After spending an exhausting day at Petra on Wednesday - we busted our asses to see almost everything that place has to offer - and accidentally sleeping until 11am the next day, we hustled down to the border crossing. The border was surprisingly easier than usual, and we got through in 5 hours.
The first night in Ramallah, I was able to see my apartment and get the keys. Yesterday morning we moved all of my stuff in and walked all over town to collect things to make the place a little more like home. My apartment is in the basement of a five-story building, so the view is not exactly stunning and it's pretty cold at night, but there's satellite television and basically everything that a person needs to be comfortable. There's a cute garden area just outside my window, but the door that exits to it from the stairwell looks like someone detonated a brick of C4 in the door handle. Tim bought a crowbar to try to pry it open, but I think it's going to require someone with a plasma cutter to get that thing open. The trek by foot into the city center is pretty long, but the route is beautiful, and since I'm not going to be running while I'm here, the hike up and down hill should offset my intake of hummus and Nescafe 3-in-1.
The original plan for today was to visit Bethlehem, but there were no buses running there today although there was a bus waiting to go to Jerusalem so we got on it. We stayed for a few hours, wandered the Old City, and enjoyed falafel sandwiches and the Grade-A people watching that is Christians on a Holy Land tour. Tomorrow we will try Bethlehem again.
Sunday begins the transition from vacation to business. I think it is going to be a challenge to be here on my own, but I have no doubt that it will be a positive experience for me and my career.
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