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.