April Fools'

I've just had an enormous meal with the faculty of the English department here at An-Najah. I sat across from a man who studied linguistics at NYU. He was involved in an intense debate with a woman at the table, who seemed to be visiting, in regards to the learning curves of bilingual students as opposed to multi-lingual students. I enjoyed taking part in the conversation and I think the faculty enjoyed hearing about my experiences with the students. Two of the professors eating to my left were engaged in what seemed to be an in-depth discussion. Unfortunately, I couldn't understand as they were speaking Arabic. The NYU educated individual informed me they were talking about the difference in opportunity between Palestinian students and students in the surrounding arab countries. "Our graduates are ok…they are undergraduates, prepared perhaps for something else, but imagine if they had just one percent of the opportunities American students do…they would be amazing!". Having spent nearly two months working with the students he spoke of, I couldn't have agreed with him more.

Today, for the second time, I met with my university level English students. Many of the students could not attend the meeting we held the other day, as Fatah had been holding a political rally on campus. That day the campus was decorated as if there was to be a carnival, with black and white streamers waving in the air and large pictures of martyrs having been erected. Any evidence of the rally had since been removed and a few more students arrived to be briefed about the class as well. I only spoke with the students briefly, as I needed to get over to the English department, where my volunteer hours in the lab had already begun. I explained to the students how I would be structuring their English class; incorporating a new theme each class, which would be the result of their wishes, and establishing vocabulary and grammar lessons based on this theme. I conducted a brief brainstorming exercise which resulted in a list of possible themes. The list included basic topics like food, transportation, and greetings as well as more advanced points of possible discussion like politics and Islam. Before I left for the English department I poked fun at one of the local Zajel volunteers who helped me to organize the class. He'd just added food to the list of themes so I had a stab at his belly and ran out.

When I arrived at the English department there were five female students waiting for me. Only two of them needed help with their writing, most of them just wanted to sit around and listen. I corrected two essays, one on poetic expression and another on the romantic perspective of utopia. Each time I made a correction, or a suggestion in many cases, all of the students reacted as if light bulbs had been turned on in their heads. After I finished correcting the two essays there were no more students in the lab, most likely as a result of the classes that had just begun. I was scheduled to eat lunch at two with the English faculty, however it was only half past one at the time. I gathered my belongings and left the lab and thankfully I became engaged in a conversation with two female English students. It was nice to pass my time in conversation instead of wandering around aimlessly trying to kill a half hour. While the conversation followed the same theme of many of my previous conversations with students, I enjoyed it nonetheless.

At first the girls asked me about Nablus and what I thought about the checkpoints. One of them explained to me that every morning she enters through the checkpoints and every night she exits through them. She said, "I face many problems at the checkpoints, many problems". She explained how at least once a week she was humiliated at the checkpoints. She asked if I had troubles at the checkpoints as well. It pained me to tell her that I faced nothing like she did at the checkpoints. This was of course because I held an American passport, and she a Palestinian identification card. The girls then asked me, as most always do, if they could ask me a personal question. I told them they were free to ask me anything they desired. They asked me what religion I followed, and I told them I was agnostic, that I had questions about the existence of god, and that to this point in my life I hadn't found answers to them. This was a concept they found hard to understand. I told them that I found Islam to be a beautiful religion and asked them if they could teach me one thing about Islam what would it be? They told me Islam is a way of life, not simply a religion and in Islam, unlike Christianity, they only worship god. The students then asked me if I knew the difference between Hamas and Fatah, which of course I do. Fatah is a secular party, whereas Hamas is not. The students here always tease me because of my beard, telling me that I'm a supporter of Hamas, as most members of Hamas wear beards. I'd like to think I can keep my beard and not pledge allegiance to Hamas.

This morning the same girl who told me that if I didn't get my eye fixed people would think that Palestinian terrorists stole it, told me that a man here in Nablus had turned hummus into gold. I of course found this to be ridiculous and didn't think much of it. Later in the day she asked me if I wanted to go meet the man. I laughed and realized I'd been duped. It's April Fools' Day.

Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza two weeks ago. I wish for his safe release. I bring him up now because over the weekend I was watching Al-Jazeera and they read a quote from Alan, which went something like this: "If I was ever kidnapped by Palestinians, the only thing I'd fear is being fed to death". He was commenting on the amazing hospitality of the Palestinian people. After my lunch with the English department, I was suffering from a hefty dose of that hospitality.