Today was my first day back at work and it was enlightening.
I called Abeer who I thought was suppose to be my new boss. She didn't know anything about me working for her. She had been told that I was back at the elementary school. We talked for a while and she said that she wanted me to be one of her regular full time teachers with one class but i told her that I wasn't Montessori certified. So she said I should come in and teach the kids English. So i went to the elementary school to finish up my files from the summer school and to talk to lana to figure out what my role at the school is. Lana told me that the school needed to find 10,000 dollars a month in revenue from an after school program and that she wanted me to start and run that.
So now i am researching and figuring out programs we could run.
One of the programs that I am researching is to take the kids on field trips all around Isreal. Once the kids turn 16 they need permits to go out side of Palestine. The reality depending on the day (and the political situation) is that they usually need permits to leave Nablus. It could be a huge draw to parents to have their kids go on trips that they won't be able to go on later and trips the parents can't take them on themselves.
It should be interesting...
Today was also an interesting lesson on who i can trust in the staff and who is already a back stabber...
more on that later
Saturday, August 15, 2009
the last last last day of vacation
A month ago when i needed to settle my holiday plans, i had no idea that i was going to end up with so much vacation. If I had known i would have begged my mom to buy me a plane ticket home to California for the three weeks I had off. I was whining about this to a friend earlier tonight who pointed out that I might not have gotten back on the plane to return to Palestine at the end of my vacation. She raises a very good and true point. The past five months here have been HARD. Well the first three months were hard the last few months have been challenging but not as hard as it was.
At the beginning of june I moved into an apartment that I really love and 10 new wonderful teachers came for the summer to teach summer school under my direction.I hope they had fun, I know i did. We definitely had our moments... there were cockroaches, it was hot, the water pipes seemed haunted for awhile. The keys and locks and gates never worked. The list goes on and on.. But they were more hiccups that come with living in Palestine. The frustrations of living in a developing country under war.
We finished school the last week of July and my dear friend stephanie and I took off on a week long vacation before she had to return to North Carolina. Our first stop was with a few friends to Petra, which was amazing of course. And then to Egypt for a relaxing time on the beaches of the Sinai peninsula. I promise to write a blog about this all in the next day or two.
After the trip i returned to nablus to sit on my behind and do nothing for two weeks.
I had been sick, really sick the last few weeks of July with an intestinal infection that had actually started many months before. So after a bunch of blood work the doctor put me on a ton of medicine and a rice and bread only diet for several weeks. The trip could have been a bit better if I wasn't already so week from being sick. Part of the reason i didn't op to go home was that i was too weak to even ponder getting on a plane and dealing with everything. So i came back to Nablus to gain some strength back. I really did pretty much do nothing except sleep, watch DVD's and go and visit Safwan and the sisters. ( I LOVE that little boy)
At the beginning of this week the first of the new teachers arrived. Her name is Maureen and she is a retired teacher from South Africa. Everyone has their own way of learning and dealing with their arrivals here and her's is to cook and take care of us. Her first day here we went to school to start working and they sent us home since there wasn't anything for us to do. So Maureen has spent this week cooking up a frenzy and we have been feasting...
Two nights ago the next new teacher arrived. His name is Lou and he is also a retired teacher only from the east bay area of California.
in a lot of ways it has been really nice not being their supervisor in any way and just being part of the gang again. Although it is a big of an odd ball gang.
Another great part about how things are now is that I no longer teach at the elementary school..
I decided last May that I would teach Kindergarten and preschool this year.
The KG, as it is called here, is actually in a beautiful old home on the other side of town in the traditional christian quarter. It is also very close to the convent/ orphanage where the Missionaries of Charity are. They have become my very very dear friends here and Safwan, my love, lives with them.
I will be the only international teacher at the KG and their first.
It is actually a Montessori school. The Palestinian teachers do all their training at a Montessori educational center in Jordan. I have great esteem for the Montessori education and have been pondering getting my masters in it since I graduated from college. Hopefully this will finally give me my opportunity to really see what it is all about in a practical setting verses what I have read in the numerous Maria Montessori books I read. So to answer everyone's question, I am putting off grad school for a year so that i can better explore which grad school course I want to pursue: a Masters in ESL or a Masters in Montessori Education. there are pros and cons to both of them but this will give me concrete exposure to both worlds.
soooo... i guess this means that tomorrow early morning I will have to call Abeer, my new boss and let her know i am back in the country (she thinks i have been in egypt all this time) and am ready to go to work.
to celebrate our last day of vacation the teachers and I went on a little road trip today. We were just suppose to explore the country side around Nablus. I love going down these little dirt roads to see where you end up...I have ended up in some amazing places.. and today we ended up in Jericho and the dead sea. a little further than we had planned to go. It was beyond HOT and the car didn't have air conditioning. First we went up to Ariel settlement to do some shopping and then headed down to see more settlements. They weren't all that interesting. Once you see two or three you have seen them all. I very strongly feel that if i am going to live in Nablus (the most historically extremest city in palestine) then i need to spend a serious amount of time seeing the settlements and getting to know the people on them. I haven't gotten to know anyone yet more than just casual conversations but i think it will eventually happen. From there we went to a small Palestinian village on a hill side (everything is on a hill side) and explore that. We ended up on a tiny dirt farm road. I think the others were a bit freaked out by my insistence to continue down the road to the unknown. But eventually it ended up kinda (well okay we had to drive through a scary ditch) on the main road to Jericho.
it was good to just explore...
i think that was one of the things
that i struggled with the most in America... I didn't take time to explore enough. I need time to have adventures to keep myself sane.
and now with this new sanity i return to work....
