Bloggy Bloggy

Aiieeeee! its been a long while since I've blogged. Honestly, it's because I've just been so busy, to-ing and fro-ing all round Palestine collecting data and trying to get a feel of this fantastically interesting land.

I'm living in Ramallah right now, not too far from the Center of town, but far enough away to be a long way from any trouble. The University course in Arabic is going really well, if a bit slow. One thing I'm sure of is that I'm getting the basics down clearly, and pronouncing the difference between ﺥandﺡ is something I will never ever take lightly or be confused about ever again!

I've been unbelievably busy thus far for my research, it almost seems like I really had no clue at all about the nature of the occupation or the reality of resistance before coming. I am cirtainly no expert on what it is like to be a palestinian but I feel, now at least I am grasping the scale of these issues. Anyway here is a brief list of things I've been doing before I go into more detail..
Visited Tulkarem in the north,
Visited Jerico in the south,
Spent a day at the Dead Sea,
Attended a conference in Jerusalem on the water issue,
Attended another (brilliant) conference in Jerusalem on the role of the international community,
Interviewed a bunch of people, Primarily focused on the issue of Education under Occupation so far,
Visited a very very impressive organization working with children at Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem,
Visited the church of the nativity in Bethlehem and various other holy places,
Mooched to Franco-german cultural exchange musical event...
Saw Souad Massi!!! in concert in Ramallah
Read a hell of a lot of Edward Said!
Been to Class every day... which is harder than it sounds, it starts at 8am!

ahhhh.... I will write more tomorrow... I am such a crap blogger