How to Love Your Neighbor

Graffiti on the Israeli separation wall dividing Bethlehem.

(photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

Sometimes as I walk down the streets of Bethlehem, it hits me that I'm living in a war zone. Not an officially sanctioned war, with two armies and clear cut boundaries and distinctions between civilian and soldier, but a war nonetheless. In Palestine, there seems to be a war raging between hope and despair, and it's not hard to see why.

The over 60% unemployment rate in Bethlehem means that two out of three people cannot find work. It means that there are families who are suffering, children who are hungry, men and women who are struggling to keep their electricity on or to pay their medical bills.

When I first moved into my new home, I discovered that my town had been without water for ten days. Families were using the last of their stores, and the situation was becoming desperate. People were unable to wash their clothes, bathe, or clean their homes. You can buy bottles of water but that gets expensive very quickly, and those bottles can only go so far.

In our little town of Bethlehem, there is a constant military presence, which only heightens people's fear and paranoia; there always seems to be this sense of impending doom. I walk by clusters of 18 year olds with uniforms and machine guns, and my heart breaks for these children who are learning the most efficient ways to kill their neighbors instead of learning about math and music and art. How far have we fallen if we're teaching bombing instead of blessing?

After reading the above paragraphs, it would be easy to understand if people here had completely given up, if everyone just wallowed in misery and wasted away, but that is not at all what I've found. In fact, the overall attitude I've seen here has completely shocked me, because the overwhelming attitude here is one of hope.

The resilience and faith and hope of these people is humbling. The Christian community that I am connected with is inspiring. People seem to wake up every morning full of peace, confident that God will provide for them. He provided yesterday, and He will provide today. Every morning before the work day begins, we worship together, we pray for those who are struggling, and we ask God to use us to bless each other. And He gives us plenty of opportunities.

We watch children so that their parents can go to the doctor. We give each other rides when cars break down or when people simply don't have enough money for the taxi fare that day. We do laundry for those who have run out of water. We make sure that everyone is fed, without injuring their pride, by inviting those who are struggling over for a big dinner (where we insist that they take the leftovers home because we simply have no room in our kitchen). We go without the extras so that we can chip in to help friends with seemingly insurmountable bills. We rejoice over births and first days of school. We hug and kiss our children, and our friends' children, and strangers' children, because each child is a gift directly from God. We visit those who are sick, and when someone dies, we surround their family with love and support. We celebrate together, and we mourn together.

And I use the term "we" very loosely. I mostly watch in awe of the way that my neighbors take care of each other, and of how they freely give of their time and resources to help those in need. These people are essentially being Christ to one another. It seems to me that instead of breaking them, the injustice and tragedy that they have each experienced has strengthened their faith and their love for each other. No one has much to spare, but what little they do have is used to help everyone else stay afloat. I have to believe that just as Jesus praised the widow who gave all she had in Luke 21, he is praising these people who sometimes give all they have to help their neighbor. I have no doubt that God takes these seemingly tiny offerings and transforms them into something amazing.

As a Westerner, I feel so incredibly honored to be living and working alongside Palestinian Christians who are truly living out what it means to follow Jesus. I have so much to learn about community, loving my neighbor as myself, faith, endurance, and life in general, and I can't imagine better teachers than the ones that I have here in the West Bank. 


Note: A slightly more politically correct version of my post is crossposted here on the MCC Palestine blog. If you'd like more info about what MCC Palestine does and who they work with, their blog is a great place to start!

"A Call From Gaza to the People of Conscience Worldwide"

Disclaimer: This is a letter from a variety of organizations written to inform and alert people about the situation in Gaza. It is much more strongly worded in its political sentiments than I would ever be. While all of the information is true, I feel that by using such strong language, you often end up isolating and offending people instead of encouraging them to learn about the situation and form an educated opinion of their own. I wanted to share it with you because I feel that it is important to stay apprised of the Gaza situation whenever possible (since it is so difficult to get information in or out), but know that these strong sentiments do not necessarily mirror my own.

