The day after the deportation concert, (August 26th) we said goodbye to Ofek and Avner - which was quite sad as I've never goodbye and realized that it might be permanent, and also awkward because the bus driver was yelling t us to get on and pay him. Once we got to the bus stop in Tel Aviv, we sat down at our "supposed" bus stop to Jerusalem and proceeded to wait for two hours for out bus. It then turns out that this bus stop did not exist and we decided to take a taxi to Jerusalem in order to get to Ramallah. I think I have the best sense of direction out of the group as Ryan always seems to go the opposite of where supposed to and Omar doesn't pay attention, and Zahida…is just a really slow walker and we have to shout "Yella Zee Yella" or "Allons-Zee!" whenever she is walking at a snails pace or we might lose her forever. I found the bus station and after 2 check points we arrived in Ramallah. (The check points aren’t very high security on the way into Palestine, it's the way out that you have to worry about…but I'll get to that late). We were dropped off by a building and because Zahida and I did not think ahead were wearing shorts. This issued a lot of "Downward flicks" from the men and "Tut-tutting" the elderly women. We were also pestered by several children. Once Mohammed arrived we were taken to his house then out to a hidden restaurant and swimming pool call "Snoba" (the spelling of this is most likely terribly wrong.) Here we mat Amber and to our surprise AYA another friend from peace it together. For a few hours we caught up and she told us about a party the next night. We then headed back to Mohammed's and after a dinner of Hummus, Pita and Eggs went to bed.
The next day (August 27th) we headed to Mohammed's University work camp, this is comprised of students from all over the world who come to Birzeit to work in different areas of Palestine. Eventually we all headed to the refugee camp in the city of Jenin, located in Northern Palestine. Jenin Camp has a population of 16,000 on a 1km square. In 2002 The Israeli army entered the refugee camp with 600 tanks and 3000 soldiers, and for 13 days they infiltrated and destroyed the camp. The strongest group of soldiers used American bulldozers in order to tear down 360 homes and after they were done, they forced the men and women to walk through the streets completely naked. – After we were explained the history of the camp, we were able to see the truth of the facts told to us through our own eyes. We saw the widened streets, the bullet holes and the sense of community the people of the camp seem to have. We then went to a community center and painted the walls with "graffiti" – messages and pictures of peace. Ryan said "Freedom is when there are no walls to paint" as he painted the Image of Handala. A child barefooted like the refugee camp children, who is rough and smells of amber. His hands are clasped behind his back as a sign of rejection at a time when solutions are presented to the Palestinians "the American way". Handala was born ten years old, and he will always be ten years old. At that age, The cartoonist who created Handala left his homeland, and when he returns, Handala will still start growing up. The laws of nature do not apply to him. He is unique. Things will become normal again when the Palestinians homeland is returned.
I was assigned the role of taking photographs of the events after I expressed my love for photography while admiring a friend's camera. This was a great opportunity for me to use a professional camera and take some well structured shots. Once we had finished the walls at the community center, we went to a theatre where we were shown several documentaries about the refugee camp. After this we drove up a mountain to the famous church where Jesus broke down the wall separating the Christians from the lepers and healed them, however only one out of 10 thanked him for his "gift." In that church I accidentally walked into a room that was for MEN ONLY. Oops! We then went home and that night went to the party at Snobar where for 30 minutes we met up with Zain and her friend Sam as well as some of the people from the camp. I'm really glad we were able to meet new people and here there stories and opinions' on the conflict – I met several people from New York and.
The next day we visited the old city and the music school and eventually ended up going to Basketball game. Basketball is a big deal in Ramallah and the whole gym was filled with screaming fans. But the air was really thick and I began to have an asthma attack! So Ryan took me outside and we talked about philosophy and life and love while America beat Palestine by two points.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
On the Streets of Jerusalem Part 1.
So it's August 3rd and I'm just catching up on what’s been going on. Don't hate me for not writing very much this place is so amazing I haven’t had ANY time to do anything except travel, explore and experience these amazing countries (though technically Palestine is not a state)!
