July 17, 2003

Elizabeth took the first quiz today in her level one class. Since she has more familiarity with Arabic than most of the other students, she could relax and not stress out about it. However, Marthame's level two exam is on Monday, and he will need to cram.

After class, we headed back home, taking the requisite three taxis - one from the University to Birzeit, one from Birzeit to Qalandia, and one from Qalandia to Zababdeh. The Birzeit checkpoint was unmanned, and only one checkpoint now separates Zababdeh from Qalandia - that of Hamra. However, we passed an unexpected sight. A huge 22-wheeler truck had turned over, blocking off the Jordan Valley road from traffic. Palestinians have gotten used to driving around obstacles, but this was something new.

Hamra was reasonably painless, a check of IDs and the like, and we were on our way. The Jenin region gets much hotter than Ramallah in the summer, so we have to spend the first few hours re-acclimating and hiding out from the heat.

Social visits are an intergenerational Palestinian experience.

In the evening, when it was cooler, Marthame went out to say hi to folks and let them know we were back around. There are a remarkable number of people who seem to think that we had left after the summer and are surprised to hear that we're back for another six months.