September 30, 2011

 

Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine

 

We the Palestinians of the Besieged Gaza Strip, are calling on the world: enough inaction, enough discussion, enough waiting – the illegal closure on the Gaza Strip must end.  While attention is focused on the Palestinian bid for statehood in the UN do not forget that the blockade and the suffering continue in Gaza.

 

Shortly after 2006 democratic election which was supervised by people and bodies from the international community, nations formerly supporting aid and cultural organizations in Gaza withdrew their support.  In mid-2007, our borders, controlled by Israel and Egypt, fully closed, locking Palestinians within and preventing imports and exports from crossing our borders.

From December 27 2008 to January 18 2009, Israel waged an all-out slaughter on Gaza, killing over 1,400 Palestinians, the vast majority innocent civilians and among them nearly 400 children, and destroying thousands of homes, businesses, factories and buildings including universities, schools, hospitals and medical care facilities, and damaging vast tracts of our water and sanitation system.

 

Almost three years following after Israel's attacks, almost no homes and few buildings have been rebuilt, our sanitation and sewage system is more dire than ever, raw waste continues to be pumped into our sea – for want of proper treatment facilities – polluting our water and the fish along the coast which fishermen are forced to harvest because the Israeli navy shoots at them if they try to fish more than three miles from the Gaza coast—contaminating our drinking water and food supply. 

 

Our farmers continue to be shot at, maimed and killed by Israeli soldiers along our border, prevented from working, growing and harvesting their land, denying us a rich supply of produce and vitamins.  Nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition continue to rise, affecting our children's growth and their ability to study.  Our economy is shut down by lack of functioning factories and electricity.  Our students hold little to no prospects of exiting for study abroad, even when placements and scholarships have been secured, due to the Israeli control of the Erez crossing and the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing being closed more often than opened. Our sick suffer for want of necessary medications and medical supplies and equipment.

 

Since 2005, over 170 Palestinian organizations have called for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to pressure Israel to comply with international law. Since 2003, Palestinians have weekly met in villages in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, to protest Israel’s occupation policies. 

 

Creative civilian efforts such as the Free Gaza boats that broke through the blockade five times, the Gaza Freedom March, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and the many land convoys must never stop their siege-breaking efforts, highlighting the inhumanity of keeping 1.5 million Gazans in an open-air prison.

 

On the 2^nd of December, 2010, 22 international organizations including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, and Medical Aid for Palestinians produced the report ‘Dashed Hopes, Continuation of the Gaza Blockade’ calling for international action to force Israel to unconditionally lift the blockade, saying that despite the reported June 2010 “easing” of the closure, the Palestinians of Gaza continue to live in the same devastating conditions.  Human Rights Watch published a comprehensive report "Separate and Unequal" that denounced Israeli policies as Apartheid, echoing similar sentiments by South African anti-apartheid activists.

 

We call on the citizens of the world oppose this deadly, medieval blockade. The failure of governments and world bodies to condemn such crimes is tantamount to complicity. Only civil society is able to mobilize to demand the application of international law and put an end to Israel’s impunity. The intervention of civil society was effective in the late 1980s against the apartheid regime of South Africa. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have not only described Israel’s oppressive and violent control of Palestinians as Apartheid, they have also joined this call for the world’s civil society to intervene again.

 

We call on the nations and citizens of the world to continue and/or reinitiate their plans to sail to Gaza to challenge and break the Israeli blockade. The civil society initiatives of the Freedom Flotillas are about taking a stance of justice and solidarity with besieged Palestinians when your governments will not. We call on the Flotilla movement to continue to sail until the blockade of Gaza is entirely lifted and Palestinians of Gaza are granted the basic human rights and freedom of movement citizens around the world enjoy.

