Map of the world...

Monday, February 19, 2007

Jerusalem to Nablus!

Hello everyone. I wanted to wait to write in my journal after I knew how many fo you were interested, and then our internet did not work yesterday. Sorry.
Well here are a few stories from my fist couple of days in Palestine.
N and M and the driver (Mustafa) picked me up from the airport about 3am. I had not problem at passport control. They asked me how long I will be staying in Israel and how I knew my friend in Jerusalem. Of course you don't say you are going to Nablus since it's a Palestinian territory. I went over to baggage claim and one of my suitcases came with the first few suitcases and my second one soon after. I had no problem with customs.
I waited a few minutes outside till N and M arrived. They said they had a few problems at the check point because the driver was an Arab Israeli.
We got in our Toyota SUV and headed to the hotel in Jerusalem. No one was on the roads and it was dark. We went through 2 check points and after 45 minutes we were at the hotel.
I was so glad to get a shower. After traveling for 2 days I don't think many people wanted to be around me.
We all had to sleep in the same bed since it was a small room with one bed. We tried to sleep but it was cold and after 20 minutes (thinking it had been 2 hours) we were awaken by the Muslim prayer. We tried again to sleep and I think we all had a not so good sleep of 2 hours. N and I went down to have breakfast. Real good fruit (persimmon), bread, cheese, and tea.
Our driver was there at 7:45 am and we were on our way to Nablus. We drove through hilly and white rock sights. Houses built on and in rock and in valleys. I never seen so much white.
After 30 minutes, we were at the check point to Nablus. We couldn't drive through (too many Israelites with guns) so we walked with everyone else through chain link fence with barbwire on top. Some drunk or stoned man with a wagon took our luggage through the check point. There was a driver waiting for us at the other side, who drove us to the school, and N and I to the house to put our stuff away.
We came back to the school and I got to meet some that work there. I also met some students. At lunch, we walked to the store across the street to get some pita and falafel and some unknown salad. I never had so many people stare at me (well maybe in Africa), but it felt different.
The food was real good, but a little dry. At about 2:30pm we went home and we didn't have much food so we ate some small frozen pizzas and watched Veronica Mars. It was so so cold.

Well that's it for now I will write about my first night here tomorrow, as it is time to go home soon.
Thanks for your interest in my adventure.

No comments: