![]() ![]() 3:00 AM, Rooster (3 sec.) 3:00 AM, Dogs (5 sec.) 4:45 AM, Muslim prayer (40 sec.) 6:00 AM, Church bells (40 sec.) 7:30 AM, National Anthem (40 sec.) |
|||
|
|||
Monday, 6/2/03: At the school, Elizabeth worked mostly in the library today, sifting through disorganized shelves of books, most of which are Bethlehem University cast-offs. Antique Leather Working in Germany and A Comprehensive Account of the Oil Industry in Kuwait tomes are not exactly the most useful. But we do have a nice little collection of children's stories in English, which Elizabeth is trying to organize and label, with the hopes that color coding them will increase the odds of their actually being read and staying in one place. Without a librarian, the room has become more of a student holding cell than a functional library. But hopefully small changes like what Elizabeth is working on can improve its utility. In the afternoon, she went to a local office/school supply/copy shop to get colored labels, which they didn't have, and would need to get in Jenin, if and when it was open. While she was in the shop, a couple of army jeeps went by. The shopkeeper said they'd been going by every few minutes all morning - on high alert because of the current push to negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Deep in the school library, Elizabeth had been blissfully unaware of the hubbub. Fortunately, there weren't any incidents with the military in town today; they just passed through a lot. Marthame, meanwhile, made his was to Ibillin for the last class. Today was the first time in a while that Marthame was picked up in Jalame rather than having to walk up to the checkpoint - do miracles never cease...While there, he read CNN's latest update on the Middle East, that Israel had "opened the West Bank and Gaza, after closing them on May 18th." Since Marthame travels every week in and out of the West Bank, such assertions seemed odd indeed. In the four months he's been going back and forth to Nazareth into Israel, the van picking him up and dropping him off has only entered twice. For non-internationals, the borders were closed far earlier than May 18th and have seen little improvement. After class, Marthame and Fr. Hatem were treated to dinner by Fr. Chacour in Akko overlooking the Mediterranean before Marthame retired to the Ibillin Guest House for some rest. |
|||
Tuesday, 6/3/03: The question mark in today's transportation was Ibillin to Shefa'amer. Marthame walked down to the gate of the school, and it wasn't two minutes before the Anglican priest of Shefa'amer passed by. Marthame and Fr. Fouad shared coffee before he caught his bus to Nazareth and ride to the border. The wait at the border was interminable. Cars were entering, but at a very, very slow pace. Marthame walked up to see if he could pass and if his driver could cut in line to keep him from carrying his luggage. Marthame was allowed in, but the driver wasn't allowed to cut. Marthame walked back to the checkpoint, and the soldier had found a car to drive him into Jalame. Those in the car were more than a little baffled. Marthame caught the taxi in Jalame and headed straight to Tubas to help work on the church's webpage there. While talks are happening in Aqaba, the situation on the ground here seems just the same. A new checkpoint was set up along the Tubas road at a little nothing village called Kfeir (just outside of Zababdeh). Word spreads about such checkpoints quickly, which means their usefulness is dubious. We decided to go through the checkpoint rather than drive around (we could've done either and likely reached our destination). After an hour of waiting in the sun (not much fun for the soldiers, either), the taxi driver was ready for Marthame, to give the soldiers a mouthful. Marthame rolled down the window, and handed over his passport, saying, "Hi. How are you." "What are you doing here?" "You know," said Marthame, "I was going to ask you the same question." It wasn't the yelling and gesticulating that the driver had hoped for, but the point was made. The soldier clearly didn't want to talk about it - usually an indication that they're not fully buying the "for security" argument. "Have a nice day," was the reply as they were waved through. Marthame worked with the church council President on the webpage, trying to create something in English and Arabic. For a church community of sixty, their dedication to ministry is impressive. By the time Marthame headed back to Zababdeh in the evening, the checkpoint was gone. |
|||
Wednesday, 6/4/03: We spent the day at school, attending to various tasks. One of the school's teachers had been held up at the checkpoint the previous day. When he asked the other young men being held there, he discovered they had one thing in common: they were all named 'Ammar (a name as common as David in the States). It was clear the soldiers were looking for someone named 'Ammar, but how much more information they had than that wasn't clear. In the evening, some friends from the University stopped by to say farewell - we're all parting separate ways this summer, but will meet up again in the Fall, inshallah (God willing). |
|||
Thursday, 6/5/03: Today, Elizabeth worked with the art teacher to prepare an exhibit for graduation. The school is celebrating its 120th anniversary, so images of the school through the years will be displayed along with art, English, and science projects done by the kids this year. The hall where it will be held was finally ready for us today - the day before graduation. Ugh. After helping prep the walls, Elizabeth focused on displaying work her students, grades 7,8, and 11, had done this year, including a timeline of famous scientists and inventors; posters of world leaders for peace and justice; posters, stamps and postcards of countries in Africa and Asia; and youth "newspapers." Elizabeth pondered how much fun she had doing these projects, even though they sometimes invited classroom chaos and took time from the regular curriculum. She deeply hopes that at least some of the kids were inspired, had their horizons broadened, felt excited about learning through these projects. After helping with some of the science displays, Elizabeth left the art teacher to her own devices and went home. Marthame was working on the first video project, that of the Graduation slide show. Today, some of the students came for dress rehearsal. Marthame got enough footage, and then finished the production work in the Convent. Between Marthame, Fr. Aktham, and Deacon Humam, we're thinking of opening a studio called Deir Latin (Latin Convent) Productions. It's a nice four minute piece. We'll have to see if we can manage to produce an internet version. Marthame stopped by the mosque to speak with Sheikh Fathi. Tomorrow we'll be able to do some filming of the Muslim community for the Mayor's project. |
