Valentine's day...oh man!

February 14, 2011 in Jerusalem and I wake up sick as a dog. I had been feeling kind of weak all weekend long, but had been trying to take care of myself, so I thought I was doing much better. Monday morning I realized I really wasn't. I didn't go to work. Instead, I stayed home and slept a bit more.

It's funny because no one in the house knew it was Valentine's day. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and be the super American about it. I mean, I totally would have if I felt like it, but feeling like I was, I didn't think I could do it justice.

Anyways, the day carried along, and I didn't receive a single call- not even my mom, who I've been talking to almost every day. It's not a big deal at all (so, mom, don't freak out). What's funny is that at about six in the afternoon my phone rings; it's one of the shopkeepers from the old city! I gave him my phone number when I was apartment hunting...big mistake! 

He called to tell me he missed me and that he'd like to take me out to dinner sometime. He didn't just say it like that, but he kind of declared his love the Arab way: "Oh, Mariam, my heart hurts because you're not here, and I think of you so much..."- all of this in kind of a whiny voice I can't stand. This guy, by the way, is like five ft. tall, and has a speech impediment of some sort, so he pronounces the letter "r" kind of funny...sweet guy, just not my type at all. 

I didn't really know what to say to all that stuff he was saying, so I kind of laughed. I also made it clear that I don't want a boyfriend or a husband. He said he'd call me the day after...I asked him not to. End of the conversation.

Oh, Valentine's day!

I have a home!

The other day I was at school and Areej, a second grade teacher, approached me to tell me that she'd heard I was looking for an apartment. She then told me she was looking for a roommate and that I could go see the apartment that same day! I was super happy!

I went to see it, and had coffee with two out of my three roommates to-be; Areej and Maram. They are both teachers at Hand in Hand. The house is nice and bigger than I expected. After seeing these tiny places in the Old City that looked super crappy, this place is like a palace! Granted, I wasn't expecting to share a room with someone else, but at that point, I was definitely more open to that option than I would have been before. After briefly thinking about it, I asked to live with them, they accepted and we decided I would move in on Sunday.

Woohoo! I have a home!

My new house is in Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood. I would give you my address, but there are no street names or numbers here- haha! I live in a two bedroom apartment with three other women; they're all teachers. We all share rooms; me and Areej live in a room and Maram and Mai live in the other room. They are all super sweet!

I'm really happy with my living situation because I'll be able to experience what it's like to live as an Arab single woman (given that I live with three of them). I know I'm going to be living quite the conservative life, but I came here to experience the culture and learn the language, not live like I would in the US. I most definitely lucked out with this situation, and I can already tell, my Arabic is going to improve SO much!

Although it took a while to find housing, I definitely needed to experience what it's like to live in the old city for a while to know that's not where I want to be. Areej's proposal definitely came at the perfect time. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share the next few months with them :)

The go-to person for apartments in the Old City

Finding an apartment in Jerusalem is definitely a challenge.

When I first arrived to Jerusalem, I stayed at the Lutheran guest house in the Old City. I absolutely fell in love with the Old City and wanted to live there, so I started asking around. I have already written about the shop keepers, taxi drivers, and hostel staff I talked to. They all told me they would call me back if they heard of anyone who was renting. I figured there had to be a source of information that I didn't know about. I was right.

Finally, mid last week, when I went to visit my friends the shopkeepers and they directed me to the source: the barber in the Christian quarter. Apparently, Anton the barber is the one person that everyone gives their keys to when they're looking to rent their apartment, and he also collects the rent. Who would have known?!

I went into his shop as Anton was cutting someone's hair and he started asking me questions about myself and what I was doing here; whenever you ask someone about a place to live, they usually interview you to make sure they want to help you. When Anton finished cutting the guy's hair, he started making some calls. Unfortunately, the people he called either didn't answer or the price was too high. 

In between calls, he started telling me about the advantages and disadvantages of living in the Old City. He mentioned that the location is great, but the apartments are not that modern. He also made a note about how much people are in your business if you don't set the boundaries (Arabs, for the most part). He told me that if you invite someone over, they'll totally come over again without notice and invite themselves to hang out (even when it's not convenient for you). I can definitely relate to what the barber was telling me, so I decided to rethink whether or not to live in the Old City.

I had already been living in the old city for a week and a half, and every time I walked through the shops where my friends work, I stopped and said hi. Lately, though, they started asking questions about the people they saw me with. It's whatever because I only see them a few minutes a day, but to get that kind of hassle every day, I'm not sure I'd be so chill about it after a while.

I was torn; on one hand, I want to have the experience of living in the Old City because of the history and culture, but on the other hand living in the newer part of town would be more comfortable, but also, more like the US...oh what to do?!

The barber

Ending the first week at school

I can't believe it's the end of the first week already! I have been a tutor and a sub, but I'm hoping to do other things. The more I'm at school, though, the more teachers I meet, the more requests for help I get. The teachers have started to realize I can be an asset to them in many different ways, and now they all want my help. Being that I work at an organization with limited resources, it is only natural that this happens. This is just my first week, but I know I'm going to struggle managing all the responsibilities they want me to have. I'm going to need to keep focused on what tasks I am here to accomplish and work toward achieving them.

I just met with Durit, the educational counselor, and we had a very interesting conversation. She is really excited about figuring out a way to integrate conflict resolution teaching for both the children and the teachers. We are trying to find out what the best way to go about it is, but I'm very pleased to see how willing she is to embark on this new initiative. This is what I came here to do and seeing her level of interest, I want to work with her the most. Sounds like the product we come up with will most definitely be applied to the school. This is very exciting for me because I will be a part of the planning, and I will also be involved in the project's implementation :)

Durit talked about creating this program, and designing certain activities, but also bringing me on board to talk to the kids who are having problems. I find this fascinating because I will learn, first hand, what these children are struggling with. Although it sounds like a pretty big responsibility, I'm happy I will be working with Durit in these counseling sessions. I will also meet one on one with the kids and sometimes offer them extra help with the classes they are not doing so well in; so that through academic achievement, they can also overcome their personal problems.

After meeting Durit, I spoke to Raeif and he wants a set plan with explicit goals to be achieved. I'm really excited about this, and it sounds like they're giving me a lot of room to be creative in contributing to the school. It also sounds like they're not just saying that they want me to do it, but they're giving me the resources and the opportunity to make it happen.

Yay!

Subbing

On Tuesday morning, I was supposed to meet with Jessica, another English teacher. She was sick, so instead of talking to her, I had to sit in at her class. I wasn't really given any information about what I was supposed to do, so it sounded like I was just there to babysit. The first class they told me to go to was with the seventh graders. In the beginning they behaved, but shortly after, they went wild. It was difficult to control them because I have absolutely no power and I was given no teaching material or instructions.

I ended up having to sub for her other two classes classes that day; the other seventh grade class and a ninth grade class. The second class went a little bit better because I went in with an activity for them (I had learned I couldn't just expect them to do the work they had been assigned by the teacher). By the time I taught the third class, things went more smoothly- having older kids definitely helped. I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day, but I got a love letter from one of the students, Sandy, so that totally made my day.

The next day I came in and the same thing happened. This time, I went in ready to teach. I started with the seventh graders (the second group) and helped them review for their test on Sunday. Things went well, and although it was difficult to keep everyone's attention at once (it's a big class, there's about 25 students) I think I managed pretty well- definitely better than the day before. Then I went with the ninth graders, and we did a reading together- that was a great class. Finally, I went with the other seventh graders, and not only did I have to sub for English, but also Math. Since I don't speak Hebrew (their professor teaches that in Hebrew), I just gave them a worksheet to work on. Things went kind of ok, until it was time to switch to English. That class has three distinct levels, and I don't know how Jessica does it, but she keeps everyone engaged by giving them different exercises. Since I only learned about the different levels from the kids themselves, I didn't come prepared at all. I sort of managed to give them things to do to keep them quiet, but I felt like a police officer more than anything else.

