Sitting next to the BBC correspondent of the West Bank at an American comedy tour in Ramallah

“If I don’t laugh at all during the first segment of this show, please don’t think I’m humorless, I just don’t know what they are saying” said the nice british man sitting next to me at the Ramallah cultural center just as the stand up comedy show was about to start (about half an hour late) with lead comedian Amer Zahr.  I found this comment funny because I didn’t realize that parts of the show would be in Arabic , first of all, and that this dude was apologizing to me as if I of all people would be offended.  “don’t worry” I told him “I probably won’t  be getting any of the jokes either”.  That seemed to make him feel better.

That was a lie, I did get some of the jokes with my Arabic fusha/Palestinian and Egyptian ammiyah salad of scattered words and phrases  stuck in different compartments of my brain that I know or recognize.

The principal of my school and her husband graciously invited me to come along to this show, an American comedy tour called 1001 Laughs, and we had arrived before anyone else, and watched the theater fill up slowly (one of the other first people to arrive after us was Hannan Ashrawi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanan_Ashrawi)  and my ignorant self didn’t know who she was. 

Hanan Ashrawi is a Palestinian scholar and spokesperson.

"I think it's my own national identity, my own commitment to the Palestinian cause.

I feel that my personal life is essential because if you do not start with this concentric circles, if you do not love your family, you cannot be part of humanity.

My principal whispered in my ears to tell me a quick blurb on her which made me realize that I was going to be enjoying the show in the same theater as a very very important person (to say the least).    I was quite taken aback by surprise to see this cultural center, just as I had been when I had seen the French and German cultural center in Ramallah for the first time, and my first question for this place was , who funds it?? Supposedly the Japanese government (http://www.jerusalemites.org/jerusalem/cultural_dimensions/71.htm).

 It’s almost strange to be in a place called “The Ramallah Cultural Palace”, a state of the arts center with an impressive theater and stage, inside of a spick and span and pristine building.  A building like this definitely did not exist in my mental conception of Ramallah.  Granted my mental conception was pretty baseless minus the media (which is just violent images of gaza not really Ramallah), I’m still surprised when I find places like this, because no matter how much of a surreal bubble Ramallah is inside of Palestine, it’s still a city under occupation.

River Wyre

I happened to be sitting next to Wyre Davies, one of the bbc correspondents to the west bank (the only reason I remember his name is because he had to spell it out for me and told me his first name is the name of a river.  I’d never heard of that river before so that didn’t help me much, but I did remember the spelling because it’s a confusing pronunciation for only a 4 letter word).  Of course I had no idea who he 

was.  Like any international finding each other in the same vicinity, the only conversation starter is “so what brings you here in this part of the world?”.  No one just comes to Palestine for shits and giggles to really tour, like you’d tour backpacking through Europe or something; usually there’s some other purpose. That’s one thing that I was told even before coming here,  that those who are in Palestine are here for a reason.  He asked me and I told him that I was a teacher.  I teach 3^rd and 4^th grade at a catholic school in Ramallah.   This led him to tell me his dilemma of picking schools for his kids in Jerusalem.  That was the first thing that surprised me “this dude is here with his whole entire family??” he showed me an adorable picture of his three daughters, all under the age of 8 with his beautiful wife.  After a while  it was my turn to ask him, “ so what brings you here?’.   He fuddled with his response for a few seconds starting with “well I work for the bbc, I’m the correspondent here, but I’ve been here before for 6 months but now I’ve been stationed here for the next 3 years”.  Of course my first thought was “whoaaaaaaa.  You’re one of people on bbc where I check my news everyday that writes the freakin articles! No wayyyyy” but my response instead to him was a subtle “o, cool”. 

When the lead comedian finally started, it was strange to hear an American accent coming from the stage.  Minus my roommate, I don’t really hear American accents anymore.  So not knowing this person at all, there was still a strange connection of familiarity.  His comedy was great, and the whole place had a blast, laughing at the nuances of Palestinian culture, mannerisms, mispronunciations of English words, and the transition of age old golden authentic Arabic music soaked in sentiments of nostalgia to modern day commercialized crap Arabic music.  He left the stage after singing various songs and beautifully playing the Oud, and made his exit saying “I was born in America and I grew up in America.  But you better believe that my mother cooked Palestinian food every night and we listened to Palestinian music all the time.  I want you all to know that we might not live in Palestine but we have not forgotten Palestine”.  It was a remarkably genuine comment that made me reminisce of many of the Bangladeshi American events that I was a part of back in the states and how we would convey this very exact thought, that we haven’t forgotten where we come from.

“This is the kind of event that people outside need to hear about”, said wyre davies, ‘because hardly anyone would ever expect or think that there would be a traveling American comedy tour coming to palestine’. I couldn’t agree more. He was telling me about how journalism is just the art of being able to tell stories.  I haven’t really found a piece on this event anywhere, but here is a link to more info about Amer Zahr : http://www.1001laughs.com/zahr.htm

J enjoy the laughs