Man. I've been back from Palestine for a month and a half now and I can't lie, it has been pretty incredible to relax.
Just straight up: Living there was tough. It wasn't an easy experience. There were several things that made life there challenging in ways that are hard to understand until you've been there; the general sense of tension in the air, never knowing if there will be protests the next day or what the Israeli army will do next.
Honestly, I've spent a lot of time in these blogs detailing what life was like there and I don't really wanna talk about that anymore, at least for now. But I will say that despite how incredibly difficult it is to live there, the Palestinians display the most hospitable, magnanimous, kind-hearted attitude I've ever come across, to both travellers and to each other.
For these reasons I'm feeling pretty strongly about advocacy right now. The general idea over there is that the main way to bring support to the Palestinian people is through international awareness, so spreading the word about the Israeli occupation is at the top of my to-do list.
For me, I've definitely returned home with a real sense of peace. Before leaving I had large amounts of anxiety about things; about my role in my community, my friends, my family, how I should be interacting with the world. Living there (and living alone there for 5 months of my stay) granted me perspective that has really given me an immense sense of peace about my life here in Canada. And as great as that is, the biggest tragedy would be to return with that sense of peace and forget everyone who is currently trapped there, which is why advocacy needs to be an absolute priority.
There are a few things, of course, that I took with me from my trip that aren't as nice as peace. I think over the coming months I'll have a better idea of how the trip affected me; for now I'm just a little more emotional, a little nervous around airports, more anxious on car rides (it's a whole thing) and have a more general sense of fear/paranoia.
That said this was a 10/10 experience that I prooooobably wouldn't want to do again, at least for a while. I feel really content staying in Canada and am really appreciating what this country has to give.
If you stuck with me all this way to the end, gimme a 🙌. You're awesome. And please feel free to ask me any questions you have about anything I said - there's no stupid questions. Well there are stupid questions. But those are the most fun.
