Writing from Jesus's birth place

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.