October 23, 2002

The students made it home fine yesterday, and back to school this morning. Our telephone woes continued again today, but with a silver lining. Yesterday, we got a pre-recorded message that our phone bill was late and must be paid or we might have our lines cut. The problem is, we haven't received a phone bill in three months. Marthame called the telephone company to discover the following: we owe for July and August, and have to pay within the week. We can pay at the post office in Zababdeh, but we need a bill. They cannot fax a bill to us, but we can pick up a copy at the office in Jenin. Jenin has been under curfew, and there are tanks preventing entry to the city from the south. The postmaster for Zababdeh lives in Jenin and hasn't been able to come for weeks. Did someone say, "catch-22"?

Rumor was that traffic was going into Jenin in a round-a-bout way, and that inside Jenin things were 'aadi - normal. At the Zababdeh taxi stand, no one was going to Jenin, but there was a passing taxi from Tubas that was trying to go. Marthame hopped in. Just south of the tanks, all of the traffic turned off the main road and up into the hills to the same spot where we had snuck our school kids home last year. Then the "road" turned off into the dust of the olive groves. How the under-carriage survived the journey is a mystery, due to the constant holes and pits in the path. At one point, the car got stuck, so all of the passengers got out and walked behind the taxi for a while until the way was somewhat easier. "How do you like Tora Bora?" commented one passenger. Having clean shoes here is for nought.

Sure enough, Jenin was open, stores were open, and the line at Paltel was around the block - apparently we weren't the only ones caught between the Palestinian utility's bureaucracy, the postal service's paralysis, and the Israeli military's death grip. Marthame also took care of some other errands in town before heading back to Zababdeh along the same path.

Playing Boggle with the Rosary Sisters.

In the evening, Fr. Aktham, Deacon Homam, and the three Rosary Sisters stopped by for a visit. Between their (and our) schedules, the constant construction work in our neighborhood, and our recent debilitating colds, we hadn't been able to coordinate this - long overdue, but most welcome. Fr. Aktham took an immediate interest in our Boggle Game, challenging each of the sisters one by one.