more randomness...

The other day I saw a 2, maybe 3, year old Palestinian child with a "Slipknot" shirt on. Excuse me, what?

Last week I heard strange, screeching noises coming from outside of my house. It was very loud and sounded as if it was via microphone. I had to investigate. I went into my garden and peered over the fence into the courtyard of the Khalil Sakakini Center. A middle-aged European man was standing there making crazy noises, and saying unrecognizeable words to an audience of about a dozen. I didn't know what was going on. I thought he might have tourette's syndrome. He continued and then stopped. The audience clapped. He then started up again this time interspersing his high-pitched screeching with growling and English and French words. He stopped. The audience clapped. For his final performance piece he basically yelled and repeated the same words. Then 2 guys came up beside him and started sprinkling flour all over his head. This, ladies and gentlemen, is performance art. Wow.

After having been told by S, an Englishman, that I have a Spanish accent when I speak Arabic, I was told by a Palestinian that I have a very good Palestinian accent when I speak Arabic. That's better.

Gyms in Palestine are pretty much exactly like gyms in the Western world -- complete with oogling men, ridiculously unmotivating techno music, and women wearing unnecessarily tight fitting clothes.

People here like to use baby-like nicknames in place of complicated first names. For instance, I am ju-ju, Mithqal is ku-ku, S is su-su, and so on... I am not so sure I like being called "ju-ju." Just think about it.

I am beginning to believe that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, the 'happy birthday' song is universal. I have made it a point to learn the Arabic version while I am here.

Why is it that the internationals of Ramallah don't acknowledge other internationals? How is it that when I walk down the street blatantly staring at the 'ajnabiyyat' that I don't get so much as a smile upon eye contact? Welcome to the bubble that is Ramallah. Now get over yourselves.

When referring to the term 'cocktail' in Palestine please remember that it is not a alcoholic drink like in the West; rather it is a freshly blended fruit juice, usually made with ice cream - a bit like a smoothy actually and can be found on almost every street corner.

The only shops that you will see that are open 24 hours a day in Palestine are the bakeries - stressing the importance that Palestinians place on having fresh bread at hand at all times.

life in the office...

I haven't written much about what I do on a daily basis, so I decided to dedicate an entry to my lovely office and my even lovelier colleagues. I work a pretty regular week; Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 3:30pm. Because the university is based in Nablus in a city that is considered quite conservatively Muslim, we have our weekends on Fridays and Saturdays as Friday is the Muslim holy day. I leave for work around 7:40 every morning and make the 20 minute walk to the office, which is located in Al-Bireh; a city basically connected to Ramallah - you can't tell the 2 of them apart really. My work consists of mainly administrative things such as being the main point of contact for international visitors or volunteers to the university, contacting embassies, consulates, and representative offices to organize meetings, making all logisitical plans when we have guests come to the university, updating the website, disseminating information on upcoming proposals, writing news articles, editing items that have been translated from Arabic to English, etc. I rarely have a full day's worth of work which can make things a little slow at times; however there are some weeks where I can be extremely busy and end up staying after working hours. Sometimes it feels like it is everything at once or nothing at all. I go to the university in Nablus probably about 2 times a month; usually if I have a meeting to attend or things to set up that I must be present for.

Mithqal, who is from Nablus, and has been working with K for 3 years, is amazing! The very first time I arrived at the office I was greeted with a huge grin and a handshake from him. Allegedly he couldn't understand me at all when I first arrived, but after a few weeks we were able to hold normal conversations and now what can I say other than it is just amazing how far his English has come. He is such a fast learner - I just wish I was as quick to learn Arabic as he is to learn English. Now we are able to have debates about religion, talk about friends, family, and what true love is, discuss our weekends, and tell each other candid jokes. He is officially the Office Manager and is a joy to be around. He is beyond funny, beyond cheeky, beyond helpful, and beyond sweet.

