As of tonight, I have officially survived my first week in Jerusalem/West Bank. We've done many amazing things during this week of orientation, met amazing people, and had incredible food. We have been taking daily Arabic lessons from a sweet woman named Aida. So far I am getting by with being able to say "marhaba" - hello and "shukran" - thank you. I'm sure it'll all start to click soon....hopefully. We have had the opportunity to spend time in East Jerusalem and in the Old City as well as a lot of time in Bethlehem, Bet Jala, and Bet Sahour. We went to the Israeli Holocaust museum - Yad Vashem, and also spent time with Palestinians in a refugee camp. We spent time at the Wall and at the Palestinian conflict resolution center. I am not yet able to put into words what I am feeling about the situation here- political or otherwise, and I do not exactly know how to describe what I have seen and experienced thus far. Hopefully I will get better at that. I do know that this is sure to be a year of listening and learning and most of all building relationships. The Palestinian people are incredibly welcoming, hospitable, and genuine. To demonstrate some of the irony/hypocrisy I have witnessed: At Yad Vashem there was a
quote that said, "A nation is not only what it does, it is also what it tolerates" "
There was a mural with this same quote on the Palestinian side of the wall.
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