Part I is here.

November 12, 2006

Well, I did make it, but I was about 30 minutes late.  I hate that.  The problem was that I couldn't figure out how long it would take me to get there, I asked around at the guesthouse.  One guy and also my guidebook said about 35-40 minutes, and the man who ate breakfast with me today said, oh it's only 5km away, you'll be there in no time. 

The best I can figure out is that there are 2 checkpoints??? and I somehow went to the one that's further away.  No big deal, it was pretty easy, but I'll remember that in case I decide to go again this Tuesday.

After messing with the scarf around my head for what seemed like hours (people advised that I should wear it since Bethlehem is mainly Muslim) and feeling like a total idiot wearing it,  I had to walk over to the Arab bus station (decided to take it afterall since it was so much cheaper and everyone said it was easy to do), over by Damascus Gate, probably about a 20 minute walk from my guesthouse.  It wasn't where I thought it was, further down the road, so I just kept asking "Bethlehem...sherut (Arabic for a "shared" taxi, or a bus I suppose, at any rate people going in the same direction crammed into a bus that held about 16 people, makes traveling cheaper that way, vs. a taxi).  People kept waving me up the road, and one guy helpfully told me it was bus # 21. 

I didn't know quite where to go, but I knew I was in the right area when the roads were suddenly bumper-to-bumper with mini buses.  I saw a bus with "21" on it and rapped on the door; the guy let me on but he was going back to the bus station, not anywhere yet, so when we got to the station, he pointed me to a bus that was ready to leave.

The buses leave whenever they're full.  This one already had too many passengers, so I had to get off that one, and when it pulled away, another bus #21 pulled into place, and I was able to get on.  It cost 5 sheckels, or about $1.25, to go from Jerusalem to the checkpoint near Bethlehem.

Going over wasn't a big deal.  We did stop at an Israeli checkpoint, and everyone had to pass their Palestinian ID cards to the soldier.  I offered my passport but she waved me away.  We had to wait for about 10 minutes while she copied stuff down from the ID cards, don't know what, I guess they're tracking who's going where and how often?  Beats me.  Near the end the busdriver started the engine, and I think he did it on purpose, to get the soldier to hurry up.  He didn't have a pleased expression on his face, so I think he was trying to mess with the soldier.

Anyhow, I wasn't sure where we were going; it was taking longer than the guy this morning had said it would, and longer than the last time I did it in 1999, so I was starting to think we might be going all the way to Hebron.  And I thought - okay, whatever, if I get to Hebron, I'll just get off and find another bus back, I can handle this.  Kind of nervous, must admit!

But we got there.  I had a lot of luck, and there was a Muslim woman, a little younger than me, who was going into Bethlehem also, and she spoke English, so she helped me find a taxi.  She got in it also.  I had the church's name/directions written in Arabic, from the guy at the guesthouse, so that helped.  I was very grateful for her help and thanked her repeatedly.

So the guy took me to the church.  Bethlehem isn't exactly beautiful, very run-down and poor, to be sure.  He was very nice, and we managed to work out that he would return in an hour to pick me up.  It was about 10:30am, church had started at 10am, and I had no idea at all what to tell him, when to pick me up.

The Emmanuel Evangelical Church was located next to the Alexander Hotel (I'm sure that gives everyone a point of reference).  I don't know if there was anything on the first floor, if there was even a first floor to begin with, b/c when I entered I followed the sound of music and singing, which led me immediately downstairs, to a kind of basement room.  There was kind of a room for families/kids too rowdy to sit through the service, and a glass door from that room that entered into the actual service.

Probably about..........50??? people in there, didn't count.  They had a good choir going, guy playing the drums, someone playing the guitar, another person on the violin.  Very Arab music, can't describe it, but I enjoyed it.  Had the words to the songs up on a screen, in Arabic of course.  I sat down near the back, of course, and within a few minutes some guy had handed me some earphones.  By putting them on I could hear the man in the back, translating the sermon into English for me.  I think there was one other person there who wore the headphones also.  Lot's of music, lot's of singing, in between songs the pastor spoke.  Don't know if I missed the main sermon or not.

I had to leave early, around 11:30am, the pastor seemed to be winding down but he was still speaking.  When I walked out the door, the translator seemed sorry that I was leaving, and my taxi driver was there.  Truthfully, I had had enough.  Don't get me wrong, they were very nice and seemed glad I was there.  However, we've all got our limits, how long we can step outside our comfort zone, and my time in that regard was pretty much up.  Definitely time to go back to Jerusalem.  I had done my part, had found the Christian community in Bethlehem, and it was now time for me to go back! 

Going back, the taxi driver was waiting for me and offered to take me to another church service, but like I said, I needed to get out of there.  He showed me a mosque on the way back, could tell because it had a half-moon on top of its roof.  When I got back to where the taxis were, I was able to find another bus #21 going back to Jerusalem, so I got on that.  It was a little more involved, crossing the checkpoint back into Israel this time.

The bus stopped again, and this time everyone had to get off the bus, myself included, to the great annoyance of the woman next to me.  Some things need no translation.  We all had to line up outside the bus, and show the soldiers our ID cards, and in my case, my passport.  They looked at it this time, my photo, and asked me where my visa was.  I flipped to the end of the passport (I'm g2oing to need a new passport after this) and showed him my entry stamp.

