Letter from Palestine, 34. Weather.
23rd April 2005
Dear friends!
I have five weeks left before I go to Norway, and I have started to prepare mentally. One of my exercises is to find aspects with Palestine which I don’t like, to look forward to get a better alternative in Norway. The aspect of this week is the weather.
In Norway we have a saying (which sounds better in Norwegian because it is a rhyme) “there is no bad weather, only bad clothes”. I like to say that, in Norway. But I don’t say it here, because it is not true here. In Norway you can clothe the bad weather out, or clothe yourself in, and be quite comfortable, if you choose the right clothes. In Palestine I have not found the right clothes for the weather which has bothered me the last days.
I have to continue the Arabic course from last week with a new expression. I don’t know what to call this in English or Norwegian. They probably don’t have translations for all types of Norwegian weather in Arabic, and so we don’t have words for such extreme types of Arabic weather which can not be clothed out.
The word is “khamsini”. I learnt it already in January, but I did not understand the meaning until a few weeks ago. I sat on the exercise bicycle at LilacY, on the top floor of YWCA, with a good view. I found the fog coming to be a bit strange, it was so brown, not grey as I am used to. It was also dry, not humid, and it was warm, not cold. It was not fog. It was khamsini. It was a duststorm from the desert! That day it was rather funny. I had never experienced such weather, and found it to be quite exotic.
Wednesday night it came again, and it was not enough with one day. I have never had problems that my body gets affected by the weather in Norway. I do not get depressed from a dark and cold winter. I do not feel that it is close and will soon be thunder. I prefer to be inside when the summer is too hot, but that’s it.
Wednesday the khamsini came, and the headache. It is not very dusty this time, so it is not difficult to breath. It is cloudy. It is hot. It is heavy. I am used to feeling wind a bit pressing, or disturbing, if it is strong. But here the air itself is pressing, and it is impossible to clothe it out. It is about like close times ten.
But I am not stopped so easily. I can’t stay inside though the weather is a bit difficult. Some headache doesn’t stop me. This weekend is the start of Holy Week for the Orthodox Christians. Today was the Lazarus Saturday, and it was a procession to the tomb of Lazarus in Bethany. While the tourists five weeks ago mainly came from Western Europe and USA, now there were more from Russia and Greece. There were also quite a few locals, as most of the Palestinian Christians are Orthodox. I had got a paper with all the liturgies and processions for this week, and had understood that everything was one hour later than written because of the summer time. It was not correct for this procession though, but it probably started after Arabic time, so I did not come very late, but met the procession when it had started.
I came well to the procession, but felt that my body was not in top form. So I found a service (shared taxi) back to Jerusalem after the procession instead of walking. But it was still so early that I thought I should be out a bit longer. So I went for a walk in the Old City. When I came out of the Damascus gate I felt that the khamsini didn’t just give me headache. I felt sick and wondered what to do in such a crowd of people. Two friendly women showed me the nearest bench, and I got better. With more breaks on my way, I managed to come safely back to YWCA where I slept and got better.
This evening there have been a few rain drops in the air. I hope it is like thunder when it is close, meaning that the weather will change. I have experienced khamsini now, and I don’t need more of it. Normal hot weather is just a child’s play.
The weather here is then nothing to covet. I look forward to coming home to a cold, Norwegian summer. Except of that I enjoy here. I will have to intensify the search for more aspects I will look forward to leave. If not it will be hard to go home in five weeks.
Heavy greetings from Hanne.
Dear friends!
I have five weeks left before I go to Norway, and I have started to prepare mentally. One of my exercises is to find aspects with Palestine which I don’t like, to look forward to get a better alternative in Norway. The aspect of this week is the weather.
In Norway we have a saying (which sounds better in Norwegian because it is a rhyme) “there is no bad weather, only bad clothes”. I like to say that, in Norway. But I don’t say it here, because it is not true here. In Norway you can clothe the bad weather out, or clothe yourself in, and be quite comfortable, if you choose the right clothes. In Palestine I have not found the right clothes for the weather which has bothered me the last days.
I have to continue the Arabic course from last week with a new expression. I don’t know what to call this in English or Norwegian. They probably don’t have translations for all types of Norwegian weather in Arabic, and so we don’t have words for such extreme types of Arabic weather which can not be clothed out.
The word is “khamsini”. I learnt it already in January, but I did not understand the meaning until a few weeks ago. I sat on the exercise bicycle at LilacY, on the top floor of YWCA, with a good view. I found the fog coming to be a bit strange, it was so brown, not grey as I am used to. It was also dry, not humid, and it was warm, not cold. It was not fog. It was khamsini. It was a duststorm from the desert! That day it was rather funny. I had never experienced such weather, and found it to be quite exotic.
Wednesday night it came again, and it was not enough with one day. I have never had problems that my body gets affected by the weather in Norway. I do not get depressed from a dark and cold winter. I do not feel that it is close and will soon be thunder. I prefer to be inside when the summer is too hot, but that’s it.
Wednesday the khamsini came, and the headache. It is not very dusty this time, so it is not difficult to breath. It is cloudy. It is hot. It is heavy. I am used to feeling wind a bit pressing, or disturbing, if it is strong. But here the air itself is pressing, and it is impossible to clothe it out. It is about like close times ten.
But I am not stopped so easily. I can’t stay inside though the weather is a bit difficult. Some headache doesn’t stop me. This weekend is the start of Holy Week for the Orthodox Christians. Today was the Lazarus Saturday, and it was a procession to the tomb of Lazarus in Bethany. While the tourists five weeks ago mainly came from Western Europe and USA, now there were more from Russia and Greece. There were also quite a few locals, as most of the Palestinian Christians are Orthodox. I had got a paper with all the liturgies and processions for this week, and had understood that everything was one hour later than written because of the summer time. It was not correct for this procession though, but it probably started after Arabic time, so I did not come very late, but met the procession when it had started.
I came well to the procession, but felt that my body was not in top form. So I found a service (shared taxi) back to Jerusalem after the procession instead of walking. But it was still so early that I thought I should be out a bit longer. So I went for a walk in the Old City. When I came out of the Damascus gate I felt that the khamsini didn’t just give me headache. I felt sick and wondered what to do in such a crowd of people. Two friendly women showed me the nearest bench, and I got better. With more breaks on my way, I managed to come safely back to YWCA where I slept and got better.
This evening there have been a few rain drops in the air. I hope it is like thunder when it is close, meaning that the weather will change. I have experienced khamsini now, and I don’t need more of it. Normal hot weather is just a child’s play.
The weather here is then nothing to covet. I look forward to coming home to a cold, Norwegian summer. Except of that I enjoy here. I will have to intensify the search for more aspects I will look forward to leave. If not it will be hard to go home in five weeks.
Heavy greetings from Hanne.
posted by Hanne at 1:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home