So, yesterday Stephen and I made a trip to Dearborn. Most of you have probably heard about this city so many times, but for those who haven’t it is a Detroit suburb that is known for having the highest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East. We had a really good time. While it is obviously American, it still has a Middle Eastern flavor. Where we explored all the shops had Arabic signs and everyone inside them spoke English and Arabic. We found some great Baklava and rice that looked just like Kareema’s. Also there are some grocery stores with some authentic Arab brands, like Lipton’s Yellow Label, which Steve Byers said he has never found in America; it was the powder tea. One weird thing we noticed was that every woman in a higab seemed to be driving an SUV, whether a Jeep Cherokee or even a Hummer.
The most exciting thing is that on June 15-17, there is going to be an Arab Festival. According to the website there will be over 300,000 people there. It seems like it will be really fun and mumkin a good excuse for people to visit Michigan. Stephen and I were thinking that everyone and anyone that can make it should come to Dearborn. I live a little over an hour from the festival and my house is open for people to come stay at. This was our idea, go hang out at the festival and then come to my house and hang out on the lake(swimming, fishing, mumkin jet skiing) and then camp out in the fields/woods or something like that. Stephen and I are pretty much for sure going to the festival so anyone who wants to join us, you are welcome. Just get a hold of one of us and we’ll figure it out.
-Jami
http://www.americanarab.com/ - festival website
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
News from the Heartland...of Christian Zionism
Hey ya'll
Now I know Oklahoma is not a fabulous far-off country, but, as it does hold the cherished title of the heart of Christian Zionism, I thought I would keep you abreast of recent developments. First, 2007 is the centennial for Oklahoma, so we are full of patriotic state songs full of Oklahoma pride. Don’t get me wrong, Oklahoma is home and I see many of its good qualities despite is lack of natural beauty, resources, or strategic location. Basically, most Oklahomans are campaigning for the greatness of the state and America despite themselves, due to the overwhelming saturation of cheesy songs and posters.
My church held the “Prophecy Conference” this past weekend. Complete with Tim Lahaye as the keynote speaker (I thought the Left Behind books were supposed to be a joke…) I heard a sermon this morning where he mourned the recent death of Jerry Falwell, and claimed that he is the most influential Christian (greater than Billy Graham he specifically noted) and that Christ himself will walk out of the gates of heaven to welcome Jerry Falwell into heaven. Now, I am not questioning his salvation, all I am saying is that those where some pretty strong words. Furthermore, he claimed Regan (who is the greatest president of the last century in case you were wondering) would not have been elected without Falwell, and the Holy Land would not be secure without Regan. The majority of his sermon was focused on the importance of prophecy (if it could be said there was a focus besides praising Falwell) and how the knowledge of Christ returning changed how we live. I am not saying it doesn’t, or that prophecy is valueless, but we all know the problems with the church’s obsession with preparing the way for the messiah.
Luckily, I think his style and over-politicization of the sermon (he even urged us to register and vote!) was a bit too much for the congregation, despite our dedication to the end times. I had most of my friends at the back of the church wanting to see if I would spew. I didn’t, I just laughed. But my brother made some unkind comment about Jerry Falwell and that really pissed my mom off to see that he too was going down a wayward path of non-bible-believing-damn-liberals! Haha…she didn’t talk all of lunch. My brother’s thoughts are totally his own from his school-no influence of mine!
One other side note. The major Christian book store in these parts is Mardel. I was in there the other say trying to help my mom find a devotion book for her junior girls (there is a sweet one on girl advice by ReliantK and one in the style of Napoleon Dynamite—I wish I had such skills to write such quality literature) . I turned the corner and there was a whole wall of books entitled “Apocalypto Code” and “Armageddon on the Rise” and so on. You get the jist. One of the subtitles listed as a major subject of the book “Why it is useless to negotiate with Islamic Fundamentalists.” They all dealt with the problem of Islam, its violence, and its association with the rapidly approaching end of the world. Of course Islamic Fundamentalists using violence are a problem, and I don’t know if these authors dealt fairly and seriously with different groups, but I am pessimistic due to the general attitude of the wall of books.
