I’m writing this from the YWCA in East Jerusalem. I made it to Israel, and it was definitely a full day.
I left Dahab at 10.30am and met a pastor from Kent (UK) who was going to Israel to study Biblical Hebrew for 6 weeks. We had good conversations and then our bus finally arrived in Taba (the Egyptian side of the border). We made it through Egyptians customs and then started to head through Israeli customs. It was no problem. I think it was good for the organization to get us pretty psyched about it, so that we would be prepared, but it went very smoothly. Although, apparently (and I still don’t know if this is really true or not) they only give 1 month visas from Eilat (the Israeli border I went through) and so apparently I have to figure out how to get to the Ministry of the Interior to try and find a way to extend my visa to 10 weeks. That should make for some interesting stories…
As I got to the Israeli side and got my shekels, I ran into a few young students who I hopped into a taxi with, to the Eilat bus station. Eve (an American who has been living in Jerusalem and all over Israel for the past year with a Jewish young adult volunteer program), Jesse (who was an Israeli who lives in Tel Aviv) and another Jesse (also an Israeli) who was just getting back from a vacation and was going to start in the Israeli Army in the next few days. It was fun to have conversations with them, as we ate our lunch in Eilat. They were asking what my purpose was for coming to Israel, and…I told them for vacation and to see the Holy Sites. I think my story held up pretty good, but it was hard because I wanted to share with them what I was really doing.
We talked some about “the occupation†and the two Jesses apparently have very different thoughts about the future disengagement that Ariel Sharon has decided is going to happen. The Jesse who was going into the Israeli Army thought that they should give the land back to the Palestinians, but he had a pretty nuanced idea of what that might look – or what the purpose of that may be. I talked with Eve some more about it on the bus from Eilat to Jerusalem, and it was then that I realized that August is going to be a very interesting(?) time to be in Israel. The disengagement is supposed to begin sometime in August, and who knows how the settlers will react to it. The disengagement is a plan that Sharon has decided needs to happen, and it calls for the settlers to leave some of the land in the Gaza Strip, but many of them have been there for over 30 years, building homes and lives on that land, and so they, obviously, do not want to leave. Eve said it’s possible that it could go off without any problem. Which is true, but it seems unlikely that there would be no resistance from the settlers. Who knows. A lot can happen between now and August. And…if the Israel government doesn’t want me here any longer than my 1 month visa allows at this point, who knows – maybe I won’t be here in August…but I’m sure I’ll get that worked out.
As we waited for the bus in Eilat, it was a shock to see young, 18-20yr old Israeli girls walking around with machine guns.
Yah. That will take some getting used to.
I sat next to Eve on the busride to Jerusalem and she filled me in on some basics of Judaism (Reformed, Conservative and Orthodox (including Hasidism)), and taught me some good “Welcome to Jerusalem†information. I also met an Israeli from New York, and a guy from San Mateo, CA, Jamie. Jamie and I had a quick but intense conversation about religion. He is a very cool guy, who started this business, Bentley Capital, with his best friend from 1st grade. Bentley Capital’s tagline is “The Holistic Approach to Personal Finance†– it sounds like he’s doing some really intriguing stuff with finances, so be sure to check out his site.
Once finally into Jerusalem, I called the hostel, the YWCA, and they said they did not have my name, and thus, no room. Luckily, when we were in Eilat, I had checked my email and gotten an emergency contact phone number for someone with the organization that I was supposed to contact if I had any problems. Eve let me borrow her cell phone, and again, it felt weird because I was calling the YWCA and asking about my program’s name and it all felt a bit “sneaky†to borrow her phone like that. I’m going to email her later and apologize for not being really honest with her about what I’m up to here in Israel for the summer, but I think it was best just for safety reasons for the time being.
But she was great and let me use her cell phone to make calls, and then I got in a taxi, and we drove through a very Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, which was fun to see everyone out and walking back to their homes. Then we arrived at the YWCA and after quite a hassle, I got in and got a shower (first one since this past Monday morning…) and walked to a little supermarket to get my first shwarma sandwich in Israel. We might head to Bethlehem tomorrow – it depends on what the organization figures out. Until then…