village life

Lately, I've been thinking about what my life here in Kfar Qara is - what fills my days and what I've learned by being here. I love it here, and sometimes it's hard to put my finger on why. Life is slow and contented for the most part, moving hazily through days of good food and people that I love spending time with. But there must be something significant that makes me so happy here.

One is that I don't talk about politics. This may be surprising (I know I wasn't expecting it). In a part of the world with so much political chaos, and especially in Israel/Palestine with an ongoing conflict, I expected to be talking about politics a lot with people here. But after 4 months here, I realized that I rarely do. Around the Israeli elections in March, there was some political talk. But for the most part, my friends here don't talk about it because the situation is what it is and, I quote, "there's nothing left to talk about." I guess it gets pointless and tiring talking about your political reality. It's not the same for us, sitting in our American homes discussing Middle East politics as an abstract concept. Here, it's real, and it's just too depressing to bother talking about. Better to live life. Not that it doesn't come up, and I'm sure there are many political conversations that I'm not privy to.

The point I'm making is a personal one - my life here doesn't consist of discussing politics from an ‘insider’ perspective. Rather, I’ve learned that life isn’t all politics, and as much as you can talk and talk about the situation here, the people who live here are the powerless ones. And I’ve learned to stop talking about the political situation, and just be content to be here.

The other thing about life in Kfar Qara is that I’ve re-connected with the quiet life. It’s been a long time since I lived in a small town. There’s something lovely about it. I have time and space for walks, I don’t hear the honking of traffic in the morning, and the only option for things to do on weekends is visit someone’s house.

Which means I spend a lot of time with people. The environment is totally different than living in Cairo. In Cairo, my friends are mostly people like me, young, single, working. Whether Egyptian or foreign, most of us worked and went out in the evenings – doing the typical city things. Here, I’ve been forced to adapt my lifestyle to the one that works here – a lifestyle dictated by family. Though I’m still on the outside a bit, because I live with a family I spend nearly all my non-working time with them. I do laundry and wash dishes. I sit and talk with Afnan over tea. And, I talk and play with Zeina and Fofo, or go outside and walk with them as they bike in the valley. We visit Afnan’s parents, siblings, aunts and uncles. I drive to pick up the girls from school or to the store to buy flour to bake a cake.

What choices we make in life! And what stages we go through. As I live this quiet life, I can’t help contrasting it to my life in Cairo, or what my life will be next year in NYC. It’s been great to have this time, and I think I’ve learned to appreciate the slower, quieter side of life, family, and being content. Politics and having intellectual discussions have their place, and I’m sure I’ll be having plenty of those conversations next year. But, I may also look back wistfully on this time in Kfar Qara.