A Typical Day In Bethlehem

by: S.M. - 2005

So in response to comments in my log, I'll try and better detail a typical day here. I won't be able to capture the small details which together encompass what has made this a totally eye opening experience for me; however, I'll do my best to give a broad survey.

Monday through Friday I wake up between 6:30 and 7am. Sometimes I wake up earlier because of the chickens and roosters caged in my backyard. My host family uses them to get a cheap source of eggs. I think this one rooster has some mental deficiencies. Roosters are supposed to do their whole screaming loud annoying thing when it turns daylight. Our doofus rooster starts coo'ing around 12pm-1am every night. I've gotten used to it by now but there still does exist animosty between the rooster and myself.

My cousin and I both wake up fairly early because we have work at 8am. He works in the next town over, Beit Jala with an environmental advocacy group. I work in Beit Sahour doing international PR for the local Municipality. Beit Sahour and Beit Jala can more or less be considered one city with Bethlehem.

I work from 8am - 1 or 2pm Monday through Friday. Most of the day I am either editing old proposals or writing new proposals to receive humanitarian and developmental aid grants from various groups like the UNDP, World Vision, World Bank, various NGOs, and some religiously affiliated humanitarian groups. The work is awesome and we've had some inspiring successes. My boss, Suzan Sahori is a brilliant woman. Beit Sahour is one of the more well off areas in the West Banks. Much of the advancements in the city during the last five years can be largely attributed to her tireless efforts.

After work I take the short bus ride to Bethlehem. I usually pick up a falafel sandwhich or two along the way. I walk about a mile to Bethlehem College where I take my Arabic classes from 3-5pm. My teacher Silwa is extremely funny and courteous. Admittedly, I've only been going to class three days a week. I'm kind of sick with the whole sitting in class drill. Most of the Arabic I've learned has been in daily converstions with people.

After class I usually go to one of the events in the area. There is usually some form of lecture or movie being screened either by the group I am with or some local NGO. These events have been very beneficial by in large because of the discussions people attending engage in. I've always felt the best way to learn is through dialoguing with people as opposed to reading books or taking classes. My ideal form of learning is putting a bunch of people in a room, closing the door, and talking about some topic. Fortunately I've gotten to do a lot of that here.

After that, I usually head home and chill with my host family. When I say host family, I mean everybody nearby in the neighborhood. Everybody is family in the West Bank. With tight travel retrictions and other effects of the occupation, people are increasingly stuck within their own municipal districts. A positive side effect of this is that everybody gets to know everybody in the town pretty well. This has been the most welcome change from my experiences growing up in American culture. In the states I grew up in South Jersey. I still dont know the neighbors that share the side lawn with me.

In the West Bank everybody is a friend. It's not even just the neighbors. The local store owners, the local police, the taxi cab drivers, the guy who makes the really good falafel next to the Nativity Church, and just the general people you encounter in the street are very amiable. The sense of community is much stronger here in my opinion.

Keep in mind this is a very broadly sweeping and general critique. I've thankful for my experiences in the US. I've absolutely made the best friends one could ever hope for. However, when encountering strangers and people outside your immediately close social circles, I've noticed a stronger communal sense here. Why this exists is a topic for another (and lengthier) discussion. I have some theories.

Primarily though I see my host family and the family of my host father's brother. The parents of my host family are Marwan and Noha Gharib. They have four daughters Amirah(20), Rawan(18), Luma(13), and Hala(9). Marwan's brother is Jalal. He and his wife have two girls D'ua (19) and Marah (8) and three boys Salam (15), George (13), and Seif (10). Most nights I end up playing with the kids. They are a constant source of entertainment. Fortunately I never get bored here.
On the weekends I usually take trips to other parts of the West Bank. In my last entry I kind of summed up the places I've been. Every trip has offered a different experience and I could write a whole entry for each one. Life varies a lot in the West Bank region to region.

There's so much more I want to say, I'm just not sure where to start. Hopefully this helps. Like I said it's hard to detail the minor things that individually seem meaningless but collectively have made this experience eye opening, disappointing at times, but overall awesome.
So yea, once I get back to the states I promise to provide more pictures, stories, and details.