Arabic Lessons, Gypsies and Pastors

I stuck around work yesterday instead of trekking home. My Arabic class began 8:30 at night - a bit late for me but the other alternative was having it in another place on Fridays, which means screwing up my day off. So this was the lesser of two evils. The teacher was astounded at the amount of students piling into the small classroom at the bilingual school - the only one in Jerusalem. I think we needed a mini-auditorium. "This is history!" he told us rather excitedly. In all the years he has been teaching he'd never had such an enormous class of at least 40. He needed to separate us into two classes, because it was just too huge. I was thrilled for him, thrilled for Palestinians who had no idea that 40 more Jews in Jerusalem were interested in their language and thrilled for the class who were eager to learn. The teacher taught fast. Too fast for me. I'm getting on in years and won't pick it up like I would have 20 years ago. But I bought my book and I'm going to plus through it. I didn't learn too many words, just things like "my house, your house, I'm sorry, Hello, thank you, please, their office, our office, etc." But those are useful. I can't make too many sentences out of any of this yet.

Today the reporter called me and read me what she wrote. That was nice of her. Some of it sounded so rough and I had to correct her on a few things. I hope she goes along with it. Then she wanted a photo. Shit. Good thing I carry around my digital with me. I had 2 co-workers take various shots of me - outside by the garden (too sweet and kitchy), by my computer, on the phone. They took about 40 shots and I didn't like any of them except for one. The reporter also interviewed Ibrahim at his home at my request, and of course, he plied her with lots of food.

This evening I attended the Jerusalem Gypsy board meeting. yes, I'm on that board. A pastor who is also a donor, came in from the States. He wanted to see what the non-profit org of the Gypsies is all about and to know where his money is going to. He's part of the Calvary ministries. I took the Board notes, since I'm doomed to type up these things probably until my dying day. It's tough for my Gypsy Queen Amoun because with my full-time job and family and other assorted activities, I find little time left for the Gypsy community in Jerusalem. I need to find her an intern who can write grant proposals for her. Without that, it's difficult and there will be just less than a handful of donors for this tiny organization. The pastor and I engaged in religious conversation. He kept on talking about the mysterious Daniel, Chapter 9 which got him to be a Christian and the books he read and how the Messiah is coming real soon. I admired his faith. He seemed so sure of his faith. It was enviable. There was no room for any doubts in his mind. The Jews at the Board meeting were all going to a protest for Sharon to implement the Gaza disengagement plan. He looked at me and I knew he disapproved of this protest. He didn't say anything other than - if you believe the Bible is true, then you know who this land belongs to. And that there'll be alot of turmoil yet to come in this region. What a soothing thought.

Amoun invited me to break the Ramadam fast at her home tomorrow. I hope nice chocolates is a good gift for her family.