Entries this day: State_of_my_life_address zzzz_Nablus

State of my life address

10:15 IST Saturday 15 October 2005

State of My Life Address

1. I am using my Handspring Visor and keyboard (thank you, janette!!) to write while traveling alone from Jerusalem to Ramallah to Zatura to Jamial.

   That's the phonetically spelled list of (what I imagine are progressively smaller and smaller) cities to where I can help with Olive Harvest 2005, as originally planned about two months ago.

   This is my most complicated excursion alone in West Bank, but not my most frightening. I was most nervous when I first arrived and had to get from Tel Aviv to the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem but that was only one shuttle. Well, okay two, but the guy told me, "okay get on this shuttle" which took me about 1/2 kilometer only.

2. This time, after about 9 days in the country, I am not worried for my personal safety, but I've never had to negotiate so many taxis in a row.

   I'll soon be at Qalandia (checkpoint) through which vehicles cannot pass where we will have to exit, walk through one way gates, lissten for a guy shouting Ramallah! to attract people to his (buddy's) taxi bound for Ramallah.

   That I have been led through before. But past that, I dunno.

3. 10:39

   Through Qalandia now.

4. I *love* the integrity of the people here. And the taxi system is cool.

   I can get a private taxi or pile into a group taxi van, where people pass forward their fare to other passengers and (if it's enough fare for more than one person) tells how many people it's for, the cash gets passed forward to the driver who makes change and the change is passed back.

   There's no theft. No trickery. No short changing. Totally money.

5. I am planning to be out of the Faisal for tonight and tomorrow night. Speaking of money, I owe 225 NIS to various people, cause I didn't get any out before holidays and weekends happened and it was too late.

   100 to Sarah, 75 to Hisham (Faisal manager) (for three nights' stay), 50 to Jason.

   Thank you guys.

6. 11:52s

   I am definitely on an adventure!

7. Now I am on a bus waiting for it to leave Ramallah for Nablus. I have been in touch with Andy who said I should not go to Jamail, but to Ballata (sp), another place I had never heard of.

   Andy was quite specific that I should take a bus that did not go through Owara checkpoint (which would take a super long time; I've walked through it before with Anna and Max), but there seem to be no other options for buses to Nalus, and I've gotten varying answers on the specifics of this bus' intended route. Maybe it's photon and will go both through and around the checkpoint.

8. This bus is about a 45 seater and a bit less than 1/2 full. We may not be leaving for a while. But it sure is cheap.

9. I have no pets, no girlfriends, no love interests, no house, no idea how my stuff is doing in Japan , and no ETA for Nablus.

10. but...

    The bus has just started (12:05pm) so we should be under way soon.

11. I'm here in West Bank because Niveen captured my imagination / desire to travel and *do things* while we sailed on P/B together.

12. I haven't spoken with my parents in a while, but I have emailed my mom a bit. I've definitely been in touch with Fred, but not with any of our step-sisters.

13. I have just cleared 9 gigs of space on my computer (Mac Powerbook G4 / 667MHz / 512 meg RAM / 30 gig HD) by archiving images from P/B to 4CDs last night.

    Interesting how that math doesn't work out (4CDs * 640meg / CD != 9 gigs.)

14. I'm on an adventure of a lifetime, on a charter bus squeezing slowly through a crowded market in Ramallah on the West Bank of Palestine and just remarking in my brain that this is how I want my life to be all the time. Continuous trips of lifetimes.

15. Having recently read _if_the_Buddha_dated_, I have a bit of Buddhist commentary bemusedly sifting through my mind. It suggests I don't have to go to far away places with ever-more-difficult languages and cultures to have a trip of a lifetime.

    But, it's possible to have trips of lifetimes in those places as well.

16. 12:28pm

    The bus just stopped at a rather tall filling station. A 40 seater bus. With nearly 40 butts in the seats. At a gas station. Wow!

17. I think it's noteworthy to mention I have had no trouble whatsoer finding things to do here in the West Bank. It may be because I'm a native English speaker that Rami called to see if I would be available today, but he definitely called me.

    I got a call rom Ayesh (ISM) to see if I could do stuff in Qawawais (sp) tomorrow.