(oh and I am frustrated with myself for not figuring out that I should be in Jerusalem tomorrow for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. I know exactly where the spot is in Jerusalem where she was assumed into heaven... it is by far one of my favorite churches there... I would love to be at the Church of the Dormition. Silly me for not planning ahead and thinking about up coming feast days.
At the beginning of june I moved into an apartment that I really love and 10 new wonderful teachers came for the summer to teach summer school under my direction.I hope they had fun, I know i did. We definitely had our moments... there were cockroaches, it was hot, the water pipes seemed haunted for awhile. The keys and locks and gates never worked. The list goes on and on.. But they were more hiccups that come with living in Palestine. The frustrations of living in a developing country under war.
We finished school the last week of July and my dear friend stephanie and I took off on a week long vacation before she had to return to North Carolina. Our first stop was with a few friends to Petra, which was amazing of course. And then to Egypt for a relaxing time on the beaches of the Sinai peninsula. I promise to write a blog about this all in the next day or two.
After the trip i returned to nablus to sit on my behind and do nothing for two weeks.
I had been sick, really sick the last few weeks of July with an intestinal infection that had actually started many months before. So after a bunch of blood work the doctor put me on a ton of medicine and a rice and bread only diet for several weeks. The trip could have been a bit better if I wasn't already so week from being sick. Part of the reason i didn't op to go home was that i was too weak to even ponder getting on a plane and dealing with everything. So i came back to Nablus to gain some strength back. I really did pretty much do nothing except sleep, watch DVD's and go and visit Safwan and the sisters. ( I LOVE that little boy)
At the beginning of this week the first of the new teachers arrived. Her name is Maureen and she is a retired teacher from South Africa. Everyone has their own way of learning and dealing with their arrivals here and her's is to cook and take care of us. Her first day here we went to school to start working and they sent us home since there wasn't anything for us to do. So Maureen has spent this week cooking up a frenzy and we have been feasting...
Two nights ago the next new teacher arrived. His name is Lou and he is also a retired teacher only from the east bay area of California.
in a lot of ways it has been really nice not being their supervisor in any way and just being part of the gang again. Although it is a big of an odd ball gang.
Another great part about how things are now is that I no longer teach at the elementary school..
I decided last May that I would teach Kindergarten and preschool this year.
The KG, as it is called here, is actually in a beautiful old home on the other side of town in the traditional christian quarter. It is also very close to the convent/ orphanage where the Missionaries of Charity are. They have become my very very dear friends here and Safwan, my love, lives with them.
I will be the only international teacher at the KG and their first.
It is actually a Montessori school. The Palestinian teachers do all their training at a Montessori educational center in Jordan. I have great esteem for the Montessori education and have been pondering getting my masters in it since I graduated from college. Hopefully this will finally give me my opportunity to really see what it is all about in a practical setting verses what I have read in the numerous Maria Montessori books I read. So to answer everyone's question, I am putting off grad school for a year so that i can better explore which grad school course I want to pursue: a Masters in ESL or a Masters in Montessori Education. there are pros and cons to both of them but this will give me concrete exposure to both worlds.
soooo... i guess this means that tomorrow early morning I will have to call Abeer, my new boss and let her know i am back in the country (she thinks i have been in egypt all this time) and am ready to go to work.
to celebrate our last day of vacation the teachers and I went on a little road trip today. We were just suppose to explore the country side around Nablus. I love going down these little dirt roads to see where you end up...I have ended up in some amazing places.. and today we ended up in Jericho and the dead sea. a little further than we had planned to go. It was beyond HOT and the car didn't have air conditioning. First we went up to Ariel settlement to do some shopping and then headed down to see more settlements. They weren't all that interesting. Once you see two or three you have seen them all. I very strongly feel that if i am going to live in Nablus (the most historically extremest city in palestine) then i need to spend a serious amount of time seeing the settlements and getting to know the people on them. I haven't gotten to know anyone yet more than just casual conversations but i think it will eventually happen. From there we went to a small Palestinian village on a hill side (everything is on a hill side) and explore that. We ended up on a tiny dirt farm road. I think the others were a bit freaked out by my insistence to continue down the road to the unknown. But eventually it ended up kinda (well okay we had to drive through a scary ditch) on the main road to Jericho.
it was good to just explore...
i think that was one of the things
that i struggled with the most in America... I didn't take time to explore enough. I need time to have adventures to keep myself sane.
and now with this new sanity i return to work....
(oh and I am frustrated with myself for not figuring out that I should be in Jerusalem tomorrow for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. I know exactly where the spot is in Jerusalem where she was assumed into heaven... it is by far one of my favorite churches there... I would love to be at the Church of the Dormition. Silly me for not planning ahead and thinking about up coming feast days.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
welll okay....
After numerous comments about my lack up blogging from people, I finally have broken down and realized i better write something even if it is a bit short.
It isn't that i don't have a million things to say. I have never been short for words... it is just pure laziness and some writers block that has stopped me.
the last two weeks of July were crazy. I was outrageously busy with summer school ending and i got really sick with some intestinal problems and spent most of that time in bed when not at work. I then went on a week long trip to Jordan and Egypt with some co-workers (very dear friends) before returning to Nablus for two weeks to do nothing. The first few days i thought i was going to go stir crazy but then i re-discovered how much i loved being a lady of leisure. That my grandfather is right that i am down right lazy!!! and love it.
This week I am suppose to be back at school prepping for the year. and i went into school on Monday only to be told there was nothing for me to do and to go home until the end of the week or maybe next week.... (now, i know this wasn't true, that there was plenty for me to do but i wasn't about to correct anyone) Also the new teachers started coming in and I was busy showing them around and getting them settled which counts as work right?
