Arabic Fun

We finished our arabic final a week ago but our teacher Ayman was kind enough to invite us over to his house. He invited both classes (40 people). It was so fun because he lives in Southwest Jerusalem which is traditionally the Israeli side of town but I guess there is a Palestinian settlement there. I never quite know what is going on over here. His house was like somewhat an apartment style, like most houses are here but once inside it was a real house. I didn't realize how much I missed a home. His wife is an excelent decorator so it has a real modern feel, something like Becky Philips style of modern but it was yellows so it felt warm and homely. His wife must have been slaving away all day because she fixed an incredible meal for us to eat. Don't forget there are forty of us. They had a salad that was essentially like the spinach, cranberries, nuts, and poppy seed dressing but instead of cranberries they used palmagranite seeds. It was so good and it felt so American. We also had grape leaves with rice inside, a very mediterranean type food. It was so nice to get away from the center too. We have two finals in the next two days so we had been studying literally all day.

I really enjoyed getting to meet and talk with Ayman's kids. They are really tall for their age, made me think of my own family, and very athletic. His daughter plays soccer, she is thirteen and she went to canada this summer to play. His twin boys are eleven. One plays baseball and the other plays basketball. He went to Vermont for a camp this summer. It was so neat to spend some time in a Palestinian's home and to hear a little more about their normal life. In the home they only speak Arabic. When they watch TV it is usually in Hebrew. The children speak Hebrew so well, they don't even have an accent. They will speak Hebrew in the home if someone has an Israeli guest over. They get a private teacher for English. It is such a different life. I don't remember what the name of the settlement is but it is very close to Bethlehem. I was so grateful for the night out and for such a hospitable teacher. It is amazing what I have been able to experience here.