Still getting settled in. No problems at the airport...which was a relief. I left my power cord to my laptop in NYC and MacBook cords are not going to be easy to replace here, so I'll be out of communication for the most part until I get it. I'm using Stephen and Brian's computer now (the other Americans here), and once school starts I'll have computer access every day.
Yesterday we had coffee and argila at a cafe with an acquaintance of theirs, Sa'ed, a Palestinian who is getting his Masters in Public Policy at Harvard and is doing an internship with the Palestinian negotiation team at the PA. He graduated from the Friends School and filled us in on how to best approach the students (from a former student perspective) and we spoke for a while about his perspective on the peace process and possibilities for peace. He didn't have the sunniest outlook, and felt that the biggest thing that could be done to promote peace is to put pressure on Congress and the White House. It's a shame to hear an opinion that the problems are so intractable that a solution has to come from an external force, rather than the mutual decision by Israel and the Palestinians to end it, but it did make me feel glad that I've been doing the activism work that I've been doing, and I hope that we can do SOMETHING to push for a more just U.S. foreign policy.
Today I finished unpacking and went downtown to the marketplace to change my money from dollars to shekels and to get food.
Anyway....more later on first impressions--and pictures. I don't want to dominate the computer for too long!
Love,
Jessica
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