I was once in the same camp most of my fellow Oklahomans. I consider myself to have lucked out due to my education and various professors. But it is really hard for me to see any way to get through to my friends and community around me what Christ really is. Obsession with the Messiah is good as long as it leads to Christ-like life…and hate and fear that lies in their eyes seems impenetrable.
But besides all that, being home is actually far better than I could have ever anticipated, and some of my best friends from high school are at similar places in life and in thought and in Christianity as I am, so I have been totally blessed honestly, to have them around.
Can’t wait to see any and all of you on the fourth!
emilyevans
Now I know Oklahoma is not a fabulous far-off country, but, as it does hold the cherished title of the heart of Christian Zionism, I thought I would keep you abreast of recent developments. First, 2007 is the centennial for Oklahoma, so we are full of patriotic state songs full of Oklahoma pride. Don’t get me wrong, Oklahoma is home and I see many of its good qualities despite is lack of natural beauty, resources, or strategic location. Basically, most Oklahomans are campaigning for the greatness of the state and America despite themselves, due to the overwhelming saturation of cheesy songs and posters.
My church held the “Prophecy Conference” this past weekend. Complete with Tim Lahaye as the keynote speaker (I thought the Left Behind books were supposed to be a joke…) I heard a sermon this morning where he mourned the recent death of Jerry Falwell, and claimed that he is the most influential Christian (greater than Billy Graham he specifically noted) and that Christ himself will walk out of the gates of heaven to welcome Jerry Falwell into heaven. Now, I am not questioning his salvation, all I am saying is that those where some pretty strong words. Furthermore, he claimed Regan (who is the greatest president of the last century in case you were wondering) would not have been elected without Falwell, and the Holy Land would not be secure without Regan. The majority of his sermon was focused on the importance of prophecy (if it could be said there was a focus besides praising Falwell) and how the knowledge of Christ returning changed how we live. I am not saying it doesn’t, or that prophecy is valueless, but we all know the problems with the church’s obsession with preparing the way for the messiah.
Luckily, I think his style and over-politicization of the sermon (he even urged us to register and vote!) was a bit too much for the congregation, despite our dedication to the end times. I had most of my friends at the back of the church wanting to see if I would spew. I didn’t, I just laughed. But my brother made some unkind comment about Jerry Falwell and that really pissed my mom off to see that he too was going down a wayward path of non-bible-believing-damn-liberals! Haha…she didn’t talk all of lunch. My brother’s thoughts are totally his own from his school-no influence of mine!
One other side note. The major Christian book store in these parts is Mardel. I was in there the other say trying to help my mom find a devotion book for her junior girls (there is a sweet one on girl advice by ReliantK and one in the style of Napoleon Dynamite—I wish I had such skills to write such quality literature) . I turned the corner and there was a whole wall of books entitled “Apocalypto Code” and “Armageddon on the Rise” and so on. You get the jist. One of the subtitles listed as a major subject of the book “Why it is useless to negotiate with Islamic Fundamentalists.” They all dealt with the problem of Islam, its violence, and its association with the rapidly approaching end of the world. Of course Islamic Fundamentalists using violence are a problem, and I don’t know if these authors dealt fairly and seriously with different groups, but I am pessimistic due to the general attitude of the wall of books.
I was once in the same camp most of my fellow Oklahomans. I consider myself to have lucked out due to my education and various professors. But it is really hard for me to see any way to get through to my friends and community around me what Christ really is. Obsession with the Messiah is good as long as it leads to Christ-like life…and hate and fear that lies in their eyes seems impenetrable.
But besides all that, being home is actually far better than I could have ever anticipated, and some of my best friends from high school are at similar places in life and in thought and in Christianity as I am, so I have been totally blessed honestly, to have them around.
Can’t wait to see any and all of you on the fourth!
emilyevans
Friday, May 18, 2007
Hey Family!
Hey Guys!
Kara Here... I just spent the past, well I don't know how long, facebooking most of you... but then I realized it was 10:30 and my life was being eaten away by facebook and I thought I'd write here so all of you would get it collectively.
