February 28, 2003

Zababdeh girls enjoying their ballet classes.

This morning Joanna and Elizabeth went to the School Hall for another day of ballet classes with the girls. They were as cute and perhaps even more enthusiastic than yesterday.

Setting up the video conference with Italians, Israelis, and Palestinians.

Our students participating in a video conference with Italians and Israelis.

Meanwhile, Marthame was lending a hand with the video conference bringing together Italians, Israelis, and Palestinians. This past summer, kids from our school participated in a peace program in Italy with kids from Palestine, Israel, Germany, and Italy. Some of the Italian participants organized a live conference to catch up with their new friends and so other Italian students could meet and hear their Israeli and Palestinian peers. We've been working on the technical aspects on our side of things for a couple of months now. We assumed from the conversations that we'd be dragging at the technological end of things. As it turned out, we were the most prepared and aware. The Italians weren't sure how to use the equipment or the software, which the Israelis' school principal forbade them to download. As it ended up, the Israelis spoke by phone with the Italians, who then told us what was being said. It was interesting mix of awareness-raising and youth-bonding.

In the evening, we gathered with ex-pats from the University for one of our periodic jam sessions. With the cold weather we've been having, it's nice to go somewhere with heat!