It could definitely be worse

Bear with me folks, I'm thinking to spend the next few posts chronicling the mundane day-to day... all the stuff you won't hear about in the daily, weekly or bi-weekly news regarding these parts of the world. However, at the same time, I feel obliged to add a little bit of catch-up, after all I've been here way too long to ignore the embarrassing fact that I've been in Palestine and have totally ignored my personal mission as a storyteller. So let's start with today, that's really the easiest. I woke up early, planning to add an hour to the beginning of my day so I can pay our overdue electric bill to the Jerusalem District Electricity Company, Ltd. Whether it actually takes an hour to pay an electricity bill is beyond my scope of knowledge, but I do know that the last time I tried to pay it, I took number 243 and sat down at the Bank of Palestine and waited about 10 minutes for the numbers to progress from 208 to 210. Apparently, though it's possible to pay bills at the bank, it's faster to pay them at the company office but that would mean getting a taxi to Birzeit (easy), getting off in front of the office (also easy) and waiting for another Birzeit taxi along the side of the road so I can get to class on time (hmmm). I've done that kind of waiting in the past, the kind where you just point to the road whenever you see a yellow minibus and hope it stops, but it's still a mystery to me how one goes about a routine in this manner. Taxis don't leave the taxi stand until they're full so unless someone gets off early (like someone headed to the electric company instead of the final destination) it's a crap shoot... as they say in my country. Anyhow, to put an end to this compelling story, I should just be straight and tell you that I convinced myself that today was an inauspicious day to pay the bill and I put it off. Instead, I decided to spend the extra time drinking my morning coffee (instant.. bleh) and then I headed off to school (Birzeit University) in the usual manner. Aside from the one time I got in the taxi with plenty of money, but got off mid-route when I couldn't find my wallet, only to discover along the side of the road that indeed, I was loaded, the almost daily commute has gone just fine. So moving on, my Arabic class is really taking a downward turn, I'm not sure how this happened because I was so optimistic at the beginning, but at some point several students in the class seemed less concerned with learning grammar basics or conversational techniques and kept requesting that the teacher translate words and phrases like "prostitute," "prostitution" and "I'm intoxicated." The teacher didn't seem to see this as a diversion of any sort and so the conversation went along and I accepted the fact that today wasn't meant for paying electric bills or learning Arabic. After class, I ate a cheese sandwich that made me feel queasy and headed to an office where (I thought) someone I knew worked. Turns out he's "khalas" with that job, and so no visit for me. So I headed to Jalazone, where I'm trying to begin (wow.. am I still just trying to begin?) an audio project there with some kiddies, and wallah, today I pointed to the side of the road and in less than 5 minutes, I got the taxi of my dreams, not one that took me straight into the camp, but close enough. I showed up all optimistic with my recorder and notebook, but turns out, today is not the best day for that either. I'm still not exactly sure why today wasn't a good day, but well.. so it goes. Inshallah Thursday we'll start to draft our questions and Sunday we'll interview a man who has two of his sons in an Israeli prison. The end-goal is to make an audio portrait of the camp, one person at a time. More updates on that as days progress. Meanwhile, I spent the afternoon at the Child Center trying to translate the functions of Mustafa's cellphone from English to Arabic, attempting to console Said, whose family situation really truly sucks, and battling for Mushira's attention as I pitch my next day's project plan.

As for catch-up, to be honest I feel a little worn out at this point, so let's revisit the past in the future ok? I'll just say this, it could be worse. Perhaps I'll give you some ideas as to how much worse it could be in future posts. Till then, I'll leave you with this photo I took at Huwwara.. a checkpoint that serves as the "entrance" to Nablus.