March 6, 2017
Today was my first day teaching. Noura told me that I would be teaching 8th and 9th graders. Heide (who now lives in our house, too) was going with me. She was told she would be teaching 4th and 5th grade one hour of English and one hour of sports. A local volunteer accompanies us to all our classes. Today it was Mohammed - a very nice guy in his 20s. He walked us to the place where we needed to take the taxi. Then the three of us took a taxi to the Askar refugee camp. We met with the school principal. The school looks similar to a school we would have here. The principal wanted both of us to take 5th grade boys. He was going to give us 10 students each, but we suggested that we take twenty and team teach. That way we can plan at home together. We talked about the time and realized we needed to change it. We were scheduled to reach 10:30 to 12:00, but the kids have breakfast break at 11:00 - 11:30. So, we decided the classes need to be 11:30 - 1:00. While we were talking to the principal, they brought us Turkish coffee. Then, they brought ma'anoush. The kids have that breakfast, so that made lunch for me. Then we spent 30 minutes with the boys. They were very cute and very well-behaved. I am looking forward to seeing them on Monday. (The class is Monday/Wednesday, but this Wednesday is a holiday - International Women's Day.)
Then, in the afternoon, we had orientation with TAufiq. He's the person I called when I needed someone to come get me from the Yasmeen Hotel and bring me to Project Hope. He's young and very nice. He is also responsible for Project Hope's website. He went through cultural things with us. Some conservative men don't shake hands with women, so you shouldn't offer your hand to a man, but if he offers his, you go ahead and shake it. Most of the other cultural things I was already familiar with. He also told us about the history of the occupation. Taufiq is a refugee himself. His family has now bought a house in Nablus, but he grew up in a refugee camp. His family fled Hebron when Israel was created. At first they were living outside Hebron, but the UN told all the refugees that they needed them to live in designated areas to receive services, so his family moved to the camp. Some families in the camp still have the keys to their house in Israel. The whole presentation was fascinating, but too long to write everything here. Also, when he was telling us about the code of conduct, he said they had a problem with volunteers hanging with a bad group of Palestinians. So, they hired Ahmed to plan activities to keep the volunteers busy doing good things. Last night, he organized a trip up to the t of a hill to see the sunset over Nablus. Then he made a fire and made tea. Two other men came in a car (We had taken taxis). They put music on in the car and turned in the headlights and people were dancing in the light. Tonight, he said to meet at the office at 5 if you wanted to watch a soccer match. (I didn't ) and meet at 7 to go to a cafe. I just went to the cafe. It was nice.
That's it for tonight.
Today was my first day teaching. Noura told me that I would be teaching 8th and 9th graders. Heide (who now lives in our house, too) was going with me. She was told she would be teaching 4th and 5th grade one hour of English and one hour of sports. A local volunteer accompanies us to all our classes. Today it was Mohammed - a very nice guy in his 20s. He walked us to the place where we needed to take the taxi. Then the three of us took a taxi to the Askar refugee camp. We met with the school principal. The school looks similar to a school we would have here. The principal wanted both of us to take 5th grade boys. He was going to give us 10 students each, but we suggested that we take twenty and team teach. That way we can plan at home together. We talked about the time and realized we needed to change it. We were scheduled to reach 10:30 to 12:00, but the kids have breakfast break at 11:00 - 11:30. So, we decided the classes need to be 11:30 - 1:00. While we were talking to the principal, they brought us Turkish coffee. Then, they brought ma'anoush. The kids have that breakfast, so that made lunch for me. Then we spent 30 minutes with the boys. They were very cute and very well-behaved. I am looking forward to seeing them on Monday. (The class is Monday/Wednesday, but this Wednesday is a holiday - International Women's Day.)
Then, in the afternoon, we had orientation with TAufiq. He's the person I called when I needed someone to come get me from the Yasmeen Hotel and bring me to Project Hope. He's young and very nice. He is also responsible for Project Hope's website. He went through cultural things with us. Some conservative men don't shake hands with women, so you shouldn't offer your hand to a man, but if he offers his, you go ahead and shake it. Most of the other cultural things I was already familiar with. He also told us about the history of the occupation. Taufiq is a refugee himself. His family has now bought a house in Nablus, but he grew up in a refugee camp. His family fled Hebron when Israel was created. At first they were living outside Hebron, but the UN told all the refugees that they needed them to live in designated areas to receive services, so his family moved to the camp. Some families in the camp still have the keys to their house in Israel. The whole presentation was fascinating, but too long to write everything here. Also, when he was telling us about the code of conduct, he said they had a problem with volunteers hanging with a bad group of Palestinians. So, they hired Ahmed to plan activities to keep the volunteers busy doing good things. Last night, he organized a trip up to the t of a hill to see the sunset over Nablus. Then he made a fire and made tea. Two other men came in a car (We had taken taxis). They put music on in the car and turned in the headlights and people were dancing in the light. Tonight, he said to meet at the office at 5 if you wanted to watch a soccer match. (I didn't ) and meet at 7 to go to a cafe. I just went to the cafe. It was nice.
That's it for tonight.
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