a long break

i want to thank everyone again who kept in touch here and supported me on this trip. i wish i had more internet access in palestine to update you, but as you've probably noticed, even 24/7 access like i have here doesn't necessarily mean more posting! i did start school again almost as soon as i got back and have been pretty busy with that ever since-- i'm working on my undergrad thesis which will be due in may. i do hope to post some stories from the summer here, and i will continue to use this blog for trips to the middle east in the future.

so no need to check back often. to most of you this blog is not our only communication, so by other means, please keep in touch!

philly update

a little busy with the housing situation. we've got a truck reserved for wednesday to move but i hope i'll have to cancel it! so i'm waiting to hear back from potential roommates and the landlord. i'd appreciate prayers. i know God has a plan for where i'll be sleeping in a week, so just pray that i'll trust that more fully. but while you're at it, please pray that i can stay here because i'd really love not to move!

coming up in the next few weeks are photos of:

• the cities of ramallah and beitlehem
• church of the nativity and church of the holy sepulcher

and stories of:

• my airport/border experiences
• the many languages i'm trying to learn

and since it'll be a week or two before i get back to the blog, enjoy new photos of my little nephew, dante, ever-growing in size and cuteness, from their vacation to lake tahoe.

jet lagged, but back

returned late friday night. my very delayed flight from heathrow got in around 11pm and my bags seemed to be last to come out. no customs problems, but then i still had a drive from jfk to philly. alex came over (at 2 in the morning!) and we stayed up talking on my front stoop for several hours. slept a little, went to alex's birthday breakfast bash in the morning then slept a good chunk of the day.

still waking up in the middle of the nights with no interest in going back to sleep, but when have i ever really had a sleep schedule?? (family, roommates, and studiomates need not chime in..)

give me a buzz if you haven't already. apologies for slowness in getting back in touch.


somethings i should've but didn't expect when returning to philly:

humidity ... BLEH!!!!!!!!! i'm now soooo glad i wasn't here all summer with 100-degree weather with this mugginess. yuck.

lack of basic necessities ... my roommates moved out just before i got back, so the apartment has no couches, dining table or chairs, silverware, drinking glasses, or kitchen & bath towels. yay for cooking and eating spanish rice standing up with chopsticks.

snail mail ... a few papercuts from opening my bazillions of bills, credit card offers, and student loan consolidation offers ("act before july 1st!")

coffee ... the american kind is unpalatable by comparison.

nudity ... americans really display much too much of their bodies in daily street clothing. sure i've been in a culture where knees are racy, but come on, i don't need to see your upper thighs, and your neckline should be somewhere near your neck, shouldn't it?

on my way back

yep it's been 8 and a half weeks here and i'll be on my way to tel-aviv early friday morning.

i'll let you know how it goes with israeli security. i can't wait to tell those stories. i'm saving them for when i'm safe in the states.

some things i'll be looking forward to that come to mind, other than family and friends, are air conditioning, water pressure, ice, english, non-smokers, american toilets, traffic lights and street signs, noise ordinances, anonymity, and mobility.

some things i'll miss, other than family and friends, are the hills and olive trees, the daily fresh picked fruit, the cool breezes, arabic, zeit u zaatar, kids riding donkeys on the street, the song of the summer, palestinian hospitality, stone architecture, and the poetry!

heh. each of these is a story i can tell if you ask me when i get back :)

recipe!

what's one of the yummiest things i've eaten here? i took careful note of everything sitti did to make this so i can share with you the recipe. enjoy!

