Put it in my (Mossad) file

Hey all - sorry for the delay - slow, slow internet connection! Meanwhile, on with the story...

Oh, more fun at Ben Gurion Airport. I hope my father and both grandfathers don’t mind that they’re now on file with the Israeli authorities... I was, frankly, a little insulted that they didn’t want to know who my mother and grandmothers were. In the course of my interrogation, I wound up having to explain the US government proposal process, which is complex enough that I run a 2-day training on it. Then try articulating that complexity to people who don’t really speak English, and it takes a good 45 minutes. I, apparently, am lucky, though, as one of our other staff was in there for 6 hours. Eugh.

We took the longest “shortcut” back to Ramallah from the airport – it’s a back way past some settlements, which means you don’t have to go through a checkpoint. Keep the settlers happy, I suppose. It strikes me as quite ironic that, after being detained in the airport and driving half an hour out of the way to avoid the Wall, you can cross the border without so much as winking at any security. That’s what I call consistency.

Ramallah is the same as always, but more tense, and with more traffic lights (I’ve counted five so far, up from one last time). It’s Ramadan right now, which means that the work day is shortened, and there aren’t a whole lot of restaurants and things open. We went out last night, to a place called Stones, which wasn’t our usual haunt last time, but I liked it. Good mint lemonade, lots of multilingual conversation (you’d be surprised how often I wind up speaking French), and the sweet shisha smell.

Tonight is a dance performance, followed by more going out, and although I’m working tomorrow even though it’s “Saturday,” I’m sticking around the apartment, and I’ll be able to shake off my jet lag.