Hi all—
Not that anybody reads this blog anymore. Hell, I don’t even look at it. But I have been wanting to write down a few things that’s happened over the last few months, and in the back of my head is always the nagging thought that I should update this thing, or write anything at all.
A lot has passed since I last posted (jeez, in March, really?). I got into law school, enrolled in law school, deferred law school for another year, left my internship in Nablus and picked up a full-time job at another NGO along with a year-long, multi-exit B1 visa, aka the Holy Grail for foreigners working in the West Bank. I’ve hit up Greece, Lebanon and Eritrea, lost a couple of friends back to their homes, made a few more, and moved into the most adorable Ottoman-style house with a garden and tentative plans for a puppy named Zan.
All in all I am having a wonderful time here in Palestine. In fact, it’s become so nice and cozy that it feels a little too insulated from the real world. Ramallah is often called a bubble, and with good reason – with the heavy presence of foreigners it is easy to go a few days without speaking any Arabic; the restaurants, bars and general nightlife, though slim by international standards, are a far cry from teetotalling Nablus that shuts down with sundown. Ironically, my peaceful yuppie life in this “conflict zone” has made me reluctant to head back to the US. Seriously, guys, what is going on over there? Quran-burning? Tea parties? The Rangers nearly sweeping the Yankees (woot!)?
But return I will, for fall in New York. So try to get it together before then, ok guys?
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
The paint spill so lovingly swirled on my classroom floor
I told you it was lovely! I wanted it to dry so I could just peel it right off and hang it on the wall or something but I think it would have stuck rather than come up and I didn't want my students trotting through it. Ah well. At least I got a picture.
GlobalGiving Challenge!
From today until April 26, we are competing to earn a spot on the GlobalGiving website, and earn up to US $6,000 from GlobalGiving by being one of the top fundraisers in the Global Open Challenge.
The organization with the greatest number of individual donations will get $3,000, and a separate $3,000 prize will go to the project raising the most money. The second and third place runners up for both achievements will get $2,000 and $1,000 respectively.
This is our opportunity to try the fundraising tools and services that GlobalGiving offers to organizations like ours. In order to keep our project on GlobalGiving longer term, and use their website for ongoing fundraising, we need to raise a minimum of US $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors during the Challenge. You can keep track of our progress on the leaderboard.
You can help us succeed by spreading the word!
Pass along this email to your friends and family and ask them to tell others.
If you are planning to make a donation this year to TYO please do so by going to our project on GlobalGiving between now and December 21.
The organization with the greatest number of individual donations will get $3,000, and a separate $3,000 prize will go to the project raising the most money. The second and third place runners up for both achievements will get $2,000 and $1,000 respectively.
This is our opportunity to try the fundraising tools and services that GlobalGiving offers to organizations like ours. In order to keep our project on GlobalGiving longer term, and use their website for ongoing fundraising, we need to raise a minimum of US $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors during the Challenge. You can keep track of our progress on the leaderboard.
You can help us succeed by spreading the word!
Pass along this email to your friends and family and ask them to tell others.
If you are planning to make a donation this year to TYO please do so by going to our project on GlobalGiving between now and December 21.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Today I am mad at Palestine
Let's just keep this between you and me though ok?
I forget who but someone told me once that when you stay in a country for long enough, you will go through fluctuations in how you feel about it. Sometimes you will absolutely love it there and never, ever want to go home. Other days you will just not GET what is going on around you and why people behave the way they do and you will just want to go home where things are more familiar.
I think I hit that second one today.
Americans are particularly fond of order. In America, you wait in line, you are quiet in a movie theater, you cross the street at an appropriate interval and cars who see you in the street will keep a respectful distance. We even know which side of the escalator is for standing (the right) and which for passing (the left). I've been to a few countries where these rules either don't exist or are generally not followed.
In Palestine it's a bit different I've found. Some of what happened to me today is cultural and will involve me letting go of my American need for control and order, and some of it was just something you'd find wherever you went in the world. I guess this blog is my personal forum, though, so I'm going to vent to you, my dear reader.
