Career Path
In America when I mention that I have studied Arabic, most people inevitably say, 'There's a lot of demand for that nowadays. You can work for the government."
In Palestine when I mention that I'm from America, some people ask, in one way or another, 'Are you an American spy?"
I told one friend that I had no interest working for the intelligence agencies of a government whose policies I disagreed with so strongly. He responded, "Ah, well in that case why don't you work for the Palestinian side. You can spy on America for us." I laughed because even if the Palestinian Authority wanted it, what could they possibly do with daily updates on the inside goings-ons of the American government.
"Of course," my friend added, "the financial recompensation isn't so good. Right now you wouldn't have been paid in nearly a year. Better keep your day job."
Now that I've spent the past three or four days in Tel Aviv, and three or four days in Haifa--actual Israeli territory--I've been pretty tight lipped about having doing volunteer work in Nablus. Maybe it's partially that the paranoia of Nablus has finally seeped under my skin, because certainly not everyone in Israel would scowl at someone who's done volunteer work to help Palestinians, but I think most people would make inferences about my political alignment and... certainly it wouldn't predispose most Israelis to like me. Anyways, as an example of how paranoid people are about security here, I'm going to the airport in an hour, everyone is required to show up three hours early to the airport because airport security interrogates everyone, especially single travellers on tourist visas (very suspicious). I may actually tell them the truth about what I've been doing here, and I'll let you know how that goes.
Last night I don't think I slept very well. I must have been dreaming something in Arabic, because I distinctly remember sitting bolt upright and saying, in Arabic, "We have to find a translation for this". To which one of my five dormitory mates in the hostel replied, "Shut up and go back to sleep."
Guess that blew my cover---worst Palestinian spy ever.
In America when I mention that I have studied Arabic, most people inevitably say, 'There's a lot of demand for that nowadays. You can work for the government."
In Palestine when I mention that I'm from America, some people ask, in one way or another, 'Are you an American spy?"
I told one friend that I had no interest working for the intelligence agencies of a government whose policies I disagreed with so strongly. He responded, "Ah, well in that case why don't you work for the Palestinian side. You can spy on America for us." I laughed because even if the Palestinian Authority wanted it, what could they possibly do with daily updates on the inside goings-ons of the American government.
"Of course," my friend added, "the financial recompensation isn't so good. Right now you wouldn't have been paid in nearly a year. Better keep your day job."
Now that I've spent the past three or four days in Tel Aviv, and three or four days in Haifa--actual Israeli territory--I've been pretty tight lipped about having doing volunteer work in Nablus. Maybe it's partially that the paranoia of Nablus has finally seeped under my skin, because certainly not everyone in Israel would scowl at someone who's done volunteer work to help Palestinians, but I think most people would make inferences about my political alignment and... certainly it wouldn't predispose most Israelis to like me. Anyways, as an example of how paranoid people are about security here, I'm going to the airport in an hour, everyone is required to show up three hours early to the airport because airport security interrogates everyone, especially single travellers on tourist visas (very suspicious). I may actually tell them the truth about what I've been doing here, and I'll let you know how that goes.
Last night I don't think I slept very well. I must have been dreaming something in Arabic, because I distinctly remember sitting bolt upright and saying, in Arabic, "We have to find a translation for this". To which one of my five dormitory mates in the hostel replied, "Shut up and go back to sleep."
Guess that blew my cover---worst Palestinian spy ever.
posted by Bloo at 9:59 PM
1 Comments:
hahaha.. "We have to find a translation for this!"
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