Today, Wednesday the 15th of November was a national holiday here. All the schools were closed and many of the shops. The reason?
Palestinian independance day.

I'll just let that sink in. Palestinian Independance day.




hmmmm.


And IF they were independant they might even commemorate the day, apart from staying in bed all day long.

Yeah I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I haven't updated this in ages! You know its been too long when Pottsy gets distracted from his studies and starts complaining for the next installment.
Well fear not because it has arrived, like an aging knight in muddy and rusty armour, trotting forth from yonder horizan.
But hopefully all you others have been too busy with settling into your new environments and making new acquaintances to bother too much about how your good friend Priestley is (lol Im asking for you to contradict me).

Ok so the last time you read something from me, School hadnt started, and I was living at the Lazarus Home. Now however there isnt enuff space for a man to sleep in a single room, so Ive managed to blag a room at the convent for Russian Orthadox nuns. Its connected to the school that the girls go to. A private school of course, as none of the others have been open. Lack of salaries from the Hamas government means everyone has been on strike, from school teachers, to doctors, including the local council. So if you have a problem there really is no-one you can call (except maybe ghostbusters...)
And School has started here, giving me at least some solid work. Every day from 2-4 I have been at the school, where the kids go to do their homework. So I have to work thru what they have learned that day, reenforcing and teaching them what they didnt pick up. Like any group of kids some are brill and some just arent. It might be easier from my point of view if I could speak the language. It is difficult to coax more effort from them when they just turn away and say "bedeesh" (i know that means "I dont want"). And I end up teaching the same chapter to 5 different kids who are working at different pace.
But it can be dead rewarding.

Tell you what my time is gonna run out so I'll just copy a heap from an e-mail I sent to my sabeel mates:



Facing challenges: A four year old boy arrived back here having spent the summer holidays with his dad and step mum. He didn't make any complaints to the staff so it wasnt until that evening when the House Mothers undressed him, to put him to bed, that they discovered the horror. The boy was horribly burnt on his bottom and legs. And he had a broken finger. After much questioning of his older sister, who was scared to tell the truth in case she was beaten, we found out what had happened. The boy, Hammoudeh, had been crying and his step Mother got angry with him when he wouldn't stop. She beat him. This is how his finger was broken. Now anyone with half a brain will know that hitting a child does not stop him crying. And of course he wailed louder and louder. So she turned on the stove and sat him on the burning hobs. The father stood there the whole time watching, not intervening once. Why do these people take their children home if they can't and don't want to look after them?



Finding hope: A new girl arrived and was obviously really nervous about the change. Shes only 8. She had been dumped on social welfare because her mother cant afford/doesnt want to take care of her. They passed her onto the Lazarus Home. Anyway, on her second day she had to start at her new school. Any kid would be worried about facing this but this one had no mother to encourage her, and no friends to play with. I watched her stand by herself in the playground before the school day started.
When she arrived home I discovered (via translation from arabic to english) that although she had enjoyed her school and really wanted the chance to learn, she had been expected to know a certain amount of English but she had not been taught any at her previous school.
The school was wondering whether to put in a class with the first year kids, which would have been really damaging to her self-esteem. So, as all other staff at the home was busy, I was thrown into the deep end of teaching. Fortunately for me, little was expected. I was asked to teach her the first 7 letters of the alphabet, then the next da

Hey

Things are alright - well except that today is the muslims day of rage against all christians in reaction to the popes comments. So if you dont hear anything from me over the next week then I've probably been stoned (lol the deadly version) or burned (burnt?).
But yeah, apart from that, Im fine.


keep thinking of me.

luv you all,

xxxxx