From Batman movie screenings, to Bowling to going away get togethers, the community of international volunteers here is warm and inviting, and ready to share and talk about experiences they have had as well as listen to your experiences.
I now have a travel buddy for my 4 days in Jordan! Also I am going to cancel the insanely expensive tour that I was going to go on and we will be touring it together with the Jordan Pass. Tariq, a Canadian that has been here for almost three months teaching leaves about the same time as I do, so I am excited to get to spend some time adventuring through Jordan with him. Side note, Jordan is a Kingdom, just incase people did not know, I did know kingdoms still existed. On top of being a kingdom their Jordanian Dinar is currently toping the dollar, so the country is doing well for itself despite taking in countless Palestinian and recently Syrian refugees. We will be heading towards Petra and the Wadi Rum for sure, from their I will probably see Amman before heading back to Tel Aviv.
When I think about the intentions I set, I realize that I have kept to them, working out every morning on the Porch, Reading about 20-40 pages a day of my book. Playing guitar before dinner, and posting to this blog regularly, and cooking quite a few meals, though I still have not found the super market, but the open market in the old Roman city of Nablus will just have to do.
In addition to these intentions, I have been at Cambridge every day, going out every night and I spent some time at a vocation school Wednesday building a bench. I have to go into more detail about this school. These are boys from 14-18 that were not doing well in high school, so they were sent to a rehab/vocational school. Everyone told me they were unruly, did not listen and that I should wear some layers so they do not focus on my body.
When I arrived I figured I would get a gist of what the school was mike maybe do some team building exercises, and then from that I could plan for a following lesson. Turns out they wanted to build something right away. So, being the project lead from Rebuilding Together that has been ingrained into me, I began teaching the young men how to build a bench. Mind you, I was speaking english and working on our measurement system from the states, and they were speaking arabic and using the metric system. Regardless, we were able to build the majority of the bench, and we will be finishing the bench Sunday. I had the opportunity to see some of the other projects they have worked on and it put my bench to shame. I had to explain that my design was not for aesthetics, but for utility. Next time I go I will be prepared, with close towed shoes, and I will ditch the flowy clothing. We finished the day with some arm wrestling matches. These kids have so much potential, and so much energy, that sitting still in a classroom was not an option yet they worked very well ads a team in a shop, and they respected and listened to the advice I had to give as minimal as that was.
Today I will be heading to Jerusalem and them on to Hebron. Hebron has the most visible signs of the occupation, so that will be very interesting to see and to remember. Tomorrow I am thinking about going to a demonstration, not to participate but to observe and witness.
I am excited to return to the vocational school Sunday and finish what we began. When I got home last night I saw a beautiful Red Sunset, as I heard the call to prayer, and this view, this instance on the porch is something I look forward to every night, maybe being here gets me away from the multitude of responsibilities I otherwise would have in the states and that is why this is so enjoyable. I have a feeling that it is meaningful to me because it is fleeting and I know that I only have so many sunsets to watch over this city, middle eastern sunsets are absolutely beautiful.
More to come when the weekend is up,
-Jliv
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