Signed:

University Teachers' Association

Palestinian Nongovernmental Organizations Network

Al-Aqsa University

Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza

General Union of Youth Entities

Arab Cultural Forum

General Union for Health Services Workers

General Union for Public Services Workers

General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers

General Union for Agricultural Workers

Union of Women’s Work Committees

Union of Synergies—Women Unit

Union of Palestinian Women Committees

Women’s Studies Society

Working Woman’s Society

Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel

One Democratic State Group

Palestinian Youth against Apartheid

Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Info

Palestine Sailing Federation

Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime

Palestinian Women Committees

Progressive Students Union

Medical Relief Society

The General Society for Rehabilitation

Afaq Jadeeda Cultural Centre for Women and Children

Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children

Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children

Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth

Ghassan Kanfani Kindergartens

Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah

Rafah Olympia City Sisters

Al Awda Centre,

Rafah Al Awda Hospital,

Jabaliya Camp Ajyal Association,

GazaGeneral Union of Palestinian Syndicates

Al Karmel Centre

Nuseirat Local Initiative

Beit Hanoun Union of Health Work Committees

Red Crescent Society Gaza Strip

Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre

Al Awda Centre, Rafah

Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information Society

Women Section - Union of Palestinian Workers Syndicate

Middle East Childrens’  Alliance -Gaza

Local Initiative -Beit Hanoun

How Does This UN Thing Even Work?

(Warning: this post is mostly filled with information that you will probably think is boring. Absolutely no fun stories or embarrassing escapades are present. Read at your own risk.)

So I'm sure that you have all been keeping up with the Palestinian bid to the UN... right? Right.

When talking about it with people who are unfamiliar with the process, the most common question I get is: "why does the US have the power to veto the whole bid?" Good question, and relatively simple answer. So if you are interested in the answer to this question, or even if you would just like a little unofficial United Nations history from someone who is nowhere near an expert, keep reading!

The United Nations was initially founded after WWII in an attempt to give nations a place to talk about their problems and work them out collectively, and therefore hopefully avoid war. It has five primary "organs" (creepy, right?): General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, and the International Court of Justice.

So Abbas (the "President" of Palestine) gave his speech a few weeks ago in front of the General Assembly (a group made up of one representative from each recognized country) that meets periodically in NYC.

NOW. There are currently 193 recognized countries (the newest, South Sudan, was officially recognized in July). In order for a country to be formally recognized, they need to go through an application process. Part of that process is being approved by the Security Council, which consists of a representative from 15 countries. Ten of these countries are elected, and each have 2 year terms. The other five of these countries are "permanent members" of the security council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States).

Side Note: these five are the only countries technically allowed to have nuclear weapons according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty from 1970 (although we know that a few other countries have them too, including Israel).

Anyways, in order for anything to be approved by the Security Council, it needs to be approved by 9 of the 15 countries, BUT, each of these five permanent members have the power to singlehandedly Veto any resolution, including a request for recognized statehood. Another way to say it is that in order to pass a resolution, you need to have a "yes" vote from each of the permanent members, and from 4 of the 10 non-permanent members.

Another side note: since 1982, the U.S. has vetoed 32 Security Council resolutions that were critical of Israel. The US has vetoed 43 resolutions total, meaning that 75% of our vetos were to protect Israel. Comparatively, in the same time period, China has used their veto power a total of 6 times.

Currently, about 140 of the 193 countries support Palestine's bid to the UN (accounting for about 80% of the world population). It's generally the super developed nations (the Global North) versus the not as developed nations (the Global South).

Overall, its quite fascinating to see just how the UN works and what kinds of safeguards have been put in place to protect the powerful countries (some I agree with, and some I don't). Regardless of which side of the Palestine bid you are on, I would encourage each of you to do a little bit of research about the United Nations and find out a bit more about how this whole world governance process works. Who knows... you might be surprised with what you learn.

Things to Get Used to

So I know I said that my next post would include a tour of my beautiful home, but, well, I lied. Giving you a tour would mean that I would need to be fully unpacked, organized, and that things would need to look presentable, and I grossly underestimated how long that would take. Whoops! Instead, I will placate you with five of the things that are incredibly difficult for me to get used to:

1. No Wet Hair!
In the States, if you go out in public with wet hair, people will think you're lazy. Here, people will think you're a slut. Seriously. I'm not supposed to go out with wet hair because apparently, it is "sexy" and makes you seem "easy." SERIOUSLY! In college, at least during the warm months, I went out with wet hair EVERY DAY simply because I was just too lazy to blow dry it. This now means I need to get up early enough every morning to have time to dry my hair, and it means that my poor hair is taking a beating from all of the extra heat.

