A week ago I arrived in Al Khalil. A Dutch girl living in Denmark, teaching young refugee children from Syria and there for trying to learn some Arabic. Arriving with no knowledge of the Arabic language and the Palestine culture.. now leaving with warm feelings towards the people in Hebron and being able to understand and participate in simple conversations.

Besides from interesting, useful, motivating and inspiring Arabic language lessons, the people from the Excellence center showed me a warm, loving, safe, historical culture and city. Unfortunately a week's visit was too short and I will have to come back some day to meet my friends again.

No where before have I only met a generous and warm staff, caring and loving for all volunteers, students and teachers. If you would ask me what I enjoyed most during my stay in Hebron, I would not be able to answer. Ibrahimi mosque, the old city, Masqubije, Bethlehem. Not even to mention my stay with the loving host family, who introduced me to their everyday lives, to their families and friends, to their children, to their city and to their culture.

I will miss my host family, I will miss the kind staff at the Excellence center, I will miss the joy of learning new Arabic words and sentences.. but most of all, I will miss the delicious foods like humus and the best falafel in the world.

Not only will I recommend any body to travel here and stay for a longer period of time, I will also look forward to visiting Al Khalil again myself.

If one word describes my experience here it is “warmth”. I came to Hebron in the depths of winter (note to winter travelers: bring layers!) but warmth permeated every moment of my stay. I spent hours in the Excellence Center kitchen huddled around the fire, drinking sweet and warm Palestinian tea while exchanging sweet and warm words. My eagerness to learn the language and soak in the culture was received with an enthusiasm level that matched my own. Open arms, minds, and hearts opened doors for indelible friendships. I think I heard and used the word “habeepty!” (“my sweetie!”) as much as every other word combined, but it was never unmerited. Marwa taught me to wrap hijab. Shayma took me to a Palestinian glass factory. Abu-Mohamed showed off the Hebrew words he knows while he drove me on a tour through the city. My Arabic teacher Haifa taught me a traditional Islamic wedding dance and I showed her the Hora while we dreamed up plans for each of our someday-weddings.

And each of my new besties / habeepties are powerful and inspiring and brilliant. My teacher Haifa was my older-and-wiser role model until I learned her age. So now she is my younger-but-wiser role model. Her patience, energy, and Arab coffee fueled me through seven days of (brilliantly executed) 3-hour classes. The Center’s coordinator Marwa went above and beyond with around-the-clock assurance and support that made me feel welcome, safe, and loved. I am so grateful for these seven days, short but so full, of linguistic exchange and cultural give-and-take. Thank you for having me.

- Ariel Koren beginner Arabic course 12/21-12/29

Talha, 29 came from Canada to learn classical Arabic (MSA) for a month with the EC in order to understand the Koran.

At Tel Aviv I was stopped by security for three hours and interrogated… three hours of stupid questions about my job in Canada, why I came here, if I knew anybody here, how long I’m staying here… It might be a lot harder to answer the questions the next time around now I know so many people here.

After the airport security issues, getting to Hebron was pretty easy. From the airport I got a bus to Jerusalem, where I spent two nights. The bus from Jerusalem dropped me on the Jewish side of Hebron (Khalil) and from there I got a cab to the Centre. My taxi driver also knew where the Centre was on Ein Sara Street, which was really useful since the street is pretty long.

After I arrived at the Centre, I got an orientation presentation which was good, telling me about safety in Israel, things I need to be aware of, some practical advice, and information about local customs.

Since I’m a guy, I don’t have a host family, so after presentation I was shown by Rafat, Centre manager to the EC dormitories. The dorms are about 10 minutes easy walk from the Centre, or 2.5 shekel 2 minute cab ride. Typically in the evenings I eat outside the dorms since food is so cheap if you just want like a falafal sandwich or shawarma. Sometimes though, I go to nicer restaurants, or I’m invited to a home cooked meal with someone from the Centre.

Palestinians are very warm welcoming people and it’s a very closed society, you know, it’s under occupation. They typically don’t get a chance to travel outside of Palestine, so people are really eager to share their experiences and ask about my life in Canada. I’m often told this is the first time that a person is meeting a Pakistani. Our passport says not valid for Israel on it, so that’s not surprising. But people also really open up here, about their lives. They tell you everything you know… the amount of times I’ve heard people say they’d love to own a car but they can’t afford it since cars are so heavily taxed by the Israelis.

