Today we experience more of an everyday experience in Palestine. We started off by going to the Christian School in Bethlehem. This is the equivalent to a private school in the states. We met with the principal and she told us about this school. It actually had about 60% Muslim students and 40% Christian students. It had a great deal to offer to the students academically and it also fostered Christian values while respecting others. It had both Christian and Muslim religion classes. I thought this was great and this is one thing I really love about Bethlehem. They have gotten to a place that we need to get to in the United States. There is a great deal of respect for each other and ultimately, it does not make a difference to the people. They are all brothers as our Palestianian friend Adnan has said over and over again. The Jewish/Palestinian conflict is another story of course but in terms of the United States, I think we have something to learn from the peaceful coexistence between the Christians and the Muslims.

Back to the school... The principal was very gracious and really cared about what she was doing. There is no doubt that it has been a tough job between the occupation, curfew, and the wall that blocks many former students from coming to school. And yet, when we went to tour the school, these were normal kids. We visited many classrooms right before the end of their class period and it was great fun for us and for the students. I saw many of the kids we had played football with and we all remembered each other of course and exchanged greetings and high fives. One class was learning the rules of basketball and another was learning Arabic reading and writing. We also got to see a kindegarten class that was adorable. We helped with puzzles, watch them make crafts, and smiled and laughed. It was a great experience and I think the kids really enjoyed it too (hey, they got a great excuse not to pay attention for 10 minutes at the end of the period).

Then we went to the health and fitness center below the school. This is similar to a small version of a lifetime fitness or a gym in the US. It was a great center that offered something unique for people living in Palestine. It also offered psychotherapy and audiology services and even had yoga and karate classes. While we were looking into the room used for yoga, karate, and dancing, there was a man in there practicing his martial arts form. We came in and looked around the room which was really nice and I did a standing yoga pose I remembered for fun and then went back to paying attention to our leader for a bit and cleared out of the room. He started practicing his form again and it looked very much like tae-kwon-do which I know a bit of. I watched him go through the routine which look very good and precise and then tried to ask him what he was doing. Communication was a bit rough because I don't speak Arabic obviously and he didn't speak English. However, we finally got it and he showed me that he was doing a combination of Karate and tae-kwon-do called karate-do. I had almost lost site of the group by this time so I went back over quickly thanking him in Arabic (one of the very few things I know how to do but do it constantly). Then, he tracked me down again and basically asked me through a little english and some hand motions whether I knew martial arts and I communicated back that I knew a little. And then, it was back to the group.

This little encounter was one of the great moments of the day because it sounds so simple and trite and I don't even think anyone else knows that I had it. But, it reminds me that this can be a small world if we make it one and that we aren't all so different. Even though we weren't able to really speak any of each other's language we were able to talk and find something in common. I have already found football to be a universal language and now I can add my very little knowledge of tae-kwon-do to the list. I think we can find something in common with everyone if we really try hard enough and that is a starting point. And, I think we need to remind each other about this because otherwise it is going to be a very lonely and scary world. I know that yes, we need to be cautious and safe and everything else but I also think we need to trust other people. As my friend Daniel said earlier on in the trip, "you need to give trust to get trust."