March 15, 2001

Two students share a moment during the picnic.

Students and teachers share in the cooking duties during the picnic.

Usually the students of the school get a chance to go on a couple of field trips during the year - Nazareth, Haifa, Jerusalem, Ramallah - but they haven't been able to do any such things this year. The seventh grade teachers decided to take them on a walk through the mountains for a nice picnic. We tagged along. Every one had their piece to carry - the fruit, the meat, the grill, the drinks, the drum (the drum?). While we waited for the food to cook, several of the students led in singing popular songs while using the simple rhythm of a drum. It was something we had seen many times at wedding celebrations, but this was something unique to see it in this younger generation.

A bright green grasshopper.

Elizabeth began to get quite a following as she photographed the local creepy crawlies. Many students began to run around and find bugs for her to take pictures of, including colorful spiders, something called "Moses' stick," and a scorpion, which they crushed with zeal. (Take a visit to the newly redesigned and updated Zababdeh Nature Page to see these, spring flowers, great picts from our trip to Gaza, and more!) After several hours of releasing pent up energy on the beautiful hills around Zababdeh, we all headed back into town.

An Israeli flare lights up the sky over Zababdeh.

That evening, as Marthame got his haircut, the sound of shooting erupted. It went on for quite some time, back and forth. But strangely, it seemed that the Palestinians shooting at the IDF camp were using tracer bullets, too, which readily revealed their location. (We have grown accustomed to seeing tracer bullets only used by the Israelis shooting from the camp.) Not something we understood fully. From our vantage point on the roof, we could see several flares go up from the IDF camp to illuminate the sky as day time to see what they were firing at. This has now become all too routine, happening every other night with some regularity. We still have not heard of anything too severe in the way of damages, except for the one house that was hit a few months back. But one student has written a particularly creative piece inspired by the night she and her family had to flee their home because of warnings from the camp.