It's my first night in Ramallah and I am exhausted. I need to sleep after flying through the Ukraine and waiting and waiting and waiting to get into Tel Aviv and then having to wait there some more when they couldn't find a bunch of our luggage and having to have them tell me that I have to wait until Sunday to get it.
It amazes me just how backwards and careless some folks are.
In any event, I got here and saw these family members for the first time. I see now where Jamelah gets the other part of her smile from, because it's so much like my Aunt Haifa's. The shape of her mouth, her lips. Jamelah's are so much like our mother's, but they are also very much like Aunt Haifa. And her mouth is also like mine. So wide and welcoming.
And her eyes. Her eyes remind me of my father. Not so much in the shape or the color, but what they say, the knowledge they hold. The deeper meaning behind them. Her eyes are like mine. Her eyes are like my father's. She is my father's older sister, so we have a kinship there in having siblings younger than you. She's small, with wide hips and a full laugh, a jiggle of the inside and the soul.
And she wants to feed me all day. I feel welcomed. I feel good to be here.
I can't wait for the rest of the days. It's 9:14pm here right now.
Tomorrow Uncle Naser is coming with my grandfather and his children and I think my other aunt Hitaf. So I need to get to bed soon so that I have the energy to walk around with them all day tomorrow.
I'll be around, with more detail later when I'm less sleepy.
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