A common greeting here is, “welcome,” which is a direct translation of Ahalan, a regular word of meeting but quaint when used in the street . I frequently tell students that direct translation has many hidden pitfalls. Despite the quality of teaching materials there is an immediate and clear need for teaching the teachers. Their pronunciation is of variable quality and some have a tendency to fall back into Arabic to explain points of English. Which is one reason for there being so many grammatical errors. Where you are going? Is the Arabic sentence structure, which the students hear when being taught to ask, “where are you going?” It is very difficult for them. There are also potential traps for the English speaking teachers.
I have joked with many that the name of Palestine should be changed to Facebook Nation, so many of them spend their whole time (including during classes) giving Shin Beth and Shabak their life histories; haven’t they heard of Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden? Halfway through last week three new female students arrived and I did one of my usual first conversations and asked about family and pastimes – one actually doesn’t use Facebook! As quick as a flash, and totally without thinking I told her that I loved her and wanted to marry her; this is a social faux pas in Palestine.
The poor wee lass went as red as a beetroot and tried to hide behind her hand. It is a credit to her fortitude that she has come back for more – especially as her friends continue to rag her and she responds my doing an imitation of a brake light. To be on the safe side I think I had best avoid the town of Tulkarim, from whence she comes. There could be an AK47 marriage!
In days of old, when knights were bold and shotguns weren’t invented. They held their weddings at swordpoint and had to be contented.
The biggest news here, likely to be received in sodden and battered England with a degree of undercare, is that we have rain! After the December snow and a wet day as I was travelling to Jerusalem just before the new year, there has been virtually nothing even the rising damp from the ground that we expect in the UK has been conspicuous by its absence. On Friday I had done my dhobi and decided to hang it on the roof to dry on the line up there. It was a bit blowy and I played chase the knickers round and round but most of it dried; it was what an old grannie may have called a good drying day. The few remaining items stayed on the line after dark – there is not even any dew here to re-wet that left out overnight. It was whilst playing chase the knickers that I thought how fortunate that Fat Chas. was not here with me – his smalls are an oxymoron, his drawers resemble the mainsail on the Mary Rose when she sank in Portsmouth Harbour.
At twilight I went into the Miss Havisham suite and continued reading, to be disturbed by an unusual noise – raindrops falling on the roof (they certainly don’t keep falling anywhere, including my head)! The joy of dashing out and gathering the almost dry t shirts was overwhelming. Then it stopped, but on getting up, the roof was under a inch or so of water; huzzah. Yesterday I went to Jenin for the day, the northernmost town in Palestine. It is an interesting place, with a few peace-aiming type things, like the Freedom Theatre, and a huge street market. Puts Shepherds Bush to shame. Because of the overcast sky I took the waterproof shell for my fleece – fortunately, as it turned out. More rain – and low cloud hiding the tops of the two mountains between which Nablus nestles. And even more rain during the night. It made me wonder how things are in the UK.
Although you may read this as continuous prose a group of students came for a session – including my little Tulkarim belle; she stills glows at almost everything I say but she does come back for more, bless her. There was also a new to me lad who seems to want to insist on me accepting everything in the world is wrong apart from Islam. Fortunately he is counterbalanced by a young woman with a refreshingly well thought out perspective. What a strange thing co-incidence is – I was awake for large parts of last night and today lethargy entered the conversation (the crossword syndrome is spreading….)
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