hey there its me again

Hiiiiii

guess what I'm still in Palestine. 

Just doin' Palestine stuff. 

Lol it's been a fun month. 

I'm living in a teeny tiny town of 14 000 people, where the phrase 'everyone knows everyone' could not be more literal. Most of the town is related to any of the huge families around here; my one street is comprised solely of the family members of my host family (who come over every Sunday for a Thanksgiving-level feast that sometimes includes lamb intestines). 

So truly, if you go to a cafe, or a sports game, or for a run, you'll run into people who know your family and have heard of you. Lol I went to a basketball game and chatted a little to a random person who was sitting behind me, and I mentioned that I had enjoyed playing a little bit of rugby when in high-school. Later that night while I was walking home, I was approached by a stranger who said to me "You're the guy who used to play rugby! We need you on our rugby team!" Man I swear this guy was not at the basketball game. But now I'm on a rugby team. 

The hospitality is honestly remarkable; I've been offered coffee and food at cafe's for free, and drinks for free from shopkeepers. I've also been invited into peoples houses and have eaten lots of something called Zarp, where you cook chicken in an outdoor oven that you have to seal with mud. Work has been wild and wonderful as I've been caring for 20 Palestinian folks with intellectual disabilities; they've been so immensely welcoming and fun, and the staff there are so incredibly dedicated to supporting them. 

Bahhh what else. I play frisbee. I'm training for a marathon (oh my lord there are so many hills). I'm having a lot of downtime that I'm genuinely loving. I spend evenings watching my host-grandparents play Backgammon while random American movies play on the TV. 

Lol and I've had a couple fairly silly close calls; one night I went for a run to go somewhere and Google Maps took me out of the city. I passed a few stray dogs (one of which started following me then gave up), and as it got darker and darker, I decided to take off my headphones and just heard a huuge ruckus of barking ahead of me. Then I realized there was also barking behind me; turns out there were a lot of stray dogs, and they were getting quite close, so I decided to seek the shelter of someone's driveway, where a family was just pulling in and kindly insisted on giving me a ride into the city. Then shortly after that, while on the Mount of Olives I was chased by ANOTHER dog and lost a sandal. These dogs man. 

What else. Idk. It's getting a bit chillier in the evening. I've started taking arabic classes and I wish I could say how it's going with learning Arabic in Arabic but I can't and that should tell you how it's going with learning Arabic. We have the Olive Harvest soon, which I'll be doing both at work and at home so I'm gonna have some really green fingers. 

There's more to say about the current political situation buuuut that's for another blog. Enjoy all those colorful leaves you're getting you monsters. 

Live long and prosper.