It began this morning with my moms' exercise class. For no particular reason at all I am partial to having my students quiet and attentive while I huff and puff and call out the beat and spattered phrases of encouragement in English and Arabic. My ladies, however, are more content to use the time for chatting and dropping in and out of the workout as they see fit. Sometimes "guests" just enter and stand in the doorway and talk with the ladies and hold up the class. For me, as an American, this is disrespectful. For them, I could see how if someone enters a room and you know that person, it would be rude not to talk to them and engage them. This is an example where I should amend what I'm beginning to see as Type A habits to better fit with my surroundings.
In a university classroom, however, this is not the case. With just a few classes left before their second exam, I am stressing myself out trying to make sure that my students are prepared. I try to explain this to them, even drawing out the remaining days on the whiteboard vs. the amount of material we have left to cover. Still, students talk out of turn, talk to each other, complain that I give them homework, and say "khallas! khallas!" when there are five minutes left in their 50-minute class. When they stroll in 15 minutes late to the classroom and I am the middle of teaching, they knock on the door and shake hands with their friends. Someone's cell phone went off at least three times in the class. One student, who I swear I have never seen before, came up and complained about being marked absent so many times. I said, in English I know he could not understand "I don't know who you are. I don't even recognize you. You are *never* in my class." Ugh.
Then, at the end of the day, around 730pm when I'm about to set up my classroom, hang up the costumes I've purchased in the new closet I've had installed, I find a wet, sticky, rather lovely puddle of paint that some unwatched kids have swirled onto my floor. There are paint bottles in the pile of costumes, there is paint in a hat, there are crayons on the floor, there is general disarray. And I realize that unattended children in any country will wreak havoc but this was the icing on the cake today.
So I vented to my blog. Is that healthy or not? Please let's not post cultural relativist arguments on this forum saying that I am being elitist or some such. Today, today, I am mad at Palestine.
I forget who but someone told me once that when you stay in a country for long enough, you will go through fluctuations in how you feel about it. Sometimes you will absolutely love it there and never, ever want to go home. Other days you will just not GET what is going on around you and why people behave the way they do and you will just want to go home where things are more familiar.
I think I hit that second one today.
Americans are particularly fond of order. In America, you wait in line, you are quiet in a movie theater, you cross the street at an appropriate interval and cars who see you in the street will keep a respectful distance. We even know which side of the escalator is for standing (the right) and which for passing (the left). I've been to a few countries where these rules either don't exist or are generally not followed.
In Palestine it's a bit different I've found. Some of what happened to me today is cultural and will involve me letting go of my American need for control and order, and some of it was just something you'd find wherever you went in the world. I guess this blog is my personal forum, though, so I'm going to vent to you, my dear reader.
It began this morning with my moms' exercise class. For no particular reason at all I am partial to having my students quiet and attentive while I huff and puff and call out the beat and spattered phrases of encouragement in English and Arabic. My ladies, however, are more content to use the time for chatting and dropping in and out of the workout as they see fit. Sometimes "guests" just enter and stand in the doorway and talk with the ladies and hold up the class. For me, as an American, this is disrespectful. For them, I could see how if someone enters a room and you know that person, it would be rude not to talk to them and engage them. This is an example where I should amend what I'm beginning to see as Type A habits to better fit with my surroundings.
In a university classroom, however, this is not the case. With just a few classes left before their second exam, I am stressing myself out trying to make sure that my students are prepared. I try to explain this to them, even drawing out the remaining days on the whiteboard vs. the amount of material we have left to cover. Still, students talk out of turn, talk to each other, complain that I give them homework, and say "khallas! khallas!" when there are five minutes left in their 50-minute class. When they stroll in 15 minutes late to the classroom and I am the middle of teaching, they knock on the door and shake hands with their friends. Someone's cell phone went off at least three times in the class. One student, who I swear I have never seen before, came up and complained about being marked absent so many times. I said, in English I know he could not understand "I don't know who you are. I don't even recognize you. You are *never* in my class." Ugh.
Then, at the end of the day, around 730pm when I'm about to set up my classroom, hang up the costumes I've purchased in the new closet I've had installed, I find a wet, sticky, rather lovely puddle of paint that some unwatched kids have swirled onto my floor. There are paint bottles in the pile of costumes, there is paint in a hat, there are crayons on the floor, there is general disarray. And I realize that unattended children in any country will wreak havoc but this was the icing on the cake today.
So I vented to my blog. Is that healthy or not? Please let's not post cultural relativist arguments on this forum saying that I am being elitist or some such. Today, today, I am mad at Palestine.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Things to do in a darkened room
My black box theater has manifold purposes!
