July 8, 2003

Despite our protestations, we seem to be making our way to Ramallah quite a bit. After the hassle of the Surda walk, we managed to locate a shoe store selling shoelaces fairly easily - they even had black.

We had a leisurely dinner at Sangria's (a yuppie American-style restaurant where alcohol - and not alacrity - is their forte). We got our nachos (with actual corn chips, good cheese and black beans!) and Elizabeth's grilled chicken salad with time to consume, but Marthame's burrito took almost an hour, and we had to be off with it packed in styrofoam.

Our group of Palestinians and internationals making our way to a documentary film screening.

A quick taxi ride got us to the Popular Arts Center in al-Bireh (Ramallah's twin city) in time to catch another documentary film. Tonight's offering was "What's Next?" by a local filmmaker about the Ramallah incursion last year. Through the film, we got to meet her friends and hear their stories, particularly their new realities following the incursion - an institute for indigent adults wrecked by the Israeli army, a man not allowed to reach his job in East Jerusalem anymore, the political complexities of Ramallah conversations. It was very moving, particularly because of the humor and accessibility of the characters. It was also filmed with the eye of an artist, and very effectively at that.

Crossing the Surda checkpoint/roadblock in the dark.

We and a group of other international students who went to see the film made our way back to Surda, where the scene was the same as we had left it - just darker and fewer people. Taxis were waiting, though, and we made it back home easily.