Arrival (Part 2)

View from the roof towards Modi'in

After three days of sleeping, hydrating and orienting myself I am beginning to once again feel like I am in fact walking on solid ground. The sheer anticipation and anxiety associated with my trip here took it's toll, but I am glad to say that I am beginning to regain some of my equilibrium.

Neve Shalom/Wahat-al-Salam is situated on a hill side overlooking the city of Modi'in to the north. NSWAS is about a 30 minute drive from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and about an hour away from the Gaza strip, although you could say it's an hour away from, well, everywhere in Israel, as everything is about an hour away from everything, it's a very small country. (If you could follow what I was trying to say in that last sentence, bravo.)

There are about 200 or so people living in NSWAS, around 60 families. Some of the people that work here commute daily from communities in and around Jerusalem and other prefectures. 


The community itself is quite beautiful. I was anticipating it to be very dusty, but there are flowers, grass, farmland and trees. It's a very green and vibrant place. NSWAS is truly an Oasis of Peace. I am looking forward to exploring and getting to know the members of the community over the coming months.


NSWAS has a pre-school, 25m pool and recreation center, the guest house, the School for Peace where I am interning, the Pluralistic Spiritual Center and the municipal secretariat building. The community is built in a big circle that supports about four neighborhoods.

I am currently living in the volunteers compound, which consist of three block sections each with two private rooms attached to a shared washroom, with a communal kitchen and living room at the back corner. The volunteers compound isn't really at it's prime anymore, and the other interns looked at me with "this guy is crazy" look when I asked where the cleaning supplies were so I go do a sweep and scrub. The other volunteers are younger then I am and have been here between one and four months already, volunteering at the guest house. I am the first intern to arrive. Its clear that some of these kids have never lived in a communal space before so it's going to be an adventure sorting out chores and so on. If my dear clean-freak house mate Samurai is reading this, I know that me complaining about cleanliness seems a little hypocritical, but I am not that bad in comparison to some. 


Despite these small issues, I am looking forward to living here over the summer

During the restless hours in the middle of the night or very early in the morning I have been planning out my future adventures. Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Bethlehem, Jericho, Acre, Ramallah, Hebron...SO much to see and do.


My first, true week, in Israel/Palestine and my internship with NSWAS Peace College has begun in earnest!

Stay tuned for more as the adventure continues!


(Please, don't be afraid to comment!)

Shalom, Salaam, Peace