On Thursday this week the college held its annual field day. I'm not sure what they call it officially, but it was like having an all-school picnic with a time of worship, having grilled chicken and Arabic salads, and some game time.

We traveled across town in Beit Jala to a Lutheran Christian center. It is a very nice facility. We met first for our weekly chapel service. A large group of students were visiting the area from Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN. We sang some Christian worship songs. I might have said before, these seem to be songs developed in Egypt. I haven't heard them sing any Western Christian worship/praise songs. For anyone who is "clapping-impaired," following along clapping with this music would be a greater challenge than most music we hear in the States. But it is lively music and music with great intensity and feeling. The college students from Minnesota sang a song in English; it was very nice but a much slower, subdued type of music.

One of the students, Elias, who is from Gaza, led the worship and gave a devotional talk. He talked about the beginning of the book of Ruth. The irony is that Naomi and her family left Bethlehem, the name of which city means "house of bread," because of a famine. Elias spoke about the spiritual feast Christians have in Bethlehem and the need for them to share that spiritual food to those in need.

The picnic lunch we shared was very good. There were generous amounts of grilled chicken with tasty spices. There were the usual Arabic salad, olives, pickles, hummus, baba ghanoush, and a few others. Of course there was pita bread. And there were french fries. Later we had a dessert. I don't know what it's called or what's in it besides honey. It looks like filling is rolled up. The exterior is a dark brown and the filling I think has pine nuts. I'm not sure. I do know it is delicious. [It is Kanafeh or knafeh.]

Our group was first up to compete in a tug-of-war with another group. As you might expect, everyone thought my group would win with me as the anchor on the end. It was certainly one of the most strenuous things I've done in quite awhile. I haven't asked anyone if they took a picture of our contest, and I don't intend on doing so. I sat out on the sack races. We were just beginning to do another game when the dessert was served. Many of us deserted the games for the sweet relief. Just then we got a little bit of rain, so we moved underneath a large tree.

I have two observations about eating customs. One is the practice of eating with the fingers. Not only do Palestinian people eat with their fingers, they manage to do it without making a mess. I make more of a mess eating with a fork than they do eating with their fingers and using the pita bread as a scoop. They also have a custom of sharing their food. We all went through the line individually and fixed our plates. When I joined a table, I could see that they had made a plate with the various items for dipping and were sharing it. Someone would go get a bunch of chicken pieces and put it in the center of the table, and everyone would take from it. Everyone was very gracious and made sure everyone had plenty to eat and drink. This made me think about the expression we use in my house for minding your own business. My wife will say, "Eat in your own plate." I kept thinking about that during lunch. Maybe there should be an expression that means be sociable: "Eat in your neighbor's plate."

I'm beginning to be able to speak Arabic a little bit. Our class has focused on the verb system as the backbone of language. I need to continue to learn verbs but also need to learn many more nouns and adjectives. I can say that I want something, like something, or have something, but I probably don't know what it's called in Arabic. I have one more week to go in the class I've been taking. I don't really have the finances to continue taking the classes. I will need to make sure I continue study on my own and talk to people in Arabic.

The big problem with learning a language in another country is many of the people speak English and are more than willing to converse with you in English. Someone reminded me of the joke, if a polyglot is someone who speaks many languages, what is someone called who only speaks one language? An American.

The other day I needed to buy a pair of scissors to trim my moustache. I tried doing it with toenail clippers and even a kitchen knife. Couldn't do it. I walked into a pharmacy and the owner began speaking to me in English. We had a nice conversation. As I remember, he has relatives that live in Michigan near Flint. But he didn't have any scissors. On the next block was another pharmacy. This man also spoke English very well. I had another nice conversation about US politics and the economy. And I got my little scissors plus he sold me a single disposable razor.

I found a shop that makes wonderful falafel sandwiches. I've had falafel sandwiches for dinner two nights in a row. I might go for three tonight. The first night it was an older man who waited on me. He couldn't speak much English, so I tried my Arabic on him. I told him I was learning Arabic at the Dar Annadwa Center. He asked a clarifying question that I couldn't understand, something about school. When I left there I realized I could have asked for what I wanted in Arabic. That made me feel good.