This weekend I went to my first Arabic wedding reception. We thought we were going to the wedding but when the groom told us to get ready, we quickly found that we had missed the ceremony and were instead going to the formal reception. It wasn't like anything any of us expected. Men and women were in separate rooms and in the women's room for about 2 hours we all watched as the bride, groom, and their nuclear families danced. Most of the time I was the source of entertainment for a group of girls all under the age of 12. Once they found out that I and the group of girls I was with, could all speak a little Arabic, they were in heaven. Near the end of the reception, when roughly half the people had already left, a group of men came over and for about 15 minutes there was an open dance floor.
After the reception (where we were only fed cake), some of us were starving. Unfortunately most things are closed on Fridays and that's especially true around 11:30 pm. Luckily, we came across a kid making kebabs on the side of the road. While we were waiting, a group of guys came over to talk to us. None on them were older than 19 yet all of them had been shot in the last 5 years by Israeli soldiers. One of the boys had an older brother who has been in an Israeli prison for 28 years.
The other eye opening part of the trip was visiting and spending the night in Balata, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank. I was told about 20,000 people live there. If my conversions are right, they live on about 750 acres. Walking around I felt like I was in an "Old City." Everything is close together, the alleys are very narrow and people lack privacy. Throughout the camp there were UN schools and various other buildings. Supposedly all of the water is provided by the UN and some people receive rations from them as well.
Balata sits directly across from Jacob's Well, a convent for the Greek Orthodox Church. In the basement of the church sits Jacob's Well. I tried to find information about it and all I could find is that supposedly Jesus made a rest stop at the well which means I literally walked in the footsteps of Jesus!
In my last post, I promised pictures so here are a few from Varanasi, Oman and a few from my time here.
One of the narrow alleys in the camp.
Jacob's Well
The dome of the Jacob's Well Convent and church
My bedroom in my apartment.
The kitchen.
An Omani liquor store.
The migrant workers I met as well as some SAP volunteers.
Giles and Grady as pirates.
My favorite past time was taking photos of Grady.
Giles after he lost his second tooth.
Omani mountains. I love them because they are so bare.
The Sultan's palace.
The beach.
Hanging with Marcie.
In an Omani grocery store.
Apparently you can buy happiness.
Nightly puja in Varanasi.
Looking out at the main ghat (in the distance).
The Ganges River and ghats along the coast.
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