In Baltimore, our weekends were good opportunities to relax, catch up on household chores, and run errands—especially to the farmer’s market or grocery store to restock the pantry at home. Occasionally, we ventured out for a play, festival, or concert. Sometimes we simply took a leisurely walk, ending up at the library or bookstore.
Our weekends in Palestine haven’t strayed too terribly much from the Baltimore routine, with two important exceptions: first, as apartment dwellers we no longer spend long hours working on house projects or in the yard and garden; and second, we live within easy walking distance of many of Ramallah’s cultural and social hot spots. Within a fifteen walk of our apartment, we can attend cultural events at the Danish House of Palestine, Ramallah Cultural Palace, Friends Meeting House, and Al Kasaba Theatre, or simply have drinks and dessert at Café De Vie where Irish Folk bands are known to plop down for an impromptu jam session.
So, the other weekend when my darling wife asked, “What are going to do today?” I responded, “We will have an amazing adventure.” She asked me to be more specific, so I explained, “We will have a crazy, amazing adventure.” When pressed for further details, I suggested we either take a bike ride or play tennis on the street in front of our apartment building—likely revealing that I was making this up as I went along. We brought our bikes from the States, but hadn’t saddled up yet, so we ultimately decided to pump up the tires and pedal around Ramallah. Our first destination was the Ramallah Cultural Palace, which is under construction but appeared open for business. (We recently went to the opening of the Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival there, so we know for certain that it is open.) From the Cultural Palace, we could see the Mukhmas Funland Amusement Park and decided to bike over to take a closer look.
After navigating a few of Ramallah’s many steep hills, we arrived at the entrance of the Funland. We were content to simply look from outside the gate, but a nice gentleman on the other side of the gate insisted we park our bikes and enter the park. Once inside, he explained that he was the manager and told us about some of his latest improvements and ideas for further development. After a quick chat, he offered us free tickets. “Are three tickets for each of you enough?” Plenty, we said, and before we had a chance to consider the consequences, we were strapping into a ride that swings riders back and forth higher and higher until riders (us in this case) are hanging upside down some 80 feet above the ground. “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” was my darling’s battle cry as it occurred to her that we were putting our lives in the hands of Palestinian carnies. (No offense meant to Palestinians or to carnival workers…) “We’re upside down in Ramallah!!” was my retort to her repeated exclamations of disbelief. To see a video of the ride, visit the Funland website: Mukhmas Funland Amusement Park
We used our remaining tickets on bumper cars and the “4-D Theater,” which showed a strange 3D cartoon featuring a floating clown apparition and puffs of air blown into our faces when the snakes in the cartoon lunged toward us hissing. For me, the best part of that experience was making stupid jokes about experiencing the ‘fourth dimension,’ which I’ve always considered to be the passage of time. So, unlike other movie experiences when time stands still, this movie experience ended after it began, as I incessantly pointed out. We truly did experience…the fourth dimension!!
A few hours later, we went to karaoke with some German guys that my darling wife met at her office. We belted out classics such as, Outkast's “Hey Ya,” Michael Jackson's “Beat It,” and The Beatles “Yesterday.” My favorite, though, was a duet performed by me and my darling: “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” originally by Aretha Franklin, but I’m certain that our version would have topped the charts, too. And because I have a goofy streak in me, I started each of our songs by announcing over the microphone to the other karaoke patrons, “You are about to enter THE THIRD DIMENSION!”
So, I’m not sure whether we’re being turned upside down in Ramallah or turning Ramallah upside down, but we’re having a good time here either way.
So, the other weekend when my darling wife asked, “What are going to do today?” I responded, “We will have an amazing adventure.” She asked me to be more specific, so I explained, “We will have a crazy, amazing adventure.” When pressed for further details, I suggested we either take a bike ride or play tennis on the street in front of our apartment building—likely revealing that I was making this up as I went along. We brought our bikes from the States, but hadn’t saddled up yet, so we ultimately decided to pump up the tires and pedal around Ramallah. Our first destination was the Ramallah Cultural Palace, which is under construction but appeared open for business. (We recently went to the opening of the Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival there, so we know for certain that it is open.) From the Cultural Palace, we could see the Mukhmas Funland Amusement Park and decided to bike over to take a closer look.
After navigating a few of Ramallah’s many steep hills, we arrived at the entrance of the Funland. We were content to simply look from outside the gate, but a nice gentleman on the other side of the gate insisted we park our bikes and enter the park. Once inside, he explained that he was the manager and told us about some of his latest improvements and ideas for further development. After a quick chat, he offered us free tickets. “Are three tickets for each of you enough?” Plenty, we said, and before we had a chance to consider the consequences, we were strapping into a ride that swings riders back and forth higher and higher until riders (us in this case) are hanging upside down some 80 feet above the ground. “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” was my darling’s battle cry as it occurred to her that we were putting our lives in the hands of Palestinian carnies. (No offense meant to Palestinians or to carnival workers…) “We’re upside down in Ramallah!!” was my retort to her repeated exclamations of disbelief. To see a video of the ride, visit the Funland website: Mukhmas Funland Amusement Park
We used our remaining tickets on bumper cars and the “4-D Theater,” which showed a strange 3D cartoon featuring a floating clown apparition and puffs of air blown into our faces when the snakes in the cartoon lunged toward us hissing. For me, the best part of that experience was making stupid jokes about experiencing the ‘fourth dimension,’ which I’ve always considered to be the passage of time. So, unlike other movie experiences when time stands still, this movie experience ended after it began, as I incessantly pointed out. We truly did experience…the fourth dimension!!
A few hours later, we went to karaoke with some German guys that my darling wife met at her office. We belted out classics such as, Outkast's “Hey Ya,” Michael Jackson's “Beat It,” and The Beatles “Yesterday.” My favorite, though, was a duet performed by me and my darling: “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” originally by Aretha Franklin, but I’m certain that our version would have topped the charts, too. And because I have a goofy streak in me, I started each of our songs by announcing over the microphone to the other karaoke patrons, “You are about to enter THE THIRD DIMENSION!”
So, I’m not sure whether we’re being turned upside down in Ramallah or turning Ramallah upside down, but we’re having a good time here either way.
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