After some days of silence, I am back on my blogging schedule forced by an overload of observations that are hanging out inside my brain randomly, and making my effort to ‘rationalize’ is almost painful. Experiences are made firstly through our senses and then processed as a mental exercise. It is on these senses, and on my feelings that I would like to start this brainstorming session today. In this blog entry, organization is something you should not expect- just to make things clear-. Instead, I will write a series of mental pictures.
- On Wednesday, as I was walking back from my lesson in the late afternoon I realized that I was simply ‘walking it out’. I was completely by myself walking on a one of the ridiculously steep streets of Nablus, and I was in a state of total euphoria. The sun had just stopped being unbearable, the city had its usual sober vivacity, and I had just finished a long day working in Askar. Yet, nothing in particular had happened and it was one of these average days in which you feel you do have a routine and it makes you feel safe. While I was in the middle of my euphoria, a man starts following me from the back and when I turn he almost screams ‘your cell phone!’. I know I met the guy before, but my head cannot connect. I look at him confused and say ‘what about it?’. Turns out that he works in the cell phone shop where I left, and forgot, my broken phone to see if I could retrieve my numbers. Inside the shop he gives me my old phone and tells me that I should go with a flash drive to pick up my numbers that are on the computers. I thank him and ask how much I own him. Nothing- I own him nothing, he insists, because it did not cost him money to do me the favor. I am back on the street, and walk to another office where I am giving Italian lessons to a colleague’s friend. I enter the office and he offers me tea. We talk about his interest for Italian and have a one hour lesson. He is very focused and eager to learn. After my lesson we have a chat and I leave. Of course, no money involved. Today, I have another lesson with my Italian student. He invites me for a super nice lunch that we eat at his office but that was cooked by his mother.- I never realized how good it feels to exchange things other than money-
- The conversations that I have been having with people about the process of exiting Israel through Tel Aviv make particularly anxious – (to be continued …)I am seriously concerned, and also seriously worried about getting in trouble with Israel for volunteering in the West Bank. At the same time I find my anxiousness pathetic. I have a Western passport and an embassy that would support me. My imagination can hardly hint to comprehend the sense of powerless and restless that Palestinians experience.
- For a nice break from the simplicity of Nablus’s life, the other volunteers and I decided to spend a mundane night in Ramallah. With the check points opened, Ramallah is a scarce hour away from Nablus; however, the difference between the two cities is striking. The awareness of being constantly checked out on the streets fades away and Ramallah feels more metropolitan, hectic and open. Ramallah has been a ‘base' through the past decades for many of the western activists, journalists and politicians working in the West Bank. Ironically, their presence shaped the city so greatly that Ramallah hardly feels like the rest of the West Bank.
We went out to a beer festival, which was basically a party which included beer, disco light, super western music and a bunch of people dancing around.
- On Friday, one of my palestinian colleagues (Y) invited me to take a little tour around Nablus. It was a simple day, which turned out to be one of my favourites. Y. and his cousin came to pick me up and we ended up having a drink on a little natural riot. The owner of a little coffee shop placed some chairs and table on the water and the location became one of the locals' favorites. We spent the afternoon talking about the Islam. Personally, I feel so detached from organized religion in this period of my life that listening to their interpretation and to the strenght of their belief made me feel confused, as if there was something I could not appreciate in the order of things. While we talk about the balance between good and bad actions that will place individuals into heaven, a bee is flothing around my glass of coke and Y's cousin, noticing that I am bothered kills the bee. I make some reference about Karma, and I start getting questions about my beliefs that up to that point I have not discussed. I answer that I simply try to do my best to be respectful to people around me and that I do 'pray to god', but I am not interested in his name. I guess I would not mind calling it Allah, or Dio. They are confused, but they explain to me how Islam respects all religions.
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