"The most regrettable thing about Americans is..."

On Saturday, I was invited to the house of one of the kindergarten teachers I work with. She took me home with her and introduced me to her family, all of whom are wonderfully friendly and welcoming. Her daughter is 19, so we hung out the whole day. She told me a lot about life in Palestine and took me up to the roof of their house to show me where her 10-year-old cousin was shot in 2001 during the second intifada (a Palestinian resistance movement, part of the response to Israeli occupation). She was home alone at the time and heard gun shots and soldiers outside her home. She was worried the soldiers would come into her house, and then found out that her cousin had been shot right outside her home. When I asked her why they shot him, she said it was because he was there and they had guns...there seems to be that type of random violence towards the Palestinians even today. If the Israeli occupation is for "safety," why are they killing young children?
They took me to Shepherd's Field, and showed me around the church and the surrounding area. Then she took me to meet her family, many of whom live right nextdoor to them. When I met her grandfather, who speaks fabulous English and travels to the US to sell carvings from the Holy Land regularly, he said that the most regrettable thing about Americans is that they don't realize that there are Christians in Palestine. He says that many Americans think Palestine is a completely Muslim area and that there is no Christian community here. But the truth is that we have many brothers and sisters in Christ here in Palestine who need our prayers and our support.
Later on in the afternoon, the parents left, so the two of us chatted and hung out the rest of the evening. I really appreciated being able to talk with someone close to my age who has had to experience all that I have been learning about. She is a normal teenager, despite the things she has seen and been through.
At the end of the night, their family invited me to a Palestinian wedding next Tuesday. I am really excited about it, as they had been explaining the customs and celebrations to me. Apparently, weddings last for almost a week, and it seems to be a pretty constant celebration! It was so generous of them to invite me, and I am very excited to experience this part of their culture.