2. No Sweatpants in Public!
I have not seen a single man, woman, or child wearing sweatpants in public. Now, I don't know if there is some cultural norm that dictates this... or if it's just too hot to wear them right now. BUT I have decided to err on the side of caution and not wear them at all unless I'm sleeping. The way you present yourself (your dress, having your hair done, the shoes you wear, etc.) seems to be very important here, and so I am trying (wayyyyyyy) harder than usual to look presentable. I went the entire month of January last year basically only wearing sweat pants (ok, or yoga pants, but they're basically the same thing, right?). I would say that I just like to be comfortable, but I guess it also goes back to the whole lazy thing.

3. No American Top 40/Pop Culture!
I am absolutely oblivious to all the cool new music/movies/fashion trends! While it is definitely a little strange to be missing all of the new cultural jokes and quotes, it is also a bit freeing. Actually, a lot freeing. Maybe this isn't a difficult thing at all. Although I am a little worried that I'll go home and be completely stunted because I won't be able to pick up on any cultural references whatsoever! But I may be slightly over exaggerating.

4. No Target!
Here, everything seems to be sold in specialty stores. There doesnt seem to be any big "one stop shop," like Target, where I can buy anything my heart desires. So if I needed a cooking pot, a fan, olive oil, and Motrin, I would need to go to the housewares store, the electronics store, the grocery store, and the pharmacy. This wouldnt be a big deal if I had a car, but when you have to take a bus or a taxi everywhere, carrying around multiple bags in and out of multiple stores is a painnnnn. Speaking of that...

5. Relying on Public Transportation!
I have NEVER realized the level of my transportation related spoiledness until now. I have had a car for as long as I've had a driver's license, so I've never had to rely on public transportation or had to bum rides off people. And let me tell you, it is a HUGE transition. When I want to go somewhere, it needs to be planned well in advance. I need to be sure that the bus is still running, or that I am near somewhere that I can find a taxi, or that I can carpool with someone. It has definitely been a switch in my thinking, and sometimes a really frustrating one. It also means that I need to be more conscious of my purchases. If I want to go grocery shopping, I need to make sure not to buy more than I can carry. If I want to make a big purchase, I need to have a plan for how to get it home. No more impulse buys for this girl!

Despite all of these changes (some more major than others), I am finding that I have been adapting to Palestinian culture rather well (if I do say so myself). Some of it has been counterintuitive, but I find that the changes in thinking are easier each day. I haven't had a big bout of homesickness yet, but I know that it is coming, and I'm trying to prepare for it as best I can (by stocking up on Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Harry Potter movies). Anyways, I promise that in the near future, you'll get that tour of my home. Better late than never, right?

I hope that each of you are safe and well. As always, don't hesitate to leave a comment or send me an email if you have any questions or if you just want to chat. Thank you so much to each person who has emailed me over the last week. Your words of encouragement are always the highlight of my day!

All my love to each of you!

Work Visa = SUCCESS!

I GOT MY WORK VISA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I had my appointment at the Ministry of the Interior. The Israeli government doesn't publish it's Visa process, nor do they have anyone whom you can contact with questions about how to apply. This means that the only way you can find out what you need to bring to your appointment is through word of mouth, but because there's no standardized procedure, you can be asked for just about anything depending on who you are talking to and what kind of mood they're in that day. Basically, you're walking in mostly blind, hoping that somewhere within the stack of papers you brought are the documents that they will ask for. It was incredibly nerve-wracking for me, but luckily my experience was fairly smooth and mostly painless. I'm just so glad that it's over... and that I now have a year-long visa!

The other big excitement today is that to get home from my appointment, I rode the bus from Jerusalem, through The Wall, and into Bethlehem ALL BY MYSELF! I know, I know... quite an achievement. I was unbelievably proud.

I promise that in my next post, I'll share all the details about where I'm living. I may even give you a tour of my new home! Get excited!

