December, 17 Friday
Well, my Friday morning would have been the same as yesterday and the day before, had I not been to the School for Peace at 9AM this morning. I was a lazy-face so I couldn't wake up at 7am. At 8, I only had time to get dressed, prepare my breakfast and lunch, and leave. Even though it was shabat, and the schools were closed, SFP was open. Though most people left before noon, Yael and her guests stayed until 3pm.
It was a lecture/discussion session for mental health specialists and I joined them in the first lecture, given by a woman named Hanah. It was all in Hebrew but thanks to Yael's outstanding simultaneous translation, I have a pretty good idea what the lecture was about! I even took some notes. Hanah gave a talk on group therapy in trauma societies, fight or flight, blindly following a leader, the need for a leader, the phenomenon of dependency, common enemies, pairings, societies under distress, cultural narcissism, egocentric and sociocentric, narcissism and socialism, oedipus and sphinx, past and future, finite and infinite, establishment and mystic, so and so forth. I've learned new things and refreshed my knowledge from a slightly different standpoint. And I took pictures of the participants. I didn't join them for the following sessions because it would have been brutal to expect Yael to keep translating the whole thing, and besides she was going to lead the discussions, I suppose. So it was not practical either. I had stuff to work on anyway, and Nammur to take care of.
I left before 3 to be able to enjoy Ahlan Cafe and do some reading. Dalal was having a cup of tea with her son Kerim. She invited me to their table. I think Arif was reorganizing the store. She said it was a very busy day so she needed some rest. But she brought me a cup of mint tea. Fresh mint! It was so good. She said I could pick fresh mint across from the School for Peace. I don't think she finds it clever of me to pay for mint tea when I could easily make my own. She's right! I so wanted to take a picture of how she organized the tea tray for me. I guess I have the tendency to share every single thing I experience and see here with people I love. But I resisted the urge to do so. It would have looked too silly. Maybe when there's less people around me, I'll do it.
I had a very nice chat with Kerim. He recently graduated from high school. Very clever guy. He wants to go to college but he hasn't decided what he wants to study yet. So he's taking his time. He lives with a friend in Tel Aviv and visits his parents here in Neve Shalom couple of days a week and help them with the store and cafe. He says he's not in a hurry to go to college. Nobody's forcing him and his parents are very supportive of his decisions. He feels very lucky. I agree. He spent 6 months in Germany to improve his German. He read a lot, and in that sense he considers himself studying. Then of course I asked him if he trains. He says he runs, plays soccer, and he tries to work-out every now and then. He used to play judo. That's when I got into the subject I have been planning to. Guess what? Capoeira. :) He knows it, and he would be happy to try it. In fact there was a guy last year who came to the village to promote capoeira. He doesn't know what happened to him or the courses he wanted to offer. Anyway, more people walked in so Kerim had to leave me to help his parents. That allowed me to read a little, and doodle on my journal. It got a little chilly so I went back home, fed the kittens. It's impossible to satisfy those tiny devils! Plus side, they're not afraid of me anymore. It's good.
It's Saturday tomorrow. I may try to go to Tel Aviv. Since it's shabat until 6, I might have to hitch hike for a ride. Timou told me not to use the universal thumb sign for it means you're offering sex! He told me to stick out my index and middle finger and point at the ground to stop the cars. That means you just need a ride. I googled it. I don't think it's as bad as he says but I guess he's right about pointing the ground. http://hitchwiki.org/en/index.php?title=Israel
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Day 4: socializing more
December 16, Thursday
We're getting closer having an up-to-date English blog. And now it is my first Thursday. Woke up at 8AM, as usual, and it was sunny and warm. Well, as usual. Today I decided to train in the terrace. Though super dirty, me and the ever-hungry cats had fun training. Speaking of cats, I have to share this video with you. They're unbelievably cute while sleeping.
Anyway. After training, I shot a small video of the volunteer house and the courtyard (yes, the one I cleaned) before I head out for the school. Here it is. The video ends in my humble room.
The SFP looks very busy today. Apparently Yael has a meeting with a group of people. I started working on the Turkish brochure. That's when I heard Halim calling my name from the front yard. I love it when people call each other in this manner here. As I guessed, Halim and the girl team were enjoying the sun and drinking Arabic coffee. I would have called it Turkish coffee but this does taste different. It's made from Arabic coffee :) And it does not smell nor taste like my friend Samer's Jordanian coffee. I like it. No ginseng. :p So the conversation sounded fun, but since most of it was in Hebrew and Arabic, I did not particularly understand what the deal was. Though I must say I enjoyed it, and as silly as it may sound, most of the times I find myself carefully staring at people when they talk (Hebrew and Arabic) as if I will begin to understand them, all of a sudden, just like that. And it's fun! I was distracted by the lovely Israeli lady who takes care of the building. She can't speak English, at all. But we have our own means of communication. She tapped on my shoulder and then pulled me inside the adjoining building. The radio was on, playing a tune I know from Turkey. She pointed at the radio and said "Turkish!" It IS indeed an old Turkish folk song, a very joyous one! It's called "zeytinyagli yiyemem", roughly means "can't eat nothing with olive oil". I said roughly. :p It's sung in Hebrew. She was so happy, wanted me to dance and sing with her. So I did. When I went out back to the front yard, they were talking about the Jordan trip today. There's an encounter workshop that they do almost every month there. It's probably too late for me to squeeze in but Halim said that maybe I could join them next month. Thrilled!
