How is living in Hebron for two weeks

My name is Marta and I’m from Spain. I studied journalism in the university and currently I’m doing some freelancer work for some Spanish media. What I like the most is to write about social topics, which gives me the opportunity to go deeper in issues I’m interested on and to be able to understand better how the world works.
I came to Palestine just to experience myself how is the daily life here, coexisting with the eternal Israel and Palestine conflict. Here, in the Excellence Center of Hebron, I’m doing an intensive Arabic course and living with a host family. The best way to learn a language is always being forced to use it, to listen and practise it, for this reason, the combination of intensive course with the host family is probably one of the best ways of learning Arabic. I’m quite happy for all I learn in just two weeks and how I improve in communication skills and understanding.
A part from the lessons, the Center organizes almost daily different activities for volunteers and students, whose give to option to learn further more than the lessons themselves. Also it’s a meeting and socialization space, where everybody is very receptive to meet new people and understand and respect others, so students as stuff from the Center. This creates a healthy work environment, made of dozens of people coming from everywhere in the world and local Palestinian stuff and Palestinian children and teenager students who learn English on the Center from volunteers.
Among all this activities, in my case, I’ve participated in visiting the two main factories in Hebron: the Kufiye factory and the glass factory, and also in one of the human rights meetings the Center also organizes. I’ve also been to the hikes some members programme almost weekly to the natural sites of Palestine. But during my time here I also get some time to visit Bethlehem and Jerusalem, two quite important, historical and remarkable places in the world. Obviously, during my free time, I’ve found some time to visit Hebron, with its beautiful but also sad historical centre. Living with a local Palestinian family gives me the perspective on how locals life their lives despite the checkpoints, the restrictions and the tense atmosphere. Even this tough situation, Palestine and also Hebron are save cities to move around. Probably the most dangerous thing here is the traffic.
Staying with the Excellence Center in Hebron has been a completely recommendable experience to practise Arabic, to learn the way of living of an Arabic family in a complex and complicated political, legal and unfair situation.

Thank you to my teacher and to my host family to make me feel like at home :D