A little update on my life...
Currently I am in the good old Bourbonnais, Illinois at Olivet near Chi-town. I just moved back in last night and I start all the band stuff Sunday. If you missed the memo, I am in a band this summer with 5 other guys traveling around Olivet's region (Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin) leading worship at junior and senior high church camps. I was really excited about the band especially because my brother, Jonathan, was going to be traveling with me. However, these past few weeks have been rather rough and I've lost a lot of my excitement which I think has a lot to do with the re-entry to the great land of the US of A that many of you also are feeling, and also my brother has quit the band in order to be committed to his church as a worship pastor. That's kewl and I support him 100% and think he made the right decision, but at the same time it really sucks and I've been having a hard time with him not being there. He'll be around all summer, but I don't know, it's just not the same. I think the real deal is that I was anticipating this for so long that now that it's not going to work out, well I just can't get past it. I am however traveling with 5 awesome guys still... Tyler who was in my band last year, and 3 new guys, and just got word today that Tim, another guy from my band last year, is jumping on board and gonna play bass to kinda fill in for Jonathan. So it's still gonna be a solid team. And it's still gonna be hot and if y'all are in any of those four states, or Ohio this summer totally shoot me an email or give me a call... I'd LOVE to see you and you're more than welcome to come to church camp for a day or so. :)
I love reading the emails, posts and stories that you all are sharing. It's really hard to be so far away from y'all. So many times a day I think of each of you, especially whenever I see something that was in that bag of America so long ago (Swedish fish will never taste quite the same)... a tear comes to my eye and I just want to hug you. Will you do me a favor? Will you wrap your arms around yourself and hug you for me? I know, that's awkward and cheesy but it'll feel good and the person next to you will think you're a fruitcake or smoking hashish, so hey, it'll totally be worth it!!
I love you all so much and can't wait to hear more about where you're at right now.
You're in my thoughts and prayers!
-Kara Joy
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
-Psalm 20:7-8
"When you fall off the horse, ya gotta get back on!" -Aimee
Kara Here... I just spent the past, well I don't know how long, facebooking most of you... but then I realized it was 10:30 and my life was being eaten away by facebook and I thought I'd write here so all of you would get it collectively.
A little update on my life...
Currently I am in the good old Bourbonnais, Illinois at Olivet near Chi-town. I just moved back in last night and I start all the band stuff Sunday. If you missed the memo, I am in a band this summer with 5 other guys traveling around Olivet's region (Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin) leading worship at junior and senior high church camps. I was really excited about the band especially because my brother, Jonathan, was going to be traveling with me. However, these past few weeks have been rather rough and I've lost a lot of my excitement which I think has a lot to do with the re-entry to the great land of the US of A that many of you also are feeling, and also my brother has quit the band in order to be committed to his church as a worship pastor. That's kewl and I support him 100% and think he made the right decision, but at the same time it really sucks and I've been having a hard time with him not being there. He'll be around all summer, but I don't know, it's just not the same. I think the real deal is that I was anticipating this for so long that now that it's not going to work out, well I just can't get past it. I am however traveling with 5 awesome guys still... Tyler who was in my band last year, and 3 new guys, and just got word today that Tim, another guy from my band last year, is jumping on board and gonna play bass to kinda fill in for Jonathan. So it's still gonna be a solid team. And it's still gonna be hot and if y'all are in any of those four states, or Ohio this summer totally shoot me an email or give me a call... I'd LOVE to see you and you're more than welcome to come to church camp for a day or so. :)
I love reading the emails, posts and stories that you all are sharing. It's really hard to be so far away from y'all. So many times a day I think of each of you, especially whenever I see something that was in that bag of America so long ago (Swedish fish will never taste quite the same)... a tear comes to my eye and I just want to hug you. Will you do me a favor? Will you wrap your arms around yourself and hug you for me? I know, that's awkward and cheesy but it'll feel good and the person next to you will think you're a fruitcake or smoking hashish, so hey, it'll totally be worth it!!
I love you all so much and can't wait to hear more about where you're at right now.
You're in my thoughts and prayers!
