Chapter 115 Parent teacher conference

"Oh we expect to be in Nablus for a long time. Except if the Israelis attack... then we'll go to America."


"She's never gotten over when the PA took her father away for a month. After he was released, she would sob every time he left the house, even if he was just going to the store down the street, panicking that he wasn't coming back."

"I want my son's English to improve as much as possible so that he can get out of here one day and make a good life for himself."

"I'm so glad he's doing well at school. My wish is for him to become a politician one day and help change things for us."

Chapter 114 Seriously, hike

You thought I was kidding about the hiking stuff didn't you?

You smiled and nodded gently thinking it was the giddy excitement of novelty. You accepted them on the basis they resulted from the fallen standards of winter.

Trust me on this. Come. Hike. In. Palestine. If you're not the 'well let's just stop the car here and start walking type' then I've just the thing for you.

Walking Palestine, a soon to be released book detailed 25 stunning hikes in the West Bank. Painstakingly mapped out and written by Stefan Szepesi.

There's a sample chapter on his website which formed the basis of our last hike from Jenin down to the Christian/Muslim village of Zebebdeh.

An easy three hour stroll through warm, enveloping landscape.

Chapter 113 Over the counter

'Hello Pharmacist, do you have something for an itchy throat? It's not hurting or anything, just a little uncomfortable'

'Of course! Let me take a look. Aha! Here they are. Take these three times a day after eating.'

'Ok cool. What are these?'

 'Antibiotics.'

'Oh... yes. Very good. Ummm... I was thinking more like a strepsil or something...'

silence.

When I was in school, our school nurse prescribed throat lozenges for anything from a headache to a broken arm.

Here it's antibiotics.

Sore throat? Antibiotics.
Runny nose? Antibiotics.
Tired? Antibiotics.


They're sold over the counter and, more often than not, prescribed by the pharmacist himself.

I recently met a girl over from Europe who was studying the waning effect of antibiotics here.  Would love to know what she found.

Chapter 112 The West Bank's Biggest Secret

"You can hike around the West Bank?"

You can hike SO MUCH around the West Bank. You could get dropped off anywhere, head off in the direction of the nearest mountain, and find yourself surrounded by lush, flowing landscapes and colors that seem inconceivable in the land the world forgot. 

I won't get too carried away with the hyperbole as there's a shocking number of photos below that tell this story. It is for reasons like this that I've kept up this blog. The West Bank is an unbelievably rich gold mine of outdoor activities and touristic wonders.

This may be its biggest secret. 

Tubas city centre and the start of our hike. Not too far from the Jordan Valley

A mural of Yasser Arafat next to the Municipality building of Tubas

A discarded bee hive

A traditional stone oven. Check out my musakhan posts to learn about the deliciousness these ovens produce

Tortoise in the West Bank. Who knew?

This incredible eagle (?) soared overhead, coasting on the winds and searching for prey

Old old olive trees. All wrinkled and twisted... wonderful

Lovely little red flowers are sprinkled everywhere. They are very common here and I believe are called anemones.

On the way back to the servees station and Nablus after a hefty 5 hour hike around the area