Wednesday, February 21, 2007

blahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone’s doing well. I’m doing fine over here, although things have gotten kind of rocky. First of all, I went to Jordan last weekend, which was really fun, but kind of hectic. A lot of people to see and stories to catch up on, so I didn’t get much sleep and I ended up getting a really bad cold that I’d been fighting off. My trip back to Nablus was also kind of hectic because it was Saturday, shabat, so one border was closed and I had to go up north to the other border, then the taxi guy tricked me into giving him more money because he said I hadn’t given him enough and of course, being too trusting, I believed him. So I didn’t have enough money to pay the exit tax and get out of Jordan. I was trying to give him my left over Lebanese and Syrian bills that amounted to about a dollar and a half, but they didn’t want those. Luckily a guy helped me and just made me promise I would call him the next time I was in Jordan. So I finally got through the Jordanian and Israeli borders after being questioned about why I was carrying a Quran translated into German with me (I bought it for my roommate). But I convinced them that I was just a tourist wanting to go to Tel Aviv and that I would definitely not be going to “the territories”. But after all that, I came out of the building looking for a taxi or bus to Nablus and not only were there none, but there were no cars at all, once again, because it was Shabat and this border is in Israel, which I hadn’t realized. So I asked someone to take me to the nearest town, and he dropped me off at a deserted bus station saying that he thought there would be a bus to Jerusalem later in the day. So I waited and read Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood and luckily, a bus did come. I was so sick by then that I passed out and was probably snoring and sniffing and hacking phlegm up for the whole bus to hear. I got to Jerusalem, at some Thai food and showed up at a hostel hoping they had rooms. I left early the next morning, still feeling really crappy and got back to Nablus by 9am. I was so happy to be home and ready to have my two classes and go to bed, but I got called into the office for a “chat”.
Ok, now I’ll back up and start at the beginning of this mess that I got myself into. Last week at my class of 7th graders at the Balata Refugee Camp UN Girls School, the girls started off the class by asking me if I was a Muslim. I said, no, I’m Christian. They were curious and asked how Christians pray. I just put my hands together and said, like this and sometimes we kneel down in church. Then they showed me how they pray, and told me some things about Islam. One girl read a section from the Quran and we talked a bit about how they learn to read from the Quran (because they read in a melodic way). Then they asked if I thought Jesus was the son of God. Now, it’s easy to say I’m Christian when we’re talking generally, but when people ask specifically what I believe, I find it harder to lie, because I don’t believe that Jesus is God. So I skirted the question and said, yes, people do believe he is the son of God. The girls all started yelling, that’s not true! There’s only God above all else, he has no son or family because he’s God. So I told them to quiet down and said, ok girls. If you’re going to be in a discussion with people who believe different things, you can’t yell at them. If you think you’re right, you need to explain to them why because if you yell and tell them they’re wrong, they won’t want to listen to you. So they all said they understood, it was just that they love me, so they want me to go to paradise. I said ok, and continued the class on a different subject. After the class I felt pretty good about the talk we’d had because it was more interesting than going over fruits and vegetables and I felt like they understood what we talked about, which doesn’t always happen. But, the next class their English teacher said that the kids went home and talked to their parents about what we’d talked about and the parents had complained that I was talking to their kids about religion. So she politely asked me not to talk about religion or politics again. I apologized and was a bit embarrassed, and we went on with the class. So then I went to Jordan and came back and here we are again the morning I got back. My boss sat me down and said that all of my classes in Balata Refugee Camp were cancelled because the parents stormed the school saying that I was trying to convert their kids to Christianity and that the program was in a lot of trouble because of it. In my head I said, at this point in my life, I’m probably closer to being a Muslim than a Christian, but I sat there and let him finish. The head of the Balata schools came to him complaining and they forbid me from going to Balata again. I assumed that after I explained the conversation we had had, he would realize that this was a misunderstanding, but he’s kind of a hard-ass, so he just said, use a little common sense. So I hadn’t slept much in a few days, had had a long travel back from Amman, I was sick and I had been up since 5:30am. I was not on top of my game so much. So after apologizing multiple times for causing him so much trouble and forcing him to give all the volunteers a rules sheet, I left the office, sat on some