Nablus

Hey everyone- 

Sorry it has taken me so long to write. Things have been pretty crazy since I have arrived here. I am still having trouble wrapping my head around it. I got here on Monday after having my wonderful friend Jess escort me to Nablus. We didn't have any trouble, as Hawara checkpoint is out of commission for people coming into Nablus. Going out, however, is a different story. Anyway, once I got here I was immediately shown around the old city. Its really beautiful, with huge old walls and mosques and little shops and really cute kids running around all over the place. Apparently 70% of the population of Nablus is youth. This means that most of the people here were raised on the second intifada. All over the street there are these posters of young men. They are martyrs. There are also many plaques and photos commemorating places where people were killed by the Israeli army. I haven't seen any Israeli soldiers since I have been here, though. This is because they only come out at night and it is too dangerous for us, especially as women, to be out after dark. This makes for some pretty long nights. Last night though, we went to the Hamam. It was the one night a week where women are allowed to go. We went in and some of the people went to the spa, while others just sat around and talked, smoked hookah, and got henna done. All the arab women took off their hijabs and wore shoulder-less tank-tops and short shorts. It was so bizarre. And they were all dancing this crazy bellydance dance to crazy music. It was pretty fun. The first time I have felt glad to be a woman since I got here. Also, it is so hot here! And I have to wear full pants and long sleeves at all times. Sometimes you can get away with tshirts but only if you aren't going to any of the camps. This brings me to what I have done so far. Yesterday I got to go help paint a mural with the cutest little kids of all time. They live in al-asqar refugee camp and are unbearably cute.  They all got to make their hand-prints on the mural, so I basically spent my day painting little kids hands and lifting them up so they could make hand prints. I also went yesterday to sit in on an English class. Which seems really cool, but also really hard. Which is why I am terrified for today. I have my first class all by myself. I have a lesson plan, but I have no idea what level my class is at or what age they are. This makes it awfully hard to be prepared. I am pretty nervous. But I have four classes today so hopefully that will get me into the swing of things. After that, I think I am going to be teaching some art classes. If anyone has any ideas for 12-14 year olds for about 6 lessons, let me know. I also might be teaching a creative writing class if I can get people to go for it. We will see. 

I miss you all so much, hope all is well.

love.