Hungry for lunch. I can't wait to spend my shekels at Ahlan. :p Well, not really, but it's so worth it. Arif was making postcards out of colorful carton papers at the far end corner of the garden. Meticulously he was cutting olive tree branches and gluing them on the silhouette of a dove. One of his cats, the one whose tail was eaten by jackals, was lying behind him, safe and lazy. In the background, of course, we hear Bashir's ud and the fountain located in the middle of the garden. To Arif, Bashir is one of the few musicians you can listen to for hours and days, and weeks. I have to agree with him. I am oddly influenced by this man's tranquility. I mean Arif. I caught him by surprise and he kindly invited me to his table. I like this a lot, I am from the village after all, they don't have to treat me like a guest! I must have thought that this was my golden opportunity, so I started talking, asking questions, to get to know him better. He lived in San Francisco for 7 years, studied engineering. I'm not quite sure but probably both for a BA and an MA degree. Soon he realizes that this is not what he wants. He moves to England, First Birmingham, then Covent Garden. For a PhD degree in Peace Studies. After his first year, he can't find a scholarship that would support him at the age of 40 something. So he has to quit and come back to... Israel, I suppose. He says he wasn't so keen on being an academician anyway. Well, then I told him my story. He carefully listened. Later on I said, "OK, I am hungry now." He wanted me to tell him just like that. Whenever you're hungry, you tell me, and we'll fix something for you. We went to the kitchen for my lebane sandwich and Za'atar bread. And of course olives. We talked about how his mother used to make lebane cheese, by putting freshly made yogurt into cotton bags to drain it and make lebane out of what remains inside the bag. That's how my grandmother used to make lebane too. Only we don't call it lebane, but that's beside the point. After our delightful chat, I went back to my office.
Halim is already gone, to Jordan. It's mostly me and Yael. I tried to activate the pre-paid sim-card that Halim gave me. But apparently he has to call the customer service. That means no phone until Sunday. At some point, while nobody was around, I took advantage of the "seclusion" and played some capoeira, by myself. How I missed training capoeira and playing in the roda!!! I wish there was a capoeira school near by. I miss Mandingueiros. Speaking of capoeira, I now have another potential young capoeira student. After Halim's son Adan, now Fatin's daughter Marva said she's interested as well. I'm so excited and a little worried. Worried that I may not be able to be a good teacher for kids. I guess, we'll see.
I went back home around 4. Timou said we are finally scheduled to get the village's car and do the groceries. I'm happy, and stomach will be happy the rest of the week. Around 6:30PM, when it was DARK, we took the car and the credit card we were going to use for food shopping, and left the village. Guess who was driving? I was sort of nervous, but excited. The car was automatic, to my disappointment. However, I took the high way to, I think, Ma'alot. I was driving towards Jerusalem. It was such a fantastic experience, imagine driving amongst the road signs that say Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Mini Israel and so on. Anyway, the market was packed, probably because it's shabat tomorrow. While looking for feta cheese and getting frustrated by the unreadable price tags, a kind Israeli man gave me a cheese tour and helped me pick the best feta+goat cheese of the store. AND it wasn't too expensive. I couldn't find za'atar which made me really sad. I was dreaming of having my own za'atar bread with olive oil. Next week we're going to try another grocery store.
On our way back, Timou and I talked about the big shopping mall that Hamas had built last year, in Gazza. He says they used the free construction material sent from Israel to build the place. It's absurd to say that the economy was bloomed, people had jobs thanks to the mall when those materials could have been used for many other urgent constructions or infrastructure needs of the city. That's not the point. The point is how do we see this act, from an ethical standpoint. It is known that in the past Hamas sold the items that were sent to Gaza as part of humanitarian aid, to the Palestinians in the black market. The fact that they now have a shopping mall in Gaza doesn't mean that there's no economic hardship there, that the poverty is just like anywhere else, no big deal. This would be an unfair yet mediocre comment. It is clear to me that neither Hamas nor Abbas government have the capability and the heart to be the spokesperson of what the Palestinians have been going through.
Tomorrow I'm going to join a lecture that will be held in the School for Peace. It's part of a long session of discussions from 9AM to 3PM. I may not be able to train tomorrow morning. So as I sleep, why don't you enjoy this video of me and Nammur meowing.
We're getting closer having an up-to-date English blog. And now it is my first Thursday. Woke up at 8AM, as usual, and it was sunny and warm. Well, as usual. Today I decided to train in the terrace. Though super dirty, me and the ever-hungry cats had fun training. Speaking of cats, I have to share this video with you. They're unbelievably cute while sleeping.
Anyway. After training, I shot a small video of the volunteer house and the courtyard (yes, the one I cleaned) before I head out for the school. Here it is. The video ends in my humble room.
