New York--journey countdown
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Hoboken,
New Jersey,
United States
Thursday, December 16, 2004
This all started out innocent enough. I had a four week winter break coming up, a short escape from the grind of graduate school. I knew I had to get out of town and take advantage of the much-needed vacation time. But...where to go and how? I returned to a safe standby: short-term volunteership. I had volunteered a few years ago through Volunteers for Peace in a tiny Czech town. I perused their directory of work camps and the search for possible dates brought up "Palestine." I immediately dismissed it thinking who in their right mind would go to Palestine? Images of suicide bombers and youthful rock throwers crept into my mind. I looked to the other options on my computer screen and nothing inspired me. A few hours later as I was walking the streets of my temporary home of Hoboken, New Jersey (aka Hell on Earth), I stopped short in my tracks and said "Why NOT go to Palestine?!" I could literally see the light bulb pop up over my head. I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I excitedly began to imagine my upcoming journey.
First I had to muster the courage to tell my parents. Unfortunately, my family and peers have only CNN and other Western media sources upon which to base their images of the Middle East. I couldn't help but laugh when my mother described my arrival in Palestine as one in which a neon sign above my head would read "AMERICAN" and a young Arab man would run over, stand next to me, smile and blow the two of us to bits. I even would receive a guilt-ridden email from my mother's boss telling me how selfish I was being in going as I was bringing undue fear and worry onto my family (keep in mind, though, that my baby brother had just recently miraculously survived gunshot wounds in his chest and back while serving as a Marine in Iraq).
In any case, I registered for the work camp that would see me volunteering with a farmers co-op in Jericho for two weeks. This was made possible through the work of IPYL (International Palestinian Youth League). I excitedly made my travel plans and thought to myself, why pay so much money for a ticket for just two weeks? So I decided to make use of the ticket and my time to include a trip to Egypt as well. While I had always snubbed my nose at packaged tours, I just didn't have the willpower to plan my own trip through Egypt and thus broke down to use a company: Imaginative Traveller. In retrospect, I am VERY glad that I did this as Egypt at times can be a very challenging country in which to travel.
Amidst finals and research papers, I tried to contain my excitement for the upcoming adventure. I had an ally in Shaheen, a fellow volunteer that lived just across the river in Brooklyn. It felt nice to know that I would not be stepping foot into one of the more controversial regions of the world alone! I did as much research as possible to prepare myself for what lay ahead. I began to worry as the stories of tough Israeli customs officials at the Tel Aviv airport surfaced. Was the trip already going to start off on the wrong foot?!