I understand why I needed to be there, but I'm going to make sure teachers take their vitamins every day so no one else gets sick!

Majd

It's been an interesting first week. After my preliminary meetings with Nadia and Raeif, I came to school the next day to meet with Shachar. Shachar is the English teacher at the 5th and 6th grade levels. From what Nadia told me, she's amazing at what she does, but sometimes difficult to work with. Nadia warned me that Shachar hadn't had good experiences with other volunteers, so she might not be nice. She said she wanted me to help Shachar because she's overwhelmed with the amount of work she has to do.

In my first conversation with her, Shachar wasn't all that nice to me, but agreed to meet up with me the next day. She then explained to me that children in the same grade and class have varying levels of proficiency in English. This is because some children have the opportunity to travel to the US and other places, so they are way advanced; others are not interested at all, so they cannot keep up with the class; and others are at their level. She told me she wanted me to help her with the kids who were way behind the rest of their class. She said there are many reasons why these kids fall behind, but I learned one of those reasons can be because of personal problems (at home or in their communities).

I taught my first student, Majd, on Monday. He's in the fifth grade and speaks absolutely no English. Shachar told me to take him out of the class and tutor him. I took him to the library and we learned very basic things. I speak enough Arabic to help him learn, but he was great. By the end of the class, he seemed to be happy and satisfied with his learning. Shachar later told me that she was thrilled with what I had done, and that she really wanted us to work together. I guess all she needed to know was that whoever is working with these children legitimately cares and wants to help them.

I know I didn't come here to teach English, but it felt great to see Majd so excited about learning. I have seen him around a couple of times and he always waves and shows me his biggest smile- " Hi, Mariam" he says all excited. Makes me smile every time.

First days at Hand in Hand

Hand in Hand is the school I will be working with in these six months. There are two different parts to the organization; the school, where the children go to class, and the office, where all of the administrative work is done. As soon as I got to Jerusalem, I was told to contact Inas, who works at the office. She told me to talk to Nadia (the principal of the Junior school) and then come to the office.

I went to the Hand in Hand school on Sunday for the first time. (Instead of Saturday and Sunday, the weekend here is Friday and Saturday- because of Shabbat, I think). I met with Nadia, the principal of the Junior school, who was very interested to hear about my projects while in Jerusalem. We talked about my possible contributions to the school, and, unfortunately, what they need the most help with is teaching English. I told her that since I'm going to be working so many hours, I could probably help out with that, but that it was, by no means, to be my main focus at the school.

After speaking to Nadia, I went to Raeif's office, the principal of the High School. He asked me what I wanted to do with my time, and I told him that I needed to ensure that whatever I did, related to my degree. He put me in touch with two key people: Anat and Durit. Anat is in charge of a leadership program at the school. I might work with her, and see if we can integrate some conflict resolution activities in the program. Durit is the educational counselor. She offers the children psychological support in order to deal with their problems inside and outside the school.

Having met with both Nadia and Raeif, I realized they hadn't talked to one another. They also had different ideas of how I can contribute to the school. On one hand, I think Nadia sees me as a resource to be utilized differently every day depending on what's needed. Raeif, on the other hand, trusts that I can contribute to building curriculum and programs to be applied right away. I can do a little bit of both, and I think that's what will end up happening, but I am more interested in Raeif's approach.

I have decided the best thing to do is to talk to everyone that wants my help and make my own schedule. It won't be finalized until I talk to the people in the office, because I also want to see how the school works from an administrative perspective. I have a meeting scheduled with Inas on Sunday morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a meaningful contribution to that part of the organization as well.

I'm interested to see how this all turns out :)