AND NOW, ALL THE WAY FROM SCOTLAND...

The other week, I performed at an Open Mic night that Project Hope had organised. It was held at a local hamam (Turkish Bath). It was an unusual setting, but then anything not involving a bar and lots of drunk people would seem an unusual venue for an Open Mic night to me, and that’s not exactly an option in Nablus.

I performed a couple of tunes, one accompanying someone else on guitar and another one singing myself. The song I sang was one of Leonard Cohen’s more upbeat numbers. All in all I was happy with how it went. I got good feedback and was also a lot less nervous than I thought I would be.

CRAP PHOTO OF OPEN MIC NIGHT AT AL-CHIFA HAMAM

Then, on Wednesday, I performed at another Open Mic night, this time at a Dar Al-Fanoon, a music centre in Old Askar camp. This time I opted for a Paul Brady song. It was a lot scarier an experience, as it was in a proper auditorium, it was the first time I had performed with an actual mic and I was following on from an incredibly proficient string ensemble from Lille. However, despite some technical problems that were outwith my control, I was again happy with how it went and got some good feedback.

A few weeks ago, I sang a couple of songs in front of maybe five or six of the international volunteers. This was easily the highest number of people I’d performed in front of up until that point but, from there, I have now performed at two Open Mic nights, would happily sign up for another and have generally taken it all in my stride.

Now, I don’t mention the above in order to boast that my musical talent in finally being recognised (I consider myself a reasonable singer and poor guitarist) but rather to illustrate the point that when you’ve pushed yourself far outside your comfort zone – such as by coming to Palestine, teaching English, going without bevvy, etc, etc – it all of a sudden becomes easy enough to push yourself that little bit further.

If my intention had been to boast, I would have instead mentioned that I discovered last week that Stuart, the guy I had performed with at the first Open Mic, had been asked if he and I would perform at a “mass wedding” held last weekend. Now, I went along to this wedding and it would have involved performing on a massive stage at a local park with 50 or so brides and grooms sitting behind me and a crowd of maybe a couple of thousand people. Thankfully, Stuart declined the invite. (There's pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and then there's just plain silly.)

CRAP PHOTO OF MASS WEDDING (THE BRIDES ARE THE WHITE BLURS)

I can only conclude that, given Palestinians' limited exposure to Western music, they think that someone singing vaguely in tune and strumming a few chords on a guitar is as good as it gets.

PREVIEW OF FORTHCOMING ATTRACTIONS

It’s been a busy week or so, so again I haven’t found enough time to properly update my blog.

However, as an incentive for me to pull my finger out, here’s a list of topics I hope to cover in forthcoming posts.

Performing at an Open Mic Night

“Accompanying”

Olive picking

Palestinian music

Palestinian food

My first creative writing classes

All of this will be based on experiences over the last couple of weeks and, now that I’ve listed them, I have no excuse not to let you know all the glorious details. I’ve also spent the last hour or so uploading from my cheapo phone some surprisingly decent photos, so there will be a visual element to accompany my ramblings.

At some point I also intend to give my take on Islam, local politics and the one state versus two state debate, but I’m nowhere near able to articulate my thoughts on all that quite yet. I’ve learnt a lot over the last month and a half, but I’m conscious that there’s still a lot more to learn.

HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT CUP OF PALESTINIAN TEA

Ingredients: water, a teabag, two and a half teaspoons of sugar, three leaves of fresh sage.

1) Boil a wee pan of water.

2) Put the sugar and sage into a non-heatproof glass. (Note: Whatever you do, do not use a mug.) If you don’t have any sage, consider using fresh mint instead.

3) Add the boiling water.

4) Dip a teabag into the water until your tea is just the right strength.

5) Pick up the glass. (You may notice a burning sensation on the tips of your fingers. This is normal.)

6) Enjoy.

JOURNAL ENTRY

I just sat down to update my journal (something else I’ve been neglecting for the past week or so) and all of a sudden realised that my head’s all over the place. There’s been a lot of stuff for me to get my head round over the few weeks. Firstly, there’s been getting used to the different culture. Then I’ve been learning about the politics of Palestine whilst at the same time always trying to reach my own opinion about things. Then I'm hearing stories about suffering. Then I’m teaching English, something I’ve never done before. And I’m going to be unemployed when I get back home, so need to think about what I want to do next. And then, on top of all of this, I’m trying to make sure that I contribute as much as I can while I’m here, and learn as much as possible.

Now, none of this is actually bad and it should be a positive thing for me to work through all of the above. I’ve just all of a sudden got very emotional about it all.