While it has yet to host a play, the BBT was specifically requested for a film screening by one of my fellow teachers, Doris. Since I really want this theater to be something that lasts beyond my stay here, I am thinking of adding a white sheet over the window that can be lowered for movie viewing. I would have to add some lining to the crushed-velvet curtain because it is porous and lets light through, but I think that it is very doable. Exciting!
While it has yet to host a play, the BBT was specifically requested for a film screening by one of my fellow teachers, Doris. Since I really want this theater to be something that lasts beyond my stay here, I am thinking of adding a white sheet over the window that can be lowered for movie viewing. I would have to add some lining to the crushed-velvet curtain because it is porous and lets light through, but I think that it is very doable. Exciting!
A great week for the kids' class
Yay! Puppets are the way to go :)
So since the puppets were so successful last semester, I decided to incorporate them again this semester, even though many of my students are veterans of my class. In fact, I'm not sure that they're even signed up for the class, they just come because they came last semester, liked it, and just show up twice a week at the same time! I don't have the heart to turn anyone away, not even the kids who come with 1 or 2 younger siblings in tow. Today I ordered 30 juices for my students (we give them boxes at every class) and had to scrounge around for 3 more! I take it as a sign that they are enjoying the class.
Last semester, as you'll remember from my beautiful photo (I promise to incorporate more photos soon!), I created a beautiful puppet theater that I was immensely proud of and that the kids enjoyed playing with... perhaps a bit too much in fact because it was nearly destroyed within days of its introduction and even after one repair attempt. For today's class I was going to built another one, but exhaustion and a bit of nausea (I've been eating just hummus and Oreos for some time because I can't be bothered to cook!) prevented me from making it in time for class. My sage friend and fellow teacher Doris offered some wonderful wisdom: why not just let the kids make the theaters?
Yes!
I managed to find about 5 or 6 boxes of suitable size and have them ready for class. Then, miracle of miracles, all FIVE of my volunteers showed up today. This was unprecedented. I was able to divide the students into five groups, each headed by a volunteer, and each with a bit of cardboard to cut, paint, sticker and glue into their very own puppet theater.
With all of my kids and volunteers engaged, I was even able to manage one student of mine who has been a bit of trouble. He is a great kid, very funny, but tends to get alienated and wander off with his yo yo. He and I built our theater together and for next class we'll put on a show with it together.
At the end of the class, most of the groups had time to tidy up their space a bit, though some will have to finish their project next week. I handed each a juice box and said "shukran! ma salaama!" and they headed home.
If one out of every ten classes goes as wonderfully as today's, I will be immensely immensely happy :)
So since the puppets were so successful last semester, I decided to incorporate them again this semester, even though many of my students are veterans of my class. In fact, I'm not sure that they're even signed up for the class, they just come because they came last semester, liked it, and just show up twice a week at the same time! I don't have the heart to turn anyone away, not even the kids who come with 1 or 2 younger siblings in tow. Today I ordered 30 juices for my students (we give them boxes at every class) and had to scrounge around for 3 more! I take it as a sign that they are enjoying the class.
Last semester, as you'll remember from my beautiful photo (I promise to incorporate more photos soon!), I created a beautiful puppet theater that I was immensely proud of and that the kids enjoyed playing with... perhaps a bit too much in fact because it was nearly destroyed within days of its introduction and even after one repair attempt. For today's class I was going to built another one, but exhaustion and a bit of nausea (I've been eating just hummus and Oreos for some time because I can't be bothered to cook!) prevented me from making it in time for class. My sage friend and fellow teacher Doris offered some wonderful wisdom: why not just let the kids make the theaters?
Yes!
I managed to find about 5 or 6 boxes of suitable size and have them ready for class. Then, miracle of miracles, all FIVE of my volunteers showed up today. This was unprecedented. I was able to divide the students into five groups, each headed by a volunteer, and each with a bit of cardboard to cut, paint, sticker and glue into their very own puppet theater.
With all of my kids and volunteers engaged, I was even able to manage one student of mine who has been a bit of trouble. He is a great kid, very funny, but tends to get alienated and wander off with his yo yo. He and I built our theater together and for next class we'll put on a show with it together.
