another layer to add to my experience

(note: the dates on my posts are quirky. this one was actually written late in the night on july 8)

i've been spending some time reflecting on my purpose for coming to israel / palestine and why i would dedicate six weeks of my summer break to traveling and volunteering in the region.

primarily, i came to witness and discover what it means to be working on peace efforts and human rights issues on a grassroots level within a conflict area. my hope was to meet individuals, both israeli and palestinian, and visit organizations, both in israel and the west bank, that are engaged in this work on a daily basis. looking back on these last few weeks, i feel that i have done a fairly good job of working towards that goal. i have meet with israeli organizations, palestinian organizations, and international organizations.

due to the nature of these organizations, i have been in the midst of people who are against the occupation. much of their work involves educating people about the "facts on the ground" by exposing them to present living conditions in the occupied territories, the expansion of settlements, and the presence of the separation wall. in this way, i have seen a lot that i had previously only heard rumor of or read about.

my time seemed to slow down last week when i shifted from this heavily scheduled travel itinerary to a more sedentary experience as i began working with the hope flowers school, a palestinian school in the bethlehem area that focuses on peace building and democratic education. i welcomed this shift though i also found myself growing restless after so much activity came to a sudden halt. my days were spent at the educational center of the school, mostly in a daze of trying to bridge cultural, language, and philosophical gaps while trying to figure out precisely what my role would be and what they were hoping to gain from my short time with them. initially, it appeared that we had quite divergent ideas of what i would be doing and i found myself struggling with how to handle the situation. then, on thursday, a summer remedial session began and the center was filled with a couple dozen students from various schools in the area. i sat in and observed a few lessons -- math (which is rather interesting to observe in spoken and written arabic) and english classes.

the uplifting moment of the week was when one student, a boy of about 10, walked over from his table in the far corner from where i was sitting, and introduced himself, saying "i'm hazem. what is your name?" he then promptly walked over to a nearby table, grabbed a lump of clay from a thick brick of the sticky gray substance, and returned to place it in my hand. he then walked away, took care of some business with his teacher, grabbed his chair, and repositioned himself next to me. he began molding the clay into numbers and symbols, arranging them in equations. i assisted by making short rolls of clay that could by used in "plus" and "equal" signs. he probably has no idea, but hazem made my week a whole light brighter. kids will do that. fortunately, i can say that i made it through the awkward stages of my first week of volunteer work despite its challenges and moments of utter uncertainty and now have a clearer sense of what i can offer the teachers there.

on the social side of things, my evenings and "days off" were eventful. i was now meeting other internationals engaged in various volunteer positions in bethlehem -- mostly individuals from holland and germany with jobs at the children's hospital, the SOS village, the AIC (alternative information center), the international center of bethlehem (as the communication coordinator), and hope flowers (as the PR officer). i accepted two invitations to share meals in palestinian homes. i attended two evenings of the bethlehem music festival (a surprising cultural event put together by swedes and palestinians). i celebrated my roommate's birthday. i went on a tour of historical sites that included shepherd's field, the herodian, and the mar saba monestary.

just as things became more natural and i was developing a sense of routine in bethlehem, i returned to israel and am presently discovering a new neighborhood in west jerusalem. i am in day two of the international conference on Holocaust education being hosted by Yad Vashem and the International School on Holocaust Education. saying this is a shift in my experience thus far would be an understatement. i find myself in the presence of over 700 other individuals, hailing from 52 different countries. the variety of conversations enthrall me; the complexity of issues and brevity of their presentation astound me (nine speakers / presenters in today's experience alone from germany, south africa, the u.s., israel, canada...). unwittingly, i have gravitated to a group of germans (three men and one woman), a woman from holland, a woman from austrailia, a woman from the u.k., and keep bumping into a couple from canada.

tonight i went for a walk with the woman from the u.k. and another woman she met today. we headed down jaffa street from where we are staying (i'm at a b&b just up the street from one of the conference hotels). at some point we walked along the area where the bulldozer driver killed and wounded israelis just six days ago. we found the mahane yehuda market, which is much larger than i imagined. though the majority of stalls and shops were closed (it was after nine o'clock), i could get a sense of the place. the items for sale mimicked the scene in the old city souq -- hummus, olives, fresh made juices, cherries, peaches, plums, healthy vegetables... i hope to find time to return when the market is in full swing. we continued on, hoping to find a bit of nightlife but losing faith, when we stumbled upon ben yehuda street -- a bustling pedestrian area that made us feel as though we could have been anywhere in the world (aside from the plentiful judaica available in every storefront that made it distinctly israeli) . street performers entertained with melodies and theatrics, groups of people filled little cafes and congregated around various spots in the walkway, women walked hand and hand, various languages filled the air, kids ran around and rode their bicycles... a jewish israeli version of the pearl street mall in boulder or any other such area in nearly every city around north america and europe.