Two of the four new teachers have arrived and they seem quite nice. One is from South Africa and one is American. The South African teacher, Maureen, loves to cook and is an amazing cook so she has been dazzling us for the past four days with delicious Indian food. Life is good!!!
It isn't that i don't have a million things to say. I have never been short for words... it is just pure laziness and some writers block that has stopped me.
the last two weeks of July were crazy. I was outrageously busy with summer school ending and i got really sick with some intestinal problems and spent most of that time in bed when not at work. I then went on a week long trip to Jordan and Egypt with some co-workers (very dear friends) before returning to Nablus for two weeks to do nothing. The first few days i thought i was going to go stir crazy but then i re-discovered how much i loved being a lady of leisure. That my grandfather is right that i am down right lazy!!! and love it.
This week I am suppose to be back at school prepping for the year. and i went into school on Monday only to be told there was nothing for me to do and to go home until the end of the week or maybe next week.... (now, i know this wasn't true, that there was plenty for me to do but i wasn't about to correct anyone) Also the new teachers started coming in and I was busy showing them around and getting them settled which counts as work right?
Two of the four new teachers have arrived and they seem quite nice. One is from South Africa and one is American. The South African teacher, Maureen, loves to cook and is an amazing cook so she has been dazzling us for the past four days with delicious Indian food. Life is good!!!
Friday, July 10, 2009
facebook updates in a nut shell
Maggie Dobbins I just had the most wonderful day getting lost in the northern west bank, found jenin, and Sabastia (an old roman city where John the baptist was beheaded) and my way back to nablus. On the way went through several checkpoints one of which had soldiers who politely moved his automatic weapon out of the way so that he could moon dance for us. A GREAT DAy in Jesusland!!!! 7/10/09
Maggie Dobbins just came back from a shopping trip to Ariel, a settlement where the grocery stores are subsidized by the government. i feel so guilty but had so much fun, like so many things in life that you know are wrong but do anyways... also sad to hear George's garage in durham closed. 7/9/09
TGITH (thank God it is Thursday, the middle east's equivalent to Friday).. thank GOD the students and teachers got through an entire day of games with out killing each other. no casualties except my huge headache 7/9/09
think i am going to stay home for the weekend and take small day trips... feeling poor and a cold coming on... today is the all school all day olympics.. sounds like Miss Maggie the disciplinarian hat will be worn all day. 7/09/09
it is past midnight and i can sleep cuz it is just too hot (should i weave ice cubes through my hair again to help me fall asleep) or maybe it is the dog barking in the distance, or the click clock of the donkey running down the street. Or maybe just getting freaked out about staying for a whole school year. 7/08/09
now that i have beat all of my friends on tetris i am looking for a new fb game to get addicted to.. also got locked into the house today with the other teachers and had to get rescued by the town blacksmiths...7/8/09
Maggie Dobbins is horrified to admit that she actually had a sad moment at the end of MJ's funeral.... but then a big laugh tooo ( lets be honest am actually more horrified to admit i watched it..)7/7/09
Maggie Dobbins i have a car!!!!!! 7/8/09
I am the best!!!! finally!!! i beat everyone in my circle of friends!!! You have no idea how hard i have been working on this, the number of hours i have dedicated to getting the damn squares to fit!!!! I don't even know what to do with myself to celebrate!!!! this might bet the best day of 2009!!!! I am a champion!!! (and a total dork, but a happy dork) 7/5/09
Maggie Dobbins finally has to admit that after months of complaining about not having hot water, she now complains that she can never get a cold enough shower since the weather has turned so hot... i am such a hypocrite 7/5/09
Maggie Dobbins can't believe how fantastic her weekend turned out. After her pity party in nablus she eventually got to Jerusalem to spend the night. Then went to Hebron, Bethlehem and Jerusalem before coming back to Nablus tonight. My new favorite hobby is sitting and drinking tea when shop keepers. 7/4/09
Maggie Dobbins is back to loving jesusland... or at least jerusalem 7/4/09
Maggie Dobbins is looking out the window wondering "what the hell am i doing here??? how in the world did i end up in a small dusty town in palestine???" 7/3/09
Maggie Dobbins too lazy to even go to jerusalem.... and now that One tree hill is on TV... 7/3/09
Maggie Dobbins is it just my imagination or has the call to prayer tonight lasted a really really long time? 7/2/09
Maggie Dobbins I thought the Israel Palestinian politics were complicated.... nothing compared to that of my school and summer 7/2/09
Maggie Dobbins is thinking up a "scary costume" to wear to school tomorrow for "scary costume day" and scary activity day for the kids who don't get to go on the field trip.. one of the games is "guess whose nose it is"... stay tuned for photos tomorrow 7/1/09
Maggie Dobbins 11 cases of swine flu in Nablus... how ironic... 6/30/09
Maggie Dobbins got "kidnapped" by the kindergarten and ended up playing for 4 year olds all day! before the ransom was paid by my school and the taxi driver finally drove me back in time for an afternoon meeting!! 6/28/09
Maggie Dobbins wishes her little sister (who despite her younger age is much more mature and responsible or at least has an adult like life) a very happy 33rd birthday!!!! 6/23/09
Maggie Dobbins can't seem to get enough sleep 6/22/09
Maggie Dobbins had a fantastic weekend!!! I ended up hitchhiking all over Israel. and taking a series of buses. Thank you Meirav for taking such good care of me... I am so in love with Maya, Ella and big boy david! 6/21/09
Maggie Dobbins why can't i figure out how checkpoints work and how to take a settler bus??? i am so intimidated. and they changed Hwarara checkpoint on thrusday.. you can no longer walk over it.. you have to get on the services in the souk... 6/19/09