The SFP looks very busy today. Apparently Yael has a meeting with a group of people. I started working on the Turkish brochure. That's when I heard Halim calling my name from the front yard. I love it when people call each other in this manner here. As I guessed, Halim and the girl team were enjoying the sun and drinking Arabic coffee. I would have called it Turkish coffee but this does taste different. It's made from Arabic coffee :) And it does not smell nor taste like my friend Samer's Jordanian coffee. I like it. No ginseng. :p So the conversation sounded fun, but since most of it was in Hebrew and Arabic, I did not particularly understand what the deal was. Though I must say I enjoyed it, and as silly as it may sound, most of the times I find myself carefully staring at people when they talk (Hebrew and Arabic) as if I will begin to understand them, all of a sudden, just like that. And it's fun! I was distracted by the lovely Israeli lady who takes care of the building. She can't speak English, at all. But we have our own means of communication. She tapped on my shoulder and then pulled me inside the adjoining building. The radio was on, playing a tune I know from Turkey. She pointed at the radio and said "Turkish!" It IS indeed an old Turkish folk song, a very joyous one! It's called "zeytinyagli yiyemem", roughly means "can't eat nothing with olive oil". I said roughly. :p It's sung in Hebrew. She was so happy, wanted me to dance and sing with her. So I did. When I went out back to the front yard, they were talking about the Jordan trip today. There's an encounter workshop that they do almost every month there. It's probably too late for me to squeeze in but Halim said that maybe I could join them next month. Thrilled!
Hungry for lunch. I can't wait to spend my shekels at Ahlan. :p Well, not really, but it's so worth it. Arif was making postcards out of colorful carton papers at the far end corner of the garden. Meticulously he was cutting olive tree branches and gluing them on the silhouette of a dove. One of his cats, the one whose tail was eaten by jackals, was lying behind him, safe and lazy. In the background, of course, we hear Bashir's ud and the fountain located in the middle of the garden. To Arif, Bashir is one of the few musicians you can listen to for hours and days, and weeks. I have to agree with him. I am oddly influenced by this man's tranquility. I mean Arif. I caught him by surprise and he kindly invited me to his table. I like this a lot, I am from the village after all, they don't have to treat me like a guest! I must have thought that this was my golden opportunity, so I started talking, asking questions, to get to know him better. He lived in San Francisco for 7 years, studied engineering. I'm not quite sure but probably both for a BA and an MA degree. Soon he realizes that this is not what he wants. He moves to England, First Birmingham, then Covent Garden. For a PhD degree in Peace Studies. After his first year, he can't find a scholarship that would support him at the age of 40 something. So he has to quit and come back to... Israel, I suppose. He says he wasn't so keen on being an academician anyway. Well, then I told him my story. He carefully listened. Later on I said, "OK, I am hungry now." He wanted me to tell him just like that. Whenever you're hungry, you tell me, and we'll fix something for you. We went to the kitchen for my lebane sandwich and Za'atar bread. And of course olives. We talked about how his mother used to make lebane cheese, by putting freshly made yogurt into cotton bags to drain it and make lebane out of what remains inside the bag. That's how my grandmother used to make lebane too. Only we don't call it lebane, but that's beside the point. After our delightful chat, I went back to my office.
Halim is already gone, to Jordan. It's mostly me and Yael. I tried to activate the pre-paid sim-card that Halim gave me. But apparently he has to call the customer service. That means no phone until Sunday. At some point, while nobody was around, I took advantage of the "seclusion" and played some capoeira, by myself. How I missed training capoeira and playing in the roda!!! I wish there was a capoeira school near by. I miss Mandingueiros. Speaking of capoeira, I now have another potential young capoeira student. After Halim's son Adan, now Fatin's daughter Marva said she's interested as well. I'm so excited and a little worried. Worried that I may not be able to be a good teacher for kids. I guess, we'll see.
I went back home around 4. Timou said we are finally scheduled to get the village's car and do the groceries. I'm happy, and stomach will be happy the rest of the week. Around 6:30PM, when it was DARK, we took the car and the credit card we were going to use for food shopping, and left the village. Guess who was driving? I was sort of nervous, but excited. The car was automatic, to my disappointment. However, I took the high way to, I think, Ma'alot. I was driving towards Jerusalem. It was such a fantastic experience, imagine driving amongst the road signs that say Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Mini Israel and so on. Anyway, the market was packed, probably because it's shabat tomorrow. While looking for feta cheese and getting frustrated by the unreadable price tags, a kind Israeli man gave me a cheese tour and helped me pick the best feta+goat cheese of the store. AND it wasn't too expensive. I couldn't find za'atar which made me really sad. I was dreaming of having my own za'atar bread with olive oil. Next week we're going to try another grocery store.
On our way back, Timou and I talked about the big shopping mall that Hamas had built last year, in Gazza. He says they used the free construction material sent from Israel to build the place. It's absurd to say that the economy was bloomed, people had jobs thanks to the mall when those materials could have been used for many other urgent constructions or infrastructure needs of the city. That's not the point. The point is how do we see this act, from an ethical standpoint. It is known that in the past Hamas sold the items that were sent to Gaza as part of humanitarian aid, to the Palestinians in the black market. The fact that they now have a shopping mall in Gaza doesn't mean that there's no economic hardship there, that the poverty is just like anywhere else, no big deal. This would be an unfair yet mediocre comment. It is clear to me that neither Hamas nor Abbas government have the capability and the heart to be the spokesperson of what the Palestinians have been going through.
Tomorrow I'm going to join a lecture that will be held in the School for Peace. It's part of a long session of discussions from 9AM to 3PM. I may not be able to train tomorrow morning. So as I sleep, why don't you enjoy this video of me and Nammur meowing.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Day 3: Warm-up sessions
December 15, 2010
It's Wednesday today. I woke up at 8AM to a beautiful day. It's sunny and warm, and so fresh. Trained a bit, and then off to School. I was just getting started working on a translation when Fatin came in and called me out to join them for a coffee. Arabic coffee. Known as Turkish coffee, in Turkey. :) It was me, Halim, Yael, and Fatin.