back stairs and cried a bit while I ate a banana. Then I went to my other class, afraid to say anything at all and feeling like everyone in the town was talking about how there was a foreigner in their midst trying to convert their children to Christianity. I went home and passed out and didn’t wake up until my roommate came in and said she had baked a cake for me. They thought I had holed up in my room all afternoon because I was so sad about what had happened, not just because I was really sick, so, knowing me better than I thought, they lured me out of bed with cake. So, that’s the end to a long story about how a 20 year-old girl from Iowa got kicked out of the biggest refugee camp in the West Bank. I still feel pretty shitty about it all and all of this combined with the perfect spring weather makes me really not want to teach anymore, but after having my other classes again that are just as good as they were before, I feel less like a witch in Salem that the whole town is talking about. So, that’s the update for now. I woke up this morning with a great idea to try to make applesauce. Also, the circus is going well. I’m learning lots of new juggling tricks. My Arabic is also improving more than I thought it was. I dreamt in Arabic last night! Broken Arabic, but it was still Arabic. Hokay, I have to go make some worksheets. I love you all and have been missing you so much lately. I’ll send you some of this perfect, perfect weather that makes me want to roll around in the grass and run really fast without stopping, and you please send me some courage to keep stepping into my classrooms even though I’m a bit nervous about what I’ll say this time. And send everyone open-mindedness. Hokay, have a good week! Byeeee!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Love Birds and Burnt Apple Pie

Hello everyone! I hope everything has been going well for you since I wrote last. Life is good here. First of all, an update on the hot water situation. Now we have hot water, but it’s either burning hot so that you can’t touch it or freezing cold; no in between. The water saga continues… So, along the same lines as the clown lesson, the highlight of this week is that we bought two birds for the house. Well, first we bought one bird that we named Batzi (because is Bavaria, Germany everyone names their birds Batzi, kind of like Fluffy for a cat I think) but Batzi was really sad because she was alone. We tried to put a mirror up behind her cage to trick her into thinking that she had a twin, but she wouldn’t have it. She just looked at us as if to say, “What kind of a stupid bird do you think I am?” So we bought Binti who is fat and blue whereas Batzi is green and skinny. They love each other and now Batzi is happy. The first night they were together Batzi followed Binti around the cage doing whatever Binti was doing like a groupie. So, overall, the bird experience has been very entertaining. Plus it helps Ina and I practice our Arabic because we’re not intimidated at all to speak to them in Arabic and since they grew up on the streets of downtown Nablus, we know they understand us.
Other than that fun, my classes have been going well. I read The Giving Tree with a couple of my classes and there wasn’t as much discussion as I had hoped, but I think the kids liked the story. I didn’t have the book with the good illustrations, just a printed text from the internet, so I had them draw the tree in all the stages of the book, which was pretty fun. I love that story. I made my adult class do short skits in front of each other today and they’re just as bad as kids; making fun of each other when they mispronounce a word. Ahh, boys will be boys. I’ve been invited to dinner by almost every student I have, so I think during the time I’m here, if I go to student’s houses for dinner 3 times a week, maybe I’ll get to everyone before I leave. It’s nice and I practice speaking Arabic, but I’m afraid some of the invitations are so that the guy’s mom can meet me and approve or disapprove of the possible marriage. It’s too bad 20 is the prime marrying age here. And an American passport is a commodity.
Along those lines, I got a little frustrated today walking in the street. I dress very conservatively here with just my hands, my head and my neck showing, but I still can’t walk down the street in peace. It’s not so bad, and most days it’s easy to ignore, but sometimes it’s too much. Also, there is one local volunteer here who was walking with me, and told me that I should wear a scarf around my neck because people in the street will wonder why he’s walking with a woman dressed like I am. I told him that I do my part to dress modestly, but that half of the responsibility is on the men in the street to act politely to me and that if he has a problem with women who aren’t wearing hijab, he shouldn’t walk with me. He didn’t say anything else, and even though I feel like I was in the right, it’s hard to dismiss his comment because he’s so well-meaning and nice. My mind was on what I was going to talk about with my class and if I had time to stop for a falafel, but after he said that, I couldn’t think of anything but how everyone was looking at me in the streets. It’s a really bad feeling to have, but it just took a little time at home, away from the streets and my class of men and some good music to get my spirits up again. No worries.
