Crossing the Barrier, West Bank/Palestine pt. 1

               About a month ago while I was on Facebook, instead of doing my hebrew homework, my friend Asma chatted me.  Asma was in Hands of Peace with me back in 2009 and she was a Palestinian Participant.  She had seen that I was in Israel and had then graciously invited me to stay in her home in Nablus, Palestine.  And well, knowing I had somewhere to go and somewhere to stay...guess where I just was!  If you guessed Palestine, you'd be correct.
               So this is going to be the first of two posts about my time in the West Bank/Palestine.  This first one will be more the social aspect; what I did, who I saw, the narrative version.  While after my much anticipated trip to Bethlehem, I will post the more observational, serious post about what I saw and learned while being here.  But for now, the fun stuff!

                The day was September 23, a Sunday and I woke up at 6:45 in the morning in my roommate's bed...sorry Dayna but I found a lil critter in mine and even though I killed it, was too scared to sleep there.  But, the thing was, I woke up completely drenched in my own sweat.  I had two terrible nightmares and because deep in my mind I knew the day I wake up is the day I go to Palestine.  Yep, West Bank Palestine.
                 Sorry for the language Mom, but I was scared shitless.  Of all people, I should know that it really isn't a scary place, that people just go about their lives, but c'mon it's still nerve-wracking.  But what was more nerve-wracking than anything else is the fact that I had to take 3 busses and a tram to get there, and the most important bus isn't even advertised or talked about.  So, yes, I took a bus from school to the Bus Station.  Then from the Bus Station in Tel Aviv, to the Bus Station in Jerusalem.  Then I took a tram to the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem where I had to sketchily walk to a hidden bus station for all busses to the Arab neighborhoods and West Bank destinations.
                  Now while on bus #18 to Ramallah, I was to pass a active and working Checkpoint called Kalandia Checkpoint, and that is where Asma and her mother were supposed to pick me up.  Of course, me being me, we passed on by and I didn't make the connection that that was where I was supposed to get off...so here I was riding straight into the city.  After having a random palestinian woman talk to Asma on the phone in Arabic (because she didn't speak english), I got off at the Ramallah bus station, waited a few minutes and was officially on my way to Nablus.
                  We drove for about an hour, but then in Nablus we were.  I met Asma's adorable little dog and brother, friend and best off another HOP kiddie named Hiba, who happens to be Asma's cousin.  We took the car and just went driving and happened to catch one hell of a sunset.

                  Monday, Asma and I met her friends for some coffee and tea but the kicker was going to their relative's house.  Asma and Hiba are both related to, basically, the richest Palestinian guy and essentially the 44th richest Arab in the world.  His big mansion just happens to be in Nablus, and we just so happened to have a little photo shoot there.  For more pictures on the house, stalk my album, but seriously, it's gorgeous.

                  Tuesday we went to Tulkarem for the day.  That's where the majority of my friends from HOP are from and one of my friends there arranged a little meeting for all of us.  Asma and I took a Palestinian equivalent of a "sherut" to Tulkarem and met up with all my HOP friends for lunch and then a tour of the city.  Other than seeing them all, the coolest thing was seeing where they all got "their start".  By getting their start, I mean the english teacher that runs her own little school for english classes and really instills going to programs such as Hands of Peace and Seeds of Peace in her students.  On one wall of the classroom, there were about 8 paper hands with the names of her students who had participated in Hands of Peace, and on another wall were maybe 30 or so paper hands of students who have applied for Hands of Peace.  She too is an American, but moved there about 25 years ago because she married a Palestinian man.  In the picture below is the teacher in red and all my friends that came out to visit.  The boy on the far right, in the red, I actually hosted back in 2007.

                    Wednesday was by far one of the most interesting days on this trip.  I can now officially say that my first University/College course I have ever attended was in Nablus.  Hiba goes to the University here in Nablus and we thought it would be cool if I checked it out.  Now, if you thought I got stared at a lot while I was in Israel, than you would never have believed this.  The night before, Asma, Hiba and her mom played dress up with me so that I wouldn't look too provocative.  Girls already wear long pants and things that don't show your chest, but since I only wore leggings, we had to be extra sure that my butt wasn't showing and my chest was really covered.  As we walked in the school, I counted at least 10 guys obviously staring.  I got multiple compliments and serenades as I walked by, but my favorite was when someone would try to be sneaky and curse at me...well hmm the only words I know in Arabic are swears so I guess that didn't work...

                      But overall, this was a fantastic week.  Learned a lot.  Saw a lot.  And to be completely honest, I'm coming back.  To Nablus, Tulkarem and hopefully Ramallah.  In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that hard to get there, and now sitting in Haifa, it wasn't terrrrriblleeee getting back in, so I'll deal with the return checkpoints just because I liked it so much.  Remember my next post won't be a narrative, but more on what I saw in contrast to the Israeli way of life.