Rock ‘n Ramallah

Westbank, March 2019

Selecting the appropriate country where to learn arabic was not easy. Finally the decision fell on a place i constantly read about in the news but have no clue what is like in situ. 

The only foreigners i see around either work in NGO‘s in East Jerusalem and Ramallah or belong to educational group tours both through Israel and Palestine. In fact , every german foundation or institution of almost all political parties is represented here. Quite amazing. I left my chain with a Star of David at home. Whereever you go , even the lightest conversation becomes a political discussion, unfortunately either black or white but never grey , as long as i could hear so far. 

My days are filled with going to school in the mornings and trying to keep warm in the afternoons. Did not bring any jacket and had to buy gloves and a wollen hat. The windy and rainy cold gets into my bones and I sleep fully dressed in my hostels bed. Not the best thing for Parkinsons as shaking like mad while writing down the alphabet with a trembling pencil.  Good thing is i drink hot tea all day and study. The market below the hostel has great vegetables and fruits and i love the humus and falafel made by little street food restaurants. 

There is supposed to be a great hiking possibility in the country side but i did not have the chance to taste that adventure. Instead it took me a very long time passing through the check points and being held at Ben Gurion airport for hours. I guess they tought i was an activist as they saw my travel to Sinai in november last year and could not believe i wanted to learn the arabic language especially in „ Palestine“ and not somewhere else in any other arabic speaking country. Well, that is still nothing in comparism to the palestinian commuters going to work every day to Jerusalem or anywhere else out of the zone. I am not in the position to judge or testify as i am just a tourist going through an interesting experience , to be continued... 

Inshallah