-Kara Joy
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
-Psalm 20:7-8
"When you fall off the horse, ya gotta get back on!" -Aimee
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Quick Hi from Bryce
Hey fellow MESPers'
it pains me to still be roaming around the Middle East without some of my so lovable travel companions...
I don't have much time (I have to go referee a girls soccer tourniment in the blazing hot sun of Saudi Arabia -an experience few young American lads have had without a doubt. haha), but I wanted to at least give people a chance to share in a few recent experiences.
- A DAY AND NIGHT IN NABLUS -
An appropriate place is to start a couple weeks back giving the abbreviated version of my encounters with the "wanted" freedom fighters in Nablus. As was stated in a previous blog, the girls left me in the afternoon to return to J'salem. I strained my brain trying to remain diplomatic to all the people gathered around me peppering me with questions and swearing they had a good place for me to stay the night. I ended leaving with a 12 year old boy on a bike...
I soon realized that my life was in his hands... we wondered around the ancient old city that had bullet holes, martyr posters, and even old blood stains everywhere.
A guy on a motorcycle came roaring down the stairs and almost ran me over!
He jumped off his bike and moved in close to examine me, (I convinced him, with the help of the little kid that I was not an Israeli spy). I learned later he was the leader of the armed resistance (terrorist opperations?). he was a pretty scary dude, but later it was hard for me not to humanize even the likes of him, because he (machine gun and all) was playing with 3 little children in the street when I saw him again 2 hours later.
My housing option looked like it was falling through (not good when there are no hotels in the city) and it was getting darker (closer to the gun battles that take place during curfew), I met another leader of the resistance who stared at me and blew smoke in my face... He made it clear that he wanted me to stay with him that night. I cordially said I had already made plans but thanked him for his hospitality anyway (which would have led to who knows what!).
i ended up staying with a side-kick of the main terrorist dudes (he had a smaller gun after all).
But, due to the sensitivity of the issue, I won't go into detail about the events that followed.
All I can say is that I didn't sleep much (with the sporadic gun-fire at night), and I never felt luckier to be alive in the morning...
Well, I'll talk more about the Tel Aviv, Sinai on the beach with Jami & Ruthie, Cairo with Tim and the gang (he and I WALKED FROM THE CITADEL all the way to Agouza!), and my adventures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Hope you all are still kick'n it with a tasty groove!
much love.
it pains me to still be roaming around the Middle East without some of my so lovable travel companions...
I don't have much time (I have to go referee a girls soccer tourniment in the blazing hot sun of Saudi Arabia -an experience few young American lads have had without a doubt. haha), but I wanted to at least give people a chance to share in a few recent experiences.
- A DAY AND NIGHT IN NABLUS -
An appropriate place is to start a couple weeks back giving the abbreviated version of my encounters with the "wanted" freedom fighters in Nablus. As was stated in a previous blog, the girls left me in the afternoon to return to J'salem. I strained my brain trying to remain diplomatic to all the people gathered around me peppering me with questions and swearing they had a good place for me to stay the night. I ended leaving with a 12 year old boy on a bike...
I soon realized that my life was in his hands... we wondered around the ancient old city that had bullet holes, martyr posters, and even old blood stains everywhere.
A guy on a motorcycle came roaring down the stairs and almost ran me over!
He jumped off his bike and moved in close to examine me, (I convinced him, with the help of the little kid that I was not an Israeli spy). I learned later he was the leader of the armed resistance (terrorist opperations?). he was a pretty scary dude, but later it was hard for me not to humanize even the likes of him, because he (machine gun and all) was playing with 3 little children in the street when I saw him again 2 hours later.
My housing option looked like it was falling through (not good when there are no hotels in the city) and it was getting darker (closer to the gun battles that take place during curfew), I met another leader of the resistance who stared at me and blew smoke in my face... He made it clear that he wanted me to stay with him that night. I cordially said I had already made plans but thanked him for his hospitality anyway (which would have led to who knows what!).
i ended up staying with a side-kick of the main terrorist dudes (he had a smaller gun after all).
But, due to the sensitivity of the issue, I won't go into detail about the events that followed.
