Haley's last day at NBS and coffee with Seedo Attalah

Today was Haley’s last day of school. She had a great week getting to know the students, teachers and administration. Here she is pictured with one of her teachers (Rania) and the principal of the school (Liza).

Haley said they learned to write the arabic letter "J connected to a W with 2 dots". When I asked her if she knew the name of letter, she replied, “J,W dot dot”. We’re not sure exactly what sound that "letter" makes, but at least it’s a start. :)

After school, we took Haley's new friends, May and Lydia, to get icecream. They had a short play date together to celebrate Haley's last day at the Nazareth school (any excuse to get ice cream!).

Hunter and I spent the morning at the internet café, working on the computer then went to visit Atallah Mansour (Botrus’ father).

"Seedo" (grandpa) Atallah was the first Arab journalist to write for the main Israeli newspaper. He is incredibly smart and an encyclopedia of knowledge. He grew up in Palestine, lived in Lebanon as a child, stayed in a Jewish Kabutz for a year where he learned to speak Hebrew, lived in Oxford for 2 years, and has worked as a journalist for close to 60 years. We had had the opportunity to speak with him several times during the week and enjoyed every conversation. The time with him was never long enough. He has lived a fascinating life and is a great story teller.

We were happy to have the opportunity to go to his house for coffee and some uninterrupted conversation. He shared wonderful stories of his past, both about his family life and the history of this country as well as the world. Once again, our time together seemed too short and we were left wanting more. He signed a copy of one of his books, “Narrow Gate Churches” and we are looking forward to reading it. Quite a wonderful man.