Well, I've made it. The flights went amazingly smoothly given a couple of tight transfers. In fact, I think I waited longer for the driver to pick me up from Tel Aviv than I did for any planes. Well, not true really, but it felt like it after all that time in the air.
I had a good chat with the taxi driver on the 40min trip to Ramallah. He was happy to fill me in on life as a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem and pointed out numerous Israeli settlements on our trip through the West Bank. I think it will take a little longer to understand the go of things here. I don't think I was at my mental best after the flight!
We finally arrived at Shez's office (see pic). It's great to see her again! Shez was the only one in the office, so I haven't met her colleagues yet. It was only a short walk (about 50m) up to her apartment for a very highly anticipated sleep! I reemerged for lunch at a local kebab shop before crashing again for a few more hours!
Things are getting bad when your own mother comes out with comments like that. But alas, it's true. Anyway, despite the dishing, I had fun celebrating my birthday with Shez and a bunch of her friends. Shez spoilt me and gave me some Palestinian glassware and baked me a cake (both pictured). Yes, they're tea lights on the top! Gotta make do with what you've got.