S, who is from the UK, arrived 1 month after me. He is an academic working on his PhD, which he will be researching for while he is here in Palestine. He has made a plan to be here for 2 years! S and I hit it off immediately. I remember his first day we just kept chatting and chatting and chatting. Mithqal asked me if I was happy that I could speak English full on with him. I sheepishly said yes. S has a very sarcastic sense of humor, typical cheeky Englishman, but is seriously hilarious. He is intelligent and well-spoken and can take on any subject with no problem at all. His job consists of strategic planning and analysis on a high level. He works on proposals and the planning and implementing of million dollar projects at the university. He is fantastic at what he does and has even been offered a permanent position when he finishes his PhD.

I am so thankful that I am working with who I am. I get along with both S and Mithqal so well and feel very blessed because of it. I can't even imagine coming to work everyday if they weren't there. When I had visa issues a couple of months ago and the prospect of having to leave earlier than expected came about, I just kept thinking about how much I would miss S and Mithqal more than anyone. They take care of me, make me laugh, and keep me sane.

olive groves...

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go with V and O to a barbecue in the olive groves with some friends from a local village. We headed out on the windy roads that lead north and then east of Ramallah, making our way through tiny Palestinian towns and up and down Palestinian hills. The landscape of Palestine is absolutely gorgeous and like nothing I have ever seen. The hills, albeit green, are very rocky and each one is covered with olive groves that have been terraced out of the hillsides. The light is so bright here that I am always squinting and the air is filled with a slight dusting that blurs the horizon and the distant hills. The area of the West Bank that we went to is one of the few areas that is free of Israeli settlements - so it is a good escape for some to be able to forget about the occupation (at least for a day).

We arrived at the village (whose name escapes me) to be greeted by a very large and welcoming family who escorted us into a small living space in their house for refreshments and conversation. Not longer after we had sat down a beautiful old man, wearing the traditional white headcovering of a 'haj,' entered the room. He sat down and started telling stories, which had to be translated to V and I by O, of years long past. His stories were enthralling, even when being translated and it was a moment when I truly wished I understood Arabic completely so that I could have heard the way he told it. After a long visit with the family, and after the men had finished Friday prayers, we all loaded in our cars for a short drive to the hills for our feast.

This family owns a parcel of land that has a spring on it - this is extremely rare in Palestine as water is sparce and because most springs in the West Bank have either been stolen or at least tapped into by the settlers. I love Palestine-style barbecues. They are fully representative of Palestine as a whole. The men work on the fire; gather sticks, tinder, and stones from their surroundings; and deal with all things pertaining to meat. The women prepare the salads, deal with the beverages and look after the children. A large mat is spread on the ground, the food is laid in the middle and everyone sits around taking what they want to eat.

After everyone has had their fill, out comes the nargileh and the tea. O's friend had brought these tiny individual nargileh pipes to make sure that everyone who wanted to smoke, could. They were the cutest things I have ever seen. Such a good idea! After we had cleaned up, some of the ladies went for a walk. This seems to be a bit of a tradition here because the same thing has happened at other barbecues that I have been to. While we wandered around in the olive groves, I was amazed by the different types of wild flowers I saw; unique, beautiful, muted and bright colors. In addition to flowers, the village women were able to spot wild herbs as well - sage, za'atar, thyme, etc. When we headed back to "camp" everyone was getting prepared to go, so we grabbed what we could and headed back to the village where we said our goodbyes and thank yous before leaving for Ramallah.

When I do things like this I feel like I discover so many more beautiful things about Palestine and the Palestinian people. Things like how an 80-something year old man still speaks of his wife as if they were newlyweds, or how Palestinians will never need to use maps because their directions involve who lives where, not where a certain street is, or how they don't need fences to mark their property lines - a stone or a tree will do just fine, or how they're not afraid to give a fat girl diet tips, or how even in the midst of poverty Palestinians have the most generous of hearts.

politik...