On the 22nd Illy's family took us to Nazareth to taste the "best hummus" in the country. Every house we visit insists on feeding us there definition of "the best hummus" but for me the Best hummus is NO HUMMUS. The trip to Nazareth was not very exciting we went to Annunciation where we were able to view the beautiful art each country has donated to the church each one was a representation of the Madonna. The Japanese Madonna looks Japanese, the Indonesian Madonna looks Indonesian and the Mexican Madonna looks Mexican…Canada’s is looks like a mix between a jellyfish and vomit. But I’ll get to vomit later. When we got home Illy put on a very interesting Animated documentary called “Waltz with Bashir” about Israeli soldiers being traumatized by their work during a Massacre in Lebanon. It was very interesting and a true story I advise everyone to watch it. That evening Ryan was ill from the Arabic coffee he drank, so Omar, Zee, Hadas and I went to an ancient burial ground in the mountains of
Tivon. These consisted of sarcophagus’s buried deep inside caves; it was creepy yet really cool. The next day (the 23rd) we traveled to Ofek’s Kibbutz near Hertziliyah. A kibbutz is a socialist agricultural community based on the motto to each “according to his abilities and according to his needs.” However the kibbutz movement as a whole, including Ofek’s kibbutz, have experienced privatization since as recently as the early 90’s. During this privatization the Kibbutzim have lost – their core values and ideologies. As soon as we got to Ofek’s Kibbutz and took the tour, he suggested we take the bus up the Tiberius and Camp with his voluntary commune at the sea of Galilee (for those who do not know this is the same sea where Jesus walked on water). I am finding that here in Israel there is almost NO presence of the conflict and yet is affecting hundreds of thousands of people, instead it is mostly old historical or biblical knowledge that I am picking up in my travels. This sounded great so we packed our camping supplies and took the three hour bus ride to Tiberius. On the bus the guy across from me was holding a machine gun, though this did not shock me as you see over 100 guns day here, I found it rather astonishing when he removed his sandals (or Kaf Kaf’s in Hebrew) and rested his foot on the automatic weapon in such a casual manner. We arrived at Galilee just as the sun was setting and I took some amazing and beautiful pictures (I am really getting into photography here) we also got to meet some of the teens from Ofek’s commune (the group he will be volunteering with instead of joining the army) while we swam, set up the sleeping area and ate some rather disgusting homemade pasta. We also got to see Avner! Then some of the girls and I climbed into a lifeguard tower and sang Joni Michelle songs – which I was happy to learn is quite popular among the teen hippies of Israel! After this we decided to go skinny dipping as it was dark out. This was A LOT of fun and definitely a new experience except while I was swimming I accidently swallowed some of the sea water (which is lake water as though Galilee is called a “sea” it is in fact sweet water). I thought nothing of it at the time but as the night got longer my stomach started to cramp up and I was in a lot of pain. As the tent was full of our luggage (so it wasn’t stolen) everyone was sleeping on blankets, however my sleeping bag had been ripped and my towel stolen during our skinny dipping excursion so I ended up sleep in the dust. Around 5 in the morning I woke up with even worse stomach pains. I ended up throwing up n the rocks on the beach while a random French man asked me if I was ok. After a glass of water and watching the sun rise I went back to seep a restlessly slept until 10 as I had a fever and chills. When I woke I continued to vomit in the baking sun until a taxi came to take us to the bus station. I slept for the rest of the day and all that night while the rest of the Canadians and Ofek and Illy went pubbing in Tel Aviv.
The next day we went to an anti deportation concert in downtown Tel Aviv with Tom, Illy, Avner and Ofek – Ryan stayed home in order to sort out his University issues. This anti deportation concert was very good and very interesting with a mix of Americans, Arabs and Jews from across the country all protesting the deportation and eviction of migrant workers and refugees (children in particular).
Now Ofek is forcing me to stop writing to you because he is an impatient benzona. I will try to write when I arrive in Nablus tomorrow!