All I can say is that I didn't sleep much (with the sporadic gun-fire at night), and I never felt luckier to be alive in the morning...
Well, I'll talk more about the Tel Aviv, Sinai on the beach with Jami & Ruthie, Cairo with Tim and the gang (he and I WALKED FROM THE CITADEL all the way to Agouza!), and my adventures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Hope you all are still kick'n it with a tasty groove!
much love.
What happend to Aimee, Jami, Bryce and Ruthie after Justin and Stephen left (about which I'm still pretty sad :( )
So I (Aimee, that is) was inspired by Stephen's amazing recount of our time together in the WB, to write a little somethin' somethin' about what happen in the time between when he and Justin ripped out our hearts with their departure, and when Ruthie, Jami and Bryce left me all alone in the crazy city of Jerusalem (Al-Quds) :) Just kidding Ruthie, Jami and Bryce, I was totally fine by myself and enjoyed the day I had to mentally prepare myself for my mom's arrival.
P.S. Jami and Ruthie and Bryce should add to this because I have a bad memory and an even worse journaling skills.
Okay, so the first memorable event after Justin and Stephen left was when we were sitting on the grass outside of what I gather is City Hall. We were talking about what we were going to do for the remaining week or so that we were all going to be together. This huge group of Israeli soldiers walked by and started talking to us in Hebrew. I though they were yelling at us to get off the grass, but as it turns out, they just wanted to give us a ton of extra food. Sweet! We gave a bunch away, but lived on the rest for about a week. We were on a pretty tight budget, so all that akl was really appreciated. And I think we all needed to get a better view of Israeli soldiers and that gave it to us.
And now because I'm lazy and running out of time on my overly expensive internet cafe, I am posting what was already written in an email. It serves the purpose well, however.
Wednesday: We went to Nablus. Saw Belatta refugee camp. Got our pictures taken with Palestinian rebels and their guns (big guns too). Their brother was in Hizbollah and was killed and while we were looking at the grave of these guy's father, brother and friend, they get this call saying "the enemy" (Israel my guess) was near and they ran off to (hopefully) hide. Bryce stayed behind, but you should ask him about that.On the way back, us girls flirted, and acted dumb our way through two checkpoints (not my proudest moment, but hey, I'm a Christian pilgrim wanting to see the Samaritans!)
Thursday: Ruthie and I relaxed while jami and bryce went and explored Ramallah. jami can tell you more about that.
I think from here on its Jami's words...
Friday: Two words. Political Protest. More tear gas, rubber bullets etc. Jami and I were arrested. Well not really, but should've been. Truly, I've never ever thought I was going to be arrested more in my life. (btw, Bryce wasn't there. Important note) Okay, this story really needs to be told in as much detail as possible. Okay, we get to Bil'in, and see that our friend Taka (from the Hebron Hostel, where we've been staying, he's the Japanese reception dude) is there. this is important. the protest starts. We're marching through the village towards the wall, and this adorable little kid is leading the chants with a bull horn on his dad's shouldars. anyway, we get to the path leading to the wall (which is actually a fence at this point--that's what the protest is protesting, the wall) the israeli soldiers had set up this coil of razor wire blocking the path. but you just had to walk two feet off the path to go around it. So Jami, Ruthie and I are on the other side of the wire taking pictures of the Palestinians stopped at the wire. Them and the soldiers are shouting back and forth at each other and they begin to pull the wire out of the way. Promptly, tear gas is fired. We're all hit pretty bad and they fired about 15 canisters all in the middle of a crowd of only about 75 people. Where we're at is in the middle of a field of olive trees, by the way. (I'm going to let Jami take it over for now) We all scatter, the tear gas was ridiculous, istant pain in the eyes and I couldn't see anything. Aimee and I took off in one direction and completely lost Ruthie, I was all cunfuddled and Aimee kept her head and called for me to head up hill to get away from the gas...running through a pot hilly field when you can't see is really hard...after we all spent some time hiding in the trees it was announced that we were going to pull back and regroup to go at the fence form a different direction.