I have been working on a project at the university for the last several months which entails sending 5 An-Najah students and 2 professors to a theatre festival/summer school in Naples next month for 2 weeks. At this festival they will have a chance to interact with students from Israel and Italy while learning different theatrical techniques and traditions and being directed and trained by some of the top theatre directors in the Mediterranean region. It is a fantastic opportunity for intercultural dialogue and has been my "baby" from the beginning. The project began with choosing a good instructor in the Fine Arts Faculty who could nominate 5 students and 1 assistant for the festival. Afterwards, we formulated a proposal and a course plan for the Palestinian portion of the summer school. The end result includes using visuals of Palestinian symbols, live oud performances, and poetry recitals all to convey the level of importance the Palestinian people put on their rich heritage. At the end of the course the 15 total participants will take part in a short play that sums up what they learned about Palestinian culture during the course.

Ihave met the Palestinian students who range in age from 20-24. They are so happy and enthusiastic about this oppportunity to show the world what it means to them to be Palestinian. They are excited to learn news things and teach others new things. For the students, it is their first time out of the country - ever. They meet on a regular basis, at least a couple of times a week to discuss the festival and practice their dabka - traditional dancing. Although I am only a few years older than them, I feel like I am their mother guiding them along step by step; reassuring them that all will be taken care of and that they will have a fantastic time in Italy.

With a little over 3 weeks until they depart we are just now submitting their visa applications to the Italian Consulate. This is because of a few hold ups regarding health insurance and the usual office politics. Nonetheless, we were able to get everything in order this week and will be delivering the applications tomorrow morning; however yesterday I was informed of some devastating news. It seems that the Italian Consulate already had a list of the names of everyone who would be attending the festival. Upon checking into those names it was found that 2 of the students were affiliated with Hamas. Immediately upon hearing this, the Italians decided that these 2 students would not be attending the festival and contacted the President of the university to inform him that we had to revoke the applications of these 2 particular students. I was gutted when I heard.

Do the Italians realize that these students have been working their asses of for 6 months in order to attend the festival?

Do the Italians realize that these students paid to receive passports just so they could travel to Italy for the festival?

Do the Italians realize that in terms of skills and experience these students far exceed the others?

Do the Italians realize that the whole point of the festival is to enhance opportunities for intercultural dialogue and break down stereotypes and that by discriminating against someone based on their political viewpoint they are defeating the very purpose they set out to accomplish?

I by no means support the actions of Hamas; however I do believe that it is unfair that someone be judged according to their political standpoint. I feel horrible for the students. They have worked so hard and are looking forward so much to going to Italy. When I have to tell them that they can't go - but can't tell them why - they will be hurt terribly. In Palestine, opportunities such as this one do not come around very often. When will ignorant governments wake up to see that and stop jumping to conclusions when they see what they have deemed the dreaded word 'Hamas.'

randomness...

I love how random life in Palestine is.

Where else can you be walking in the middle of a bustling city where cars are zipping and horns are honking, while at the same time a horse-drawn cart is moving past the Palestinian Legislative Council and a herd of sheep is being sheparded from pasture to pasture at a stop light?

Where else can grafitti artists be treated to free water, pastries, meals, and kind words while they are working?

Where else can you find an ice cream truck that plays Christmas songs in a Muslim neighborhood in order to announce its arrival to the children?

Where else can you spend hours on end in a nut roastery only to meet a man who is Palestinian, but speaks English in a Spanish accent because he was born in Puerto Rico, but lived in the US and is now back in Palestine running his own shoe shop called "Chicago Shoes?"

Where else can you learn about a family name (Al-Muslimani) that is named so because they converted from Judaism (Samarian sect) to Islam only 70 years ago?

Where else can you ask where the best cocktail in Nablus is only to be told that they all use additives and instead be invited into someone's office to enjoy a fresh, all-natural date drink called "tamirhindi?"

Where else can you walk around an old city to discover an ancient butcher's whose current owner puts pictures of American visitors and friends on the walls of his business in order to attract more customers?

Perhaps I will try to have a "randomness" blog every week to keep track of everything that happens here that makes me laugh and say, "this is why I love Palestine!"