At the end of the class, most of the groups had time to tidy up their space a bit, though some will have to finish their project next week. I handed each a juice box and said "shukran! ma salaama!" and they headed home.
If one out of every ten classes goes as wonderfully as today's, I will be immensely immensely happy :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Curtain
I just put up the curtain in my classroom. Couldn't find the ladder so I placed a plastic chair on top of a wobbly table and then climbed up myself... like a cat I tell you! I was hoping the effect would be transformative, but it's not... the curtain is a bit long so I think I'm going to use the extra material to make the hanging part from the top you know what I'm talking about? Yeah that part. It is blue crushed velvet-- wanted red but the fabric store did not have it in a material I liked. It is supposed to be like a theater curtain, which I think it is... it just needs a bit more pizzazz.
I will post a picture as soon as I like the look of the room. Which hopefully will be soon.
I will post a picture as soon as I like the look of the room. Which hopefully will be soon.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Masochism
Remember how my women's class was a bit large and crowded? Well of course I volunteered to split the class into two groups and teach two more days a week. So that's four 90 minute dance classes a week (6 hours) + two 90 minute kids classes a week (3 hours) + 6 hours of outside English teaching = 15 hours of teaching a week. I haven't even begun working on the grant project yet either, which will begin on the 28th (tentatively).
I'm sure I can manage it all but I just hope that I'm not spreading myself too thin and therefore not giving enough to each. Inshallah everything will go wonderfully. :)
I'm sure I can manage it all but I just hope that I'm not spreading myself too thin and therefore not giving enough to each. Inshallah everything will go wonderfully. :)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Seeking Play
I remarked the other day to a friend about how independent the children in Palestine are. Unlike in the US, kids here roam the streets in unsupervised packs which, in combination with the sometimes erratic and dangerous driving that goes on, is enough to make my heart catch.
When I walk through the city I sometimes watch the kids at play and am impressed with their ingenuity. As the roads of Nablus are torn up for reconstruction, I see children hop over newly carved ditches in the pavement. I have seen kids race dropped plastic bags from balconies like parachutes. Today two boys shared a pair of rollerblades between them, one left footed, the other right.
Children are remarkably resilient everywhere in the world, able to find recreation wherever they happen to land. Nonetheless, seeing this reinforces to me why organizations like TYO are so important. Simply, every kid deserves a childhood.
When I walk through the city I sometimes watch the kids at play and am impressed with their ingenuity. As the roads of Nablus are torn up for reconstruction, I see children hop over newly carved ditches in the pavement. I have seen kids race dropped plastic bags from balconies like parachutes. Today two boys shared a pair of rollerblades between them, one left footed, the other right.
Children are remarkably resilient everywhere in the world, able to find recreation wherever they happen to land. Nonetheless, seeing this reinforces to me why organizations like TYO are so important. Simply, every kid deserves a childhood.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
My first week with the kids
I adore this picture. For the first day of class, I had my kids make t-shirts with their names on them in Arabic and English. I'm determined this semester to learn all of my kids' names. This little girl (Rihana!) decided to write منظمة شباب الغد : صف بياتا which means "Tomorrow's Youth Organization, Bieta's Class". It's like I have a team and she's on it! I love it. I laughed very heartily when I saw it.
In addition to making t-shirts, I also took pictures of their faces and had them draw little paper frames. I am going to put up framed pictures of them on the wall outside of my classroom with a big sign over it that says "Cast". I thought this was very clever, try not to disabuse me of it.
So the first class went well, and with the help of resident arts and crafts expert (and awesome friend!), Kelsey, the second class went well too. I had them affix their pictures to the frames (I needed time to print all of them out), we went came up with a list of rules for the class together, and then they made pop up cards. The pop up cards were 100% Kelsey's idea and they were a big hit. It can be difficult at times to fill up an entire hour and a half class, but I've managed okay so far. Definitely my volunteers have been an amazing help this time around and I pray that they stick around for the rest of the semester.
How's my New Year's Resolution coming? Sticking it out pretty well so far, eh?
Post on TYO blog
I sometimes write blog posts for TYO's blog as well, and here's one, complete with a very silly picture of me from Cairo.