Palestinian Statehood

I hope that you each had a chance to listen to Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the United Nations today. As the President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, he was responsible for submitting an application for the admission of Palestine as a member of the United Nations. Essentially, Palestine wants to be recognized as an Independent State in hopes that through this they can reclaim their land and gain their freedom. They are currently the only occupied nation in the world. 

Unfortunately, President Obama has already said that even if this application gets approved, the United States, as a staunch supporter of Israel, will use its power to veto the decision. I have found that despite this harsh reality, the Palestinians that I have talked to are incredibly excited about the vote, and seem to hope that this will bring new light and awareness to the injustice that they face every day. Currently, more than 120 countries in the world support the Palestinians by recognizing Palestine as a state. The following map does a good job of showing these countries - the dark green countries recognize Palestine, the silver countries do not, and the lime and olive green countries either outright do not recognize Palestine OR are abstaining from the decision/refusing to comment.

Today was definitely a day filled with joy here in the West Bank. Here is a tiny glimpse into the town of Ramallah during the speech: 

(http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/09/23/idINIndia-59514920110923)

And, for your viewing pleasure, here are two stellar pictures of me in Nativity Square in Bethlehem right before Abbas' speech started:

If you didn't hear the speech, I encourage you to read the transcription of the English translation HERE!

I'll leave you with a quote from the speech that both touched me and hurt my heart:

"The time has come for our men, women and children to live normal lives, for them to be able to sleep without waiting for the worst that the next day will bring; for mothers to be assured that their children will return home without fear of suffering killing, arrest or humiliation; for students to be able to go to their schools and universities without checkpoints obstructing them. The time has come for sick people to be able to reach hospitals normally, and for our farmers to be able to take care of their good land without fear of the occupation seizing the land and its water, which the wall prevents access to. Or fear of the settlers, for whom settlements are being built on our land and who are uprooting and burning the olive trees that have existed for hundreds of years. The time has come for the thousands of prisoners [often only accused of organizing peaceful demonstrations or throwing rocks as they are being attacked] to be released from the prisons to return to their families and their children ... My people desire to exercise their right to enjoy a normal life like the rest of humanity."

I'M HERE!

So after a long (for this impatient American) and quite stressful border crossing... I'M IN PALESTINE! The border crossing here is quite an interesting process, with bus changes and no-mans-land and other interesting facets. But I'm exhausted, and so that is a story for another day (maybe tomorrow?). I got a 1 month tourist visa, but I will inshallah (God willing) have a work visa after my appointment at the Ministry of the Interior next week.

My month of language training in Jordan came to an end after our fantastic IIJP regional retreat (with the MCC staff from Iraq, Iran, Jordan, & Palestine). I had an absolutely incredible time (even though there wasn't any reliable internet... hence my lack of blog posts), and I will definitely give you a summary of the retreat later. In fact, I feel like there are a few blog posts that I need to write in order to officially bring my time in Jordan to a close, but again, those are going to be put off for another day.

It is only 10pm here, but I'm both physically and emotionally exhausted. This day definitely took more out of me than I was expecting. I am currently staying with Ryan and Ingrid, the MCC program administrators in Palestine. They are lovely people and have a beautiful home here on the Mount of Olives. I, along with the other Palestine SALTer, will have a few days of Palestine orientation, and then will be moving into my new home on Friday. I will be living with a host family, but in a separate part of the house. Basically, it is the best of both worlds. I'll have a family to connect and spend time with, but I will also have a bit of privacy and quiet.

I promise that I'll write more once I've had a bit of sleep. Thank you each for your kind words of encouragement, your support, and your prayers. I couldn't do this without you.

Chatting with Taxi Drivers!

So as you may have guessed, my Arabic tends to be slightly subpar. In class, we just moved from only speaking in the past tense, to beginning to learn present tense. I feel like I've gone from knowing a little bit of Arabic, to knowing absolutely nothing. Weird, right? Now that I'm trying to remember two tenses, it seems that everything I've learned has flown out the window.

Now, the majority of the time, this isn't too problematic. The people I've lived with all speak English. The people at the MCC office all speak English. My classmates all speak English. So no problem, right? Wrong. In order for me to get anywhere, I have to take a taxi. Now, while I have encountered a few cab drivers who spoke a bit of English, the vast majority that I've met only speak Arabic. This means that I need to know the name of the place I'm trying to go (which limits my traveling/adventuring down to the three locations I know how to say in Arabic).