Maggie Dobbins wants to know where the children's english text books are... somehow they all went missing while secretly being smuggled into the country from jordan. I kid you not!!! 6/1/09
Maggie Dobbins strangely peaceful so far... but it is only 11am.. three more hours of summer school for chaos to ensue. 6/16/09
Maggie Dobbins is on a roll... i have fired someone everyday of summer school so far... 6/15/09
Maggie Dobbins holy cow.... 6/14/09
Maggie Dobbins amazing how a night of watching gilmore girls with the new teachers will cure ANYTHING... and the chaos of summer school starts today.. i was i out of my mind when I said I would be the school director for the summer 6/13/09
Maggie Dobbins Three months ago today......... it is hard to believe.... still sad 6/13/09
when ever i am in Jerusalem, i see people who look like him out of the corner of my eye and freak for a quarter of a second until i remember. I am doing okay, really busy with summer school starting tomorrow, but it was a hard day.. it is just weird sometimes... 6/13/09
Maggie Dobbins just woke up after a 13 hour sleep..i don't even remember falling asleep, i closed my computer and was going to walk to the store to buy lentils and boom..... it is 7:30am... guess that is what a migraine will do to you... 6/11/09
Maggie Dobbins I got my passport back today!!!!! Yahoo..... i can finally go to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv!! 6/10/09
Maggie Dobbins i can't believe we finally have internet at our place!!! and it is israeli internet!@! 6/10/09
Maggie Dobbins the plumbing in my new house is haunted.. the water runs even when we turn everything off including all the water mains from the huge barrels on the roof... and then it won't come on when we want it too.. 6/7/09
Maggie Dobbins is having serious internet withdraws... 11 days and counting that i haven't had internet at home!!! i love the new place but this is out of control.. 6/6/09
Maggie Dobbins is worried :Settlers torch more Palestinian farmland near Nablus, how are all the new teachers going to get to Nablus if the checkpoints are closed from this??? 6/3/09
Maggie Dobbins is in the mood for a long weekend... crap, it is only tuesday 6/2/09
Maggie Dobbins is wondering why the power for the whole city went out last night at midenight for an hour.... it was like something out of a spy movie... who were they extracting??? then again i do have an over active imagination.. 6/1/09
Maggie Dobbins covered again in Mosquito bites... thousands of them.. they laugh in the face of my bug spray!! 5/31/09
Maggie Dobbins got through the four checkpoints yesterday with only a photo copied version of my passport... the soldiers asked me where it was and I told them "in Tel Aviv". They asked me if i forgot it there and I said yes.. which they thought was amusing and let me through with out any problems.. They are all getting to know me pretty well now.. There is even an American/Israeli soldier from Boston there who loves to chat.. 5/30/09
Maggie Dobbins is going to try and get through the checkpoints tomorrow with out her passport. I turned my passport in for a few weeks to the Israeli ministry of the interior to get a year long visa leaving me passport-less for two weeks.. should be rather interesting.. I guess all they can do is block me from getting through???
5/28/09
Maggie Dobbins just came back from a shopping trip to Ariel, a settlement where the grocery stores are subsidized by the government. i feel so guilty but had so much fun, like so many things in life that you know are wrong but do anyways... also sad to hear George's garage in durham closed. 7/9/09
TGITH (thank God it is Thursday, the middle east's equivalent to Friday).. thank GOD the students and teachers got through an entire day of games with out killing each other. no casualties except my huge headache 7/9/09
think i am going to stay home for the weekend and take small day trips... feeling poor and a cold coming on... today is the all school all day olympics.. sounds like Miss Maggie the disciplinarian hat will be worn all day. 7/09/09
it is past midnight and i can sleep cuz it is just too hot (should i weave ice cubes through my hair again to help me fall asleep) or maybe it is the dog barking in the distance, or the click clock of the donkey running down the street. Or maybe just getting freaked out about staying for a whole school year. 7/08/09
now that i have beat all of my friends on tetris i am looking for a new fb game to get addicted to.. also got locked into the house today with the other teachers and had to get rescued by the town blacksmiths...7/8/09
Maggie Dobbins is horrified to admit that she actually had a sad moment at the end of MJ's funeral.... but then a big laugh tooo ( lets be honest am actually more horrified to admit i watched it..)7/7/09
Maggie Dobbins i have a car!!!!!! 7/8/09
I am the best!!!! finally!!! i beat everyone in my circle of friends!!! You have no idea how hard i have been working on this, the number of hours i have dedicated to getting the damn squares to fit!!!! I don't even know what to do with myself to celebrate!!!! this might bet the best day of 2009!!!! I am a champion!!! (and a total dork, but a happy dork) 7/5/09
Maggie Dobbins finally has to admit that after months of complaining about not having hot water, she now complains that she can never get a cold enough shower since the weather has turned so hot... i am such a hypocrite 7/5/09
Maggie Dobbins can't believe how fantastic her weekend turned out. After her pity party in nablus she eventually got to Jerusalem to spend the night. Then went to Hebron, Bethlehem and Jerusalem before coming back to Nablus tonight. My new favorite hobby is sitting and drinking tea when shop keepers. 7/4/09
Maggie Dobbins is back to loving jesusland... or at least jerusalem 7/4/09
Maggie Dobbins is looking out the window wondering "what the hell am i doing here??? how in the world did i end up in a small dusty town in palestine???" 7/3/09
Maggie Dobbins too lazy to even go to jerusalem.... and now that One tree hill is on TV... 7/3/09
Maggie Dobbins is it just my imagination or has the call to prayer tonight lasted a really really long time? 7/2/09
Maggie Dobbins I thought the Israel Palestinian politics were complicated.... nothing compared to that of my school and summer 7/2/09
