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.