Plans for 2010
Some people have had the audacity to nag me about how frequently I update this blog. But please interpret my lack of updates as attributed to how diligently I'm working at TYO! :)
Now that I've essentially wrapped up 2009, I think it's time to move into the new decade and tell you all about my very exciting plans for this semester! In terms of classes, I'll have the same ones-- I'll be teaching drama to the kiddies and dance to the moms. I really felt like I had learned so much about those classes in the last semester that I would be able to put towards making them better that I opted to teach the same classes again.
This past week has been my first week of classes and they went really well. My mothers' exercise class has about doubled in size (maybe good word of mouth!) and I have lost my lovely fellow intern Nachel back to the US, so it's just me and about 30 ladies looking to get in shape! So far it's been going really well. I've recycled all of the material that I used last semester, since it took a very long time to come up with and teach. As the class progresses I will phase out the old stuff and introduce new stuff. Right now I am ending each class with a few salsa steps that I hope to incorporate later. Arab dancing uses a lot of hips just like Latin dancing so the women have a serious advantage in that respect.
My drama class also began this week, though since the first few weeks are usually pretty hectic and class attendance and enrollment will fluctuate, I've been holding off delving into the real theatrical stuff. Plus, I got the go-ahead to make a black box theater out of my classroom, but painting got held up so it's not quite ready yet. The walls are black now and it makes the room look AMAZING. I hope to put up a great curtain, some decorations, add in a costume/prop area and a corner for my revitalized puppet theater (the last one got a bit destroyed from some overenthusiastic play last semester). I really believe that the ambience of the classroom will make a huge difference and really portray to the students the idea of theater.
I am also trying to reach out to local theater companies to see if they would like to collaborate with me and TYO. I hope to bring my students on a field trip to see a professional play and even to have a troupe come to TYO to do a workshop. And there is the slightest possibility that I may even help to facilitate an international theater group in coming to Nablus to perform and/or do a workshop. More on this as it develops!
In teaching the moms dance here, I have realized how much I enjoy dancing and teaching dance and I want to try and expand that to a forum where I could essentially just do that... most of the moms are looking for a workout rather than an art form. So, I have run it by the powers that be here at TYO that I would like to offer a hip hop dance class to the young ladies of Nablus who might be interested. Given scheduling conflicts and priority classes, that has yet to be arranged, but fingers crossed than within a few weeks I will be popping and locking in Palestine! (I like that... Pop and Lock Palestine... hmmm....)
In addition to the above (woo! i am a busy girl!) I have been accepted to participate in a new grant project here at TYO called the United Nations' Alliance of Civilizations. Along with the two new interns that we will receive in a couple of weeks, I will be working with Palestinian volunteers to create a multimedia guide to life and culture in Nablus. I am extremely excited about this project and you can read more about it here.
I think that that just about wraps up my plans for this semester here in Nablus. If you stuck with me this far, thanks! You are a serious trooper. :)
Now that I've essentially wrapped up 2009, I think it's time to move into the new decade and tell you all about my very exciting plans for this semester! In terms of classes, I'll have the same ones-- I'll be teaching drama to the kiddies and dance to the moms. I really felt like I had learned so much about those classes in the last semester that I would be able to put towards making them better that I opted to teach the same classes again.
This past week has been my first week of classes and they went really well. My mothers' exercise class has about doubled in size (maybe good word of mouth!) and I have lost my lovely fellow intern Nachel back to the US, so it's just me and about 30 ladies looking to get in shape! So far it's been going really well. I've recycled all of the material that I used last semester, since it took a very long time to come up with and teach. As the class progresses I will phase out the old stuff and introduce new stuff. Right now I am ending each class with a few salsa steps that I hope to incorporate later. Arab dancing uses a lot of hips just like Latin dancing so the women have a serious advantage in that respect.
My drama class also began this week, though since the first few weeks are usually pretty hectic and class attendance and enrollment will fluctuate, I've been holding off delving into the real theatrical stuff. Plus, I got the go-ahead to make a black box theater out of my classroom, but painting got held up so it's not quite ready yet. The walls are black now and it makes the room look AMAZING. I hope to put up a great curtain, some decorations, add in a costume/prop area and a corner for my revitalized puppet theater (the last one got a bit destroyed from some overenthusiastic play last semester). I really believe that the ambience of the classroom will make a huge difference and really portray to the students the idea of theater.
I am also trying to reach out to local theater companies to see if they would like to collaborate with me and TYO. I hope to bring my students on a field trip to see a professional play and even to have a troupe come to TYO to do a workshop. And there is the slightest possibility that I may even help to facilitate an international theater group in coming to Nablus to perform and/or do a workshop. More on this as it develops!
