Delay, Change and Challenge

I have finally arrived in the Holy Land after 40+ hours of delay. Lightning filled the skies of Atlanta causing us to arrive a day late. I'm finally at my old stomping grounds in East Jerusalem. Can I call it that if I've only spent about a week here in the past? Even still, I feel like I'm in a place that is so familiar, so comfortable. We arrived in the Old City last night (Sunday around 11pm). The smell of fruit shisha filled my nostrils as we walked through the doors of the Ambassador Hotel. This is one of the oldest Palestinian owned hotels in the country.

We unloaded our overweight luggage in the room. Many of you won't be surprised to know that I went over my luggage weight limit by about 10lbs. I could not do with only one pair of sandals! How will I get along without my 4 pairs of Citizen jeans or my vintage dress with the pink lilies?? Tell me? HOW!?

My first reaction to being back? I'm not sure what to make of it. I keep comparing this trip to the last and I'm disappointed in a way. Please don't take it the wrong way, I know this trip is different from the last one. I just can't stop comparing the two.

We spent our first day in Ramallah, meeting with both Hamas and Fatah officials. I was listening to broken records. The same rhetoric, literally the same euphemisms, over and over again. Blame Fatah, blame Hamas, blame Israel, blame America. Needless to say, this was politician speak and I grew bored with it quickly.

I've somehow become the "expert" on Israel. The other students ask me questions non-stop. I love it but at the same time feel a bit like a fraud. But, it's still nice to be needed. I have a knack for remembering what type of fruit trees grow in the area. They ask me how Fatah is different from Hamas, and I respond..."Oh look! It's a fig tree!"

I met a young man who was shot 36 times in his leg for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I met the mother of a 16 year old boy who was shot through the left eye and died. I met little boys carrying posters of the Argentinean national soccer team:)

I must run to a meeting. I will write more tonight. Missing everyone at home.

Love,
Wajmah