Still Alive!

Yup, I’m alive and surviving Israel! So far no major bomb scares (a guy was arrested in a bomb in Tel Aviv on the same day that I was visiting there but it is a big city and I am only one person so it’s not a real scare), I have avoided climbing over any big walls that I’ve seen, I looked from a distance at the barbed wire which seperated us from Syria (the security guard who accompanies us on trips refused to let me go any closer) and currently I am perfectly safe as the computer room where I am staying is actually the bomb shelter. And fortunately I am coming home this week. Which means that I should miss the war which is being predicted for this summer…

And how I am looking forward to coming home. I am looking forward to having my own bedroom again, to having a bed with a mattress thicker than 1 inch, to eating meat AND diary at the same time, to being able to take a bus or go shopping on a Friday afternoon or on a Saturday, to being able to go out without people constantly warning me about bomb attacks and to not having classes 6 days a week!

But despite all of this (or maybe because of it all?), Israel has been an facinating experience. The course has made me think and ask lots of questions, the culture has been very different to anything I’ve experienced before, the historic and religious (especially the Galilee) and natural sights (particularly the Negev and the Dead Sea) are amazing and I can definitely agree that it is a complex society. My main regret is that I didn’t get to go to any Palestinian territory and to see enough of Jerusalem (sorry Dutch Pot, didn’t have long enough there to see you!). 

More stories when I get home…

I’m here!

I reached Israel. The journey was hell (they seemed to suspect I was a terrorist and hence was quizzed lots, all luggage throughly checked, swabs taken of shoes and escorted onto plane by security) but otherwise all is good!

I am here for work – it is a training workshop which lasts a month. However, I will ensure that I see the country while I am here… in as safe a way as possible. Unfortunately I can’t download my photos on the computers here so you’ll have to wait until I get back to see them… but there will be lots and I promise that they will be good!

The other good side effect is that there is another course going on at the centre while I am here and it is for Spanish speakers. So I should hopefully return from Israel with some spanish… which will be useful for future adventures!