Even though I have posted my weekly updates on Wednesday instead of Monday for the last two weeks, does not mean anything more than maybe I am trying to get an extra two days out of my trip. It also might have to do with the fact that Monday afternoon was spent playing soccer outside with kids in the heat: without a hat, sunscreen or water. The resulting bout of minor heat exhaustion (not heat stroke) caused me to go home and sleep for half a day. I am now recharged, rehydrated and ready to review the week...
Things at home have gotten a lot more active. With the arrival of Zoughbi's three sons and wife, the relatives have been stopping by quite often. This has resulted in a revival of the basketball hoop out back and the learning of a number of Palestinian games. My favourite is called Tap. It's like 21 except that anyone can go for any rebound and if you catch and shoot the ball without touching the ground, the other team goes back down to zero. We've played it with two or three teams of two.
As my experience on Monday dictates, the heat has started to become a bit of an issue. It is currently 32*C at 4:10pm. It is common for the temperature to reach 30 degrees before 10am. Luckily most of the buildings are made of stone, which takes a long time to absorb the heat. The interesting part is that some of the evenings have been quite cold. Last week I actually woke up and had to throw on pajama pants.
I've been drinking a lot of Coca-Cola since I've been here, mostly because we have a two liter bottle everyday for lunch. Now Coke has a lot to answer for in the allegations against it, but it holds a unique place in Palestine as it has an important factory in Ramallah. I have heard it said that drinking Coke in Palestine is like "drinking the revolution." Revolution tastes much better too, because it uses real cane sugar instead of corn syrup.
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