Update from Ramallah 2 .

The weather was cloudy and cold yesterday (Wed). All of the buildings have tile floors and stucco walls. So, you can imagine the chill that you feel inside rather than outside. I am told that they build the homes this way in order to keep cool during the summers and rest of the year. Now and the next few months will be the coldest months of the year, just as it is at home. To keep warm, portable heaters are placed in the room and are most often gas powered. Many of us are also wearing many layers of clothes to help against the chill you can feel just from sitting still.

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All of the musicians are practicing the more than seven pieces that will make up the performances of this Baroque festival. It has been wonderful to be a classical ‘roadie’! Slowly I am learning more about different composers as well as techniques used to perform. The amount of practice that the others are putting in have also inspired me to practice as much as I can. It is a little intimidating since I only just realized how resonant the walls are, allowing all to hear each time I retune my strings and again play through my wonderful Polish beginner book. However, the enthusiasm and discipline that the children have for playing gives me renewed confidence in performing in a group next semester. A group of about 12 had a performance for their families here at the center last night (Wed) and we were all invited to attend. The first performer was a little girl, who looked to be about 5 or 6 years old, played on an oud, an Arabic stringed instrument that makes me think of the stringed instruments of the medieval period. She was absolutely precious! A few others also played solo performances on ouds, then to be followed by an orchestra including violin, flute, accordion, and drum. I later found out from their teacher that they had only practiced the songs for two weeks! Still, they sounded great since they practice all the time at home.

After the concert, a group of us went to relax at Ramzi’s apartment, but did not have him with us for long. With the concerts and the center, he is constantly running around making sure all the arrangements are in place. Also, he is very social and just loves to talk with all the children and parents. Instead, my new friend Saeid entertained us with his humor and imitation of Spanish song on guitar. Oh, we ate some absolutely amazing hummus, olives, and goat cheese with some different breads. In general, the food is great here, especially bread and fruits. Orange and other fruit juices are all freshly squeezed. Sandwiches are all falafel with cucumbers and salad. I have not tried coffee yet, but the teas have been very nice.

Today is the final day of practice before the concert series. As a practice, the group performed at a lunch reception for an award being given to Ramzi by an award program created in honor of the Prince of the Netherlands, Prince Claus. All played marvelous considering it is only their third time performing this Mozart piece. The reception was held in a beautiful restaurant downtown filled with palms and other tropical plants. Everyone was quite excited to share lunch with each other, enjoying the many snacks including ‘Arabic lemonade’ to drink; made of lemons and mint, brilliant green in color.

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Friday update

We are all still doing well despite the declining situation in Gaza that I was told about this morning. The checkpoints are all closed for now and we will need to wait and see if things may improve enough so that we can perform there on Sunday.

Yesterday, after the lunch performance, I joined a few of the gents at a cafe for tea and a Boston crème donut. The donut was absolutely fab and I felt quite refined eating it with the knife and fork it was served with. I never would have guessed experiencing
such a common fast food from home here in Ramallah. Outside of the cafe, a group of boys were playing soccer on a field defined by small rocks and goals by flower pots.

I have had some opportunity to walk around the streets a bit when I helped Saeid post flyers for today’s performance. This was at night on Wednesday and the streets were absolutely filled. However, it was mostly men that were out and about. It was quite a contrast to the morning walks that we take from where the taxi drops us to the center. At this time of day, women are about in groups or accompanied by their children. To some extent, I guess that it could be that the women are at home cooking as well as not safe to roam the streets at night. Saeid says that even some men do not walk at certain times at night so as not to encounter others looking to cause trouble. However, the weekends are full with activity; numbers making all feel safer to be out on the main drag of shops and markets.

The store fronts are spilling onto the sidewalk with their goods. Produce stands have boxes of fruits and veggies lined in front of their windows. The colors seem brighter to me when they are arranged so closely together. Men pedaling carts sell either breads or
nuts to passersby. Each time I pass a sandwich shop with its joint of lamb spinning in the window I instantly feel hungry (sorry veggie-lovers). So far, I have restrained from exchanging my money so that I wait and see the main market or have the opportunity to travel to the other cities. I do have my eye on a small rug and want to have some help in picking some music.

Today the center has truly come to life with children coming for lessons. Even the copy room and rooftop have become spots for rehearsal. A young boy is learning accordian (playing Jingle Bells) while a small group of girls have come to learn how to play
kamandjat (violin). Upstairs, my group of musicians is perfecting pieces for tonight’s performance. And I, well I am just a glow with taking it all in. Time to go see if I can join in with the accordion player. Love you all and will try to send more updates as I can, but may be difficult now that we will start traveling.

Editors note: Devons adventures are also recorded here.