Maggie Dobbins is thinking up a "scary costume" to wear to school tomorrow for "scary costume day" and scary activity day for the kids who don't get to go on the field trip.. one of the games is "guess whose nose it is"... stay tuned for photos tomorrow 7/1/09
Maggie Dobbins 11 cases of swine flu in Nablus... how ironic... 6/30/09
Maggie Dobbins got "kidnapped" by the kindergarten and ended up playing for 4 year olds all day! before the ransom was paid by my school and the taxi driver finally drove me back in time for an afternoon meeting!! 6/28/09
Maggie Dobbins wishes her little sister (who despite her younger age is much more mature and responsible or at least has an adult like life) a very happy 33rd birthday!!!! 6/23/09
Maggie Dobbins can't seem to get enough sleep 6/22/09
Maggie Dobbins had a fantastic weekend!!! I ended up hitchhiking all over Israel. and taking a series of buses. Thank you Meirav for taking such good care of me... I am so in love with Maya, Ella and big boy david! 6/21/09
Maggie Dobbins why can't i figure out how checkpoints work and how to take a settler bus??? i am so intimidated. and they changed Hwarara checkpoint on thrusday.. you can no longer walk over it.. you have to get on the services in the souk... 6/19/09
Maggie Dobbins wants to know where the children's english text books are... somehow they all went missing while secretly being smuggled into the country from jordan. I kid you not!!! 6/1/09
Maggie Dobbins strangely peaceful so far... but it is only 11am.. three more hours of summer school for chaos to ensue. 6/16/09
Maggie Dobbins is on a roll... i have fired someone everyday of summer school so far... 6/15/09
Maggie Dobbins holy cow.... 6/14/09
Maggie Dobbins amazing how a night of watching gilmore girls with the new teachers will cure ANYTHING... and the chaos of summer school starts today.. i was i out of my mind when I said I would be the school director for the summer 6/13/09
Maggie Dobbins Three months ago today......... it is hard to believe.... still sad 6/13/09
when ever i am in Jerusalem, i see people who look like him out of the corner of my eye and freak for a quarter of a second until i remember. I am doing okay, really busy with summer school starting tomorrow, but it was a hard day.. it is just weird sometimes... 6/13/09
Maggie Dobbins just woke up after a 13 hour sleep..i don't even remember falling asleep, i closed my computer and was going to walk to the store to buy lentils and boom..... it is 7:30am... guess that is what a migraine will do to you... 6/11/09
Maggie Dobbins I got my passport back today!!!!! Yahoo..... i can finally go to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv!! 6/10/09
Maggie Dobbins i can't believe we finally have internet at our place!!! and it is israeli internet!@! 6/10/09
Maggie Dobbins the plumbing in my new house is haunted.. the water runs even when we turn everything off including all the water mains from the huge barrels on the roof... and then it won't come on when we want it too.. 6/7/09
Maggie Dobbins is having serious internet withdraws... 11 days and counting that i haven't had internet at home!!! i love the new place but this is out of control.. 6/6/09
Maggie Dobbins is worried :Settlers torch more Palestinian farmland near Nablus, how are all the new teachers going to get to Nablus if the checkpoints are closed from this??? 6/3/09
Maggie Dobbins is in the mood for a long weekend... crap, it is only tuesday 6/2/09
Maggie Dobbins is wondering why the power for the whole city went out last night at midenight for an hour.... it was like something out of a spy movie... who were they extracting??? then again i do have an over active imagination.. 6/1/09
Maggie Dobbins covered again in Mosquito bites... thousands of them.. they laugh in the face of my bug spray!! 5/31/09
Maggie Dobbins got through the four checkpoints yesterday with only a photo copied version of my passport... the soldiers asked me where it was and I told them "in Tel Aviv". They asked me if i forgot it there and I said yes.. which they thought was amusing and let me through with out any problems.. They are all getting to know me pretty well now.. There is even an American/Israeli soldier from Boston there who loves to chat.. 5/30/09
Maggie Dobbins is going to try and get through the checkpoints tomorrow with out her passport. I turned my passport in for a few weeks to the Israeli ministry of the interior to get a year long visa leaving me passport-less for two weeks.. should be rather interesting.. I guess all they can do is block me from getting through???
5/28/09
its been over a month now
i have been missing in action for a month now.... it is called summer school. My life and job have completely changed.. in fact most everything has changed this past month except my geographical location (nablus)and the school i work for.
A little over a month ago the three teachers i had been teaching with left (sean will be back in August) and were replaced by 10 fantastic new ones from american and canada. We moved to a new house on the other side of town nearer to the school. Well the boys still live at the old place but in a few weeks we all moving to the girls house. The regular school year ended and for the summer i have been promoted to director which means I get to be disciplinarian, trouble shooter, substitute teacher, water balloon maker, and researcher of all good and fun things to do over the summer. In addition i also teach at the kindergarten for an hour and a half each day.
Over all it is just a lot happier of a life. The old teachers were tired and burnt out when they left.. Most of the new ones are here just for the summer so they are pumped to be here and the ones staying are working really hard to be part of the community.
I am really having fun. I am exhausted each night and usually come home and crash out on the couch for several hours before going to be. but it is all happy times, well mostly happy with lots of drama, times for me. Summer school is six weeks long and we only have two weeks left before the end of the summer. Stephanie, of friend of mine from N.C and One world market, is here for the summer and we are going to take a week long trip to Jordan and Egypt before heading back. I am then going to spend a week or so chilling out here visiting friends and relaxing before school starts for the fall. This fall i am going to be working at the kindergarten part time and at the elementary school as the HR director part time.
