Orientation

The last few days have been so full of family, friends, strangers, different languages, modes of transportation and conversations. I arrived at my cousins' house in Moshav Aviezer on Tuesday morning, and since I only wrote down Baruch's home number, I managed to take a train, taxi, and then asked folks where the Shapiro's lived once I arrived on the Moshav. My family came home to their cousin already here. Surprise!

After a lovely day and night's rest, I went to Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. I spent the afternoon with Jacob, an old college friend, and Jenny and a little time with a new friend, Shelley, where I slept in her absent housemate's bed. We went out for bad Tai food and caught up. Jerusalem was overwhelming. I arrived by sherut, to find people of all walks of life bustling about trying to catch their next bus. My Hebrew is rusty, though day by day I am understanding more and more.

Today started along time ago. I ate tabouli for breakfast at Shelley's, who is gluten-free. Then I went back to Jacob's and we set out on foot to the old city. In Jerusalem there exist many paradoxical realities. The city has as much litter as Philadelphia, more stray cats, and more horn honking. The worn stone construction that turns into the old city feels old, worn, alive, tired, strong, and full, almost at a tipping point. We walked through the south gate entrance I believe and made our way through the Jewish quarter to the Western Wall, with a view of the temple mount. There are tourists everywhere, along with soldiers, and Israelis, all praying, taking pictures, singing, dancing, looking suspiciously at others, and asking for tzedakah. I took a moment to pray and it was hard to block everything and everyone out of my mind. I put in some prayers into small holes in the wall.

Jacob and I met up with his friend Avital and we all made our way through the Damascus gate and into the Arab quarter. It strikes me now how separated/segregated the city is and how different they are. I'm not sure all the ways in which they are different, just that the vibes in each area are different, and the people so as well. We ate hummus and made our way to a bus to go to Ramallah. We made it most of the way to Ramallah, and I saw for the first time the apartheid/seperation wall. It's a solid structure 8 meteres high, with barbed wire and feels temporarily permanent. We have a long way to go before it will be torn down, and I pray to see that happen while I am alive.

At the Qalandia checkpoint (This is from a few days earlier, there were no burning tires today), half the road was blocked off and the bus driver would not go any further. It seems there were some clashes between some Palestinian youth and the Israeli army. We were not in any danger and we simply got out of the bus, crossed the road and took a service into Ramallah. As we drove by we saw little pockets of young men, some alone, one with a gas mask on. They looked eager for action, and very familiar with this scenario. Out in the distance were the IDF in all their riot gear and big weapons.

There we arrived into the bustling and disorienting center, we weaved through the crowded market, that reminded me of the markets in Peru, and met up with my friend Suleiman, whom I know from Peacemakers weekend at Tawonga. He also had two friends with him and we all sat and had tea/coffee. Suleiman is a busy and generous man who I will meet up with again next week, and possibly stay at his home while volunteering with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Ramallah for most of April. Both in Israel and Palestine, I am struck with the warmth hospitality of my hosts. So then Suli dropped us off at the PMRS office, and I sat down with Mohammed and he told me that what they were needing right now was for people to give more trainings to local Palestinians on emergency medicine, like CPR, first aid, wound management and such. He told me that I would have an interpreter and transportation. Also he said it would be possible for me to accompany the ambulance on rides to the clinics in other cities and villages. Overall this feels very possible too me, though I've never trained others in first aid/cpr though I've been to many of these trainings myself.

By this point in our day I felt inundated with images, experiences, cultures and languages. We walked out to a road outside Ramallah, and tried to walk through a Palestine to Palestine checkpoint, at which point the soldiers told us that it was not allowed for us to walk through and we should just walk around, and so that is what we did, right through the field, 50 yards away. They did not seem to care about checking our identification. We hitched a ride outside the settlement Bet El and then took a settlement bus back into the city. What a crazy day. Maybe its normal for here though, I don't know. Palestinians without permission are not allowed into Israel and Israeli's are not allowed in Areas A and B within Palestine and so my American passport gives great privilege and some ignorance as well.

I've read and talked with so many folks about the situation here, and it has finally come for me to experience it, to see the crowds, the soldiers with their guns, the religious dress, the holy sites; hear the sirens, the screeching birds, the call to prayer; smell the sweet blooming jasmine, the rosemary, stale urine on the street, the hummus restaurants. Today I felt the rain as I returned back to my cousin's for the evening. With Baruch gone, Keter has her hands full and I am enjoying each five of my cousins individually. Tomorrow I decided to accompany them for a mini vacation in the Sinai in Egypt (This is not the exact place we're going). Where we will swim, relax, play and more.