here

i'm here-- just finished a semi-concise update on life in chatila and then this spectacularly funky beiruti connection turned it all into thin air. i've been here since late late friday night. i'm well. have finally located the internet connection that can penetrate my blog (and email- sorry for all the spam). chatila is mind-boggling. beirut is fascinating. my co-volunteers are brutally hard working, fresh young college kids that they are. so so determined to teach well, i'm in awe. our kids: amazing. rania, queen of the teenagers. mohammed z., not at all interested in being "mohammad z" but coming to terms with the american way in a class with 3 mohammads. ahmad, busting my chops but destroying me with dimples. esraa, gorgeous and brilliant sister - helper - human. malak, soaking up every word of mandarin i'll give and shyly trying it out on yoshi from taiwan. youssef, serious as you can imagine and breathtaking depth as artist and thinker, depth that overcomes our substantial language barrier. the list goes on. we chatila girls are 6 to a 2-room apartment, living cot-to-cot-to-cot (to cot, actually, but grateful for the unexpected luxury of an empty cot thanks to one volunteer who didn't make it past day 1 of orientation-- her 3 x 6 wedge has become sacred living/breathing/office/nap space). we've taught 2 days, 1 of which was leveling/placements (apparently parents complained about all the games). today we taught our real and true groups for the month. i've been assigned "sub-zero's" thanks to my good old nyc teaching experience. they're lovely. mornings (9-12) are a dream, afternoons (2-5) more of a typhoon. 9 rowdy boys and 1 sweet girl. we're getting each other. more importantly, they're getting me :) tomorrow we begin extracurriculars for one of our two hours between. i'll be working on a documentary. the women of our school have offered to prepare palestinian noon meals for us, and we're in heaven with the moukheeya (?!) grape leaves lebne cucumbers and peaches.

i'm sending enormous love and gratitude for you all. thank you for your love, generosity, support, and patience. it means the world. keep it coming, to me and to my new community here in chatila. this land, this place, this time is incredible.

* love. love. love. LOVE to julie & tim & the family. all of my love. *