Two months ago, i started looking for my next project for this fall and started applying for things... That was the weekend I met Safwan. I was invited to a retreat at the missionaries of Charity's convent by Fr. Vincent, my parish priest. Before the retreat started we were taking a tour around the house when I met Sufwan. He cracked me up from the moment i met him. I had arrived with the others and he was up on the patio and shouted down to us to come over so he could get a better look. One of the men was wearing a hat and he wanted to know if he was jewish... We were mystified until Safwan explained that the only other people he had seen wearing hats like that were the soldiers. We then went up to his room to meet him and the other orphans. Safwan is a six year old Palestinian boy who was abandoned when we was three months old because he was born with Spinal Bifida and is paralyzed from the waist down. He has so much personality and intelligence it just oozes out of him. You can help but be completely charmed by this little fellow. As we were going down stairs the sisters mentioned that they had been searching for a school for him for two years all over palestine and jordan but no one would accept him because of the wheelchair. I went home started praying for a way for Safwan to be able to come to my school and for a way for him to be part of my life. There is something so special about him. I knew the only way to mentally get out of the struggles mentally that I have been going through were to focus on him and work on making his future better. Right now is in our summer school as a trail for the future. He is doing really well and fitting in but some of the older administration still isn't comfortable with the idea of accepting disabled children so I feel like the best way i can ensure that he has an education is to stay for a year to make sure things continue to go well. I am so in love with him at this point, I can't imagine not sticking around for another year to make sure I have more time with him. He honestly just melts my heart and every day the other teachers and I have little safwan stories we tell each other of his daily antics... I am sure you will hear more in the months to come.
A little over a month ago the three teachers i had been teaching with left (sean will be back in August) and were replaced by 10 fantastic new ones from american and canada. We moved to a new house on the other side of town nearer to the school. Well the boys still live at the old place but in a few weeks we all moving to the girls house. The regular school year ended and for the summer i have been promoted to director which means I get to be disciplinarian, trouble shooter, substitute teacher, water balloon maker, and researcher of all good and fun things to do over the summer. In addition i also teach at the kindergarten for an hour and a half each day.
Over all it is just a lot happier of a life. The old teachers were tired and burnt out when they left.. Most of the new ones are here just for the summer so they are pumped to be here and the ones staying are working really hard to be part of the community.
I am really having fun. I am exhausted each night and usually come home and crash out on the couch for several hours before going to be. but it is all happy times, well mostly happy with lots of drama, times for me. Summer school is six weeks long and we only have two weeks left before the end of the summer. Stephanie, of friend of mine from N.C and One world market, is here for the summer and we are going to take a week long trip to Jordan and Egypt before heading back. I am then going to spend a week or so chilling out here visiting friends and relaxing before school starts for the fall. This fall i am going to be working at the kindergarten part time and at the elementary school as the HR director part time.
Two months ago, i started looking for my next project for this fall and started applying for things... That was the weekend I met Safwan. I was invited to a retreat at the missionaries of Charity's convent by Fr. Vincent, my parish priest. Before the retreat started we were taking a tour around the house when I met Sufwan. He cracked me up from the moment i met him. I had arrived with the others and he was up on the patio and shouted down to us to come over so he could get a better look. One of the men was wearing a hat and he wanted to know if he was jewish... We were mystified until Safwan explained that the only other people he had seen wearing hats like that were the soldiers. We then went up to his room to meet him and the other orphans. Safwan is a six year old Palestinian boy who was abandoned when we was three months old because he was born with Spinal Bifida and is paralyzed from the waist down. He has so much personality and intelligence it just oozes out of him. You can help but be completely charmed by this little fellow. As we were going down stairs the sisters mentioned that they had been searching for a school for him for two years all over palestine and jordan but no one would accept him because of the wheelchair. I went home started praying for a way for Safwan to be able to come to my school and for a way for him to be part of my life. There is something so special about him. I knew the only way to mentally get out of the struggles mentally that I have been going through were to focus on him and work on making his future better. Right now is in our summer school as a trail for the future. He is doing really well and fitting in but some of the older administration still isn't comfortable with the idea of accepting disabled children so I feel like the best way i can ensure that he has an education is to stay for a year to make sure things continue to go well. I am so in love with him at this point, I can't imagine not sticking around for another year to make sure I have more time with him. He honestly just melts my heart and every day the other teachers and I have little safwan stories we tell each other of his daily antics... I am sure you will hear more in the months to come.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
twenty years ago today
20 years ago today is a day we will always remember: the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. 10 years ago today is a day I will never forget, the 10th anniversary of the massacre. I was in China. We had just been released from the month long house arrest and tensions were still high. For that one day, the government cut off our Internet and satellite service. It was my last month of my two-year stay in China. It was oddly quiet and no one was saying anything.
Oddly enough it is many ways that experience led me to Palestine or at least prepared me for Palestine. Day after day I am reminded of my life in China and my experiences here while going through life here in Nablus.
Besides the extreme obvious that China lead to my interest in worker rights which lead to my job at a fair trade non-profit which carried products from Palestine which lead to my interest in Palestine and moving here. China taught me how to live in the third world. I leaned how to deal with my incredible anger that rises when I get frustrated. How instead of blowing up, I take deep breaths and try to look at the situation from a different point of view. I learned how to live in a political and military state while under siege. I don’t get as freaked out as I once would if I heard gun shots while sitting down to dinner nightly or being round so many AK-47’s.
