Entertaining strangers

Today was a fantastic day. Usually I don't have time to blog about most of my experiences, but I just wanted to share some of the events that happened today. Everything at school went well. None of the children got seriously injured, and the day was fairly uneventful, which usually is a very good thing. Sunday was my birthday, so people are still wishing me a happy birthday. After school, I went to the clinic yet another time. It seems as though I am constantly sick here with one thing or another but, on the bright side, the doctors and employees have started to recognize me, so it feels like I am visiting friends whenever I go there :) In addition, my medication only cost 3 shekel ($1.00) so I can't really complain. Anyways, after leaving the clinic, Marta and I boarded the Beit Sahour bus, our usual transportation home. When we got on the bus, we recognized a girl that we had talked to a few times before on that bus. She is a Palestinian who lives in Jerusalem but travels almost every day to the West Bank to take classes in fashion design. So that means that about 3 hours of her day is comprised of traveling through the checkpoint and between destinations. Although we had only spoken a few times, she invited us to her home tomorrow afternoon for dinner with her family. I shouldn't be surprised anymore by the Palestinian hospitality, but it really never ceases to amaze me how welcoming and trusting people are. They have no idea of our intentions or our backgrounds, but they are willing to trust in the goodness of human nature and to take a leap of faith. I admire that so much, especially considering the history that the Palestinians have. It reminds me of the passage in Hebrews 13:2: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." This verse doesn't exactly fit with what I am trying to say, because I don't claim to be an angel in any way, but it seems to fit the idea of Palestinian hospitality. They see everyone as a potential friend and possibly someone they could help in some way. I think that if every person had this sort of mentality, the world would be a better place.
After this experience, my day continued on its wonderful path. On the way home, our neighbor beckoned us into her home to give us a dessert she had made. So we ended up staying 2 hours in her home, talking, drinking tea, and playing with her 3 beautiful children. I have grown accustomed to invitations taking much more time than they do in the United States. Here, an invitation rarely lasts less than 2 hours...there is always more food you can eat, more tea you can drink, and more talking you can do. I appreciate this style of life...spending time on the important things, like relationships.
After this inviation, we proceeded to the Tent Restuarant in Beit Sahour to meet up with a group of students, teachers, and pastors from the University of Michigan who are here visiting for their spring break. Definitely not the normal spring break trip, but what an incredible way to spend a spring break! They asked a lot of interesting questions, things that we had not necessarily thought about in a while. It is always so nice to have fresh ears and people who are interested in the things we are seeing and experiencing.
We left the restuarant fairly early, and I called a taxi driver who is a friend of mine to arrange a ride for the people from the Michigan group. I talked to him for a while, and he very happily announced that he is getting engaged. Knowing what a huge thing that is here, I told him how happy I am for him, and he invited us to the engagement party next week. Again, another example of showing hospitality to strangers.

University

It has been almost a month since my last post, and I don't really know where to begin to catch up, so I will begin with today and work from there. Today I went to Bethlehem University to meet up with a friend of mine. She is studying English Literature, and I was fortunate enough to attend a class with her. It was so nice to be back in a University setting...it made me realize that I really do miss the school environment. While I don't miss the homework and research papers that come with school, I do miss the social aspect of school and also the academic aspect of being surrounded by people who are eager to learn and to have conversations about random things. During this particular class, the students were discussing Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker, an African American writer. I have never read this before, but the professor brought up interesting topics and parallels between the problems African Americans in the US faced and continue to face and the problems that Palestinians face. In both situations there is a problem of oppression and discrimination. She also brought up the point of how the oppressed sometimes become the oppressors. As a particular example, she mentioned that after the Oslo Accords (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Accords) she would walk through the streets of Palestine and not be able to distinguish between the Palestinian Authority soldiers and the Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians, for some reason or other, had chosen to dress themselves in an almost identical manner as their oppressors. I have noticed this as well and have many times had to look twice to identify a soldier as either Palestinian or Israeli. One student in the class brought up the point that maybe it is because this is all they know. In any case, it is interesting to think about.