Refuges for the language-less

If you ever find yourself in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, let me suggest two activities that make you feel utterly part of something that crosses conventions and reaches souls: silent worship, and spinning.

The Ramallah Friends Meeting (newsletter) is housed in a beautiful meeting house on the main street of downtown Ramallah. Eleven Friends or attenders gathered for worship this Sunday. The unprogrammed hour heard hymns and ministry; that Sibelius tune Finlandia, turned into "This is my Song" pulls particularly at the heart here (video)

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

but other hearts in other lands are beating

with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

I met the legendary Jean, who seems to be the Margaret Wentworth of Ramallah Friends, and she led us all to felafel and hummus- a great way to make more (F)riends.

THEN, last night I felt ready for a nap despite my healthy 8 hours, so I decided getting my blood flowing might do me good. I bought a membership to SOLO Gym, and arrived just as a Spinning class was getting under sweaty way. Oh my gosh. So much fun. 

I cannot say for sure which language the instructor was speaking, but it didn't matter, because the music was so loud no one seemed to be counting on the actual instructions. It's fairly basic, in a class where there's only one action. Well, two-- the woman next to me swatted my elbow at one point and pointed to her own legs, which, like everyone else's were peddling backward at that point. I guffawed (another conveniently universal behavior) and slowed and reversed my whirring steed. 

While waiting in the gathered Meeting, and while spinning in a what felt like a throbbing black box theater, barriers with the Palestinians around me fell away, despite my pitiful Arabic vocabulary. The day in my week with the least conversation was also my most integrated. "Let your words be few, my Friends."

The 100 year old piano (really! Jean said!) that no longer works functions "but gives history."