I have been living in our current house since the last week of May and it has seen so many people come and go out of it. It is a shame, I should have been taking photos of each of the occupants, it would have made a great collage. First there was Lacey (who had been teaching in Ethiopia and Egypt), Stephanie (a friend of mine from America), Adam (who came with a suitcase of stuff for my my beloved sister Genevieve sent for me, they were neighbors) and I. We then went to Ramallah and got Mike from Canada who found out about the job via Twitter. They all went for a few days to Jerusalem (which is when the stabbing at the checkpoint took place right in front of them, less than two feet away)The same day they departed, Kim Chi showed up back from her tour of Israel. The others returned with Lee, fresh from England. At that point it seemed like this little house of ours was jam packed full of people. So Adam when over to my old apartment to start cleaning and we were finally going to separated into the "girls' house and boys' house". Only Adam got there and decided that it was too much for him and we never saw or heard from him again. So later in the day the rest of the boys went over and moved into the house together as a pack. They came back for dinner that night with Fr. Vincent and in the middle of dinner two more teachers showed up, Kim and Tony. They had been friends before coming and had met during their study abroad program in Morocco. When we told Kim about the teacher running away that morning she called her boyfriend back home in Arizona and asked him if he would be interested in coming for the summer. He dropped out of summer school that same day and five days later arrived. Summer school started short one teacher... Samar, a Palestinian American who was spending the summer with his family in Jerusalem. He hadn't been back to the Holy Land in more than five years. He was suppose to come one day late but called Saturday night and said he would be arriving a week later. Madness!!!! The first week of school, i not only had to run around being the director but also figure out how to teach his class for him. By the time Samer actually arrived we realized that we had a problem. The five boys who lived at the boys house across town would not fit into one taxi. We hadn't budgeted for two taxi's so the only solution to the problem was if one of he guys moved back to the girls house and lived in the dinning room. So Dylan became a member of our crazy household which brought us back to a party of seven.
The summer continued faster than i could believe have imagined and suddenly it was the end of July. We need to give up our least on the old place, now known as the boy's house. which meant everyone there needed to move into the girl's place. All with in one day Mike, Dylan, Kim, Stephanie and I left for vacation to Jordan (I was the only one planning on returning) and Lee and Tony moved in. There was a week that Kim, Lacey, Amy, Tony, Lee and Lee's girlfriend all lived here. Along with some random Belgian guy that Lacey met wandering the streets of Ramallah. (our neighbors still ask about him)
I returned a week later (on a saturday) right as Lee and his girlfriend took off for a small trip to Hebron. Amy was gone but the others were all still around. Sunday afternoon, I drove Kim and all her belongings to the Tel Aviv airport for a Monday morning flight. And then Monday I drove back to Tel Aviv with Lacey, Lee and his girl friend. We dropped Lacy off at the bus station so she could take a series of buses that would get her to Cairo and Lee and his girlfriend got dropped off by the beach where they hung out till midnight and then went to the airport for a seven AM flight.
The whole airport thing is crazy. Most of the flights leave around 5 or 6 am. And Israel has a serious departing immigration procedure. It is actually harder to get out of the country than in the country for those of us who have stayed here a long time. We are very suspicious!!! The one thing that Israeli immigration doesn't want us doing is working/volunteering in the West Bank or Gaza, for many reasons. My dear friend Meirav explained to me that it has been known to happen that tourist like myself have been asked to take a letter or book or something small to people at home and it turned out to be a bomb or something harmful. Other people have gotten in trouble for taking out Pro-Palestinian memorabilia. One of my co-workers who will remain nameless for her own good bought about a dozen flags from all the different fractional groups her in Palestine. Her Hamas and Fatah flags were by far the most tame. It is amazing the things you can find at the intifada stores here in Nablus. My co-worker Isabel used to get strip searched every time she entered or left the country because she had stamps in her passport from Yeman and Jordan.
I know when I came back into Israel from Egypt a few weeks ago, I was given a very hard time for having so many pages of stamps in my passport (it is a 48 page passport with three pages that still have room) I am going to get a new Passport in September when i get paid since this one expires soon and i am hoping the clean passport will help me get out of the country when it is time for me to leave.
Once i returned from that trip to Tel Aviv to drop off the others it was just Tony and I. We spent the entire week cleaning up the place. When we moved in, we had cleaned everything well enough to live here for the summer but it was still pretty gross. The family that owns this house fled Palestine for Jordan during the 2007 mini-civil war here between Hamas and Fatah. Their daughter is still here and she rented it out to us. No one has lived her since and it was very obvious that they fled in the middle of the night or at least very suddenly by the random things that were left everywhere..
odd shoes, tooth brushes, random sheets or blankets on beds, Presents wrapped, a full suitcase of baby clothes.. We just kept shoving all the stuff in trash bags or random cupboards.
It was finally time to really clean and organize everything....
We had to re arrange furniture, go through bags and bags of stuff, dust, mop, clean everything.
and then the newest batch of teachers started showing up.
First there was Maureen from South Africa. A few days later, Lou from central California also arrived. And right after him, Sean came back. Only Sean lives in the basement apartment here.
So once again it is time to make a major clean re-arrange some stuff and get ready for Jess. She is going to be the new first grade teacher.
Safwan, my beloved, is desperate for her arrival!!! He has been so heart broken over Kim's departure and is very confused about who will be teaching him next.
She arrives tomorrow so i guess i need to get up off my behind and start sweeping and "mopping" ..
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
All the fuss
For five months now i have been preparing and being warned about Ramadan!!!! According to all the other teachers I worked with last year, Ramadan is a very traumatic time for the internationals here.
