Hey everyone- it’s been a while hasn’t it?
I’m sorry about that- we haven’t had much internet, or time, and since I’ve been borrowing computers, that doesn’t leave me much time to sit down and tell you all about my experiences so far. Where to start?
I think I left off on one of the first days I was in Jerusalem. We did so much every day- there’s so much to tell.
Did I tell you about the main focuses of our trip? The whole thing revolves around TRAVEL, MARGINALITY, and PEACE & CONFLICT.
These apply to both the present situations of the land and the ancient history- and there is so much to do with both. Even archeology here is political.
There’s so much to add to all of this but let me just tell you the places I’ve been going and some of the people I’ve talked to and met.
Jerusalem: We stayed there until the 20th and during that time we did a sunrise hike up Masada (the snake path as Josephus refers to it) near the bottom of the dead sea. It’s a major archeological site from King Herod’s time. In that same day, we went and swam in the dead sea (hence the name: Life of Brine. I thought that was pretty witty, especially since I’ve begun to understand soo many Life of Brian quotes) and went to some waterfalls. We also toured Silwan, aka the City of David, in East Jerusalem and hiked “down into hell”- or rather, where Judas supposedly hung himself. We met with an Israeli Jewish woman and Palestinian man who are members of an organization called “Combatants for Peace” and an Australian Israeli woman who works for ICHAD (IsraeliCommittee Against House Demolitions), and so many others. We also went to the Holocaust museum there which was pretty intense. You can tell that it’s still so present here in a lot of people’s minds. The place we stayed in the Old City was called the Ecce Home Convent and we could see the Dome of the Rock (we were right next to it it felt like) from the balcony. We’ll be going back there in a few weeks for a couple days.
from Jerusalem we stayed at a place called the Tent of Nations which is a Palestinian farm in the “seam” zone between the armistice green line of 1949 (general line between Israel and Palestine that Israel doesn’t acknowledge) and the Separation Wall (aka Security Barrier, Fence, the Wall, the Apartheid Wall, Israel’s border). Basically no man’s land for a Palestinian but they’re trying to make it work. We planted grape vines there, had a bonfire and slept in caves.
Bethlehem: We did homestays with Christian Palestinian families which was so wonderful- for 3 nights. The total traveling we’ve been doing is very small. Bethlehem is only about 6 miles from Jerusalem, but most Palestinians aren’t allowed to go (even if they worked there in the past) unless they have a special permit (of which there are random checks in the city all the time- not to us though, since we’re white). Anyways, we met students from the Bible College there, went to the Church of the Nativity which sits over the cave where Jesus was most likely born (awesome), and met a man (Sami Awad) who works for Holy Land Trust which is a Palestinian run Non-violent Protest group. While there, we visited Hebron which has the tombs of the Patriarchs, a site which was overshadowed by the tension between Palestians and Israeli Settlers and Military.
Jericho: then we headed down 1200ft. below sea-level to Jericho and stayed at an eco park for the night. The day was a bit dulled for me since I’ve been sick for the past week, and my ears have been plugged, so as we descended the pressure in my head was almost unbearable and it stopped hurting when we got there, but I spent the day feeling like I was wearing earplugs- no fun at all. That night my professor prayed for me and I felt 99x better in the morning. I could hear!! Wooo. But while we were there, we took cable cars up to the Mount of Temptations, where they believe Jesus spent his 40 days.
Ramallah: then we visited Ramallah and stayed in Bir Zeit for the night (a little bit outside of Ramallah). R is a city that’s the most liberal of Palestinian places, where most of Fatah is centered. We got to hang out with some students from Bir Zeit University and tour the campus. It was really cool getting to talk to them a little bit.
Ari’el: on our way to Nablus yesterday, we stopped for a few hours and toured the Israeli Settlement/City of Ari’el, smack dab in the middle of Israel and the northern part of the West Bank (or Samaria as our Jewish guide, Avi, referred to it), originally built for “security” because of it’s strategic location, but now holds 19,000 settlers and 12,000 students at the university. It was very interesting to hear Avi’s perspective of the situation, if somewhat clouded.
Nablus: here I am! We stayed here last night and toured the city. This was a place where a lot fighting and civilian deaths during the 2nd Intifada. It’s really cool to be here and last night we visited a Turkish Bath, just to see it and ended up hanging out, smoking hookah, and being a part of a Palestinian TV show. That was entertaining to say the least.
We’re here for one more night and then head off to Nazareth for 3 nights, Galillee for 4 nights, Golan Heights, Banias, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Negev, and on February 12th, say goodbye to Israel and head into Egypt for a few days!
So far, the most common things in my life, food wise, are tea (with a lot of sugar), pita and hummus (every single meal) and falafel.
So there you go- quick update to Alyssa’s life the past few weeks. 
