Abby's Preschool

Up the hill and around the corner about 1/4 mile is the Augusta Victoria Hospital, a Lutheran World Federation organization that works in conjunction with the UN to provide health care to Palestinians. On their grounds they also have a guest house, cafe, various other offices, a playground, and--lo and behold--a preschool! We got Abby enrolled last Monday and she LOVES it. Joe and I hung around most of the morning the first couple days, but now I can just drop her off. She wakes up every morning so excited to go to school like the big kids.

The preschool itself is run by Palestinians, and they speak Arabic, English and German. Many of the kids, however, speak none of those: at least half speak something else, like Greek or French or Czech. In fact, there is only one other child that speaks English, and she's actually bilingual English and Dutch.

Truth be told, Al-Mahaba Kindergarten is much more a play-school than a preschool, but its a perfect fit for Abby. Since she can go as much as 5 1/2 hours a day here, it's going to be a hard adjustment to go back home to Utah where she'll only be in preschool for 2 1/2 hours, 3 days a week.

The bike room

Oh no! Hit and Run! I've got to get out of here before the cops show up!