One of my neighbours asked me round for coffee, and told his friends I was coming. Before I’d been sitting in his lounge for five minutes, his brother turns up to talk to me, and then some of his neighbours - just like that - that would never happen in Canada. People can really talk here… I guess partly because they don’t have a lot of outside activities to do, they often just sit in the lounge, talk and smoke, and relax.

Times like that were a good opportunity to use Arabic a bit. Fusha, which I’m learning, is also 70% similar to regional dialect (the pronunciation is different, and a few words) so if you have a grasp of Fusha, the transition to spoken dialect is quite easy.

When I started studying with the Centre, I was at Beginner one level and I studied one month for 15 hours per week. At the beginning, I knew how to read - not very well but - moderate level because I’m Muslim.

I felt from the lessons that I could quite quickly begin to start to break down lines from the Koran and understand it. Even after just two weeks I had enough vocabulary to start recognising a few words, here and there.

The lessons were good and pretty varied. We translated small suraah from the Koran, and one lesson we listened to the national anthem, mawtani (my homeland), and translated it.

Another cool thing about my experience here was meeting a lot of foreigners at the Centre. Like I’d never properly met a British person before, but I met a British girl here, as well as people from Denmark, and Norway, and everywhere. It’s rare to have the chance to meet people from all over the world like that.

We did a lot of trips together, both with the Centre and in our own time. The staff here took us to Battir one Friday, which was a very nice hike close to Bethlehem. The landscape is really striking - all arid and rocky - very different to Canada.

After Battir we went to Soussia, which was a rural Bedouin village. Soussia is under threat from occupation and settler expansion. They don’t have access to electricity because they’re forbidden to construct anything, and their wells are often demolished. Also the caves they’d been living in were filled in by the Israeli Government, so they’re living in erected tents. It’s sad, but really important to see how people are living in the face of the occupation.

My favourite trip was without doubt Jerusalem. Being in Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock was a really special feeling as a Muslim. It’s the third holiest site in Islam, so I felt very happy and very privileged to be able to be there and pray there. Jerusalem is a very beautiful place; there’s a lot of history here.

After Friday prayer at the mosque, I went into the Arab quarter, which is so lively with people buying and selling you get totally lost in the crowd. And at the same time as you see people selling like galaxy phones, you feel so much history every it’s like a museum. The ancient walls and cobblestone road, and so many old buildings. Every army that came here has left something behind; the Crusaders, Muslims, Jews, it’s an incredible place.

What’s also amazing is that when you’re in the old city in Jerusalem, you see all of the Abrahamic faiths. The Wall of the Al-Aqsa mosque is also the Western Wall, so when you’re the mosque you can see the Wall like fifty metres away. I felt like all of these religions with a special connection to this place are so close together; we come from the same source. But at the same time, we don’t talk to each other. The Jews and Arabs, but we don’t talk. Christians talk to me more, but politics poisons all of that.

There are so many things to see here in Palestine, and everything is so close by. Twenty minutes from the Centre, and you’re in Bethlehem, forty five, and you’re in Jerusalem. And there’s really local things to do as well, like Battir and Masaba.

The Excellence Center offer great opportunities for those who want to study Arabic. Classes are on a 1-1 basis, with really good and inspiring teacher. Having said that, what really sets the Center apart is the environment. The center provides a very friendly atmosphere where there will be a lot of social activities and trips outside your normal schedule. So not only will you improve you Arabic, you will also learn a lot about the culture and political situation in Hebron and the West bank.

The first thing I noticed about this center is how comfortable it is to be there. Really from the first day it was easy to feel at home. The staff, the students, and community that come by are all relaxed, joke around with eachother, and are welcoming in a genuine and calm way. We eat breakfast all together, people randomly make tea for eachother throughout the day, it really does feel comfortable and easy to be part of this learning family. This makes it easy to learn because it is a comfortable place and a supportive environment to make mistakes in Arabic.

