The Trip

After a long plane ride, I finally made it to Israel. I left the U.S. from Washington, D.C., aboard Alitalia at 5:30 on Sunday night, and got into Israel on Monday afternoon at 3:30 (I lost 7 hours in the transition.) The flights were pretty nice- with Italian food and all. On the flight to Milan I sat next to a nice Ethiopan fellow named Larry who was on his way to Bombay, and on the way to Tel Aviv I sat next to an Israeli pilot for Delta who was incredibly upset she didn't get a kosher meal on the flight. Oh well, life is tough.

I had an interesting time getting to Jerusalem from the airport, which is in Tel Aviv. I took a sherut, a taxi van that packs as many people as possible. We drove around Jerusalem for a while, giving me a good idea of the city at night (including several Orthodox neigborhoods). It was great to finally be in Israel.

I got to Hebrew University and, after managing to find the fellow with the key to my room among a maze of buildings, made it too my dorm room. I would call it Spartan at best, and prison-like at worst. It made me realize how spoiled I was back in the States with my comfy townhouse- it's gonna take a lot of work to make my dorm room comfy.

Yesterday I got a note saying I had moved into the girl's dorm and needed to move to another level. Luckily, when I had taken a shower and visited the bathroom, I had seen no ladies. Today I moved into my permament residence with my roomate David, a Jewish fellow from New York.

I'm a minority here. It's interesting.

Cats roam the streets. I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore.

Well, I'd better get going. I'll keep you updated as things come along. I appreciate your prayers as I look for a church and some Christian fellowship. Still, I'm REALLY excited to be here- Jerusalemis beautiful. Tommorrow I go to the Old City, where I hope to see a church perhaps. Shalom v Layla Tov. Yours truly, Jason.