First Day!

First day in Israel and Palestine! 23rd September, 2013.

Left Luton this morning feeling excited and wanting to get to Israel after six months of preparing and waiting! The five hour EasyJet flight was fine, though not the most comfortable and after a crew member fell ill when we finally arrived we all just wanted to get off the plane. Immigration was much easier than I had expected - for most of us - two members of our group were interrogated in back rooms for about 2 hours about their parents and what they were doing in Israel. None of us were aloud to say we were coming to Palestine - I'm not sure what would've happened, but it would most likely have caused problems.

We drove straight to Ramallah from Tel Aviv so didnt see very much - and I'm writing this from the Sharek Youth Forum, which is where I'll be working and sleeping - no morning commute for me! There is a poster on the wall of women playing football, and the symbol of the Swiss Development Organization, which seemed to fit quite perfectly.

The drive was much shorter than I had imagined and we didn't seem to pass any checkpoints - though there was a sign that warned Israeli citizens from entering the area as it could be dangerous for them. There was also a fence separating Israel from Palestine, we haven't seen the wall yet. The few people we have met seem lovely, and when we arrived we were promptly given falafel in pitta bread.  Were heading off to Jerusalem tomorrow so hopefully there should be some good photos I can post!