiries' house


The Greek Orthodox church we go to for all events:


We went to the church for a baptism at 6, but when we got there we realized we didn't recognize anyone and we were horribly underdressed. A few phone calls later we figured out we were at the wrong church, and it was actually the Church of the Nativity we were supposed to go to.


We went into the church anyways to check out the wedding


Maureen saying hi to Abuna Issa


Abuna Issa!


The bride walking in


The Church of Nativity... the location of the manger Jesus was born in, and where we were supposed to be


The entrance is a a door that has been added onto over the years so it has become smaller and smaller, from a huge archway to this tiny door. The point of it being so small is that people have to bow on their way in as a sign of respect. Another sign of respect is that people never go backwards through the door.


The baptism ritual (since we were kind of late we missed the baby dunking part)


Just your average churchgoer


The baby getting changed...actually he's not so much a baby as he is a toddler, from what I hear the parents waited to have him baptised because they needed to save up enough money for the post-baptism party, which can be quite expensive. Also, Greek Orthodox baby boys do not have their hair cut for the first time until after they are baptised, so this little guy had quite the ponytail.


Not happy about getting changed


The Greek Orthodox priest


The second part of the baptism ritual with the godparents carrying the child


The priest


In this picture you can see the priest swinging the incense which permeated the whole building (we were in a small church BEHIND the Church of the Nativity)


Notice how thick the walls are


At the end of the ceremony the baby and his mom were finally reunited and there was no more crying!


After the baptism we visited inside of the Church of the Nativity; these are the stairs going down into the grotto where Jesus was born.


The star is where Jesus was born


The place where the Virgin Mary put Jesus when he was a baby




Just hanging out where Jesus was born; regular Thursday, you know.


Tata Huda touching each one of the pictures of the Stations of the Cross in the cave-like room underground where the birthplace is:


Inside of the Church of the Nativity


The church was built in 325 A.D. in the shape of a cross (you can't tell by these pictures though, it is impossible to capture in a picture)




The original church floor from 325 A.D.


Tata Huda striking a pose


The adjacent Franciscan church, St. Catherine Church. The midnight mass on Christmas Eve is braodcasted from here.


Outside of the church


Mosque next to the Church of the Nativity


Settlement next to Bethlehem.... you can see a small patch of trees on the hill, Maureen told me the entire hill (er, mountain) used to be filled with trees




The wall at the end of the night