a wine and cheese tasting get together with french wine and french cheese.
making plans with people who are amazing.
not happiness but excitement is making plans to go to ramallah and nablus.
oh, and prayer calls at 3:30 am means insomnia.
indeed.
the west bank experience (part 3)
today is the last day for "official" field work for documentary workshop class. so i hightailed it to hebron again, with the notion in mind that it will be my last time. boy, does it make me feel nostalgic. i decided to take egged this time for one reason or another. waiting for the bus was a different experience than the first because there were actually a lot of people milling around, mostly IDF. #160 was completely full. i was aware that there would be a difference in taking an israeli bus and an arab bus but i didn't realize that it would be so drastic. the first blatant difference are the vehicles. the egged bus resemble charter buses, air-conditioned, albeit without bathrooms in the back. the arab buses are old vans, with windows that open sometimes. next are the people. of course, only israelis ride the egged, which isn't to say that israelis do not ride arab buses but they don't make it a habit. the atmosphere was completely different. on the arab buses, the people are an amalgamation of the population. they bustle. they bump. they gossip. they are alive. on the egged, orthodox jews and IDF proliferate. the air is calm and silent. and the lady next to me kept scooting over as if i was diseased. the ride was pleasant, however, because i knocked out, waking up in kiryat arba.
upon my arrival in the old city, i walked around, taking pictures of the people (it's illegal for me but whatever) and the graffiti that occupy the landscape. it was much more livelier than the last i've been. little jewish kids riding bikes and running around. there wasn't much to see since most were out of sight inside so i made my way toward the city. i never had a problem with my passport but they were much more adamant to see it this time, asking questions such as "are you christian?" (no i am not but i said yes.) and finalizing with "you from america?" (yes. [what a freaking dumb question.]) the market area was bustling this time! i was excited to see. i walked toward the women's coop shop and got some shopping done for people back home. while picking out wares, one of the women engaged me in a conversation. i found myself explaining my purpose in hebron and showed her my photos, telling her that i need to start focusing on people, instead of the landscape. she got really excited and said that there was a person i needed to meet and talk to. so she calls him up and tells me that he will meet in 10 minutes and his daughter will pick me up at the checkpoint. wait, there is another checkpoint? (i found out there are 6? 7? checkpoints in hebron. ridiculous!) so the guy i met previously in my group excursion leads me around, showing me places i haven't seen yet. when he delivered me to the daughter, he shamelessly started asking for money, ending with phrases like "as you like" and "please". this guy is really annoying. i don't mean to be callous. what he does is really rude and i don't like being harassed.
i'm sorry but this will have to be continued later. i'm pretty exhausted. ta.
my first security (bomb?) drill
the national security administration or something issued an announcement that yesterday at 11 am, there was going to be a security drill. okay, so i guess the tension between israel and iran are heating up. being from california, i had my share of drills: earthquake, fire, crazy guy in the hall, etc. this was different. i was at school in the library reading and the librarian came over to me to say that at 11, i had to evacuate the area to the auditorium. so at 11, the siren rang and everyone was making their way to the auditorium. this was unlike any other drill because everything was calm and orderly. the auditorium was not big enough to hold all the students in the school so many were standing just outside the doors. and a lot of people were using this time as a photo op and took many pictures. interesting. i heard that while people inside buildings headed toward the nearest shelter, those on the streets just went about as usual. many didn't even realize that it was a security drill. this drill, named turning point 3 (was i not aware of turning points 1 & 2?), is based on a presumption of a missile and rocket attack from all sides, with large-scale terror attacks from within the country itself. this scenario is not fictional, according to deputy defense minister matan vilan'i. somewhat related but not, israel was ranked 141 on the global peace index. i'm beginning to feel sorry for israel as it is surrounded by countries who want to annihilate it.
the rest of the day was rather uneventful. had my first photo crit in documentary photo. was told my photos were very snapshot like and that i needed to hire a tour guide to take me around places so i can get direction.
that is all.
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