I had an interesting, and informative chat with Yael and Halim. A little bit of Turkey first, and then eventually we started on issues of Israel - Palestine, and Israel in general. We talked about how the occupation of Palestine should end, however the Palestinian authorities (meaning Fatah) is not being clever with their politics, that it is pointless to demand an end to the settlements in order to start the peace process. Having a fundamentalist approach, it is believed by some people that Netanyahu government essentially does not seem to want an independent Palestinian State. They see the Palestinian land as part of greater Israel, and they're fine with an autonomous Palestinian community. Therefore Palestinian authorities should act wiser than this and do not involve the issue of settlements into the peace talks and say, "All right, let's start the talks, let's talk about the borders and then we'll get into the settlements as well." Halim reminds us that the demands regarding the settlements have started with Obama, before that the Palestinian authority did not put it as a mandatory requirement to start the peace talks. Some people think that Abbas is taking advantage of this U.S. demand since the U.S. is expected to back them up on this, and also to show the world (and perhaps the supporters of Hamas) that he can defy or challenge Israel as well. This is considered unnecessary, and I tend to agree with the idea.
We also talked about Fatah's efforts of disarming the people in the West Bank and how they're committed to do that. In this regard, it is possible to see the wall as absurd. Although it did make it harder to transfer things from one side to the other, a person can persevere his/her way into the other side. Making and sending bombs to Israel can easily be managed from West Bank, as it is from Gazza, despite the wall. As many people know here, thousands of Palestinians coming and going to and from Israel every day.
We agreed upon the noncommittal, insincere involvement of the Arab world when it comes to Palestinian resistance, and peace-building between Jews and Arabs. I think, the support that the Jewish communities have been giving to Israel had never had a counterpart in the Arab world towards Palestinians.
On to the privatization in Israel. Yael and Halim told me about the gas rigs on the coast of Israel. The drilling job was given to a private company and now there's issues between the company and the citizens who are protesting against the company being the largest beneficiary of the gas. Another problem, a much serious one, if you will, is challenging not just Israel's but Palestine's and Jordan's natural habitat. Well, actually the Dead Sea. Jordan and Israel had two private companies sucking the minerals out of the Dead Sea which created two dead seas now because there appeared a clod, a piece of land in the middle of the sea that makes it look like two separate bodies of water. Some people believe that Palestine would do the same, make a private owner do the job, if it could. It is sad. The natural habitat, the plant life and the animals are in great danger there. Therefore the works of the organizations such as the Friends of the Earth are very important. They have several offices within Israel, and also Palestine.
After this long coffee break, Halim took me to the Communication and PR building to introduce me to Howard Shippin. Howard wasn't there but I met other people including Abdessalam Najjar, one of the earliest members of NSWAS, member of the Communication and Dev. Office and the Pluralistic Spiritual Center. We had such a short talk but I really liked him and will try to visit him again for a longer chat. Comm Center is right next to the half Olympic swimming pool. (Unfortunately it's closed until summer.) There we came across Zekeriya, a great great guy, with a huge and genuine smile. I believe he is Palestinian. I'm not sure what he does but he seems to be capable of taking care of everything! His English is very articulate, and his granddaughter's name is also Aylin. Long chats with Zekeriya are on the way, I can feel that. While me, Halim, and Zekeriya enjoying the sun and talking about capoeira (yay!), Timou and his boss came. He was a very interesting and funny guy. Israeli. He is actually a neurosurgeon but some years ago decides it's not the right path for him so he becomes a gardener here.
The pool is across from Ahlan and I realized how hungry I was. Halim went back to school while I was trying to decide whether I should have lebane sandwich or Za'atar bread. Arif was reading his book and petting the cats in the garden. I went in and ordered a sandwich. That's when Dalal told me that they were both Palestinians, not Iranians. When I found Dalal's name odd for a Muslim and asked if it was a Christian Palestinian name, she just said that it was a common name. I felt intrusive with my last question and, maybe I'm wrong but, felt I made her uncomfortable with it. Sometimes I happen to talk too much. Dalal gave me free coffee and wonderful olives along with my sandwich. Aylin goes back to school.
Nammur welcomed me as usual. He is a funny, fat cat. Here's how: He just finished a bowl of milk, omelet and some falafel, and yet he's snuggling at me for more food!
Have I written that me and Halim will start working on establishing a Friend's of Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salam in Istanbul, and get in touch with some universities in Turkey and in the States regarding the intense lecture program they are offering?
The best part of the day is my new friend, Adan, Halim's son. He's seven and he's training capoeira. We played a little bit in the front yard, and he spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. His English is not too bad but whenever he got frustrated, we had to use an English-Arabic-Hebrew translation website, and my office papers. Adan likes to draw things to explain himself. :)
Well, I suppose that's pretty much of my first Wednesday in Israel.
It's Wednesday today. I woke up at 8AM to a beautiful day. It's sunny and warm, and so fresh. Trained a bit, and then off to School. I was just getting started working on a translation when Fatin came in and called me out to join them for a coffee. Arabic coffee. Known as Turkish coffee, in Turkey. :) It was me, Halim, Yael, and Fatin.
