This trip has been all about opening doors, and thus far it's been incredibly successful. Every school, organization, and person I've met has stayed with me and made me want to stay. Which means I'll be coming back next September. It's a relief, because I had some doubts over how comfortable I would be here. Here were a few deciding factors:
-All of my hosts (whether planned or spontaneous) have showed me tremendous hospitality. My comfort scale has actually oscillated on this one because I'm not allowed to lift a finger or pay for anything.
"Can | buy this?"
"Haha. No."
"Oh. Ok."
"It it yours."
-I have also eaten like a queen. A very, very fat queen. There's no praise for belonging to the Clean Plate Club here. You will get a second serving, and a third, and a fourth. I've learned to eat very slowly.
-I've gotten better at Arabic in the last week. More importantly, I've gotten better at Charades. Trying to act out "My brother has contracted a parasite" has been hard to communicate both efficiently and respectfully.
-I've been moved, negatively and positively. Riding the bus from Nablus to Bethlehem was physically painful. It was surreal, riding in a shared taxi-van blasting an Arab pop radio station that jubilantly used the word "Filisteen" between songs, while having to use Israeli highways with Hebrew signs and watch settlement construction slowly eat away at the future of Filisteen. I'm amazed that Palestinians are able to carry that emotional weight everyday.
-But I've been inspired. Everyone I've met, both local and international, has dedicated themselves to peace--through education, infrastructure and activism. The finest example is Haj Sami of al-Aqaba. I'll have to save a post for him.
Tris and I are now in Bethlehem. We'll be here for the next 2.5 days, enjoying the Christmas festivities, visiting some contacts and venturing out to Hebron or Jericho for a day trip. Bethlehem is not what I expected. I naively envisioned a "little town" in the desert, straight out of the New Testament, plus some hotels and restaurants for Christian tourists. On the upside, Bethlehem is the prettiest Palestinian city we've seen, thanks to sister city projects and support from the international community. The birthplace of Jesus is a pretty easy sell. On the downside, Christmas tourism and a potentially blind decorating committee have left Manger Square bedecked with horrendously-placed blinky lights.
These little updates to my nostalgic vision, whether good or not-so-good, have left me inspired. What do Christians in New Orleans know about Bethlehem? What do they assume about its location, people, current issues? If my world has been rocked, maybe I could rock theirs as well. I'm thinking an Epiphany presentation on January 6th....insh'allah. God willing.
Epiphany. There's a double meaning in that....
Love from the Holy Land,
Morgan