Just like in the States, some of the cab drivers don't really talk at all, and some are quite chatty. While most of my rides are pretty quiet, occasionally I'll get a driver who is up for playing the "lets communicate using the 8 words you know in English/the 8 words I know in Arabic/sign language/charades" game! I've even taken to carrying around my Arabic/English dictionary with me so that I can look up a word if need be. 

So far, I've had some incredibly interesting conversations. First, there is usually the "where are you from" guessing game. Most of the time, the US is their first guess, but I've also gotten England and France. Yesterday as I was coming back from class, I had a cab driver who told me "you so tall... beautiful! In Jordan: no tall. In America: TALL! You wear short skirts? In America, wear short skirts!" Keep in mind that he was trying to act out the word "skirt" while driving a taxi (which can sometimes be a dangerous feat here). Hilarious!

I've gotten to sample some pretty incredible Bedouin music with a Bedouin cab driver, discuss Jordanian politics with a Palestinian driver, and have numerous conversations about how difficult it is to learn Arabic and/or English. I've also had three marriage proposals, and two offers to help me convert to Islam. Sadly, I've had to turn down each of these kind offers with the excuse that it would disrespect my family if I got married/converted while I'm away from home. I was told that is the best way to say "thanks but no thanks" ... blame it on your family. I have to say, it has worked out quite well so far.

Being able to talk with cab drivers has been a really great way to not only practice my Arabic, but also to learn more about Jordan. It has also been a great time to help break American stereotypes simply by talking and joking around with people. Also, the drivers are usually shocked that I have green eyes, and they either gape at me for 30 seconds or get absolutely giddy, which is a great way to break the ice.

Overall, I've had a great experience with the drivers here. Every single one of them has been kind and fair. I haven't been ripped off at all yet (which unfortunately happens sometimes, especially if you look like you don't know that 2JD is enough to go just about anywhere in Amman). My car rides have become a highlight of my day, and I'm a little bit sad that my time in Jordan is coming to an end. At the end of this week, we have a retreat with the rest of MCC's Middle East staff, and then I'll be heading to my host family's house in Palestine! Wish me luck in my last week of Arabic classes!

A FEW RANDOM FUN FACTS ABOUT JORDAN

--The super cool/posh/refined thing to drink with my family here is Turkish Coffee. You make it by boiling ground coffee beans in a pot, and then pouring it into a mini size teacup. The grounds settle to the bottom, and you drink until you get to them. The first time I had it, it did not look at all appealing, but it is definitely growing on me!

Turkish Coffee

--The light switches in my house are the opposite from home! In order to turn the light on, you push the switch down, and to turn it off, you push the switch up. I'm always accidentally plunging the room into darkness when I just meant to turn on a second light. Confuuuusing!

--In my host family's house, the TV is almost always on, and it seems that the only things that are ever playing are 90s American action movies. I've seen more random movies in the last two weeks than ever before in my life (Goodfellas anyone?). Even worse, sometimes people don't realize how old they are, and they ask me if "Americans really dress like that?!" And I have to explain that indeed we did... 20 years ago.

--About 40% of the population in Jordan is actually made up of Palestinians, and apparently the percentage in Amman is more around 80%. After the mass-exodus in 1948, many Palestinians came to Jordan, as it was a close and relatively welcoming country. In fact, about 2 million Palestinian refugees live in Jordan, with only about 340,000 still living in refugee camps.

--Amman was originally built on seven different hills, or "Jabals," but now spans 19. Instead of having a "West Side" or a "Tower District," they have "Jabals." You give directions based on these areas, and everyone knows them. For example, I live in Jabal Amman, and the MCC office is in Jebel Weibdeh, two of the oldest areas of Amman. I can tell any taxi driver in the city (whether they speak English or not) which Jabal I want to go to, and I'll get there. 