I had an interesting, and informative chat with Yael and Halim. A little bit of Turkey first, and then eventually we started on issues of Israel - Palestine, and Israel in general. We talked about how the occupation of Palestine should end, however the Palestinian authorities (meaning Fatah) is not being clever with their politics, that it is pointless to demand an end to the settlements in order to start the peace process. Having a fundamentalist approach, it is believed by some people that Netanyahu government essentially does not seem to want an independent Palestinian State. They see the Palestinian land as part of greater Israel, and they're fine with an autonomous Palestinian community. Therefore Palestinian authorities should act wiser than this and do not involve the issue of settlements into the peace talks and say, "All right, let's start the talks, let's talk about the borders and then we'll get into the settlements as well." Halim reminds us that the demands regarding the settlements have started with Obama, before that the Palestinian authority did not put it as a mandatory requirement to start the peace talks. Some people think that Abbas is taking advantage of this U.S. demand since the U.S. is expected to back them up on this, and also to show the world (and perhaps the supporters of Hamas) that he can defy or challenge Israel as well. This is considered unnecessary, and I tend to agree with the idea.
We also talked about Fatah's efforts of disarming the people in the West Bank and how they're committed to do that. In this regard, it is possible to see the wall as absurd. Although it did make it harder to transfer things from one side to the other, a person can persevere his/her way into the other side. Making and sending bombs to Israel can easily be managed from West Bank, as it is from Gazza, despite the wall. As many people know here, thousands of Palestinians coming and going to and from Israel every day.
We agreed upon the noncommittal, insincere involvement of the Arab world when it comes to Palestinian resistance, and peace-building between Jews and Arabs. I think, the support that the Jewish communities have been giving to Israel had never had a counterpart in the Arab world towards Palestinians.
On to the privatization in Israel. Yael and Halim told me about the gas rigs on the coast of Israel. The drilling job was given to a private company and now there's issues between the company and the citizens who are protesting against the company being the largest beneficiary of the gas. Another problem, a much serious one, if you will, is challenging not just Israel's but Palestine's and Jordan's natural habitat. Well, actually the Dead Sea. Jordan and Israel had two private companies sucking the minerals out of the Dead Sea which created two dead seas now because there appeared a clod, a piece of land in the middle of the sea that makes it look like two separate bodies of water. Some people believe that Palestine would do the same, make a private owner do the job, if it could. It is sad. The natural habitat, the plant life and the animals are in great danger there. Therefore the works of the organizations such as the Friends of the Earth are very important. They have several offices within Israel, and also Palestine.
After this long coffee break, Halim took me to the Communication and PR building to introduce me to Howard Shippin. Howard wasn't there but I met other people including Abdessalam Najjar, one of the earliest members of NSWAS, member of the Communication and Dev. Office and the Pluralistic Spiritual Center. We had such a short talk but I really liked him and will try to visit him again for a longer chat. Comm Center is right next to the half Olympic swimming pool. (Unfortunately it's closed until summer.) There we came across Zekeriya, a great great guy, with a huge and genuine smile. I believe he is Palestinian. I'm not sure what he does but he seems to be capable of taking care of everything! His English is very articulate, and his granddaughter's name is also Aylin. Long chats with Zekeriya are on the way, I can feel that. While me, Halim, and Zekeriya enjoying the sun and talking about capoeira (yay!), Timou and his boss came. He was a very interesting and funny guy. Israeli. He is actually a neurosurgeon but some years ago decides it's not the right path for him so he becomes a gardener here.
The pool is across from Ahlan and I realized how hungry I was. Halim went back to school while I was trying to decide whether I should have lebane sandwich or Za'atar bread. Arif was reading his book and petting the cats in the garden. I went in and ordered a sandwich. That's when Dalal told me that they were both Palestinians, not Iranians. When I found Dalal's name odd for a Muslim and asked if it was a Christian Palestinian name, she just said that it was a common name. I felt intrusive with my last question and, maybe I'm wrong but, felt I made her uncomfortable with it. Sometimes I happen to talk too much. Dalal gave me free coffee and wonderful olives along with my sandwich. Aylin goes back to school.
Nammur welcomed me as usual. He is a funny, fat cat. Here's how: He just finished a bowl of milk, omelet and some falafel, and yet he's snuggling at me for more food!
Have I written that me and Halim will start working on establishing a Friend's of Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salam in Istanbul, and get in touch with some universities in Turkey and in the States regarding the intense lecture program they are offering?
The best part of the day is my new friend, Adan, Halim's son. He's seven and he's training capoeira. We played a little bit in the front yard, and he spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. His English is not too bad but whenever he got frustrated, we had to use an English-Arabic-Hebrew translation website, and my office papers. Adan likes to draw things to explain himself. :)
Well, I suppose that's pretty much of my first Wednesday in Israel.
Day 2: Evening paper!
I know it's Friday today, and I'm trying to catch up with it. So let me finish telling you all about my Tuesday and then Wednesday. Before you know it, my Turkish and English blogs will be synchronous as they're supposed to be.
December 14th, Tuesday it is.
Where was I?
So it's 8AM now and I'm out in the courtyard.
It's unbelievably gorgeous out! The air is so fresh, sun is shining, birds are chirping... Before I went to the School for Peace, I wanted to see the village in bright daylight. Got my film and photo camera with me. The air is so fresh that you feel mentally alert, or like getting high. :P I got lost for a while, maybe on purpose, until I saw the Garden of Silence and the Spiritual Center which is located right below the volunteer house. S. Center is a fantastic-looking building, like a giant concrete ball. It's good to find my way back home. I was getting hungry. Then I realized there's nothing "breakfastalish" for me in our kitchen. So I headed for the Ahlan Cafe. It's both a cafe and a gift shop, run by a Palestinian couple, Arif and Dalal. ( I thought they were Persian until today, so I have to correct my Turkish blog.) I assume they're in their early 50s. It looks like it opens at 10AM. So much for an Ahlan breakfast for me. So be it, I have raw almonds in my bag. They can help me survive until 10. Off to School for Peace.