|||
|
|||
|
|||
Sunday, 6/8/03: We worshiped at the Orthodox Church this morning, Marthame invited to stand with the chorus. It's definitely a gain of the last three years. When we first arrived, Marthame stood up there (after invited by one in the congregation), after which he was politely asked not to repeat that by Fr. Thomas. He's understandably anxious about word coming to Jerusalem about the role of Protestants in their church. Nevertheless, it's an obvious step of trust-building. After worship, we walked down to the Melkite Church for fellowship - one of our favorite things to look forward to all week. After lunch, we both began the long work of reviewing all of our cassettes to pick out appropriate footage. Tuesday, hopefully, the editing begins. After Marthame gets back from Ibillin, of course. |
|||
|
|||
Tuesday, 6/10/03: Marthame arrived early from Ibillin, finding the same soldier from yesterday at the checkpoint. We were beginning to wonder, given the provocative assassination attempt yesterday. No doubt this'll have repercussions. The soldier said, , "How was Jerusalem?" "Nazareth." "Oh, yeah. Nazareth. You're going to Jenin?" "No. Zababdeh." "What are you doing there?" "Working in the church." "Are there a lot of Christians, or just you, your wife, and the other foreigners?" "No - there's a lot." By now, the policeman was interested. "How many Christians are there?" "About 2000." "And Muslims?" "About 1000." They seemed surprised, but interested. Marthame then began walking into Jalame. Along the way, a car coming from the other direction slowed down and stopped next to him. A little Israeli flag fluttered on the dash board. The woman driving asked in English, "Did the soldier let you in?" "Yeah." She drove off in a storm - perhaps she thought Marthame was from the International Solidarity Movement (you don't often see clergy wearing a backpack around here). Perhaps she just didn't like the idea of any internationals living, helping, visiting the West Bank. One never knows... When he got home, Elizabeth and he headed over to the Latin compound. Marthame continued his work on the Municipality film as Elizabeth helped the art teacher take down the graduation exhibit. It was quite a success, which is great since the kids worked very hard on these things. As the morning passed, tawjihi students started to filter out of the school, having survived the second day of their exams. Marthame got home at about midnight, as planes buzzed overhead. They haven't flown this low or this fast (and thus this loud) in a while. It's hard to stomach. |
|||
Wednesday, 6/11/03: Today Marthame worked from mid morning to late night, with few breaks, on the Municipality film project. Elizabeth spent part of the day helping, and part preparing for our summer plans. In the early evening we took a short break to meet and show around three new teachers at the Arab American University. Two (an American and a Brit-turned-Canadian) are here only for the intensive June-July summer program, while the other will stay on into the fall, when more teachers are due to arrive too. After showing them the grand sites of Zababdeh, Marthame took a break to grab dinner with them. The news was looping the suicide bombing in Jerusalem - seventeen killed and scores injured confirmed so far. It looks like we're heading backwards. It's almost as though Hamas and Sharon are working together - as soon as there's a seeming lull, or a possible path to peace (no matter how flawed), the military strikes - assassinations, incursions, curfews, etc. - and then Hamas unleashes bloody vengeance. Or the other way around. Enough. We shared a small meal of shwarma and hummus sandwiches with the new teachers and learned about all the interesting places they've taught/lived/travelled before. Quite a list - those choosing to come to Jenin area in the middle of an intifada are bound to be adventurous. |
|||
|
|||
![]() ![]() |
|||
![]() |
|||
Monday, 6/16/03: Our driver was napping in his taxi in front of the hotel when we stepped out at 3:00 in the morning. We arrived to the airport in plenty of time for our flight - traffic isn't usually a problem that early anyway. Our flight out was on El Al airlines, known for their strict security measures. We answered all the standard questions while our stuff was being x-rayed and searched. As they checked our laptop bag, dusting it with little white cloths, one of them set off a buzzer. They dusted and tested again and all was clear. Still, we were met with some interesting news: "We can't let you take this laptop with you on the plane." We've had several friends whose laptops have been taken in a similar fashion never to be returned (one as recently as a few days ago), so Marthame stood ground: "We can't do that." The supervisor was called over. "We'll send it on the next plane, sir." "We've known people whose laptops have never arrived, and we simply can't take that chance." The supervisor's supervisor was called over. "We'll give you a baggage claim check for it, and you can pick it up from them very next flight." "If you give us a letter saying that you'll replace this computer if it doesn't arrive, then we'll leave it with you. Otherwise, we can't." There was lots of consultation, and a lot of nervously looking at the clock. Someone ran off with our passports and tickets, and came back with boarding passes. Finally, a compromise was suggested. "You will have to check the computer bag under the plane, but you can carry the laptop in your carry-on baggage." "Fine." A man from security then accompanied us through the rest of the process, right up to the departure gate, apologizing the whole way for the delays. It was a fine way to put the absurdities of this place behind us for a while. |
|||
|
|||
![]() |
|||
![]() |
|||
Monday, 6/30/03: We caught the shared taxi towards the University today. Birzeit University was our home two years ago when we first studied Arabic formally. Now we've returned to do more study, this time digging into standard written Arabic. We've done well at colloquial, but remain close to illiterate when it comes to reading and writing. Marthame took a placement test to see if he had picked up enough to get into level two - he did, much to his surprise (and to the teacher's). Elizabeth, meanwhile, is content to stick with level one. It would be nice to feel some mastery of the language for a while, as well as getting grounded in the foundations. We had dinner in the village of Birzeit overlooking the town's main roundabout. We keep running into folks from Zababdeh that we know - they're everywhere! 924 |
|||
|