My Experience teaching in the West Bank

My name is Michael, I'm from Canada, and I volunteered for two months at The Excellence Center in Hebron. There are many experiences I can talk about in regards to my stay in Palestine; the people, the food, the cities, teaching English and learning Arabic. It is impossible to truly write down every detail, as one has to come here to truly see it for themself.

The cities in Palestine are some of the most beautiful cities in the world. Seeing the wall surrounding Bethlehem, and all the artwork that the palestinian people have painted on it was truly humbling. And visiting all the beautiful museums in Jerusalem, as well as the market and old city. One cannot see all of Jerusalem in a day.

Working at The Excellence Center never felt like work. As a volunteer English teacher, you will have tasks such as teaching classes, teaching one on one, giving oral examinations, or travelling to local villages around Hebron and teaching a bunch of a wonderful, smiling students. In fact, teaching at the local village of Dora was the highlight of my teaching experience in Palestine. The children were eager to learn, easy to laugh, and full of questions and wonder. It was truly a blessing to have been able to meet them. As for Arabic, every one of the Arabic teachers at the Excellence Center are wonderful. They are all filled with warmth and kindness, and they clearly love meeting and teaching people from all over the world.

The best part of Palestine is not the food, or the sweets, or the weather or the history; it is the people. I cannot count how many invites I received from the generous people of Palestine. Offering free food, free coffee, free rides; inviting me into their homes and treating me like family. It was such a wonderful thing to see how much the Palestinian people love foreigners. How much they love giving. And from this mountain of kindness, there are a few who stood even further above the rest. They have touched my heart deeply, and because of this, I will have no choice but to return again, and again; just to see them again.

It was a beautiful and amazing journey, to have known Palestine the way I have. You must come to Palestine. There is nowhere else that compares.