It's a single story, simple but graceful building with a lovely front yard. I recognized Halim at first sight. He is the director of the school. I know him from his pictures on the website. He doesn't look like a talkative guy. He went into his office and I was about to follow him when the security officer blocked my way for a hug. His name is Nammur. He has an oddly high pitched voice contrary to his bulky figure. Nammur is Fatin's cat. He lives in the School for Peace. Fatin is the secretary. She's assisting Halim and Yael. A lovely Palestinian woman. She introduced me to Halim. He strikes me as a person who speaks short and to the point. I actually like that but I have to try to use shorter sentences while explaining myself. This was always an issue for me. We talked about the school, and what we expect from each other. Unfortunately to my disappointment, the research center is not active now. But there are so many workshops and things to get done. Writing for grants, mostly academic articles and whatnot. Halim, as well as Raida, said they could help me get in touch with the NGOs and people they thought I would like to meet with.
Then they took me to my room. It's next to Halim's office. It's small and cozy. The weather is warm but indoors are usually cold here. For a while I managed to resist the temptation of closing the door and turning on the heater. I wanted to see the front yard.
It was time to go to Ahlan again, and I found it open this time. Arif was there, getting the store ready for business. On the background you could hear the Iraqi musician Munir Bashir playing the ud, in Hejaz maqam. Exquisite! Arif made me a pita bread sandwich with lebane cheese and salad. Also some za'atar bread with madly tasty olives on the side. I know lebane from Turkey but never knew it was also Arabic until my dear friend Dana offered me a jar filled with lebane balls, stuffed in olive oil some years ago. He wrapt the sandwich for lunch and put the za'atar bread on a tray, a cup of green olives and a glass of water on the side. While he was preparing my food, I explored the store and with awe enjoyed the fincans (small Arabic/Turkish coffee cups), hand made bowls and plates, ewers, hamsas (hand of Fatimas), music cds and so much more! Apparently majority of the stuff they sell there, including the ingredients they use to prepare food, are from either from Palestinian families or the West Bank. Arts and crafts items are made my women organizations in the West Bank.
Btw, to see my breakfast at Ahlan, click here:
Goodness, those olives! Almost as good as my mom's! So tasty. And I'd like to point out that I DID NOT order olives, nor water. They are their treats, their "ikram". Yael's friend Mikael came to Ahlan with his little granddaughter. He's drinking tea while the little girl explores the garden on all fours. WE chatted a bit but I had to hurry so as not to be late to school. Not that they told me to be there at a certain hour but I want them to know that I really want to be there. Told Arif and Dalal that I would be there every day from then on. I would love to interview them and benefit from the stories they may share with me. No rush.
At school I worked on the English workshop report Halim has sent me to edit. Nammur was with me almost all the time. He likes my company. And I like his. The lebane sandwich is tastier than I imagined. I better get pita bread, lebane and, well more cheese and za'atar for home. And hummus and falafel. :)
Around 3, Halim's son Adan, 7, honored us with his presence. :) He is a blond sheep! So cute with his long curls and blue eyes. He run into his father's office screaming, "Baba! Baba!" Apparently he trains capoeira. I should recruit him to my capoeira classes for kids. Halim likes the idea, and I can't wait to start teaching again. This is THE perfect place to train anyway.
Maybe it's because of this motivation, but something happened to me when I went home tonight. I cleaned up the whole courtyard! Cleaned it up, as in sweeping and mopping. Took me almost 2 hours to finish the job and I have blisters in my hands now. It was worth it though. Now I can train comfortably there, every morning. The kittens were too funny while they were watching me frantically wiping the floor. Every time I pour buckets of hot water on the marble floor, they thought I was feeding them and almost burned their paws! Gave them milk and bread at the end. Speaking of the kittens, click here.
Mouna, my roommate, made spagetti with tomato/garlic sauce. I choked down a very full plate of it. Oh by the way, I met my third roommate, Sausan (it's likely that I mispronounced her name), a Palestinian elementary school teacher, who has been working for Neve Shalom for 2-3 years.
I'm very tired now, it's sleepy time for me. I want to wake up early and train tomorrow, in the courtyard. Then Ahlan and SFP. I need to practice my camera skills. It shouldn't be as clumsy as this one here.
Good night / Laila Tov / Leila Sa'eeda..
December 14th, Tuesday it is.
Where was I?
So it's 8AM now and I'm out in the courtyard.
It's unbelievably gorgeous out! The air is so fresh, sun is shining, birds are chirping... Before I went to the School for Peace, I wanted to see the village in bright daylight. Got my film and photo camera with me. The air is so fresh that you feel mentally alert, or like getting high. :P I got lost for a while, maybe on purpose, until I saw the Garden of Silence and the Spiritual Center which is located right below the volunteer house. S. Center is a fantastic-looking building, like a giant concrete ball. It's good to find my way back home. I was getting hungry. Then I realized there's nothing "breakfastalish" for me in our kitchen. So I headed for the Ahlan Cafe. It's both a cafe and a gift shop, run by a Palestinian couple, Arif and Dalal. ( I thought they were Persian until today, so I have to correct my Turkish blog.) I assume they're in their early 50s. It looks like it opens at 10AM. So much for an Ahlan breakfast for me. So be it, I have raw almonds in my bag. They can help me survive until 10. Off to School for Peace.
