Ein Arik

Amira, who I work with and have mentioned previously, has been asking me for awhile to come to her house for an evening and stay the night. I told myself that I would take advantage of any situation that comes my way so I said 'ok' even though I must admit the thought of spending the night at her house was never too appealing. Last week she took the initiative to officially invite me. So last Sunday after work we walked together to the market, picked up a few things, then went to the bus depot and boarded the small bus that would take us to her village, Ein Arik.

Ein Arik is located just west of Ramallah near Betunia and is traditionally a Christian village with a number of ancient churches still intact, mainly coming from the Roman Catholic world. Even now the people that live there have Italian ancestors, and some even have Italian names. Despite its history and large Christian population, Ein Arik is home to Palestine's tallest minaret. Go figure!! It is very small with around 3-4,000 people; although being there I would have thought it was less.

20 minutes after boarding the bus we were at the driveway leading up to Amira's house. Her children appeared from out of the open front door one by one to greet me with a handshake and a kiss on both cheeks. They were very polite. I then met Amira's mother who was an extremely jovial, smiley elderly woman dressed in traditional Palestinian clothing. She kept speaking Arabic to me even though she knew I couldn't really understand. I smiled and nodded a lot. After being served a few refreshments while Amira was bustling away in the kitchen we all decided to go for a walk. We crossed the main road and walked down into a beautiful valley full of every fruit tree you could imagine. The word "ein" means "spring" so anytime you see it being used in reference to a location you can assume that there will be a water spring there. Same was the case with Ein Arik. We walked around for over an hour while Amira pointed out the various things growing there and explained that the area was very popular with people from Ramallah because of its beauty and serenity.

We headed back to the house where Amira and her daughters had prepared a lovely feast of chicken musakhen and diwali; two very time consuming and delicious Arabic dishes. After dinner we all sat around and watched Lebanon and Turkish television -- me, Amira, Amira's mother, husband, and 5 children. It was interesting, but entertaining trying to figure out what was happening, since I was feeling a little apprehensive because noone in the house, including Amira, spoke a spot of English. However over the course of the night, we were able to communicate just fine and it turned out to be a really good way for me to practice my Arabic.

At some point I had tried to explain to Amira, in Arabic, that I would prefer sleeping at my own house, especially since I had to work in the morning and that it might be better for me to stay the night on a weekend. It seems she didn't understand and when she showed me the bed I was sleeping in, I just took it in stride. Once bedtime did role around, Amira gave me a nightgown and I shared the room with her eldest daughter. I was woken the next morning around 4 by the call to prayer coming from the nearby minaret. What kept me awake was the sound of braying donkeys and cawing chickens. Such is life in the village!!