cusa mahshi & waraq diwali
(stuffed squash and rolled grape leaves)
ingredients:
4 cups of short grain rice
~25 small light green or yellow squash
6 cloves of garlic
a handful of fresh parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon yellow curry
1 small onion
1/2 pound ground meat
[lamb is used here, but beef or turkey is also ok, or this ingredient can be skipped to make it veggie]
fresh grape leaves

instructions:

put the rice to soak in a large mixing bowl while you do the following: remove the tops and core the squash, mince the garlic, parsley, and onion. drain the rice. and add half of the garlic to the rice, along with the parsley, onion, oil, meat (raw), spice, and 1 tsp sugar (i dunno why the sugar, i'm just being honest, here) ;)

stuff the mixture into each squash, about 3/4 full, or leaving an inch of space at the top.

take fresh grape leaves, cut the stems and boil in batches until they soften and turn from green to a yellowish or olive color (about 2 minutes). [if you don't have access to fresh grape leaves, you can buy the california kind in the jar, no need to boil]
drain the leaves and allow them to cool.

put 3-4 layers of leaves at the bottom of a large pot (alternatively, you can put sliced raw potato or tomato. it doesn't really matter, just something to keep the cusa from touching the bottom of the pot). layer the stuffed squash in the pot.

using the remainder of the rice mixture, working one at a time, place a leaf, shiny side down with the stem closer to you. put one tablespoon of the mixture in the center, close to the stem. roll (like a burrito), folding the sides in. be careful not to roll too tight- the rice will expand. the wetness of the leaf should hold itself together. layer on top of the cusa in the pot. repeat until the mixture is used up.



take the remaining garlic and fry in olive oil. top off the pot with the extra leaves, sprinkle the garlic and the other tsp sugar on the top and fill the pot halfway with water. put a plate upside down on top before you cover the pan to keep the waraq from floating.

cover and boil on medium to high heat for half an hour, then simmer for another half an hour, or until the rice is ready. serve hot!

update

it's been a bit tough to update as i've actually made some friends i've spent some more time with. the folks in the program are a mix, but many of them are doing some kind of graduate study here. social and political history, comparative literature, anthropology, etc. two are documentary-making, and two others are photographers. and they come from all over! america, canada, france, germany, japan (yeah!).

and i've finally made it out to al-quds (jerusalem) and beitlehem, which has been long in coming.
i haven't blogged about it yet, but one challenge since i've been here has been the lack of mobility i have as a grandaughter. dad says there's really nothing i can do except let her know i'm ok and come back before sundown. since then i only recently mustered up the courage to do it, knowing that she would be uncomfortable.
trying to put myself in her shoes- she's lived with this occupation for decades now, and she is looking after my safety. unfortunately, she was also keeping me from seeing more of this, our beautiful country!
and i forgot my usb cable today so i can't upload the photos. but i actually forgot to take many photos there.

class is dragging a bit. many of the students, myself included, are getting pretty tired of six hours a day of class. and the language doesn't get any easier! also, the regional dialects don't make it easy!

i met a really neat woman- the cousin of a friend who is half deir-dibwani (like me) and half brazilian. she grew up in the bronx and went to nyu and columbia u for public admin and she's working here in ramallah. speaking with her was like looking in the mirror. it was so amazing to find someone to understand me as much as she did.

these could all be entries in and of themselves, but my (essentially) 5pm curfew does keep me from typing more. (and some of the keys on this keyboard have to be slammed in order to work, so sorry for any typos). of course i have a lot of other thoughts to share and plan to do so in the weeks following my return (so keep checking). just trying to use my valueable internet time here to update those worried for my life ;)

how many shekels?

well, i'm coming down to the last few weeks here and unfortunately, it's pretty tight!
if you take a look at the fundraising meter on the sidebar on the right, you'll see that i'm still short of my goal, which was a very conservative estimate.
like any other trip, there have been unexpected expenses, and as you may know, the dollar's not doing so well, so i'm getting fewer shekels to the dollar. meanwhile, the apartment stuff in philly adds another hurdle!

but i've been quite amazed at the generousity of you - family, friends, and even strangers - in helping me get here. i couldn't have done it without you! whether you're a new reader or have given already consider a donation to help get me through these last weeks without significant debt when i get back to the states. thanks!