From New Jersey all the way to Tel Aviv, we made it! Here in Israel, today’s high was 61, though it feels much colder at Tantur!
We were supposed to leave at four pm EST, but were delayed a bit waiting for some other passengers connecting from another flight. The flight lasted about 10.5 hours. Thankfully it was a pretty decent flight! We had dinner and breakfast on the plane as well as a mid-flight snack (a turkey sandwich?), all of which weren’t as bad as I was expecting! I wasn’t able to sleep because of turbulence, so instead I watched Aladdin and Star Wars IV and V. When we were descending into the Tel Aviv airport, lightning struck the wing of the plane! I jumped in my seat. Nothing bad happened, thankfully, and we landed safely!
Upon arrival, we had to go through passport control before claiming our luggage. This was a new experience for me! It was a quick process, though the woman who checked my passport kept questioning (not in a friendly way) why I was in Israel and what I was planning to do and see! My answers seemed to satisfy her and I got my permit to stay in Israel (and it’s good through the fourth of March even!).
After finally getting through the passport control area, we went to claim our luggage! It was already on the baggage carousel, so we didn’t have to wait for everyone’s bags to be released. While we were waiting for everyone to meet up, I discovered a cat in the airport baggage claim room!
This cat was meowing at everyone it saw. It came up to me and let me pet it! I don’t know why there was a cat inside the airport, but it was the friendliest welcome I’d received in Israel up til then!
After we all got our bags, we met our bus driver who brought us to Tantur Ecumenical Center where we are staying. I was amazed watching the scenery as we drove the fourty-five minutes from Tel Aviv airport to Tantur in Jerusalem. From what I could see as we drove, the buildings are made of stone and are all similar colors. I’m curious to learn more about the architecture and reasoning behind this!
At Tantur, we checked in and got our rooms. They are small, but cozy. Our room shares the bathroom with another room, but no one is there now. I learned that the toilet paper isn’t supposed to be flushed down the toilet, which is a new experience for me! After unpacking some of my essentials, I took a nice, long nap. I didn’t sleep much on the plane ride over here, or last night, so skipping lunch and napping instead was a wise move. I felt much more rested and awake after a three-hour nap!
After my nap, I spent some time wandering the grounds outside. Here I met two more cats! The white and black fluffy one let me pet it. Apparently there are lots and lots of cats in Israel for me to pet and photograph!
From Tantur, there are some amazing views of Jerusalem. Here are some of the photos I took:
At 5:30 pm we had a chapel service with just our group. There are twelve of us students and our professor. I am already enjoying this group a lot! After chapel was dinner. Dinner was delicious! As the only meat choices were fish, I had a veggie and rice dinner, but it was perfect. We also had maize soup!
After dinner, we met again as a group to go over some logistics and talk about what we are hoping to learn about on the trip. I am hoping to hear stories of people who grew up in Israel and Palestine. I’m interested to know what it’s like to live in this area as a child and as an adult.
Tomorrow is our first day of excursions. We will be in Bethlehem! It supposed to be coldish and raining, so that’ll be interesting!
I am going to do my best to update this blog daily during my trip, so stay tuned!
Peace,
Kristy
In This Time of Life 