Meet our Arabic Student Joanne from UK: “Hello! My name is Joanne, and I’m a Masters’ student at the University of Exeter in Britain. My degree is in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, so I wanted to take the opportunity to learn Arabic and travel to an Arabic-speaking country like Palestine
I’ve been studying in Hebron for the last ten days with the Study Arabic program at the Excellence Centre. This is 15 hours a week of lessons and I could choose whether to focus on Modern Standard Arabic, or amiyya (the actual spoken local dialect). Although I have spent the last eight months studying Modern Standard Arabic at university, there are some key differences between that and the spoken dialect, so I decided to focus on amiyya to communicate more easily with local people here.
I came across the Excellence Center when googling Arabic language courses in the Middle East and North Africa; it stood out as offering both intensive language tuition, cultural activities, accommodation with a host family and by being in a fascinating city. I’ve studied a lot about the history of the Middle East, and about Israel and Palestine in particular, so it was important for me to visit both countries and to see the situation for myself. Reading about a place is never the same as experiencing it personally!
Hebron is beautiful. It’s quite big by Palestinian standards and is the regional centre for the local towns and villages – there are a lot of shops, supermarkets, schools and two universities. It takes about half an hour to walk down ‘ein sarah street from the Excellence Centre to the old city with the fruit and vegetable markets, and to wander through the narrow streets. There are dozens of little shops and stalls selling falafel or shwarma, and we often go to cosy cafes or coffee shops in the late afternoon. The people are very friendly; everyone wants to say ‘Hello’ and ‘Welcome to Palestine’ and practise a few words of English. It’s quite normal for groups of schoolkids to yell ‘Good morning! How are you!’ across the street!
The Middle East has a bit of a bad reputation for safety – especially for young women travelling – but I have never felt unsafe walking around the city. Naturally, however, the occupation makes some areas of the old city feel more tense, especially around the Israeli military checkpoints, where the guards can be a bit blunt and unfriendly. Tourists have no problem getting through to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs / el-Khalili mosque, nor to the infamous Shuhada street – as with any checkpoint, you just need a passport.
When I arrived, it was very late in the evening. I had flown to Tel Aviv, taken a bus to Jerusalem and then got a shared taxi (servees) to Hebron. But despite arriving at 8pm in the evening, the centre staff were still waiting and ready with fresh spiced coffee! It was really lovely to have such a welcome; it took any fears away. Over the course of the first week I made friends with the staff and other internationals in the Excellence Centre, enjoyed intensive lessons on grammar and vocabulary, explored the city by night with my host family, travelled up to Bethlehem and visited locals in the Aida refugee camp, drank huge quantities of the wonderfully sweet mint tea and have been persuaded that Palestinian food is quite possibly the best in the world. I like living with my host family, even if the language differences make communication hard. It’s good speaking and listening practice though, and it’s really interesting seeing how their lives are similar and yet different to mine in the UK”.
