Last weekend Derek, Mahmoud (a friend we made in Bethlehem), and myself made our way up north to Haifa to meet up with Sebastian and some of his new friends. Haifa is a beautiful city but so strange at the same time. The second I get out of the West Bank I get a little uneasy since I don't know where and when I can speak Arabic.
My buddy Derek:
There are a group of students in my program who were placed in Nazareth. One of those home stays has two daughters living in Haifa, so we stayed at their place. We stayed with Layalee, but when we got there another one of her sisters Sousan, a brother Saleh, and a good friend of Laylee's were there to greet us along with a few other people from the program. We ended up hanging out at a restaurant on the Mediterranean that night and just chatted.
The following day we sat on the beach for awhile. We couldn't swim really because of all the jellyfish and because the water was rough. So we sat in the sun, smoked arguila, and just chatted. I found I couldn't totally relax because my mind was with a buddy in Bethlehem who I was chatting with before I left. He was really bummed and had it not been for this disgusting occupation that restricts movement I would have invited him to join us. After the beach we went back to Layalee's to shower, change, have lunch, and figure out what we were going to do with our selves for the rest of the evening. By this time the group members changed around a bit.
We ended up going to a cafe to watch the game. I left for a little bit to meet up with a Palestinian journalist who I had met during the seminar. Nidal Rafa is an absolute badass. She is pro Palestinian, anti occupation, fiery and has no fear in sharing her opinion with anyone. She was with another journalist friend and I was absolutely in awe of these two woman. It made me wonder, how do I become a badass? It was amazing to speak with these two, especially since Haifa was bringing me down a bit.
Part of the reason I was feeling bummed was the whole time we were in Haifa I found myself thinking about Arab Israelis a lot. Is there any element of their Palestinian identity they have sacrificed? Is it any more than the Egyptian identity I've compromised by growing up in the US? It seems different but I don't know how. Is there a way they conduct themselves when they are in mixed cities that is different from how they behave in Arab dominated towns? Do they long for a place to call Palestine like many of those in the West Bank? I couldn't help but feel there was something they were giving up. So meeting these two woman was a breathe of fresh air.
The Haifa posse:
Afterwards we all just wondered around Haifa. We couldn't come up with anything to do so we walked, until 4 am. We walked to the ocean, found a playground that entertained us for a lot longer than we had expected it to, looked at houses, 'worked out' on a muscle beach, got caught in the rain, and had an overall wonderful time. It's amazing how little you need when you have good personalities around.
Playground fun:
The following day we went to the Bah'ai temple and walked around the gardens. I can't say I know too much about the Bah'ai faith other than that it's a some branch off of Islam, you can't be born into it- you as an individual have to decide to be a part of it, and that they have amazing gardens. Oh, and it's disrespectful to spend a half hour trying to get a group shot of everyone jumping in the air.
Gardens:
After the gardens we got ourselves ready to go to Nazareth for a wedding. I'll talk about the wedding another time, this post has gotten too long. Needless to say it was an action packed weekend.
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