View from Jebel Weibdeh

--Almost all of the buildings here are made out of concrete or stone, covered with thin slabs of white limestone. This makes it incredibly difficult for me to navigate, since I'm used to having obvious landmarks like: the house with the pink door, or the little log cabin, or the steel office building. I'm getting a little better at this, but it's slow going.

--Some of you may remember the 2005 suicide bombings of the the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Radisson SAS Hotel, and the Days Inn here in Amman that killed 60 and injured 115. Well, I happen to live right across from the Radisson (which has since reopened under the name "Landmark Hotel"), and we have a gorgeous view of it from our kitchen window. I knew that this building looked familiar, but it took me two weeks to place where I knew it from.

Landmark Hotel, Amman

Overall, things in Jordan are wonderful. Language classes are increasingly difficult, and at this point I'm basically just trying to get a firm groundwork of the language that I can build on over the next year, instead of trying to remember every single word, phrase, and concept that we are being taught. I'm definitely a bit overwhelmed, but I just keep telling myself that I only have seven classes left, and so I need to make the most of them.  Because the summer vacation just ended for school-aged children, our language classes have been moved to the afternoon. This is making it a lot easier for me to be awake and functioning in class! I can't believe that I only have another week and a half here in Amman. Soon, I'll be off to Palestine!

BUG BITES & BLISTERS

Today was the two week anniversary of my arrival here in Jordan. While I have definitely had some incredible experiences (which I will be posting about in the next few days, when I'm not feeling quite so whiny), I have also encountered some down-sides and harsh realities to life here. While many of these realities are more abstract, political, or philosophical, there are two physical realities that I have encountered here: bug bites & blisters.

Bug bites continue to be the bane of my existence here in Jordan. I woke up this morning to these beautiful sights: 

Four bug bites on my arm.

SAD FACE.

Nine bug bites on my leg/ankle/foot

Weird angle, I know, but you get the idea.  THIRTEEN NEW BUG BITES. They literally appeared overnight. It seems like such a silly thing to worry about, but they're driving me insane. Its pretty hard to sit still and focus in class for three hours everyday when my body feels like its on fire. I've usually been getting between 8-12 new bites every night for the last two weeks. Do the math. Tragedy.

As a spoiled American, I'm not used to minor inconveniences like bug bites, and I'm even less accustomed to blisters. Walking to and from class each day in flip-flops has given me some pretty intense blisters on both of my feet. I mean, I could wear sneakers, but its sooooo hottttttt. At home, everyone drives everywhere. I live about 5-10 miles from the places I go daily, so driving saves me a lot of time and usually just makes more sense.

All in all, I have a new appreciation for people who deal with these two seemingly insignificant problems. Have bug bites? Just use some Benadryl! Oh wait, WE DON'T HAVE THAT HERE. Bug spray also seems to be non-existant. Got blisters? Just drive. Oh wait, a lot of people throughout the world don't have cars, and definitely don't have spare cash to be spending on taxis. MCC pays for my food, housing, living, and occupancy expenses, which includes taxi rides. This means that when I get blisters, I can just hop in a cab (like I'll definitely be doing tomorrow) knowing that the cost is taken care of. What about the people who can't? What about Jesus, a man who travelled all over present day Israel, Jordan, and Syria in shoes that probably weren't too comfy? He walked and healed and blessed and taught. He changed the world, despite his blisters.

What about the women around the world who have to walk to the market to get food for their families? Today, I was hanging out with Cindy, the MCC representative in Jordan. We walked about a half a mile downhill to the weekly Friday market to get fruits and veggies, and then had to trudge back up the hill, our bags overflowing with produce. By the time we got back to the house, we were both overheated and exhausted. Going to the market was an incredible experience, and I had a great time, but it was sooooo tempting to just get a cab to take me back to the house with those bags. I didn't, mainly because I knew that wouldn't give me an authentic market experience - and I really wanted one. But I had the option. What if it wasn't just a half mile walk back from the market? What if it was a mile walk? Or a five mile walk? Would I still have walked? Who knows. But so many here have no choice but to ignore their aches and pains, bug bites and blisters, and just keep on moving. I admire their determination, and I hope that by the time I leave this place, I will have absorbed a bit of their perseverance.