We are beginning to find our rhythm, waking up for breakfast at 7:30am, attending Arabic class, and then our seminar class after lunch with potential evening adventures. I have deeply enjoyed building new friendships and learning new things about amazing people in our group and locally in Beit Sahour.
The first excitement of the week was experiencing a sandstorm for the first time. Sandstorms are not like the movies, but they do kick up lots of dust and sand to where the air quality is much poorer. The same day, we welcomed the last three people of our group to Palestine. Afton, Iris, and Savannah were on tour with EMU Chamber Singers around Europe.
I am in the Arabic 1 class, and this week we learned the Arabic terms for the parts of the body, numbers, and identified alphabet letters within an Arabic word. I feel like I am learning a lot and faster than I normally would learn a language because I am so ingrained into the culture here and practicing Arabic daily.
The seminar topic for this week was connecting religion and the conflict of Palestine-Israel, specifically focusing on Christian Zionism. We enjoyed hearing from John Munayer, a professor at a nearby Bible college, and we enjoyed visiting WI’AM, a local organization known as the Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center. John provided insight into Christian Zionism and spoke about the struggle Christian Palestinians face between understanding what the Bible says and what the secular world says. Zoughbi Alzoughbi and Tarek Alzoughbi from WI’AM, on the other hand, provided each of us insight into peaceful conflict transformation within the local community we are living in for 6 weeks.
Last to mention, we recently have begun playing four-square in the front courtyard of our guest house. We have been engaged for hours!
-Karla H.
This Friday was probably my favorite day that we have had so far. I had a lovely breakfast with my roommate and host, Widad (who happens to also be my Arabic teacher). As we drove she waved to most people (it seems that she has taught at least 2/3 of the people in Beit Sahour). Next, we went on a hike in the Makhrour near Bethlehem. It was lovely. It was one of the few times on this trip in which I felt truly at peace. It was amazing to look at the terraces dressed with olive, pine, and oak trees and dusted with wildflowers and cacti. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Roman Watch tower and the small Roman Bath House along the way, since I took Latin for four years and generally have interest in all things Ancient Roman.
Next, we headed to our taxi driver’s house for tea, which I think is a fantastic example of how friendly the Palestinians are. His family was kind and welcoming, and the tea was great too. They also had a cat named Oscar! He was the first house cat we had come by, and he enjoyed being petted too, which is good because I consider petting cats one of my talents. Finally, we had a fantastic lunch, walked around Bethlehem, and then we rested.
I have come to the conclusion that Saturdays are going to be our emotionally taxing days, however, meaning full and worth it. We visited two amazing organizations, CPT (which documents the human rights violations Israeli soldiers commit, especially against children in Hebron) and 
Youth of Sumud (whose work includes building cave homes for Palestinians that would be difficult to destroy by Settlers and protecting Palestinian children on their way to school from them too). I have a lot of respect for them and the bravery and grit it must take to do this work.
-Kristina S.