And now I'm back.  Changed out of my stupid skirt, don't want to wear THAT again, no more headscarf (I actually took it off at church, since no one else was wearing one, seems only Muslims do that, maybe), had lunch, and here I am.  Don't know if I will go back to the Bethlehem Bible College on Tuesday, although it would be easier this time, since I know how to do it, etc.

November 14, 2006

This almost did not happen.  Last night I had vertigo pretty badly, the room was swimming everytime I sat up in bed and I was pretty nauseous.  I had brought a little of everything I thought I might need in case I got sick, but of course didn't bring anything for this.  Geez.  This morning around 8:20am I had decided NOT to go back, for the meeting at the Bethlehem Bible College, but abruptly changed my mind and decided to go for it.

The woman who was cleaning the rooms today, her brother drives a taxi, and he took me to and from Bethlehem.  This was a different experience with the border guards, since I was the only one in the cab and was obviously a foreigner, they didn't bother with me.  I'm not sure about this part, the explanation, but the the cab driver, George, said his car doesn't/does??? have Israeli license plates, and so we couldn't go the way of everyone else, had to go the way the settlers do.  I've no idea.  Anyhow, it was the longer way like on Sunday, which was fine by me.

The Bethlehem Bible College is pretty small.  Bethlehem seems to be overwhelmingly Muslim, so theirs is a struggling operation, having to be careful/tactful, all that stuff.  I was advised by Jessica, an American volunteering there, to not mention to the Israelis that I had visited the BBC, not because they're doing anything wrong, but just because it's kind of outside the normal range of a tourist and they're suspicious of anything remotely not touristy.  I've no problem with that!  Not interested in getting involved in their politics at all.

I was able to speak with Al for about an hour.  He is a Palestinian Christian who got his BA from the BBC and is now attending some college in Jerusalem to get his MA.  Doesn't want to head up his own church, just be part of one, I guess.  He spoke good English and had been in the US in Detroit and around there, for about 3 months until September of this year.  Really nice guy.  Asked him some questions about Islam (he's never been a Muslim but is surrounded by them and had some good answers to my questions about them), the conflict there, etc.  He was very fair and was quick to say that he does not hate the Israelis, although he does not agree with much they have done.  I kept quiet and just let him talk.  I'll never remember everything he said, rats.

After that I listened in on a presentation by a Palestinian man who is now a US citizen.  He gave, in his words, the Palestinian viewpoint of the conflict, and advised us to get the Israeli side as well, so we would know how to pray for both sides.  Very fair man.  There was a group visiting the college and I was allowed to sit in on the presentation.  Very interesting, lot's of food for thought.  Don't know how much of it I agree with, would have to hear the Israeli side of things, and then probably I still wouldn't have a good opinion.  It's too confusing.

After that I walked for a few hours down to Manger Square, saw the Church of the Nativity, etc.  I could tell the difference from 1999.  Bethlehem is just terribly poor.  People are blaming it on the wall, but I suspect there is more than one reason for that, again kept my mouth shut.  So many shops were closed, and the biggest difference I saw was at the church itself.  There was maybe 2 tours groups there, one outside and one inside down by the spot where Jesus was born.  I walked into the church and didn't see anyone, and I was able to walk downstairs right to where He was born, where the 2nd group already was.  Last time I had to wait in line for seemingly forever.  Very big difference - tourists have definitely cleared out, and you can tell the economy is just dead.  Very sad, but I'm sure there are many reasons for it.  I did see the bullet holes in the Church of the Nativity, from the fight there a few years ago when the militants took shelter there from the IDF, Israeli Defense Force.

Another difference I saw was yesterday.  I made it to the Wailing Well/Western Wall here in Jerusalem.  My bag had to be x-rayed before I could go into the plaza, different from 1999 when they just looked inside it.  The biggest difference was the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa Mosque.  You see the Wall, and then above it is where the Muslims have their place of worship.  As far as I can tell, non-Muslims can no longer go up there, unlike 1999 when I walked around there on my own, checking things out.  They have built a sort of bridge/pathway that starts at the ground and leads upwards to the entrance to the plaza/mosques, right next to the top of the Jews' western wall.  Security is very tight, and I found that sad as well.  I was able to get some good photos of that gold-domed mosque anyway, and it wasn't a big deal to me that I couldn't go up there, since I had seen it before anyway.

I don't know what I would tell people about Israel.  I've been reading the papers, and there was an article in there about trying to get people, particularly in the US, to see Israel as a vacation destination and not a warzone, to combat that perception.  I myself haven't had any problems at all.  No one's bothered me, everything has been good.  While at the wall yesterday, I happened to look up at the sky and saw 2 military helicopters, or so I think they were, flying by, and I've read in the paper that the IDF has been conducting nightly operations in Gaza and parts of the West Bank.  It doesn't touch us here, thankfully.  And I'm sure the Israelis are used to it.  But it's hard to forget it, and you see evidence of it everywhere, even though the soldiers on the streetcorners look bored to tears.

