The good and the bad

Didn't manage to get to the Turkish baths which I was pretty gutted about. Spent hours walking around the city trying to get cash out of the many ATMs hidden around Nablus only to be refused each time. The bank kindly phoned me later on to tell me that someone had attempted to withdraw money from my account using cash points in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. As one of the staff said, 'welcome to Palestine'.

Today has been a good day so far. First class wasn't until 11am and the class I did have were ace. Mainly 16/17yr olds with a good standard of English. The 10yr olds at the MCRC were better than I had anticipated though this could have been because half of them were off at a picnic. I've got another class at half five which is nice as the day is broken up quite well. Much more civilised and enjoyable than blasting through 5 1hr classes in a six hour period. Gives you time to wander around, drink coffee, eat kaniffa (probably not how you spell it) and this morning visit a summer camp. The camp is being run by the sister of one of the PH staff for a group of children that she works with during term time. They have learning disabilities and don't attend normal school. I watched them practice dancing and singing traditional folk songs and was given a bracelet made from beads.

The thing that has struck me the most these first few days is how committed everyone is to furthering society and the strong sense of community. Of course the occupation plays a part in bringing people together for a cause but that doesn't explain why people are so willing to give their time to helping others. Though it is less than perfect isn't this how a society should be? The number of civil organisations here is truly astounding and they put many of our systems back home to shame. Knowing how easy we have it it is very embarassing.

I read something the other day about a guy working in Gaza:
For me, being in Gaza was like living in a bubble – I encountered no difficulties at all. I felt no threat to my security – the exact opposite in fact as I was made to feel so welcome.

Thats exactly how it is here. Everyone goes out of their way to ensure that you don't have to endure what they do.