First Impressions

It is unbelievable that we have only been in country for 4 full days.  There is so much that has happened.  Here are some first impressions: 

 Weather:   It is gorgeous; days and nights are cool, but only light sweaters are needed;  blue, blue sky.  After several very pleasant days it is starting to get cold;  rain is badly needed for the farmers.

Beauty:  Incredible!  We immediately noticed the palm trees, bouganvilleas (tropical), roses, geraniums, lots of flowers.  Some stone buildings are hundreds of years old and even new buildings are made to look old.  Contrasts – Palestinian area of what is called the Old City is like street markets in Latin America except that almost anything can be bought there, as well as foods and of course the necessary trinkets.  Jewish areas of the Old City are much quieter and cleaner – not nearly as many people or general hubbub.  Other parts of Jerusalem have a similar feeling of contrast:  Less infrastructure in the way of garbage pickup and maintained streets and more poor housing in the Palestinian areas;  more beautiful, well-maintained buildings, comfortable streets, and new structures being built in the Israeli portion.  Both areas in general seem to be very safe even for a woman.    Some houses, businesses and hotels have a courtyard in the middle,  full of flowering plants, even in December. Space below the building is often utilized in the way of extra rooms deep down into the earth – equivalent to two stories down, unlike our more shallow basements in the US.  So, there are a lot of things that are charmingly different than we are used to. 

EAPPI team:  Of our group of 25 people, ages range from 26-73 and come from a great variety of backgrounds:  journalists, former teachers, professors, researchers, politicians, theology students, pastor, homemaker.  It is fascinating how all these Europeans (three fourths of the group) can speak English so well and often another language besides.   

A few of our activities so far:  After a day to rest and see the city a bit, we had some training and orientation to the program and then were sent to be with the outgoing team from each of our placements.  There are 6 teams in different locations throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Wayne is in a tiny town of about 35 adults and 100 people total.  I am in Jerusalem.  Here are two vignettes from my last two days:

At a checkpoint in the early morning, we counted how many people were getting through the turnstiles every half hour.  The long lines of Palestinians waiting to get through to the Israeli side were pretty orderly.  Nonetheless, we saw and heard some frustration over the fact that it was taking an hour or more to get through the first turnstile, and once that was accomplished they had to wait for entry to a second in order to actually go through security.  Those lines were sometimes so frustratingly slow that men would yell and pound on the window, often to no avail.  Besides counting, our roles were to call an Israeli hotline when the lines were not moving, talk to people, and generally be an encouragement, as it is widely reported that when we are there, the lines go faster.  Since it was Friday, many of the Muslims on that day were trying to go to the Mosque for prayer.  Friday is not a work day in the Muslim community, so the crowd was smaller and quicker, I am told.  We are going back tomorrow to have a more typical experience at the crossing. 

Today, in a much different vein, we took a bus to a Bedouin community right outside of Bethany, about a half hour away by bus.  Looking at the countryside I was captivated by the thought of Jesus walking that dusty, rocky, hilly area on his way to Jerusalem, knowing he would soon be crucified.  Besides buildings and roads the basic terrain has probably not changed that much. 

We met with a very sweet, joy-filled university educated woman, who spent her first ten years in a typical Bedouin nomadic lifestyle of moving several times a year to take their animals to fresh ground and to get off the hill tops in the winters so that they would be spared from some of the cold winds.  She talked of how difficult it was for her parents when they were forced by the Israeli government to leave their lifestyle and move to a village where they were given 40 yr. permits for the house they built.  No one knows what will happen after that.  Her father never did adjust to living in a house, choosing to live outside as much as possible, cooking and eating around an open fire outside.  He was afraid that electricity would ruin their eyes, as his were accustomed only to the lights at night of a fire and the moon.  After talking with her we met outside with a group of six teenage girls for an English lesson.  They were very enthusiastic and fun.  

Next week we will once again join the whole group for further training here in Jerusalem.