Nativity Church

December 11, 2001

Activist Arrives, Trees Lit

Today marked the day that the first activist arrived for the PCR December actions. T, a caregiver/journalist from the Northwest US, showed up and started helping the Center prepare for the arrival of other internationals. He has been in the area for a week, monitoring checkpoints and writing reports. Already he has seen some terrible things in Ramallah.

T was given the task of working with one of my Access databases. G complained that it wasn't easy to create reports from my subforms, but I warned her. She then recanted and called it the finest database she ever had the opportunity to use. That's more like it.

And this evening marks the day of the lighting of the trees in Manger Square. That must be some sort of milestone for the Christmas season in Bethlehem. Some of my students dropped me off after class tonight, and I walked through Manger Square. Everything was silent in town except for the crowded mosque and the men under the little trees, now covered in strings of white Christmas lights.