It's a single story, simple but graceful building with a lovely front yard. I recognized Halim at first sight. He is the director of the school. I know him from his pictures on the website. He doesn't look like a talkative guy. He went into his office and I was about to follow him when the security officer blocked my way for a hug. His name is Nammur. He has an oddly high pitched voice contrary to his bulky figure. Nammur is Fatin's cat. He lives in the School for Peace. Fatin is the secretary. She's assisting Halim and Yael. A lovely Palestinian woman. She introduced me to Halim. He strikes me as a person who speaks short and to the point. I actually like that but I have to try to use shorter sentences while explaining myself. This was always an issue for me. We talked about the school, and what we expect from each other. Unfortunately to my disappointment, the research center is not active now. But there are so many workshops and things to get done. Writing for grants, mostly academic articles and whatnot. Halim, as well as Raida, said they could help me get in touch with the NGOs and people they thought I would like to meet with.
Then they took me to my room. It's next to Halim's office. It's small and cozy. The weather is warm but indoors are usually cold here. For a while I managed to resist the temptation of closing the door and turning on the heater. I wanted to see the front yard.
It was time to go to Ahlan again, and I found it open this time. Arif was there, getting the store ready for business. On the background you could hear the Iraqi musician Munir Bashir playing the ud, in Hejaz maqam. Exquisite! Arif made me a pita bread sandwich with lebane cheese and salad. Also some za'atar bread with madly tasty olives on the side. I know lebane from Turkey but never knew it was also Arabic until my dear friend Dana offered me a jar filled with lebane balls, stuffed in olive oil some years ago. He wrapt the sandwich for lunch and put the za'atar bread on a tray, a cup of green olives and a glass of water on the side. While he was preparing my food, I explored the store and with awe enjoyed the fincans (small Arabic/Turkish coffee cups), hand made bowls and plates, ewers, hamsas (hand of Fatimas), music cds and so much more! Apparently majority of the stuff they sell there, including the ingredients they use to prepare food, are from either from Palestinian families or the West Bank. Arts and crafts items are made my women organizations in the West Bank.
Btw, to see my breakfast at Ahlan, click here:
Goodness, those olives! Almost as good as my mom's! So tasty. And I'd like to point out that I DID NOT order olives, nor water. They are their treats, their "ikram". Yael's friend Mikael came to Ahlan with his little granddaughter. He's drinking tea while the little girl explores the garden on all fours. WE chatted a bit but I had to hurry so as not to be late to school. Not that they told me to be there at a certain hour but I want them to know that I really want to be there. Told Arif and Dalal that I would be there every day from then on. I would love to interview them and benefit from the stories they may share with me. No rush.
At school I worked on the English workshop report Halim has sent me to edit. Nammur was with me almost all the time. He likes my company. And I like his. The lebane sandwich is tastier than I imagined. I better get pita bread, lebane and, well more cheese and za'atar for home. And hummus and falafel. :)
Around 3, Halim's son Adan, 7, honored us with his presence. :) He is a blond sheep! So cute with his long curls and blue eyes. He run into his father's office screaming, "Baba! Baba!" Apparently he trains capoeira. I should recruit him to my capoeira classes for kids. Halim likes the idea, and I can't wait to start teaching again. This is THE perfect place to train anyway.
Maybe it's because of this motivation, but something happened to me when I went home tonight. I cleaned up the whole courtyard! Cleaned it up, as in sweeping and mopping. Took me almost 2 hours to finish the job and I have blisters in my hands now. It was worth it though. Now I can train comfortably there, every morning. The kittens were too funny while they were watching me frantically wiping the floor. Every time I pour buckets of hot water on the marble floor, they thought I was feeding them and almost burned their paws! Gave them milk and bread at the end. Speaking of the kittens, click here.
Mouna, my roommate, made spagetti with tomato/garlic sauce. I choked down a very full plate of it. Oh by the way, I met my third roommate, Sausan (it's likely that I mispronounced her name), a Palestinian elementary school teacher, who has been working for Neve Shalom for 2-3 years.
I'm very tired now, it's sleepy time for me. I want to wake up early and train tomorrow, in the courtyard. Then Ahlan and SFP. I need to practice my camera skills. It shouldn't be as clumsy as this one here.
Good night / Laila Tov / Leila Sa'eeda..
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Day 2: My first night and first morning in Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salam
December 13-14 (Mon night-Tue morning)
Pass the NSWAS sign, you get to the main entrance of the village. There's a circle there, which reminds me of the typical courtyard structure of Middle Eastern architecture. Overlooking the circle, you have the PR and Communication building, the bus stop and the wonderful Ahlan Cafe and Gift Shop. Small roads in between these structures take you to the other parts of the village. Cab took me to the volunteer house where I was going to meet Raida, the volunteer coordinator. She is a petite, pretty Palestinian woman, with her colorful coat and elegant hat, jeans tucked into her black boots. The houses I have seen so far made me think of the vacation villages in Turkey. The volunteer house looks like a small motel. It has a common room with a kitchen in it. There are two volunteers, both German, and a young Palestinian elementary school teacher residing there. And then me. Timou, 21, Moura 30 something, Sausant (probably in her early 20s) are my roommates (I most probably misspelled their names.) Timou works with the gardener, and Mouna is volunteering at the kindergarten. Anyway, the common areas are pushing the limits of being dirty. Caked in dirt, if you will. I have to do something about this. The courtyard is filled with dead leaves and dirty/wet, undefinable clothes. Despite their slatternliness, they're nice people. Timou has been here for 5 months, and it's Mouna's second month. She's leaving next week. Then I'll take her room, it's much nicer than mine. The common room smells like fried food, and cigarettes. Thankfully they're smoking at the courtyard. The kitchen is too dirty for me to cook in it.
