Time out (middle) East

Hello!  Sorry to have failed at repling to your last email - have been
really busy the past week. Thank you so much so my lenses - they
haven't arrived yet, but I await them with anticipation. I ordered 3
months supply from the US by post when I first arrived here and they
took 5 weeks to get here but they still got here which I think was
quite impressive. It was only $60 for the lenses and postage! I'm
going to try and send Granny a birthday card - i hope it gets there in
time.  Have also just been given a month's free unlimited calls by
skype so will give her a ring tomorrow. Rosie said she's really on the
ball at the moment - so glad she's taking this in her stride. Awesome.

I just googled (I love how that's a verb) Tom Hurndall and i think i
have heard of him before. It really gets me how it takes a white
person to die for people to wake up and realise how shitty the
situation is here and even more so in Gaza. I suppose the riots of
Acre are also grabbing some headlines. It's good that people are
noticing tho. I think there some sort of high profile Palestinian
Fundraiser/awareness day in London sometime soon. It's at Cadogan Hall
in Sloan sq. - Colin Firth is a supporter I think. I always new he was
a good egg. The website you sent - for Birzeit University, that's just
outside Ramallah and I have a Palestinian friend that goes there.
They have a great arabic dept. apparently. I will write something. I'm
just really busy at the moment (still trying to get my bloody TEFL
done. It's so irrelevant to actually teaching but it's anecessary
evil) and I'm still getting on top of lesson planning and i'm still in
charge of sorting the library which has a deadline of October 30th,
not to mention th e Drama Club which starts after school next week as
well as my first Parents evening next Thursday!  I think we're going
on a school trip to Jerusalem next week - just for the fourth grade.
It's such a cool idea because so many kids have either never been, or
can't go as their parents aren't allowed through the checkpoint.  The
delay just now is getting permits for the Palestinian teachers.
Speaking of permits - my work visa finally came through and i have my
passport back!! Yay!

I went to Ramallah last weekend and from there to the small
(exclusively Christian) town of Taybeh which is where Taybeh beer is
brewed. They were having a sort of Oktoberfest celebration which was
fun. Lots of beer and authentic Germans walking around in lederhosen
and the highest concentration of Westerners I have seen in a long
time. All wearing Kafiyeh's. It's funny - Palestinians just don't wear
them.  But there was singing and dancing and beer on tap, lots of
kebabs and Palestinian arts and crafts. It's nice beer as well. I
think you can buy it in the UK and Germany. Their slogan is "Taybeh.
Taste the Revolution". My phone was stolen though which is so
annoying. I left it in my hotel room and as soon as i went back they
said it wasn't there. I then demanded to look myself and the room
hadn't been cleaned or anything so i reckon they just took it as soon
as i said it was there. Boo. It was my nice phone as well. I'm now
stuck with a crappy nokia one. Hopefully the phone company will come
through and replace the sim card. They said it would take four days
but you never know!!

Mmm, cauliflour cheese and crumble. I'm mighty jealous. We only have a
gas stove here and no oven so cooking is getting a bit boring.  I'm
sure i could be more creative - the spices in the souq are awesome.
I'll google some recipes or something.  Had a good chat with Rosie
about the wedding. She seems rather stressed, but excited at going
dress shopping with you this weekend! I can't believe I'm missing all
of this. I always thought i'd be there for the whole process, i feel
like i'm just going to turn up without really knowing what's going on.
Oh well, that's life I suppose. Maybe it's a good thing - i get to
miss all the bi-family politics and the arguments over napkin colours!
 She suggested Dad takes a few sample dresses to Egypt with him for
when I see him in January - that would be a laugh!! Can't imagine him
trying to explain them at customs. Oh, if he's definately coming - can
you pressure him to get things definate? Because if he ends up not
coming I need notice because it's my only real holiday so it's cheaper
for me to decide as early as possible where I'm going!!

Well, i'm going to go and have a my last beer that i smuggled through
the checkpoint.  It's the weekend now and i'm really appreciating not
having to get up at 6am tomorrow. Our hot water still isn't working
which is a nightmare - showers are thoroughly unpleasant especially as
the weather is getting colder now. It even rained yesterday!