October 2009
3 posts
A Work in Progress
I want to explain how I approached this account of my trip. I intended to write this as a way to keep my family and close friends updated on my experiences. Every post was off the top of my head - I reflected on each issue that I wrote about, but there were no rough drafts, no rephrasing for political correctness, etc. I realize I am still very young and very new to these issues, and I do hope...
Normal
What do I use water for?
- drinking
- showering
- brushing my teeth
- flushing the toilet
- washing dishes
- doing laundry
- making condensed chicken noodle soup because I’m in college and that’s what we do
While I was in Nablus, I washed myself every other day. We would fill a bucket with water and try not to use more than that, all five of us. I would feel horrible if my...
The Dirty Word
Many instances on my past two trips brought a certain word into my mind:
I am sitting on a bus. On this bus, there are only Arabs. If you are not an Arab, you are most likely the employee of an NGO or an aid organization. I am stopped at a light. Next to my bus there is a second bus. This bus is a different type. It has a different exterior design. On this bus across from mine there are...
August 2009
7 posts
Time is Not Standing Still
It’s a difficult adjustment being home. I was welcomed with a huge family dinner through which I tried to condense five weeks of confusion into a coherent conversation. My pictures helped, but only so much. After dinner I went out to meet up with my friends. This may have been due to not having slept for 22 hours, but I sat there in a trance watching everything happen around me. This is...
Travel Paranoia
Awaiting a flight out of Tel Aviv is nerve-wracking. On one hand, I was ecstatic to be going home. Despite the amazing time I had during FFIPP, I couldn’t wait to get home and share all my stories and pictures with my family, sleep in my own bed, and calm down a little. However, all that excitement has to be put on hold in order to figure out how to get through Ben Gurion Airport security...
FFIPP comes to an end... kind of
For our final session of meetings as FFIPP interns, we met in the Ibda’a Center in the Deheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. Our first night was a debriefing followed by a dinner and pool party. We were asked by the coordinators to split into groups and discuss what we liked about FFIPP and want to see continued, what we disliked and thought needed to be improved upon, and any ideas for...
Life's a Beach
If I were to choose the polar opposite of Nablus, it would be the Israeli city of Eilat. Located on the Red Sea, this city is like an alternate universe of skimpy clothing, techno/house music, too much shopping, and a fundamental oblivion to the real issues facing the country. Audrey and I found a cheap but nice place to stay and felt bizarre yet again being able to take normal showers and have...
Indiana Jones and the Interns of FFIPP
Mathilde, Audrey, and I took off from Nablus on Thursday afternoon to begin our trip to Petra, Jordan. Never before have the problems of restrictions on freedom of movement been so clear to me. We took a service to Ramallah and then a bus to Jerusalem. At the Qalandia Checkpoint into Jerusalem, you are required to get off the bus and go through security before getting back on. We had to get...
July 2009
18 posts
Winding down...
Audrey and I finished out last day of work in Nablus last Thursday. As I packed up all my things the night before, I tried to wrap my head around my experience. It went by so quickly and I have so many different thoughts running through my head. My last day of work was great and also really upsetting. I couldn’t do anything in my month here to significantly change their situation. ...
Ups and Downs
A week and a half left… How did that happen? I finally feel as if I’ve adapted to Nablus, and the thought of leaving is sad. We’re just at the point where we’ve begun to create real friendships with the locals here and are understanding our role in the community.
Last weekend we took a trip to Haifa, in Israel. It’s a mixed city though - Palestinian women...
An Organized Tangent
Where to start?
My law class has done its job - I’m filled with questions about a lot of things I never used to question before. We had a discussion about the legality of the US invasion of Iraq, and I realized how little I understand about my own country’s occupation. Here I am fighting Israel’s occupation when Iraq is under an occupation in my nation’s name. I felt so...
More Confusion
As I mentioned, I felt a lot more prepared for this week. I walked into my classes with detailed lesson plans and an understanding of my students. With my university class, we went over vocabulary related to the environment and each of them wrote about the environmental problem they feel is most important in Palestine. Most wrote about the lack of a garbage disposal service - garbage either...
A Strange Contrast
We just returned to Nablus after a weekend in Tel Aviv. We took off for Ramallah on Thursday evening after our last classes and met up with the other FFIPP interns for dinner and drinks. Even though we had only spent a week in Nablus, we were anxious to have a brief western escape. After dinner we ended up at an outdoor club called Snobar just outside of Ramallah, a haven of ex-pats and western...
What Happens at Night
For a city with no night life, Nablus might actually be the loudest city I’ve ever lived in. The call to prayer from each mosque is timed slightly differently, so they continue for at least a half an hour five times a day. People stay up late talking and wake up early bustling. Taxi drivers seem to honk and beep just for the sake of it, and I am considering a hunting license after being...
Oh the Irony
Today marks the first day I’ve been able to get to the office and back without getting lost! We had our first Arabic class this morning at 8, and it was really helpful. We’re learning some basic phrases in the local dialect. After that we took a cab to an-Najah for class. It’s taught by two professors, and today the professor who only speaks Arabic lectured for an hour. It...
Day Two - still a little lost
Second day of work done! Our class at an-Najah National University was really interesting. It’s taught by two teachers, one Iraqi-American who teaches in English and one Palestinian who teaches in Arabic. We all rely on the translator. It’s a small class, so five students speak in English and three speak in Arabic. I’ve never had to deal with that factor before, so...
Day One at Project Hope
So today, Sunday, was our first day of work for Project Hope. We went to the office in the morning and were sent to the local university to register for summer classes in law. I’ll be taking Public International Law and Arabic courses. We then returned to the offices to finalize our work schedules. I’m teaching one English classes for children 9-12 years old and another...
Orientation Week, or, By the way...we're late,...
So…one week gone. Our orientation left us with very little free time, so I’m sorry to say that this overview of that week is poorly written, out of order, and lacking in the details needed to do justice to the experience.
Our orientation crammed in a million different aspects of Israeli-Palestinian society.
We listened to two members of Combatants for Peace, which is composed of...
June 2009
3 posts