About 10 days ago my passport was taken away to Tel Aviv, to get my yearlong visa processed. It should in theory only take two weeks but it could take a few months to get it back. Mean while I am stuck in the west bank pleading with Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints to let me through.
This past week has been a bit chaotic here, besides dealing with the new teachers coming and trying to explain to them why I can’t meet them at the airport or even in Jerusalem, there has been quite a bit of violence right out side the checkpoint we usually go through with the settlers and farmers. It makes the road between here and Ramallah a bit dangerous and the checkpoint tougher than ever to penetrate. Where I usually could get away with using a photocopy of my passport, I don’t know they will be as tolerant of that right now.
For the past ten days I have been almost Internet free at home (inshallah this will change in the next few days). What we do have for right now is satellite TV. This past week the only English news channel we could get was Press TV, an Iranian English news channel. Last night an IT savvy friend came over and reprogrammed the receiver to get more channels. We now have Aljezerra, CNN, BBC and Press TV. All morning I have been watching coverage of both Obama’s visit to Cairo and the anniversary coverage of Tiananmen. And my mind they are so related to different parts of my life.
For most of my time in China people would ask me my opinion about what had happened 10 years before. They would never say what it was and actually it took them asking me several times before I figured out what they were talking about. I was always asked about this in a public form where I knew government people were watching to see if I would trip up and say something controversial. I would usually pretend not to know what they were talking about or say something rather draft about it and change the subject. From what I could tell people were getting ready to do something about it and there was a huge feeling of discontent amongst the people of China. However as many of you know, the month before the anniversary almost to the day, a US plane bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade killing two women. (While Clinton, not Bush was in office) My life in China changed that day. We were under house arrest for a month and somewhat afraid for the first few days. The US embassy in Beijing kept in phone contact with us trying to decide if we needed to extracted. The Chinese government capitalized on the catastrophe and convinced the people that this was done because the world didn’t respect them. That they only way to gain respect is to rise up as a united country and to fight the world at large by becoming everything that they have become today. Suddenly the two years worth of discontent and memories of the massacre were forgotten. People turned on us and started (if they hadn’t already) viewing us as the enemy.
Here I am ten years later in another country torn apart. No matter which side of the wall I am on people want to know which side I agree with. And again I have draft answers or flat out lie about where I stand on most everything. It is hard to explain to the new teachers who are arriving why it is so important to lie. Why we can almost never be completely honest with anyone here. I hate it. I am usually overly honest. I am not good at spinning lies.. (I know some of you might argue with this).
Obama is in Cairo and could drop a verbal bomb on us at any point. Everyone here is watching to see what he will say. I honestly have no idea what he could say to smooth things out with the Moslem world with out offending the Israeli world. I need both sides to be equally pacified.
So again I sit and wait to see what the government involved does to my life here. And unlike while I was in Korea, I don’t feel like the average person on the street will hold me completely personally responsible for the whole mess of the world.
Oddly enough it is many ways that experience led me to Palestine or at least prepared me for Palestine. Day after day I am reminded of my life in China and my experiences here while going through life here in Nablus.
Besides the extreme obvious that China lead to my interest in worker rights which lead to my job at a fair trade non-profit which carried products from Palestine which lead to my interest in Palestine and moving here. China taught me how to live in the third world. I leaned how to deal with my incredible anger that rises when I get frustrated. How instead of blowing up, I take deep breaths and try to look at the situation from a different point of view. I learned how to live in a political and military state while under siege. I don’t get as freaked out as I once would if I heard gun shots while sitting down to dinner nightly or being round so many AK-47’s.
About 10 days ago my passport was taken away to Tel Aviv, to get my yearlong visa processed. It should in theory only take two weeks but it could take a few months to get it back. Mean while I am stuck in the west bank pleading with Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints to let me through.
This past week has been a bit chaotic here, besides dealing with the new teachers coming and trying to explain to them why I can’t meet them at the airport or even in Jerusalem, there has been quite a bit of violence right out side the checkpoint we usually go through with the settlers and farmers. It makes the road between here and Ramallah a bit dangerous and the checkpoint tougher than ever to penetrate. Where I usually could get away with using a photocopy of my passport, I don’t know they will be as tolerant of that right now.
For the past ten days I have been almost Internet free at home (inshallah this will change in the next few days). What we do have for right now is satellite TV. This past week the only English news channel we could get was Press TV, an Iranian English news channel. Last night an IT savvy friend came over and reprogrammed the receiver to get more channels. We now have Aljezerra, CNN, BBC and Press TV. All morning I have been watching coverage of both Obama’s visit to Cairo and the anniversary coverage of Tiananmen. And my mind they are so related to different parts of my life.
For most of my time in China people would ask me my opinion about what had happened 10 years before. They would never say what it was and actually it took them asking me several times before I figured out what they were talking about. I was always asked about this in a public form where I knew government people were watching to see if I would trip up and say something controversial. I would usually pretend not to know what they were talking about or say something rather draft about it and change the subject. From what I could tell people were getting ready to do something about it and there was a huge feeling of discontent amongst the people of China. However as many of you know, the month before the anniversary almost to the day, a US plane bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade killing two women. (While Clinton, not Bush was in office) My life in China changed that day. We were under house arrest for a month and somewhat afraid for the first few days. The US embassy in Beijing kept in phone contact with us trying to decide if we needed to extracted. The Chinese government capitalized on the catastrophe and convinced the people that this was done because the world didn’t respect them. That they only way to gain respect is to rise up as a united country and to fight the world at large by becoming everything that they have become today. Suddenly the two years worth of discontent and memories of the massacre were forgotten. People turned on us and started (if they hadn’t already) viewing us as the enemy.