We found Ruthie and she had had a similar experience and we started walking back, it looked like we were leaving all together to the soldiers. We headed down into another valley, really we were walking on the side of a steep hill toward a more intense portion of the fence. Ruthie fell behind Aimee and I but we didn't realize it. This is where Taka is important, we saw him up ahead of us and believed that he wouldn't do anything crazy so he was safe to follow. Aimee and I kept going, believing that we were going to the wall and chant and then leave. Before we knew it we were seperated from the main group, we were with only about 15 others heading down the side of the fence. The fence was on top of a hill, we were below, pressed up against a rock wall with the valley falling below us on the other side. At one point Aimee slipped and almost fell down but about 3 palestinian men grabbed her and kept her from falling the 10 ft, she only lost her water bottle. We couldn't turn back at this point because being alone would be dangerous, so we had to keep following the group. We got down to the valley floor and reached the fence. The men had piled branches on top of the coil and we hopped over to get up in to the fence, which was reached after climbing a small hill. The fence had two sections, on our left next to the valley was a wire roll. On our right was a chain link fence, tall, with wire on the top. At this point we were freaking out, we shouldn't have come this far and we realize that this whole thing was completely stupid. We were also concerned about Ruthie and how angry she must be at us. We thought that we were going to stand there and protest, but instead the Palestinians start walking towards the soldiers who are at the top of the hill shooting tear gas at ruthie's group. They didn't even see our group until we were about 20 ft away, also as we walked we all had to keep our hands up so they wouldn't think we had any weapons. When they saw us they shot some tear gas and Aimee and I took off running instantly trying to get out of the fence at the bottom of the hill. A few people were with us and the soldiers forced us to stop. We all crouched down on the ground for awhile and the men kinda protected us, but we were also protecting them in the fact that we are internationals and they can't hurt the palestinians as much with us there. We are told to stand up and walk forward towards the big group of soldiers, through this fence with no exit where they can do whatever they want to the group of us. We have our hands up and walk for 1/2 mile to the next gate. On this walk Aimee and I realize that, although we have our passports, we shouldn't show them because they have no visas. After awhile things loosen up a bit and the group we are with starts chanting "No, No Wall!" When we reach the gate there is a line of soldiers on either side of the exit. Up ahead of us it looks like they are just letting all the palestinians go.
Aimee and I walk, still crazy nervous. A soldier calls out to us "Hey, come here." First he said something in Hebrew that we didnt understand. We walk over and he asked "What are you doing with them?" Aimee: they are our friends Soldier: come with me, we can be friends. As we walked away, realizing he was just flurting he told us to be careful with them. Ruthie was fine too, she just got a lot of tear gas. Probably one of the most stupid things I have ever done, if Bryce had been there he would have stopped us, which is saying something. The fact that we all got out without any trouble is so suprising. That night we slept with Sarah again.
Okay y'all, this is Aimee again, no need to tell us these was stupid; we know and we regret the actions taken by us that day and rest assured that I don't think that I'll do that again any time soon. PS don't tell any mothers about this, okay?
The "intership in human shield work" was interesting but we're morons.
Saturday: after talking to some friends in Ramallah, and making an unsuccessful journey to Bethlehem we went to Tel-Aviv to stay with Bryce's Uncle. They were really nice and gave us good food and did our laundry.Sunday: hung out at the beach(just us girls) and relaxed at the diplomats house. We had corn on the cob for dinner and went to sleep at a different house, friends of the Bohne's. Monday/Today: Us 3, no Bryce, came back to Jerusalem and went to meet with IBDA, a Palestinian cultural center in a refugee camp in Bethlehem. It was awesome taling to these people, they are doing so much in the community with what little they are given. This camp has 11000 people on a kilometer square piece of land.
And Aimee again
We stayed the last two nights with Ruthie's roommate's mom just outside of Jerusalem. Packed a last noother together on Tuesday (?, I might be wrong) (I discovered that my favorite noother is Diet Coke, I'm wild aren't I? :)) and on Wednesday, after doing some stuff in the Old City, Jami, Ruthie and Bryce left. Sad.
