Home Sweet Home

So it's been three weeks since I left for my Middle East trip and I have now finally returned. This trip completely changed me in so many ways (many that I have yet to understand or comprehend) and has thrown me for a bit of a loop when it comes to my future plans.

From Washington D.C., to New York, to Israel, Palestine and Jordan, the past few weeks have opened my eyes to things that I could have never known and showed me how much I have left to learn about conflict, the region, and people. We left a group of about 20 wide eyed college kids from UCI and UCLA and returned a crazy family that has constant debates at the dinner table. I wish that I could have kept you all updated and posted things while I was in the region but sadly the WiFi situation was not the best. I think I preferred it that way though. It gave all of us time to focus on what we were doing there and really get to know each other.

OTI at the Washington Monument

First meeting in D.C. at U.S. Institute for Peace

                            

Meeting room at the White House Executive Offices

                   
Little by little, I will post things about the trip and the different experiences that I was so privileged to have but for now, I will leave you with two amazing things that I experienced.

Prayer Candles in Church of the Holy Sepulchre

 The first would be while I was in Jerusalem, we stayed in the Old City. I got to see and experience a ton of stuff while running around the city. The most amazing thing, for me, was going to the Church of Holy Sepulchre. We went at 6am and it was quiet, serene, and peaceful. I was able to see so many different places and stations of the cross within that church, it was a lot to handle, emotionally for me. What really got to me was when we saw the Catholic Alter within the church and the organ went off. We just happened to be there when the Catholic mass was starting and that was just too much for me. I was able to stay for the beginning of the mass to watch, pray, and cry. I cried so much in that hour span that we were in the church. I was overwhelmed by how spiritual the site was, how surprisingly spiritual I was, and was realizing how much I do depend on my faith. That was a huge internal epiphany that occurred on the second day that we were actually in the Middle East and continued throughout the trip.

Crusaders Cross

Slab that Jesus was laid on after being taken off the Cross

               

My main habibti and I in front of the Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, and Church of the Holy Sepulchre

 While the group was in Jordan, we had the opportunity to visit a Gaza refugee camp and have lunch with a family there. Having lunch with the families was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. The group was split into two, so as not to overwhelm a family with 25 people. My group consisted of Daniel (our leader), Monica, Noor, Maia, Toni, Abeer, Bahjat, Hassan, Neil, Elizabeth and 4 Palestinian girls who were our age and acted as our translators. Our hostess was a lovely 90 year old great, great grandmother who had lived in camp since 1948. She was so grateful to have us there and be able to talk with us, even though she only knew Arabic. Just being able to sit and talk with the family and with our translators was so...relaxing and joyful. It was very homey and a ton of fun. We ended up singing songs with the girls that we all knew, belly danced a little, heard our hostesses story, ate an enormous amount of food, and I even got to meet the baby of the family while I was helping clean up. This short little paragraph doesn't do the experience justice but being able to just sit and talk was what I truly wanted out of the trip. Those personal connections and stories that you can't get out of a history book and can't really understand until you hear it come out of someones mouth were really eye opening and made me feel really connected to our hosts. We were so sad to leave and I hope to be able to visit them again someday.

Neil and kids from the camp

Our hostess, Daniel, and our translators and friends.

Leaving the camp and passing by a wedding

More to come once I recover from jetlag. Hopefully I can make a post a day and relive my awesome experiences for y'all.

The Dead Sea 

House of Palestine

True student diplomats glued to the TV screen in Tel Aviv as Obama makes his speech about Syria. This is also at the same time that the Iron Dome system gets deployed over the city and gas masks are being handed out incase of attacks.