Another wonderful thing about this center is how much it supports the education of people from Hebron. Most of the classes are for Palestinians who want to improve their English. I have a lot of respect for the way this center is truly focused on this mutual learning of both English and Arabic. It is inspiring to know that the infrastructure of the school is not just for the benefit of foreigners who want to learn Arabic, but is also, and maybe primarily, for Palestinians who want to learn English. By coming to this center that is located in Hebron, you participate in witnessing disparities, suffering and resiliency of the occupation in ways specific to Hebron and at the same time, you know that by supporting this center you are supporting an incredibly positive institution in society in Hebron and also in Palestine.

The quality of the teaching in the center is excellent. The teachers regularly get training and refresher training on teaching methods and the center has checked in with me a few different times to be sure the quality of the teaching is what I was looking for. They want to be sure there are no problems, and best of all, the did this in a discrete way so if I had anything to request, I felt I truly could have.

My amazing teacher Rashaa has gone above and beyond in a number of ways in the short time I have been here. She really listened to what topics were important to me and taught in creative and effective ways. For example, I am a nurse, so on the 2nd day I show up to a table full of medical type equipment she gathered from her family so we could learn and practice in 3D! Amazing! She also learned I plan to work in refugee camps in Jordan and she looked up videos about the camps in Arabic so we could practice the relevant vocabulary while looking at images and hearing from people living in the camps. Both of these were very effective ways to learn and I definitely feel like I have learned a lot of Arabic. Her dedication is contagious and motivates me to study more!

Overall, I would 100% recommend coming to this center.

I spent two months volunteering at the Excellence Center teaching English. In addition to teaching English I took six hours of Arabic per week. My teacher was Du’a Qasim. Overall I was satisfied with her teaching methods and what I got out of the lessons. She’s very knowledgeable, communicative, and attentive to concerns. She has a lesson plan set up but she’s open to exploring personal interests her students may have. Moreover, she’s an exceptionally caring individual who is genuine in her goals and committed to her job. The staff at the center also encourage Arabic usage. This is helpful in applying what you learn in the classroom and translating it to everyday experiences. The fact that you’ll be living in a city of over 200,000 people who speak Arabic is just another incentive to learn and improve your language skills.

The center offers three hours of Arabic per week for every volunteer who works at the Excellence Center. However, one can certainly add more hours at a reasonable price. For those coming from the United States, it’s certainly more affordable than anything a university would charge per credit hour. And in my opinion, this is just as effective if not more. I’d encourage volunteers to take additional hours.

The Excellence Center is sanctioned by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and at the end of your volunteer period you will receive a certificate from the Center acknowledging your participation in the teaching aspect and completing the Arabic lessons. Moreover, one can certainly just enroll at the Excellence Center to take Arabic lessons. A few of the individuals I met in summer of 2016 at the Excellence Center attended the Center exclucivly for the Arabic lessons. Again, this a combination of reasonable cost, social environment, and a cadre of capable local teachers who take their profession seriously.

As I mentioned, my teacher was Du’a Qasim, who has been just wonderful in every sense of that word. Extremely helpful and effective as a teacher. I would strongly recommend her as my personal experience dictates as such. The Excellence Center’s staff are capable of working with people from beginner, to novice, to intermediate, to advanced levels. So if you want to learn basic Arabic to more advanced literary and comprehensive understanding of the language, the Center can provide teachers who are capable.

Lastly, the Arabic lessons are a good complementary experience that will certainly help you get around Palestine.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the center. I feel that it has been highly beneficial to my Arabic studies. One would be hard pressed to find a better program to learn Arabic in the land. The teachers are knowledgeable and more that helpful, and the staff is always looking for ways to improve the center to help both current and future learners. If you are wanting to learn Arabic, do yourself a favor and give this center a try.

I enjoyed learning Arabic. My Instructors were great at teaching. On my off time I found travel buddies to site see. I traveled to various cities and Bethlehem is only 45 minutes away via shared taxi. I suggest share taxis for just about everywhere you want to travel in Palestine or Israel. I visited Bethlehem many times and there are so many things to see in the Christian quarter alone. One thing I will miss is the amazing fresh food you can find everywhere. The falafel sandwich and lamb shawarma are my favorite.