An afternoon in the village: haunted caves, hecklers, and tea galore!

I was so excited when Tala finally asked me to come visit her and her family at their house. I had been hinting, bribing, and finally outright asking my students to invite me to meet their families. Despite the fact that my students obviously love me (I find evidence for this as they cheer when I walk in the classroom and have started bringing me flowers), they were too shy, or thought it strange to invite me to their house. Luckily for me, after Tala invited me to her home, I had a whole slew of invitations that followed. I credit Tala for breaking the ice.

Tala's younger sister Leen is in my less advanced class, while Tala is one of my best students in my higher class. I headed to their house on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, excited to see what life was like for my students outside of class.  

The view while walking to Leen and Tala's house on the outskirts of the village.

Tala and Leen come from a family totaling seven sisters and one brother. I got to meet the whole family except one of the sisters while I was there. Expecting a simple tea, I was pleasantly surprised as they warmly welcomed me in to their family to share a full meal. After tea and sweets, they fed me the most delicious meal of spiced chicken and soup. Following several rounds of tea and coffee, the girls took me on a walk to explore the neighboring caves, learn a bit about the local village folklore, and enjoy the newly budding flowers.

Out walking with Leen, Tala, and two of their sisters.

One of Tala and Leen's older sisters is studying to become a pharmacist at the local university and knew all the names and medicinal uses for the native plants we saw. I was happy to finally learn some names of the shrubbery I see everyday. During our nature walk, I discovered that part of Deir al Hatab has an intricate system of caves underneath the olive tree and flower-covered hills. Legend has it that some of these caves are haunted. We peered into a few but mostly found trash. No ghosts this time!

Tala and Leen check out a wide cave opening.

Many of the caves have small dark openings that simply look like holes in the ground.

The walk concluded with an interesting insight into the dynamics between neighboring villages. As we walked through the fields, I was shown the border between Deir al Hatab and the neighboring (much larger) village of Salem. To the naked, uninformed eye, it is impossible to distinguish which house belongs to which village. But to the residents of these two villages, these distinctions seem important. Two girls from Salem heckled us at one point, yelling unsavory things and insults about Tala and Leen's family. I inquired where this hostility came from and was informed that it is a recent parting of ways, that at least these two villages used to get along quite well. Unfortunately our mutual language skills couldn't bring the conversation much further than this.  

Elma is the definition of feisty and loved our walk. 

I was sad to leave after only a few hours but received several invitations from Leen and Tala's older sisters to visit them at the university and a precious invitation from Leen and Tala's mom for Palestinian cooking lessons. I plan to take them up on both! I feel like I know Leen and Tala better now, and have noticed they seem even more comfortable and open in class. Not only did I enjoy myself immensely, it was meaningful to meet the important people in my students' lives.