Leaving the G happy in September
That's an attempted AFL pun (for those non-sports fans who are scratching their head at my little joke in the title). I've come back to the West Bank today. Shez is staying in Gaza until Friday so she can complete the training course she is coordinating.
I came back through the checkpoint in a total of 45 minutes today. That includes Gaza passport, the 500m no-mans land walk, the numerous doors and gates, the bag x-ray and the superman x-ray, the manual bag check and the Israeli passport control. (It really does help when you don't have a Sudanese stamp in your passport)... Then I waited 45 minutes for Ayed, my taxi driver! Oh well, you can't seem to win.
I'm a bit sad to be leaving - mainly because Shez is staying behind, but also because I really enjoyed my time in the G. The people we met were very friendly and treated us like family. It's nice to be back in a more liberal setting though. I was getting over the daily fasting thing, and am currently enjoying a pizza and beer in an Italian cafe near our apartment in Ramallah. Ramadan finishes this Sunday or Monday (the exact date depends on the moon) with the Eid ul-Fitr, or the breaking of the fast festival. It lasts for a few days and involves a lot of eating and visiting families. I'd celebrate for a week if I'd been fasting for a month! Anyway, the holidays happen to fall about when we are supposed to be going to London via Jordan, so we are hoping that it wont cause too many problems in terms of getting across the boarder and getting taxis etc.
I'm meeting up with Ayed again tomorrow morning. He's going to give me a tour of Jerusalem. Ayed grew up in the Old City, and is a taxi driver, so I think he will give me a good look around. His family are the caretakers in a christian church in the old city. There are a couple of churches in the old city that are maintained by Muslim families. Apparently to keep the different Christian sects from fighting each other. I have to go now and study the guide book so I know what I'm in for tomorrow.
I came back through the checkpoint in a total of 45 minutes today. That includes Gaza passport, the 500m no-mans land walk, the numerous doors and gates, the bag x-ray and the superman x-ray, the manual bag check and the Israeli passport control. (It really does help when you don't have a Sudanese stamp in your passport)... Then I waited 45 minutes for Ayed, my taxi driver! Oh well, you can't seem to win.
I'm a bit sad to be leaving - mainly because Shez is staying behind, but also because I really enjoyed my time in the G. The people we met were very friendly and treated us like family. It's nice to be back in a more liberal setting though. I was getting over the daily fasting thing, and am currently enjoying a pizza and beer in an Italian cafe near our apartment in Ramallah. Ramadan finishes this Sunday or Monday (the exact date depends on the moon) with the Eid ul-Fitr, or the breaking of the fast festival. It lasts for a few days and involves a lot of eating and visiting families. I'd celebrate for a week if I'd been fasting for a month! Anyway, the holidays happen to fall about when we are supposed to be going to London via Jordan, so we are hoping that it wont cause too many problems in terms of getting across the boarder and getting taxis etc.
I'm meeting up with Ayed again tomorrow morning. He's going to give me a tour of Jerusalem. Ayed grew up in the Old City, and is a taxi driver, so I think he will give me a good look around. His family are the caretakers in a christian church in the old city. There are a couple of churches in the old city that are maintained by Muslim families. Apparently to keep the different Christian sects from fighting each other. I have to go now and study the guide book so I know what I'm in for tomorrow.