The first few days

Shalom from Israel! I haven’t been bombed yet, so all is going well. In fact, considering the way the media portrays the country, it’s surprisingly peaceful (if you ignore the crazy drivers.)

I’ve been here for two days. I arrived early morning. The plane landed at not quite 4 am and then we enjoyed a 2-hour train trip to our final destination. It was meant to be an hour and a half but it stopped for some mysterious reason. Not even the security on the train knew what was going on… Vewwy Mystewious.
Some aspects of the country I still cannot get my head around, such as the “Please don’t carry guns” signs scattered hither and thither at locations like the beach or airport. Guns? At the beach? How will I shoot my fish now?

Day one, my guide escorted me immediately to the northern border. We descended in a gondola and walked around enjoying the breeze and natural formations.
I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Instead of boring you with descriptions of the dry, chalky white rock and the spiky military bases and strange, random box-shaped houses, I’ll show you a few pictures. Something the picture doesn’t portray is the incredible humid heat. I think that after a year of Finland, my skin is rejoicing. It’s been around 32 degrees Celsius, but it feels much warmer with the humidity. Still, way way way nicer than the 40+ experienced at the non-airconditioned stop of Budapest airport. Who would think a former soviet block country is hotter than someone who has dromedars? (I haven’t seen any of those yet, by the way, but maybe I’ll get lucky in Jerusalem.)

I also got to meet my partner’s family. A bewildering experience when you’re surrounded by half a dozen happy, loud, friendly unfamiliar faces. But good food, and very fun despite the immense concentration required to stay up to date with conversations held half in a language you don’t understand.

Day two? The beach! Warm, sunny, sandy, clear blue, and oh so salty!

But now I have to run away. We’re going to a restaurant in a couple minutes. Hopefully I’ll have more time to write in a couple days again.

Go in peace (as the exit signs here say).

(Sorry, will upload the photos when I have more time! The blog entry reset itself on me and left me retyping frantically)