November 29, 2001

Traditional Dance Show

This evening I was treated to a great Ramadan celebration at the Bethlehem Peace Center. Young people played music and danced traditional dances for the packed house. I'm a fan of Palestinian music. The more I hear it, the better I like it. I just wish I could understand the words. Although most of the songs are lively, I suspect that the performers are singing many sad songs. I'll try to get some of the music posted to my site. Then you can download them and enjoy them too.

After the dance and music extravaganza, I was invited down to Beit Sahour to have Thanksgiving dinner at a very nice restaurant there. The restaurant is located on the top floor of the Arayat building. The room is sort of a multi-purpose room. During the day it is an Internet cafe. On selected evenings, it is a restaurant, and on the weekends, it sometimes doubles as a dance club. Tonight we had a superb buffet of turkey, beef, mixed vegetables, rice, a dozen different salads, breads, desserts, etc. I consider that an excellent way to break the Ramadan fast. A keyboard player entertained us with Arabic music, the tango, and a few American tunes. And we even had a magician perform during the evening! He was pretty good.

I ran into a few people there that I know, Including Jeeda (center), who was celebrating her birthday with her husband Tony and our friend Abeer.