I have too much to write tonight, and I don’t have time to write it. But, last night I walked from Bethlehem to Beit Sahour after getting a tour of the Nativity Church (on accident) and being told that a silver and opal necklace was really worth $150 US dollars and that I definitely needed this.
Hmm.
And then there was my new friend Tony, who invited me to this house for tea this afternoon. It was really really awkward, and I think I had a hard time differentiating between genuine Palestinian hospitality, and being hit on by a Bethlehem hair-stylist.
And then there is my internship – I played soccer with kids today and hung out with Rami, a very cool guy. I loved our time together, but…I had to ask myself – what am I going to leave the Middle East with? I came here with two goals:
1) To learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
2) To learn more about interfaith dialogue (primarily within the Christians and Muslims)
I feel like if I spend all summer playing soccer with kids, I don’t know how I’m going to be accomplishing these goals. So, I am not sure what that means for my internship, and for the rest of my time here, but I have a feeling I am going to be taking the initiative more, and hooking myself up with more and more contacts, traveling more around the area, and doing my own research and interviews. Hopefully. I’ll definitely keep you updated.
Arabic is still hard. Of course, it doesn’t help when you’re nodding off and falling asleep and then you open your eyes and your Arabic professor is looking at you, asking you a question in Arabic.
Yah, that doesn’t work…