One Month in Hebron

I spent one month with La Casa in Spring of 2016. I did the TELA program and had Arabic classes with Aya. I took Arabic 3 times per week for 2 hours per class and I loved it. The Arabic classes were super helpful. I studied Palestinian dialect and used what I learned in class every day while I stayed in Palestine. I also taught some English classes every week, sometimes alone and sometimes with another teacher. The students are AMAZING. I love that they are mostly University students because we could talk about interesting subjects and they felt comfortable discussing their culture and asking me about mine. La Casa is in the middle of the city, and 2 floors below a coffeeshop which is great. I really liked the staff, everyone was super welcoming and invited me to hangout in the center whenever I wanted.

Now that I am back in the US, I really miss Hebron and want to return. I felt surprisingly safe living there. The people are really nice. I was invited to a wedding and several dinners by students and friends that I met while in the city.

I stayed at Lamar Guesthouse which was beautiful and probably nicer than my apartment at home. My family was shocked when I sent them pics of where I was staying. It definitely made them feel better about me being in Palestine.

I was really happy with the program and I hope to return next summer. I wish I would have done more than one month though. It's hard to see everything Palestine has to offer in one month. Every weekend I travelled around but I still have a long list of places I want to visit- so I will be back! Seriously though -- many thanks to La Casa.