The non-essential updates have been cancelled for this last week not because I was busy, but because I was too busy being sick. I think I might have eaten something in Jerusalem but it was the Catholics that paid the price. My body decided to purge itself in one of their churches as I was searching for a bathroom. But alas, that was not the most eventful event this week...
One night I was with Zoughbi as we were leaving Wi'am. Just outside we saw two of his friends and decided to go with them to dinner. We went for coffee first where we met three other men. I didn't meet them all but the one I was sitting beside was a mayor of a nearby town. After coffee we got into another car - a very nice SUV- with two different men and drove off. It was at this point that I felt I was either in trouble or going to have a fun evening. We went to another restaurant - this one very fancy - and sat down as some of the only customers. Everyone was speaking Arabic, so I minded my own business until I heard the one word that's the same in Arabic and English: Tequila. I perked up a bit and one of the men asked if I drank. I said sure. Now I had not quite decided what company I was in, but when the waiter returned with five salted shot glasses, two plates full of lemon slices and dropped a bottle of fine Tequila on the table, I decided it was the type of company I was going to stick to for the evening. Everyone knows that if you are drinking with strange men, you do what they tell you. That's why it didn't really matter that they started to call me "fatty" or that they tried to convince me that if I drank more, I would be able to speak Arabic. Once the first two courses were done, and the Tequila was replaced with Scotch and the main course of breaded shrimp and oysters floated by, I was pretty satisfied with my new friends. I later found out that the meal cost about $300 Canadian. Boy am I one proud Mennonite.
Before I got sick, and when I was in Jerusalem I had a opportunity to go to the Wailing Wall. It was a Saturday afternoon and as I was walking around I peaked into a corner where a group of Jews were praying. I caught the eye of twenty something Jewish man and he motioned me over. He asked where I was from and found out that he was from Canada as well, but that he moved recently to go to a religious school in Jerusalem. When I told him that I was a Christian - I think my disposable Kippa fooled him - he asked if I was here to convert Jews. I thought that he was being sarcastic, and I made a joke. Luckily he had to start chanting again as I realized that I was surrounded by people that didn't have a very good impression of Christians. After the prayer, he introduced me to a few of his friends. They asked to me tell my country (I think they thought I was from America) not to kick them out of their homes. They were referring to Obama's recent speech about making peace based on the 1967 boarders of Israel/Palestine.
Speaking about Obama's speech, it is funny how something I did not really care about less than four days ago is such an issue to everyone in this country. Almost everyone knows the details of the speech and has their own opinion on it. I went to an MCC supported partner meeting and it was one of the main points of discussion. For myself, the most illuminating point is not that everyone sees it as important, but that everyone seems to be disappointed by it.
In other news, the weather is starting to get hot. During my first week it was actually quite cold, with a few days having short spurts of rain. Zoughbi even offered to let me borrow some sweaters from his kids. Since then though, it has all been tee-shirt weather. It is not uncomfortably hot yet, but soon I will be responsible for mowing the lawn and running around with kids. I plan to continue my commitment to walk every morning, but we might see if that lasts once I'm going through three shirts a day.
The final thing that is worth updating for now is the prices. The economy of Palestine is a strange organism, for details that I hope I will highlight in later posts. I have been to coffee shops where tea or juice is 10-15 shekels ($3-5 Canadian) but a large circle of bread and an egg is 3. One place sells Chicken sandwiches (chicken and tomatoes on a grilled bun) for 18 shekels, while another place sells me two flat bread sandwiches (chicken, tomatos, onions, lettuce and a much better sauce) for 14. These prices are not 'white prices' either as I have been with a local for all of my purchases. Though I still have not been paying for the majority of my living costs, I ones I do pay are on par or above Canadian prices.
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