And I’m coming to the realisation that I don’t think I’ve ever felt more proud of myself than I do at this particular moment in time.

So, my last post was a humorous (or at least it was supposed to be) account of the differences between living in Nablus and being back home, and then I post something a lot more deep and personal. Maybe that sums me up quite well.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Okay, I’ve been in Nablus for a little over a month now. That’s more than enough time to have sussed out the lie of the land with regards local culture. Obviously, there are a lot of similarities, everything from the importance of family to teenage girls giggling in class, but as an outsider it’s natural to focus on things that are strange and new.

So, I’ll list for you the main differences, cultural or otherwise, I’ve found between Nablus and back home.

1) The weather

The first thing I had to get used to was the weather. So far, it’s been ruddy hot. Wind, cloud and especially rain are seen as good things here. The other week, it rained for the first time in seven months. Everybody was very excited. It rained again a few days after that. I had to stop myself from moaning about it raining again.

2) Mosquitoes

There are a lot of them.

3) Bevvy

There’s none of this.

4) Buying food and drink

People will constantly offer to pay for your food or drink. Even if they are unable to pay for your meal, they will find an excuse to pay a wee bit more, such as insisting on paying for the water. A couple of times I’ve been out for lunch with somebody and they’ve flatly refused to let me pay for any of it. I think this is all part of welcoming somebody to their country.

The idea of just paying for your own isn’t common in Nablus. On one occasion, one of the international volunteers was trying to explain the concept of “going dutch” and one of the locals said, “But why would you only want to think of yourself?” Why indeed?

5) Tips

In Nablus, you don’t tip. Either that, or I’ve been very ungrateful for the service I’ve been getting.

6) Welcome

In Edinburgh, we don’t really welcome tourists that well, maybe because there are so many of them. Nablus, by comparison, doesn’t really have a tourist industry. As such, almost all the “internationals” I’ve met are here for a reason, usually to do some sort of voluntary work. Maybe this is why people are so friendly, repeatedly asking where you’re from and saying, “You are very welcome.” Or maybe it’s the Arab culture. (Or maybe we Edinburgh folk are just plain ignorant.)

7) Sense of community

This is hugely important over here, particularly in the refugee camps.

I couldn’t tell you the name of any of my neighbours back home.

8) Kids

Wee kids will come up and chat to you in the street. It is not seen as bad form to chat back to them and, as far as I can tell, nobody will think you’re a paedophile. Conversation, however, can be a wee bit limited.

A typical conversation with a Nablus child:

Wee kid: “How are you?”

Me: “I’m good, thank you. How are you?”

Wee kid: “What’s your name?”

Me: “My name’s Jimmy. What’s your name?”

Wee kid: “Where you from?”

Me: “Scotlanda.”

(Pause.)

Wee kid: “What’s your name?”

You’d be amazed how long a child can keep repeating three questions.

Only one kid has told me to “f*ck off”.

9) Politics and religion

The British rule of whatever-you-do-don’t-talk-about-politics-and-religion doesn’t apply. Neither does the word “apathy”. Women will ask you what you think about the hijab and how Western women dress. It’s best to answer this question diplomatically.

10) Boys and girls

In English classes and social gatherings (including weddings, apparently) boys will sit with the boys and girls will sit with the girls. There will be no flirting.

Your workplace will make a fuss if it’s your birthday. Nothing unusual there. However, when Haneen (the English Programme Co-ordinator) had her birthday the other week, she gave all the girls a hug to thank them. The boys didn’t get a hug. I felt left out.

11) Horns

Nablus drivers are not shy of using their car horns. In Edinburgh, people will use their horn to signify danger or road rage. Here, it can signify danger, the mildest of frustration, somebody having just got married, a taxi or servees being free for a fare, turning a corner, not turning a corner or the fact that the driver hasn’t used his horn in the last two minutes and wants to check if it still works okay.

12) Celebrity culture

This doesn’t exist in Nablus. For three different English classes, I’ve done an activity based around interviewing somebody famous. When asked to suggest somebody to interview, they decided upon George Bush, Yasser Arafat and Thomas Edison.

BAD BLOGGER

I feel like I’ve been neglecting my blogging duties over the past couple of weeks. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, I’ve been doing more classes recently and therefore have less time to faff about on the computer. Secondly, I’ve been spending a lot of time socialising with my fellow volunteers, both local and international. They’re a really good bunch of people and it has been a real pleasure chilling out with them, getting to know them and having long conversations about such important issues as politics, religion, culture and where the best falafel stand is in Nablus.