Now my mom's here and we're leaving for Dahab in about half an hour. Boo ya. So ready to be back in Egypt, and out of the Holy Land.
Peace Out y'all
Miss you tons,
--Aimee
PS Jami, Ruthie and Bryce: If I left details out tell me, and if you didn't want our protest story told, I'm sorry and I'll take it off :)
P.S. Jami and Ruthie and Bryce should add to this because I have a bad memory and an even worse journaling skills.
Okay, so the first memorable event after Justin and Stephen left was when we were sitting on the grass outside of what I gather is City Hall. We were talking about what we were going to do for the remaining week or so that we were all going to be together. This huge group of Israeli soldiers walked by and started talking to us in Hebrew. I though they were yelling at us to get off the grass, but as it turns out, they just wanted to give us a ton of extra food. Sweet! We gave a bunch away, but lived on the rest for about a week. We were on a pretty tight budget, so all that akl was really appreciated. And I think we all needed to get a better view of Israeli soldiers and that gave it to us.
And now because I'm lazy and running out of time on my overly expensive internet cafe, I am posting what was already written in an email. It serves the purpose well, however.
Wednesday: We went to Nablus. Saw Belatta refugee camp. Got our pictures taken with Palestinian rebels and their guns (big guns too). Their brother was in Hizbollah and was killed and while we were looking at the grave of these guy's father, brother and friend, they get this call saying "the enemy" (Israel my guess) was near and they ran off to (hopefully) hide. Bryce stayed behind, but you should ask him about that.On the way back, us girls flirted, and acted dumb our way through two checkpoints (not my proudest moment, but hey, I'm a Christian pilgrim wanting to see the Samaritans!)
Thursday: Ruthie and I relaxed while jami and bryce went and explored Ramallah. jami can tell you more about that.
I think from here on its Jami's words...
Friday: Two words. Political Protest. More tear gas, rubber bullets etc. Jami and I were arrested. Well not really, but should've been. Truly, I've never ever thought I was going to be arrested more in my life. (btw, Bryce wasn't there. Important note) Okay, this story really needs to be told in as much detail as possible. Okay, we get to Bil'in, and see that our friend Taka (from the Hebron Hostel, where we've been staying, he's the Japanese reception dude) is there. this is important. the protest starts. We're marching through the village towards the wall, and this adorable little kid is leading the chants with a bull horn on his dad's shouldars. anyway, we get to the path leading to the wall (which is actually a fence at this point--that's what the protest is protesting, the wall) the israeli soldiers had set up this coil of razor wire blocking the path. but you just had to walk two feet off the path to go around it. So Jami, Ruthie and I are on the other side of the wire taking pictures of the Palestinians stopped at the wire. Them and the soldiers are shouting back and forth at each other and they begin to pull the wire out of the way. Promptly, tear gas is fired. We're all hit pretty bad and they fired about 15 canisters all in the middle of a crowd of only about 75 people. Where we're at is in the middle of a field of olive trees, by the way. (I'm going to let Jami take it over for now) We all scatter, the tear gas was ridiculous, istant pain in the eyes and I couldn't see anything. Aimee and I took off in one direction and completely lost Ruthie, I was all cunfuddled and Aimee kept her head and called for me to head up hill to get away from the gas...running through a pot hilly field when you can't see is really hard...after we all spent some time hiding in the trees it was announced that we were going to pull back and regroup to go at the fence form a different direction.