In teaching the moms dance here, I have realized how much I enjoy dancing and teaching dance and I want to try and expand that to a forum where I could essentially just do that... most of the moms are looking for a workout rather than an art form. So, I have run it by the powers that be here at TYO that I would like to offer a hip hop dance class to the young ladies of Nablus who might be interested. Given scheduling conflicts and priority classes, that has yet to be arranged, but fingers crossed than within a few weeks I will be popping and locking in Palestine! (I like that... Pop and Lock Palestine... hmmm....)
In addition to the above (woo! i am a busy girl!) I have been accepted to participate in a new grant project here at TYO called the United Nations' Alliance of Civilizations. Along with the two new interns that we will receive in a couple of weeks, I will be working with Palestinian volunteers to create a multimedia guide to life and culture in Nablus. I am extremely excited about this project and you can read more about it here.
I think that that just about wraps up my plans for this semester here in Nablus. If you stuck with me this far, thanks! You are a serious trooper. :)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
2009: A Recap
Ah yes, remember that New Year's Resolution of mine? Well February is as good a time as any to begin it. January 1 is a rather arbitrary date anyways...
At the end of last year I completed my first semester here at TYO and I think it went off pretty well. True, the size of my drama class had dwindled over the weeks but I had a core group of girls who showed up early and left late so I couldn't have been doing too badly, don't you think? I think that the moms were pleased with the exercise class as well and (preview!) I saw some familiar faces at my first moms' class for this semester... repeat customers eh?
I was a bit reluctant to go home for Christmas when I did. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to see my loved ones, but I have really begun to look at Palestine as my home. To give you some perspective, the address on my driver's license is that of my brother's apartment in Brighton, a place that I've only visited... and he doesn't even live there anymore. Outside of being wherever whoever I love is, home is as much Nablus right now as it is Boston... probably moreso. Even in my last few weeks here I had wonderful experiences and met wonderful new people.
A quick hello to all of you that I saw when I was home, and especially to those of you that I didn't get a chance to see... a fair lot of you in fact. I miss you all terribly and you should come to freaking Nablus to visit me :)
At the end of last year I completed my first semester here at TYO and I think it went off pretty well. True, the size of my drama class had dwindled over the weeks but I had a core group of girls who showed up early and left late so I couldn't have been doing too badly, don't you think? I think that the moms were pleased with the exercise class as well and (preview!) I saw some familiar faces at my first moms' class for this semester... repeat customers eh?
I was a bit reluctant to go home for Christmas when I did. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to see my loved ones, but I have really begun to look at Palestine as my home. To give you some perspective, the address on my driver's license is that of my brother's apartment in Brighton, a place that I've only visited... and he doesn't even live there anymore. Outside of being wherever whoever I love is, home is as much Nablus right now as it is Boston... probably moreso. Even in my last few weeks here I had wonderful experiences and met wonderful new people.
A quick hello to all of you that I saw when I was home, and especially to those of you that I didn't get a chance to see... a fair lot of you in fact. I miss you all terribly and you should come to freaking Nablus to visit me :)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Sad News in Nablus
I am keeping this blog as apolitical as I possibly can, as I'd like to keep the focus on TYO and the good things that we are doing for our community there. Nevertheless, I don't think that it is breaking my rule to tell you all that three Nabulsis were killed in Nablus the day after Christmas by the IDF. They were suspected of the murder of an Israeli settler.
The BBC has some pretty disturbing footage from what I now consider to be my home. It can be easy to forget, up in the compound that is the TYO Masri building, that you are living under occupation. Other than the fighter jets that fly over and sometimes drop low for sonic booms, there is no immediate evidence of occupation. I don't even encounter Israelis except when we pass through checkpoints on the way to other cities. Something like this reminds me of the real situation of the conflict.
The BBC has some pretty disturbing footage from what I now consider to be my home. It can be easy to forget, up in the compound that is the TYO Masri building, that you are living under occupation. Other than the fighter jets that fly over and sometimes drop low for sonic booms, there is no immediate evidence of occupation. I don't even encounter Israelis except when we pass through checkpoints on the way to other cities. Something like this reminds me of the real situation of the conflict.
Monday, January 4, 2010
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