    I told both of them no; I was too busy.. I'm on this adventure to Ballatah today and plan to chill in Nablus tomorrow.

18. I also want to spend some time with the monk I met yesterday in Bil'in. He invited me to his monkplace near the Mount of Olives.

    I don't know the name of it; but (ironically) I'd like to study Japanese there.

19. 13:15pm

    We are at the Ohwara (sp) checkpoint now. That's my observation of this photon-bus, at least.

20. I've been reading _evasion_ recently. I think it would only really work in Westernized throw-away cultures.

21. 13:25

    We are through the checkpoint and have just gotten through the crowd of taxis on the other side.

22. Sarah just called me to check my progress to help with her decision. She has been asked to come to Ballatha as well.

23. 14:15pm

    Wow; I've just gotten an email from Forest here in this internet cafe where Ayesh brought me after meeting me. I was intrigued at the offer of internet, but no drink, but now that I remember we are in Ramadan, it's not so surprising.

    While replying to Forest, a guy put a little piece of paper next to me like "2:00" that I took to be a sort of receipt so I'd have to pay. They didn't say anything about paying, so I jumped off ASAP

zzzz Nablus

11:01pm IST Saturday 15 October 2005

I'm in the Project Hope apartment for the next two nights. 30 NIS per night, but it's far larger than Faisal. But no free tea/coffee/internet. But there's free internet at the Project Hope office.

After arriving in Nablus, I met Ayesh, and I am a bit embarassed about my reaction to having to pay for internet. I thought they were just letting us use the internet while we were waiting; they didn't ask, "would you like to use the internet?" they just said, "come; please sit here," and I kinda laughed in my head at the idea of weary travelers wanting Internet first, and not Food nor Water.

Then the guy put a little "2:00" note by my computer after I had written an email to Kellie and one to Forest (OMG!). I realized that must mean they want me to pay, so in a somewhat passive aggressive move, I just jumped off the computer and started writing my SoML on my Handspring Visor again.

Then it became time to go, so the guy came up, "oh, are you finished?" and I was all, "yeah; I didn't realize you wanted me to pay; I'm not paying for internet..."

And they were like, "can you pay 2 shekels for internet?" and I was all, "no way man" and pulled the change out of my wallet and like chunked it all onto the counter, like I've done in Japan when unable to get around paying for train tickets when I'm trying to scam the system.

Quite abrupt and unnecessarily aggressive, so I'm not too proud of the move, but at least I more quickly became aware of it.

I was a bit embarassed and couldn't really figure out what to say when Ayesh paid for it for me.

- - - -

We walked around a bit and I stopped by a bank, but the ATM wouldn't give me money on my credit card.

Ayesh was distracted on the phone and the other woman with whom we were walking wasn't saying much, and I wondered if she had been turned off by my little hissy fit. After the bank, he was like, "well, what are you going to do today?" I was like, "I thought I would help you guys," and he was like, "there's really nothing we can do.." and I had to trust it was due to how late in the day it had become, and not an issue about my attitude.

But, I hadn't exactly gotten warm vibes either, so I was happy to go hang out with Masada from Project Hope.

I was invited to breakfast with everyone in the Project Hope center, so I looked forward to chowing with them. They laid single sheets of newspaper over all the tables and then put out a rather large spread of chow and we all started chowing.

Before the dinner was ready, I put together my SoML from my Handspring Visor, and I got the pictures incorporated into my entry from yesterday about Bil'in.

Met a few guys (all of whom preferred French for speaking) and a couple of women, including one native English woman named Kate from England, specifically Wales. (*)

(*) What?? She has been telling everyone England because no one knows Wales, but then tonight someone was like, "oh really? Where in England?" and she goes, "Wales," and I looked up all, "what???"

- - - -

I got to tag along when Kate and three Palestinian guys went to a bar. It was a (I don't have a word) water pipe bar, where every table was given a water pipe like corn chips at a Mexican restaurant.

We talk talk talked, and I learned some Arabic and took some nice shots of Nablus with Hitomi's camera.

It became bedtime [ana tabaan], so we left and they dropped us off here at the Project Hope apartment, where she has lived for the past 2 months, and I will be for the next two nights.

Starting.... now!