A short history of W.

W. is a friend of mine who has lived in the village for 4 years now. He is originally from the Tulkarem area and provides an interesting snapshot of the population dynamics here in Palestine, and particularly the Ramallah area at the moment. After a period in catering college in Amman, W. came here with his brother who was attending the University of Birzeit. His brother is now working for Jawal and another brother now lives here and studies at the university.

When I first met W. he was working as a chef in a restaurant owned by a local man who had many years of experience in this line of work. The restaurant subsequently shut due to financial issues and W. worked on some building sites, then as a gardener in Ramallah, then as a waiter in Al Beirah. I returned to find him now the owner of a restaurant in the village once again, which he says is doing ok at the moment. He married a woman from a nearby village in May, and his wife is now four months pregnant with a girl. He told me prior to finding out the gender that (unlike many men) he would like a girl, but didn’t know why. He intended to call her Amani, which he tells me means ‘dreams’.

I frequently see him and his assistant sitting outside or just inside the entrance to the restaurant, which gave me the impression business was not good. However, when I went there for coffee, they both sat with me there despite the fact they had customers inside (albeit a pair of university couples who probably didn’t want to be disturbed). The restaurant opens sometime during the morning, and seems to stay open until late at night. W. says his wife isn’t happy about this, but it’s a new business so what can he do. When I asked him if his wife works, he says she stays at home. He claims they don’t need the income – a claim that makes little sense here, especially when you’re renting a house and have a baby on the way – and then perhaps more revealingly says he doesn’t want his wife to work and looking after an infant will be work enough.

Despite not growing up here, he knows many of the villagers, which he puts down to working in restaurants where they would be customers, and also working on building sites around town. (Building sites being places to build social relations as much as houses). He tells his assistant he has known me for five years (even though it’s only been two) and that I’m a good man. He also wouldn’t let me pay for my drink.