On the 22nd Illy's family took us to Nazareth to taste the "best hummus" in the country. Every house we visit insists on feeding us there definition of "the best hummus" but for me the Best hummus is NO HUMMUS. The trip to Nazareth was not very exciting we went to Annunciation where we were able to view the beautiful art each country has donated to the church each one was a representation of the Madonna. The Japanese Madonna looks Japanese, the Indonesian Madonna looks Indonesian and the Mexican Madonna looks Mexican…Canada’s is looks like a mix between a jellyfish and vomit. But I’ll get to vomit later. When we got home Illy put on a very interesting Animated documentary called “Waltz with Bashir” about Israeli soldiers being traumatized by their work during a Massacre in Lebanon. It was very interesting and a true story I advise everyone to watch it. That evening Ryan was ill from the Arabic coffee he drank, so Omar, Zee, Hadas and I went to an ancient burial ground in the mountains of
Tivon. These consisted of sarcophagus’s buried deep inside caves; it was creepy yet really cool. The next day (the 23rd) we traveled to Ofek’s Kibbutz near Hertziliyah. A kibbutz is a socialist agricultural community based on the motto to each “according to his abilities and according to his needs.” However the kibbutz movement as a whole, including Ofek’s kibbutz, have experienced privatization since as recently as the early 90’s. During this privatization the Kibbutzim have lost – their core values and ideologies. As soon as we got to Ofek’s Kibbutz and took the tour, he suggested we take the bus up the Tiberius and Camp with his voluntary commune at the sea of Galilee (for those who do not know this is the same sea where Jesus walked on water). I am finding that here in Israel there is almost NO presence of the conflict and yet is affecting hundreds of thousands of people, instead it is mostly old historical or biblical knowledge that I am picking up in my travels. This sounded great so we packed our camping supplies and took the three hour bus ride to Tiberius. On the bus the guy across from me was holding a machine gun, though this did not shock me as you see over 100 guns day here, I found it rather astonishing when he removed his sandals (or Kaf Kaf’s in Hebrew) and rested his foot on the automatic weapon in such a casual manner. We arrived at Galilee just as the sun was setting and I took some amazing and beautiful pictures (I am really getting into photography here) we also got to meet some of the teens from Ofek’s commune (the group he will be volunteering with instead of joining the army) while we swam, set up the sleeping area and ate some rather disgusting homemade pasta. We also got to see Avner! Then some of the girls and I climbed into a lifeguard tower and sang Joni Michelle songs – which I was happy to learn is quite popular among the teen hippies of Israel! After this we decided to go skinny dipping as it was dark out. This was A LOT of fun and definitely a new experience except while I was swimming I accidently swallowed some of the sea water (which is lake water as though Galilee is called a “sea” it is in fact sweet water). I thought nothing of it at the time but as the night got longer my stomach started to cramp up and I was in a lot of pain. As the tent was full of our luggage (so it wasn’t stolen) everyone was sleeping on blankets, however my sleeping bag had been ripped and my towel stolen during our skinny dipping excursion so I ended up sleep in the dust. Around 5 in the morning I woke up with even worse stomach pains. I ended up throwing up n the rocks on the beach while a random French man asked me if I was ok. After a glass of water and watching the sun rise I went back to seep a restlessly slept until 10 as I had a fever and chills. When I woke I continued to vomit in the baking sun until a taxi came to take us to the bus station. I slept for the rest of the day and all that night while the rest of the Canadians and Ofek and Illy went pubbing in Tel Aviv.
The next day we went to an anti deportation concert in downtown Tel Aviv with Tom, Illy, Avner and Ofek – Ryan stayed home in order to sort out his University issues. This anti deportation concert was very good and very interesting with a mix of Americans, Arabs and Jews from across the country all protesting the deportation and eviction of migrant workers and refugees (children in particular).
Now Ofek is forcing me to stop writing to you because he is an impatient benzona. I will try to write when I arrive in Nablus tomorrow!
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