No playground here

Since arriving in Palestine-Israel, I've thought of (and been gently reminded of!) numerous times of this blog which I created before I left home. But each time the thought of summing up all that's taken place in the invariably growing number of days I've been here has crossed my mind, I've been paralyzed at the mere thought. Three weeks in, I've decided I simply need to get over that sense of needing to convey everything, and just start posting whatever seems relevant at the time I do a post. It helps too that I'm finally feeling over that initial transition period, that always takes longer than I'd like, no matter how many times I travel to new places.

I find it ironic that I decided, at the end of May, to title my blog "oneplaygroundofaworld". While I've certainly felt that way for periods of time in the last year or so, in this moment, I do not at all carry that sentiment. The Middle East can't be called a playground (at least in the way I had intended it to mean) when you open yourself to both sides of the story.

While I'm not sure I'd ever be able to experience complete and constant love and awe of this place some call Israel, others call Palestine, and I'll refer to as Israel-Palestine as many others do, that's not to say it's not incredibly beautiful, fascinating, stimulating, sacred.. it is! but, also exhausting, heartbreaking, anger-inducing and so so complex (I'v never felt a situation so perfectly aligns itself with that word).

Now that post #1 is complete, I'll feel more free with the next one to just do and say what's on my mind, rather than explain and introduce (not that this post provided much of that anyway!).

Tomorrow is Friday, the beginning of the weekly Jewish Shabbat. With it comes a greatly welcomed peace and quiet in a usually bustling Jerusalem city. In the early afternoon Cathy (my supervisor at Sabeel) and I will head to Tel Aviv, where she's catering her niece's Bat Mitzvah. Along with taking in such a cultural affair, the Bit Mitzvah, I'll help prepare the sushi and spring rolls (..going Asian is a lot more easy than trying to prepare Kosher finger foods).

PS: As anti-Facebook as I secretly wish I was, it's made it eaaaasy to post pictures of my adventures in the Holy Land thus far! You should go check those out for more of a sense of the past 3 weeks of my life.