For those of you not familiar with Ramadan:
It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, sexual conduct, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until sunset [1] Fasting is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality. Ramaḍān is a time to fast for the sake of Allah, and to offer more prayer than usual. Muslims also believed through good actions, they get rewarded seventy times as much as they normally can achieve. During Ramaḍān, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds.
My first experience with Ramadan was in Indonesia in 1998. I arrived in Java about half way through the month and was completely overwhelmed by it. I had never even heard of Ramadan until then and didn't know what was going on. All i knew was the people were very cranky but I wasn't actually sure why. And then I went to the next island over, Bali and it couldn't have been more opposite. and I figured out why, that the people on Java were just hungry but the Balinese were eating all day long and more cheerful. My theory was proven when I went back to Java three weeks later and the general personality had changed dramatically.
Last year i was assured that the bad mood of the people truely defeated the spiritual purpose of Ramadan. Which assume is much like how at Christmas time at home I get stressed out and start counting my pennies more since i need to spend more even though i know i should be focusing on many other things like giving and family time.
I have also been warned that this Ramadan is one of the hardest ones because this year it is taking place at the end of the summer. The actual date of when Ramadan starts is based on the Islamic calendar and the sightings of the moon. Last year it was further into the fall. Back in 1998 it was in February.
School was suppose to have started over a week ago but the ministry of education keeps pushing the start of school back trying to help make it easier with Ramadan. Even the children fast here starting around 2nd or 3rd grade. The have pushed the beginning of school back to the first of September. There are rumors that it might be pushed all the way back to the end of Ramadan because of a fear of Swine flu. I think the Palestinian ministry of education was a bit thrown off when at the beginning of summer the surrounding Arab countries announced that the school year wouldn't start until the end of Ramadan.
The major issue this year isn't food, but during Ramadan you don't drink. We live in the desert and it is hot... I don't know how the kids are going to do it not even drinking during the day. Which is why the school day starts late and ends early.
People get up around 4:30 am to eat and pray for the day and then go back to sleep until around 7:45 or 8. School starts at 8:30 and gets out at 1:30. Everyone goes home to take a nap until around 6:30 when the drummer comes to tell them to eat.
As internationals no one expects us to fast. We are encouraged to but are pushed to fast. (teased a little, but that's to be expected) However culturally it would be very disrespectful for us to eat or drink in front of anyone. The school kitchen is tucked away and we have been informed that if we want to eat or drink anything to go there and close the door.
I have also been told that the first two weeks are the hardest and don't expect anyone to be thinking straight or functioning well.
I have heard rumors about a guy who goes around with a drum in the morning to wake people up for prayer and early breakfast and then comes around at the end of the day to remind them to eat.
I am sure i will have a lot more to tell everyone as it gets under way. I am trying to prepare, but I am not sure what i should do to prepare for it.
I know all of the sharwma stands will be closed but i was told the little shops should be open. Hopefully I won't have a problem finding my water and coke zero even if I have to hide to drink it.
For those of you not familiar with Ramadan:
It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, sexual conduct, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until sunset [1] Fasting is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality. Ramaḍān is a time to fast for the sake of Allah, and to offer more prayer than usual. Muslims also believed through good actions, they get rewarded seventy times as much as they normally can achieve. During Ramaḍān, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds.
My first experience with Ramadan was in Indonesia in 1998. I arrived in Java about half way through the month and was completely overwhelmed by it. I had never even heard of Ramadan until then and didn't know what was going on. All i knew was the people were very cranky but I wasn't actually sure why. And then I went to the next island over, Bali and it couldn't have been more opposite. and I figured out why, that the people on Java were just hungry but the Balinese were eating all day long and more cheerful. My theory was proven when I went back to Java three weeks later and the general personality had changed dramatically.
Last year i was assured that the bad mood of the people truely defeated the spiritual purpose of Ramadan. Which assume is much like how at Christmas time at home I get stressed out and start counting my pennies more since i need to spend more even though i know i should be focusing on many other things like giving and family time.
I have also been warned that this Ramadan is one of the hardest ones because this year it is taking place at the end of the summer. The actual date of when Ramadan starts is based on the Islamic calendar and the sightings of the moon. Last year it was further into the fall. Back in 1998 it was in February.
School was suppose to have started over a week ago but the ministry of education keeps pushing the start of school back trying to help make it easier with Ramadan. Even the children fast here starting around 2nd or 3rd grade. The have pushed the beginning of school back to the first of September. There are rumors that it might be pushed all the way back to the end of Ramadan because of a fear of Swine flu. I think the Palestinian ministry of education was a bit thrown off when at the beginning of summer the surrounding Arab countries announced that the school year wouldn't start until the end of Ramadan.
The major issue this year isn't food, but during Ramadan you don't drink. We live in the desert and it is hot... I don't know how the kids are going to do it not even drinking during the day. Which is why the school day starts late and ends early.
People get up around 4:30 am to eat and pray for the day and then go back to sleep until around 7:45 or 8. School starts at 8:30 and gets out at 1:30. Everyone goes home to take a nap until around 6:30 when the drummer comes to tell them to eat.
As internationals no one expects us to fast. We are encouraged to but are pushed to fast. (teased a little, but that's to be expected) However culturally it would be very disrespectful for us to eat or drink in front of anyone. The school kitchen is tucked away and we have been informed that if we want to eat or drink anything to go there and close the door.
I have also been told that the first two weeks are the hardest and don't expect anyone to be thinking straight or functioning well.
I have heard rumors about a guy who goes around with a drum in the morning to wake people up for prayer and early breakfast and then comes around at the end of the day to remind them to eat.
I am sure i will have a lot more to tell everyone as it gets under way. I am trying to prepare, but I am not sure what i should do to prepare for it.
I know all of the sharwma stands will be closed but i was told the little shops should be open. Hopefully I won't have a problem finding my water and coke zero even if I have to hide to drink it.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
first day back
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
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
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.
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