my trip to Israel - part 1

Many of you have heard all about my trip already, but for the adoring masses who aren't fortunate enough to be members of my family or have talked on AIM with me recently, I decided to throw you a bone ;). There is way too much to tell or explain, but I'll do my best in the limited time that I have (I don't actually have limited time but I'm too lazy to type for like three hours or whatever ;).

This was without any doubt the most insane trip I've ever undertaken in my entire life. A lot of that is because I did it totally alone and only had three and a half days to get across Jordan, into Israel, see things, and get out again, but a lot of it also has to do with the unique situation in the region. The history of wars between Israel and its neighbors and the security and social situation that arises from that history make travel a lot more difficult.

I left on Friday night from Beirut and returned to Beirut on Tuesday night. On Friday night I stayed in Amman, which is about an hour's drive from Queen Alia airport in Jordan - most of the civil structures I encountered in Jordan are named after one member or another of the Jordanian royal family, which personally I consider to be disgustingly arrogant, and also pretty pathetic because they're not even nice structures. Then again, my judgement is clouded by the fact that I really don't like monarchies. I literally only stayed in Amman for the night at a poor hotel called the Dove Hotel, part of the Best Western chain, which despite being in an embassy location doesn't even have water pressure. The next morning I left for the Israeli border. I had to pay about $35 to get to the hotel and another $30 to get to the border the next day, not to mention the hotel... it was expensive!

At the borders I managed to convince the Jordanians not to stamp my passport, and then crossed to the Israeli border. When I got off the bus that shuttled us between the two borders, I saw a big sign that said "Welcome to Israel!" and thought that it would be a great photo opportunity, so I took a photo of it. Big mistake! Next thing I knew a security officer came up to me and asked to see my passport, and then took me inside for "special treatment," which meant a rough pat-down search, extensive searching of all my belongings and about 15 minutes of interrogation. After I got through security, I had to get through immigration, which was even more difficult - they were very skeptical of the fact that I was traveling to Israel without any set plans, and that I had Syrian and Lebanese stamps in my passport, and so they took my number in the States and also the number of a friend of a friend in Israel, and ran a background check on me that took at least two and a half hours. I wanted to tell them, "Let me through, I'm an American and we own your freaking country!!" But I don't think they would have cared. It's amazing how suspiciously the Israelis treat Americans, though I guess it's true that terrorists could pose as Americans. There was another American family there that got held up for a few hours too... though the problem there was that the mother of the family was born in Palestine.

Once I got out, I was out of money because I had assumed that transportation would be a lot cheaper than it actually was. This sleazy taxi driver wanted $100 to take me to Jerusalem, and I declined, so he gave me a "deal" for $10 to drop me off at a bus stop on his way to taking somebody else somewhere else (I hate all Jordanian and Israeli taxi drivers, they try to rip you off as much as possible). By this point I hadn't eaten in about 24 hours, because I assumed that the borders would be a lot more porous and that I could eat brunch in Jerusalem (it was now about 4:30!). So I had no money and was starving, and to top it all off it was the middle of the day on Saturday, which is the Jewish Sabbath, so the entire town I was in was totally deserted. I saw a McDonalds and almost wept with joy, but it too was closed. This town was near the West Bank, so not only was I in a desolate location but also a pretty inhospitable one.

Anyway I stood at the bus stop for a while waiting for the bus to Jerusalem to come, unaware that the cost was more money than I actually had in my wallet. A bus came, but it wasn't the right one for me, and after it left I was one of only two people there. I asked the other guy if he was going to Jerusalem as well and he said he was, and then asked me if I wanted to get some coffee. I asked him how much the ticket was and he told me, so now I knew that I didn't have enough money. So, I ***called my parents in America from my cell phone*** (!) and made sure they had put some more money in my checking account, which they had. So, now I could get some food and get on the bus to Jerusalem, after I found an ATM! Too bad there weren't any of those around...

It turns out that when the guy asked me if I wanted to get some coffee, he meant at his house in the town! Next thing I know his brother shows up and we all get in the car, and after going to the ATM we arrive at his house. This place, only about 10 miles from the West Bank, was like an idyllic 1950's American suburb, only richer (see picture to follow). I felt really awkward while we were there, because I literally had only met this guy 5 minutes ago, and here I was at his house! To top that, after he gave me some coffee he prepared a meal for me, which I wolfed down, hungry as I was. I met his parents and got to hear about about his perspective as a Yemeni Jew now living in Israel. Supposedly they're the most right-wing kind, but they didn't really give off that vibe.

To make a long story short, after that we got in the bus, which left two hours later (at 7) and went to his place in Jerusalem, because he had invited me to stay the night. It was a pretty cool experience and I got to meet some of his fellow students at the music school in Jerusalem. This guy was a musical genius and was about to go to Berkeley, but he was in a bad car crash in Texas and lost a lot of his skill, so since then he was trying to gain it back in Jerusalem. Anyway after hanging out with them for a few hours I went out for a night on the town, and came back to his place at about 2 or 3 in the morning. What sucks is, I had to get up at about 8 in the morning because he had to go to class and I needed to leave before then! But it was good to have a place to stay for the first night.

Got to go for now but I'll post some more narrative and some photos in a bit.