August 8, 2002 — Mudeif Productions

A New York day. Our first stop was, of course, "Ground Zero". We had seen much on TV of the events and aftermath of September 11th. We have also seen our share of destruction (Jenin Camp, Nablus' Old City, etc.). But the WTC was something to see. The site itself doesn't look like much but a construction site at this point, and not knowing New York we don't notice the difference in the skyline that others do. But to see the number of firefighters who have come from around the country and left their t-shirts, hats, etc., as a sign of solidarity and mourning was simply moving. The crowds are still flocking to the site, but not with the still and reverence they probably once did. It's not as fresh as it once was.

We connected with Marthame's Div. School roommate in Brooklyn and took a tour of their historic churches. The most fascinating was the old congregational church that had been purchased by the Maronites (Lebanese Catholics) for a Cathedral. We visited with the parish priest, asking him how they had experienced 9/11. We expected him to respond with some reflection on the frustrations Arab Christians face in the US (the first anti-Arab casualty of the post-9/11 anger was an Egyptian - a Coptic Christian). Instead, he commented, "We lost six members at Ground Zero." The whole world has come to New York to stay...

We connected with Marthame's cousin at Port Authority to head out to the Meadowlands for an international soccer game. The line for the buses circled the place. Soon, a guy pulled up with a mini-van and started offering people at the back of the line a ride to the game. Having lived in the West Bank, random people offering rides was nothing new to us, so we jumped in. We made it within sight of Giants' Stadium, but the traffic on the highway was so backed up that we decided to ditch our transportation and walk the rest of the way - also nothing new to us. We arrived twenty minutes into the game between Real Madrid (with Algerian/French superstar Zidane Zidan) and FC Roma. An unremarkable game, no one really trying all that hard since it was simply an exhibition match. We dreaded the wait for buses back to the city, and not without reason.

Two hours later, we boarded and headed back to Port Authority. Since the lines for food were like the lines for the buses, we had to grab something to eat (in the city that never sleeps, thankfully). We headed down to the subway to get home to find clean-up delays underway. The final blow was needing to move the car once we got back - alternate side of the street parking, you know! At 3:30 am, we made it home, a reminder that the Middle East isn't the only place where things don't always go smoothly.