The rooms are almost as simple as they would be in a monastery. I like it. A single bed, a desk and a chair, a closet, and an a/c unit. There's something wrong with the heater though, so Raida gave me a temporary warm air blower (I think that's what you call it.) Oh, I found 8 or 9 pieces of cat poop under the bed. Surely got rid of them right away but consider it as my introduction to our cats and kittens here at the volunteer house. These guys don't live indoors but obviously they somehow manage to find their way into the vacant rooms. Well, mine's no longer vacant.
We have wireless, it's fast enough. We also have a land line in the common room. But I still need to get an Israeli sim card for my phone. Mouna made pancakes for dinner. Now I know why the room usually smells like fried food. I had two, not more. It was too heavy for me. We have to do the groceries tomorrow. For that we fill out a form to get the car that belongs to the village. The volunteer program also pays for our groceries.
Thanks to Raida's air blower I'm going to have a comfortable night. Otherwise I would have gotten sick. Apparently it was below 70F for the first time this year, so nobody knew that my A/C heater was broken.
AND now let me tell you a little bit about my morning on December 14th. Going to bed at 9pm wakes you up at 6am! I didn't leave the bed immediately though. I was very tired. Also I must confess now, that my first impression of the volunteer house was not so encouraging, so perhaps that's another reason why I didn't want to get out of my warm bed that fast. I even said to myself that I might leave in a month. Then a beam of sunlight flickering across my bed caught my eye. I jumped out of my bed, and I knew I was going to stay until the end of March. It's a beautiful day today.
Day 1. Istanbul Ataturk Airport - Tel Aviv
Well, it's not actually the first day in Israel. As some of you might know, the original plan was to be in Tel Aviv last Friday. Thanks to the stormy weather conditions and the nasty traffic in Istanbul, I had to postpone my flight till Sunday. I didn't want to risk this flight so I decided to spend the night at my friends Asli Arcan and Umit Ozkan's cute apartment in Tesvikiye Istanbul. It's on the European side where the airport is located. Asli cooked dinner for me and Umit and it was quite delicious. (The celery salad with grapefruit sauce was amazing.) Sunday morning around 10am, I took a cab and went to the airport. However, due to severe sand storms in Israel, my flight had a 6-hour delay only to be canceled at 7pm. Ben Gurion was closed down until 6am Monday. So I shared a cab ride with a Turkish lawyer (girl), and two journalists, Swiss and French respectively, who came to Istanbul to interview expatriates from France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Bought a chocolate cake and went to Asli's again. Had couple of hours of sleep before I was on my way to the airport at 5am in the morning. It was FREEZING! We were supposed to depart at 7:40am. Of course we didn't. It was 11:30am when we finally took off. Until then, I had pleasant chats with some of the co-travelers most of which were Sephardic / Turkish Jews, and took short, uncomfortable naps.
On the plane, I was sitting in the middle of a girl from New York who was visiting her brother in Tel Aviv, and and old Israeli businessman, Ehud, coming back from Ethiopia. Ehud was very talkative, which at first, I have to admit, worried me. However he ended up being such a great, cheerful companion that I hardly felt my fear of flying and weariness. He knew I was afraid of flying, hence the never-ending jokes he made. I even took notes of them! Apparently back in 1967, he was working as an information management specialist in Adana, a southeast city of Turkey. He says he isn't that religious but one evening he was relaxing at his garden after work, it was Friday, and they had a power outage, something not so unusual those days. It was beautiful though, as you could see the stars in the clear night sky. After some time, a guy comes up to him and says "Happy Shabat, my friend!" Ehud was amazed by the fact that, this random Turk actually knows that it was the holy day for a Jew and comes all the way just to say that to him. He was so amazed that he's telling this story to a Turkish girl he just met on the plane in 2010. I should also mention that he shared his food with me on the plane when we realized that my vegetarian plate was going to be late. Once I got my food, I offered my pickles to him. The flight was an hour and 45 minutes long. Tel Aviv looks so beautiful from above. The beaches, the city, and the fields. Can't say I'm not impressed.
Anyways, I didn't have any troubles at the airport as I thought I would have. My luggage was one of the firsts that came out. The worst thing about tonight was the 250 shekels ($70) I paid for the cab ride to Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salam. Later that night, one of roommates told me that if I was an Israeli or someone who could speak Hebrew at the very least, I could have negotiated and reduce that price down to 80 Shekels!!! I should have thought. I don't know what happened to me for I almost always negotiate the price! Oh well. It was raining, and cold. My eyes were trying to absorb everything they see, like they were drinking the view, if that makes sense. That's when I thought about my fantasy of a camera that is placed inside the eye, and every time you blink, it clicks and you take a picture. I know one day it's going to happen.
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