Date: 27th April at 6.00 pm (Spanish time)
Venue: Your house, delivered using Zoom
Bombs and Bougainvillea
Linda Decker will talk to us about her posting as an expat to Jerusalem. After living for eight wonderful years in Jordan, over ten years in the Arab world and two decades in Muslim countries in the Far and Middle East, in 2010 Linda and her family were relocated from Amman in Jordan to Jerusalem, a journey of only 80 kilometres.
This family was used to living overseas but, for the first time in two decades of being a global nomad, Linda felt alien in her new host country.
She was shocked by the level of security and the difficulties of travelling in and out of the West Bank through the barrier wall between Israel and Palestine.
Linda had the opportunity to meet and get to know Israelis and Arabs, Jerusalemites and Ramallahns, and to enjoy their food, celebrations, culture and ways of life.
She learnt about all sorts of Jews, the holidays, the matchmakers and the kaleidoscope of people, nationalities and beliefs, all of which make up modern-day Israel.
The family explored both Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories, making friends, learning more about the people and their beliefs as they travelled around the region and engaged with local communities.
At a time when the Israelis and Palestinians live in parallel, with virtually no opportunity to experience how the other half lives, it’s worth taking time to discover what day-to-day life is like for ordinary Israelis and Palestinians, and exploring the nation of Israel beyond the political rhetoric.
Linda’s award winning travel memoir is a personal account of life lived and observed both in Israel and in Palestine. It is anecdotal and not an academic or historical account. Linda will share with us how her memoir came about, some stories highlighting some of the challenges of living in the region and will read extracts from her book.
If so, on the day before the lecture you will be sent an email with a link for this lecture.
If not:ZOOM
This lecture will be delivered direct to your living room, live and online using Zoom.
If you are new to Zoom, we recommend you read the guides we have prepared. Click on the lectures button on the main navigation bar, and choose the guide relevant to you.
These are the basics:
a) We will continue to send a Newsletter about the next lecture a few days before the lecture is scheduled.
b) The day before the lecture we will send those on our mailing list a personalised link to the lecture. Members are able to click on the link to go straight to the lecture. The link for non-members will take them to a 'pay page' first.
c) Members have free access to the lectures (as before). Non-members will have to pay €10 (also as before)
d) Payment has to be made online using our new payment processor, Stripe. Credit cards, debit cards, Google Pay and Apple Pay are all accepted. Once payment has been received, an email will be sent automatically; this zoomTicket email will contain the link to the lecture.
e) We recommend you click on the link about 10-15 minutes before the lecture is due to start.
f) The Zoom app. You will need to install (only once) the Zoom app. You can do this as you join your first lecture, but during trials, some members found it rather confusing. We recommend that you install the app now; we have produced step-by-step guides for the major devices/operating systems. Note - you do not need to have a zoom account.
g) Copyright restrictions mean we cannot record this lecture.