We found Ruthie and she had had a similar experience and we started walking back, it looked like we were leaving all together to the soldiers. We headed down into another valley, really we were walking on the side of a steep hill toward a more intense portion of the fence. Ruthie fell behind Aimee and I but we didn't realize it. This is where Taka is important, we saw him up ahead of us and believed that he wouldn't do anything crazy so he was safe to follow. Aimee and I kept going, believing that we were going to the wall and chant and then leave. Before we knew it we were seperated from the main group, we were with only about 15 others heading down the side of the fence. The fence was on top of a hill, we were below, pressed up against a rock wall with the valley falling below us on the other side. At one point Aimee slipped and almost fell down but about 3 palestinian men grabbed her and kept her from falling the 10 ft, she only lost her water bottle. We couldn't turn back at this point because being alone would be dangerous, so we had to keep following the group. We got down to the valley floor and reached the fence. The men had piled branches on top of the coil and we hopped over to get up in to the fence, which was reached after climbing a small hill. The fence had two sections, on our left next to the valley was a wire roll. On our right was a chain link fence, tall, with wire on the top. At this point we were freaking out, we shouldn't have come this far and we realize that this whole thing was completely stupid. We were also concerned about Ruthie and how angry she must be at us. We thought that we were going to stand there and protest, but instead the Palestinians start walking towards the soldiers who are at the top of the hill shooting tear gas at ruthie's group. They didn't even see our group until we were about 20 ft away, also as we walked we all had to keep our hands up so they wouldn't think we had any weapons. When they saw us they shot some tear gas and Aimee and I took off running instantly trying to get out of the fence at the bottom of the hill. A few people were with us and the soldiers forced us to stop. We all crouched down on the ground for awhile and the men kinda protected us, but we were also protecting them in the fact that we are internationals and they can't hurt the palestinians as much with us there. We are told to stand up and walk forward towards the big group of soldiers, through this fence with no exit where they can do whatever they want to the group of us. We have our hands up and walk for 1/2 mile to the next gate. On this walk Aimee and I realize that, although we have our passports, we shouldn't show them because they have no visas. After awhile things loosen up a bit and the group we are with starts chanting "No, No Wall!" When we reach the gate there is a line of soldiers on either side of the exit. Up ahead of us it looks like they are just letting all the palestinians go.
Aimee and I walk, still crazy nervous. A soldier calls out to us "Hey, come here." First he said something in Hebrew that we didnt understand. We walk over and he asked "What are you doing with them?" Aimee: they are our friends Soldier: come with me, we can be friends. As we walked away, realizing he was just flurting he told us to be careful with them. Ruthie was fine too, she just got a lot of tear gas. Probably one of the most stupid things I have ever done, if Bryce had been there he would have stopped us, which is saying something. The fact that we all got out without any trouble is so suprising. That night we slept with Sarah again.
Okay y'all, this is Aimee again, no need to tell us these was stupid; we know and we regret the actions taken by us that day and rest assured that I don't think that I'll do that again any time soon. PS don't tell any mothers about this, okay?
The "intership in human shield work" was interesting but we're morons.
Saturday: after talking to some friends in Ramallah, and making an unsuccessful journey to Bethlehem we went to Tel-Aviv to stay with Bryce's Uncle. They were really nice and gave us good food and did our laundry.Sunday: hung out at the beach(just us girls) and relaxed at the diplomats house. We had corn on the cob for dinner and went to sleep at a different house, friends of the Bohne's. Monday/Today: Us 3, no Bryce, came back to Jerusalem and went to meet with IBDA, a Palestinian cultural center in a refugee camp in Bethlehem. It was awesome taling to these people, they are doing so much in the community with what little they are given. This camp has 11000 people on a kilometer square piece of land.
And Aimee again
We stayed the last two nights with Ruthie's roommate's mom just outside of Jerusalem. Packed a last noother together on Tuesday (?, I might be wrong) (I discovered that my favorite noother is Diet Coke, I'm wild aren't I? :)) and on Wednesday, after doing some stuff in the Old City, Jami, Ruthie and Bryce left. Sad.
Now my mom's here and we're leaving for Dahab in about half an hour. Boo ya. So ready to be back in Egypt, and out of the Holy Land.
Peace Out y'all
Miss you tons,
--Aimee
PS Jami, Ruthie and Bryce: If I left details out tell me, and if you didn't want our protest story told, I'm sorry and I'll take it off :)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Thank You Stephen
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen for his great recounting of the traversing through Palestine that I'm so amazingly jealous of. Seriously, sleeping on the beach and getting tear gased? I'm wishing I'd traded in my Ecuador ticket for an opportunity to hang out with you all for a little while longer. Although I did have a great time in Ecuador :) Love and miss you all!
Sarah Boyd
Sarah Boyd
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)