Hokay, a little about the political situation here before I finish up. The whole Hamas-Fatah fighting hasn’t had much of an impact on me here, except that one of my classes was cancelled because there was an ordered strike to try to promote unity. Many people got kidnapped in Nablus from Fatha, but most people were ashamed that Palestinians were fighting Palestinians. Hopefully the new peace agreement from Mecca will reach down to the people. Also, the excavation underneath the Al-Aqsa mosque is a big issue here. The mosque is the second holiest site for Muslims and before Mecca, they faced Jerusalem to pray. If it collapses because of this digging underneath it, there will be a huge reaction. The second Intifada started because Sharon visited the mosque in an act of defiance or something, so they know that it’s a sensitive issue. We were very gung-ho about preventing a possible nuclear war in Iraq, and it seems pretty obvious that making sure the mosque isn’t harmed would prevent another war, so I don’t know why we’re allowing Israel to toy with such a hot issue. I think a good way to fight the war on terror is to eliminate reasons for terrorists to terrorize. If we (as the Western world) could try to be more neutral in this conflict, first of all the Palestinians would have some hope that it would be resolved because there are people on their side, so they might not be as desperate as to use violence. And secondly, the argument that the West is trying take over the Arabs and wipe them out would loose validity so there wouldn’t be as much reason to fight. Everyone says this is a conflict without a solution, and maybe I’m simplifying things too much, but right now I think that if the West, especially the US, could look at the situation neutrally, as we might do with other conflicts in the world, a solution would be more accessible than it is now.
Whew, sorry, this was a long one. Hokay, in conclusion, I ask you all to take a hot – but not scalding hot – shower for me, eat a bowl of plain Cheerios – I can’t find them here! – and try, in whatever way you can, to mold the US into more of a benevolent big brother than a trouble maker/supporter. Haha, sorry, I know that’s a lot to ask and maybe impossible, but do the first two and try for the last. In turn, I’m sending all of you the picture of today’s sunset reflected on the white stone buildings making the whole city pink and yesterday’s attempt at an apple pie in a portable electric oven, which actually didn’t turn out all that bad. I love you all more than iced tea with sweet and low and sausage mcmuffins with egg! (Grandpa better be reading thisJ)
Love, Lisa

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Hokay, so. Life is still going really well for me. I finished my first week of classes without going crazy and the kids (and adults) still like me I think, so everything is good. The highlight of my week was a clown lesson we had at our apartment the other day. The guy who runs the circus came over with a friend to try out my new houka with us, and it turned into him giving us our first clown lesson. It was so fun and surprisingly hard! Hopefully we'll do more lessons and I'll come back a real clown.
So that was the most fun thing I did all week, and the best thought I had all week was about how the people in Nablus are like one big family. There's no government here, no laws and no police force, but the town still runs very smoothly. Because they don't get any help from outside organizations, and because most of them rarely leave Nablus, and because their lives are very hard under the occupation, they all have a very unselfish mindset. If someone loses his job, he doesn't go to collect unemployment, he just asks around and people will find someone who can pay him to do something. No one steals from eachother because it would be like stealing from your brother, or if not your brother, his friend. With all the news about Hamas and Fatha fighting, it seems like the Palestinians have turned against eachother, but in Nablus, the majority don't agree with what's happening between the parties, and they live their lives exactly opposite to the civil war type activity going on. It's pretty amazing and even more amazing that they include me in this community. I have never met so many generous people and I have never felt so safe. Even though soldiers come into the city and sometimes people get kidnapped, I have no doubt that if I were ever in trouble, I could ask anyone on the street for help and they wouldn't let me go without solving my problem. The other day I asked a woman where a pharmacy was and she said it was Friday, so she couldn't think one that was open, so I went to her sister's house with her and drank tea and ate peanuts until her brother in law came home and he knew a pharmacy that was open on Fridays and they gave me directions. It would have been unthinkable for me to go home without getting to buy toothpaste and bodywash! So that's that. People are nice. And I love them.
In other news, we finally got gas again! So I had my first hot shower in a while right before our water heater broke. Good thing I was the first to take a shower. :) God really doesn't want us to have hot water.
Well, I'm off to my friend's uncle's farm to practice telling jokes in Arabic and to learn the names of all the farming words like planting and seasons and dirt, and then to his house so his mother can teach me to cook maqlouba, my favorite dish. Wish me luck! I'm sending all of you generosity to people around you and ask you to send me hot water vibes and creativity for another week of classes. I love you all and think about you all the time!
Love, Lisa