Here I am ten years later in another country torn apart. No matter which side of the wall I am on people want to know which side I agree with. And again I have draft answers or flat out lie about where I stand on most everything. It is hard to explain to the new teachers who are arriving why it is so important to lie. Why we can almost never be completely honest with anyone here. I hate it. I am usually overly honest. I am not good at spinning lies.. (I know some of you might argue with this).
Obama is in Cairo and could drop a verbal bomb on us at any point. Everyone here is watching to see what he will say. I honestly have no idea what he could say to smooth things out with the Moslem world with out offending the Israeli world. I need both sides to be equally pacified.
So again I sit and wait to see what the government involved does to my life here. And unlike while I was in Korea, I don’t feel like the average person on the street will hold me completely personally responsible for the whole mess of the world.
and the teachers start coming in from all directions
The teachers are pouring in from all directions….
It started two weeks ago, at first a trickle and now pouring in… By Sunday there will be 11 of us here for the summer. The three teachers that I worked with the past two months are going home in the next few days. And only Sean is coming back next year. It is strange and good to have new blood here. Strange that I am the holder of the knowledge when really I don’t know much of anything about life here.
Last week I moved with the new teachers into a new house on the same end of town as the school but in one of the richest neighborhoods. It is a nice apartment, three bedrooms and two baths. This place is totally modern, western and comfortable. The best part, is that it has it’s own large private garden/patio which is completely private. It is amazing to have outdoor time to relax and still be at home. Over all I feel like I have stepped up in the world.
The only thing is that it is really dusty from people not living here for a few years and there are strange things left around, like slippers, shoes and toothbrushes. It is all so half hazard… that it feels like the people who were here before us fled which makes sense since they left to years ago or so and that is when the Nablus civil war happened.
On Tuesday I gave the teachers two and a half days off to go to Jerusalem to do some sightseeing. It was a bit of a selfish request so that I could have a few days to myself to rest and recover from the school year before jumping into the summer session.
I got several frantic emails from the teachers yesterday telling me that while they were going over the checkpoint from Nablus the person (Palestinian) in front of them in line stabbed an Israeli soldier causing the whole checkpoint to close… and I am sure all kinds of military chaos. When they get back later today I am sure I find out more details but it sounds like they had to take a taxi or a shared mini van through the town to a few checkpoints to find one that was open and then drive all the way around the back roads to get to Ramallah to get to Jerusalem. Not only are they a bit scared about coming back through that checkpoint but naturally they are afraid to take the bus from Ramallah to Nablus (I am equally if not more freaked out about doing it myself with my photoed copied passport… another story)
This pass week there has been fighting between the Palestinian farmers and Israeli settlers right out side the Nablus city limits along the road to Ramallah. The settlers are attacking the busses that we take back and forth… to be honest I haven’t had internet access for about 10 days now, so I am not sure the exact details of what is going on. I need to really sit and read several newspapers on line from several sources and points of view to try and figure out what is going on. The past week the only English news channel we had was “Press TV”, an Iranian English News Channel which has been interesting but I am pretty sure a bit one sided. It makes Aljeezera seem overly pro-western.
A good source of news for what is going on here in English is: www.Maannews.net
It started two weeks ago, at first a trickle and now pouring in… By Sunday there will be 11 of us here for the summer. The three teachers that I worked with the past two months are going home in the next few days. And only Sean is coming back next year. It is strange and good to have new blood here. Strange that I am the holder of the knowledge when really I don’t know much of anything about life here.
Last week I moved with the new teachers into a new house on the same end of town as the school but in one of the richest neighborhoods. It is a nice apartment, three bedrooms and two baths. This place is totally modern, western and comfortable. The best part, is that it has it’s own large private garden/patio which is completely private. It is amazing to have outdoor time to relax and still be at home. Over all I feel like I have stepped up in the world.
The only thing is that it is really dusty from people not living here for a few years and there are strange things left around, like slippers, shoes and toothbrushes. It is all so half hazard… that it feels like the people who were here before us fled which makes sense since they left to years ago or so and that is when the Nablus civil war happened.
On Tuesday I gave the teachers two and a half days off to go to Jerusalem to do some sightseeing. It was a bit of a selfish request so that I could have a few days to myself to rest and recover from the school year before jumping into the summer session.
I got several frantic emails from the teachers yesterday telling me that while they were going over the checkpoint from Nablus the person (Palestinian) in front of them in line stabbed an Israeli soldier causing the whole checkpoint to close… and I am sure all kinds of military chaos. When they get back later today I am sure I find out more details but it sounds like they had to take a taxi or a shared mini van through the town to a few checkpoints to find one that was open and then drive all the way around the back roads to get to Ramallah to get to Jerusalem. Not only are they a bit scared about coming back through that checkpoint but naturally they are afraid to take the bus from Ramallah to Nablus (I am equally if not more freaked out about doing it myself with my photoed copied passport… another story)
This pass week there has been fighting between the Palestinian farmers and Israeli settlers right out side the Nablus city limits along the road to Ramallah. The settlers are attacking the busses that we take back and forth… to be honest I haven’t had internet access for about 10 days now, so I am not sure the exact details of what is going on. I need to really sit and read several newspapers on line from several sources and points of view to try and figure out what is going on. The past week the only English news channel we had was “Press TV”, an Iranian English News Channel which has been interesting but I am pretty sure a bit one sided. It makes Aljeezera seem overly pro-western.
A good source of news for what is going on here in English is: www.Maannews.net
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