I intend to get back to regular blogging from now on, though.

So, where was I....?

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

My English classes are continuing to go okay. I have a couple of local volunteers helping me with some classes. The volunteers I am working with are Wajeeh and Muhammad. (Not the one I was with on our road trip, but another one. It’s a reasonably common name in these parts.) Both of them have been a real help, particularly in explaining things like what “present continuous” means. (It’s something to do with “ing”.)

I’ve foolishly been left to my own devices in some other classes, but I’m still happy enough with how they’re going. It’s got to the stage that I can even have a wee laugh with my “students”, such as when I had to explain the difference between “drank” and “drunk”. After explaining what “drunk” meant, I said, “This is a word you will not need to use in Nablus.” Cue lots of laughter.

Talking of which, there was an Oktoberfest beer festival in Taybeh that a few folk (all Westerners) went to on Saturday. I decided not to bother going. After all, I had decided before I came that I wanted to immerse myself in the local culture as much as possible, and the least I can do is go without a beer for a few months.

Incidentally, if you want to support a Palestinian business and have a bevvy at the same time, look out for Taybeh beer. (See link below.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJ6PlNWp40

ANOTHER FILM

I saw another film about Palestine on Sunday, this time at Project Hope with the other international volunteers. It was aimed at an American audience, providing an alternative (or more accurate) history of Palestine and it didn’t shy away from pointing the finger at both the UK and the US for their roles in creating or maintaining the conflict in Palestine, particularly in their support of the Zionist movement.

Now I’m wary of letting my blog turn into a political rant, and if anyone is interested in learning more about Palestine there are many far more informed political commentators out there than myself, but it did confirm to me that there is a story simply not being told in the West.

However, informative though this film was, there were a couple of things that didn't set well with me. The film covered the persecution of Palestinian Christians and the tragic death, at the hands of the Israelis, of a young American activist. Now, both of these subjects are unsettling and are important aspects in telling “the whole story”, but by focusing more on these events than on others, it gave the impression that the persecution of Christians and death of Americans is in some way more significant than the plight of Muslims and the commonplace murder of the people of Palestine.

Not sure what else to say about that. Rant over.

JERICHO, THE DEAD SEA AND BETHLEHEM

ON THE ROAD

I went with a few folk on a wee road trip last Friday. The first stop was Jericho, or rather just outside Jericho where there’s an Orthodox church built into the side of a clifftop. It made for quite a sight. The trek up to the monastery was a bit of a mission, especially given the heat, but it was worth it for the view right across Jericho.

MONASTERY OF THE TEMPTATION

VIEW FROM THE MONASTERY

In order to get into the church, you’re supposed to pretend to be from an Orthodox country. Nobody told me this though, so I was wondering why I was getting funny looks from the guy at the door when I proudly declared “Scotlanda” when asked where I was from. Luckily, given that I was with a “Serbian” (i.e. someone who knows how to play the game) I managed to get in okay.

OVERLOOKING JERICHO

Nothing much to report back on about the rest of Jericho, or the Dead Sea which was our next stop. It’s just another beach. We took a wrong turning and ended up going to the Israeli part of the beach, which led to my first encounter with Israeli Border Police. They pulled us over because we were in a car with Palestinian plates. They just quizzed the driver for a bit then let us go. Not too much bother then, but I was very conscious of the fact that there were two very nervous Palestinians in the back seat.

THE DEAD SEA

After the Dead Sea, we went to Bethlehem and visited the Church of the Nativity. It’s administered jointly by the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church and the Armenians. I can’t help but think that this compromise has sucked all the character out of the place. Walk into any Orthodox or Catholic church and what you’ll see will be much more impressive.

And that’s not even starting on the amount of tourists crawling all over the place. There’s nothing in the world uglier than a tourist. It made grateful to be staying in Nablus.

OUTSIDE THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY

I’ve discovered that there are Jewish settlements all over the place, including right bang in the middle of the West Bank. You don’t notice them until you’re with Palestinians who can point them out. For me, it raises massive question marks over the validity of the “two state solution” people talk about.

Anyway, I’ve just read over the above and don’t think I’ve done justice to what was, in fact, a really great day. Most of the plus points were to do with the people I was with. It was particularly good spending the day with Muhammad and Borhan, two local volunteers with Project Hope. (By now, it should be apparent that I’m guessing with the spelling of a lot of the Arabic names.) They’re both great lads and a credit to both Nablus and Project Hope.

JESUS