Definitely a different world, to be sure.  I don't think it's DANGEROUS, but just like in 1999, there's always this undercurrent, something right beneath the surface, and that's just always there.

November 15, 2006

I have got such rage in my heart right now, I can't even begin to describe it.  I don't know if all of this is true yet, it always pays to doublecheck your facts, but from the poverty I saw in Bethlehem, I could see it being true.

At lunch I ran into the woman whose brother-in-law took me to Bethlehem yesterday.  She also helps in the kitchen, apparently.  Anyway, she asked me how I liked Bethlehem, I told her that her brother had been very kind to me, and that I had been very saddened by how poor the area had become.

Long story short, she told me this story.  She went to some store to buy a present for a family, maybe it was a birthday present.  She ran into a woman and they got to talking.  The woman's husband had been unemployed for three years (I think this is a common story), and they have a baby.  She hasn't been able to buy powdered milk for her, she has been buying this cheap quality form of juice, you add some water to it and give it to the baby, so the baby will think it's getting something.  So Rima, the woman telling me this story, said she didn't buy the present, she instead gave the money to this woman, who happened to be a Christian.

So I said, well, what about Hamas?  The papers/news are full of stories about how Hamas gives so much charity.  Why are they not helping her?  She wouldn't become rich that way, obviously, but she would at least be able to feed her kids properly.

And her answer is what made my blood boil and put this anger inside of me.  Starting to calm down now.  She said that Hamas is a Muslim organization, obviously, buit they only help Muslims, not Christians.  Hamas does not consider Christians, though Palestinian, to be part of the family, so to speak.  When you go to get your donations, you show some sort of ID card, and Christians cannot have them.  No ID card, no food.  And that just flat out is wrong.

It is a complicated world over here, my friends, very complicated indeed.

November 16, 2006

Hi everyone, the journey back to the USA has started.  Made into Tel Aviv a few hours ago.  In Jerusalem I climbed up That Hill one more time (muttering the whole way, of course, stopped a few times to sit down, I was carrying all my junk with me, could have used Fred or Layne or Chris or Ryan to carry it for me :0)), and found a sherut (shared taxi) to take to Tel Aviv.  20 shekels, about $5.  Before I left the guesthouse, Rima knocked on the door.  She wanted to say goodbye to me - she was the sister-in-law of the Bethlehem taxi driver, the one who told me about Hamas not helping Christians.  She seemed genuinely sorry to see me go, and I will miss her.  Perhaps I will send her a Christmas card, she gave me her address in Jerusalem.  Maybe a friend for future trips?

Anyhow, the sherut dropped me and about 7 other people off at the Tel Aviv bus station.  Been to this sucker before, and baby, it's monstrous.  It has 7 stories, and it's not exactly easy to get around.  Taxi drivers offered me their services, of course, but I thought - I'm in no hurry, I've got nothing planned for Tel Aviv except to walk along the seashore/promenade, so why not at least TRY????  I've got to at least TRY to find the bus.  Before I could go into the station, a guy searched both of my backpacks and then waved a wand over me to make sure I wasn't carrying a nuclear weapon :0).  Standard fare, here.

I did manage to find the right bus, proud to say.  Went to several information places on several different floors - 4 and 6?? Maybe floor 7.  Anyhow, finally found the bus, a lady had written my street, Ben Yehuda, in Hebrew for me.  Showed it to the busdriver, hoping he'd get the point, to help me get off at the right place.  He didn't.  So it's fortunate that I was paying attention.  There are plenty of street signs here in English, Hebrew and Arabic, so you'd have to be a real moron to not see them.  Fortunately (today) I am not a moron.

I found the Sky Hostel, the second stop on Ben Yehuda street in front of the El Al (the airline) building.  Checked into my lovely dorm room - it's clean and that's about all you can say for it, to be sure!  But it's only one night, so I don't much care.  It's got at least 1 other woman it, room for 4 people, girl's-only, thankfully.  Bathroom down the hall, shower down the hall.  Nearly lost my temper, okay, I did lose my temper.  The guy gave me my key for room 17, which of course was up 3 flights of stairs, maybe four, and I finally found room 17, only I couldn't get the blasted door to open.  I was only turning the key once, but you have to turn it several times.  Before I finally figured this out, I had muttered (yelled) several key words and was on the verge of kicking the door down, when it finally popped open.  Thank God, I would've had to buy them a new door, and who knows what those run here in Israel.

So here I am, at Mike's Place, a little slice of the USA across the street from the beach.  Good rock music, friendly people.  Had fish-n-chips, wolfed that down, I was pretty hungry.  Seems a fitting way to end my trip, walking along the promenade.  OH YEAH, they just started playing Bruce Springstein's Dancing in the Dark, one of my favorite songs.  Yeah, a good way to end my trip, I'll probably come back here for dinner.  :0).

About it.  Just relaxing and taking in the view.  Will start part 2 of the return home tomorrow, flying back to London.  I'm sure it will all go well, hopefully won't grilled too badly at the airport.  Memories of 1999 keep haunting me!  However, I'm not a terrorist, so at some point they will understand that and let me on the plane!  See everyone soon.