Tel Aviv continued...

I'll be leaving my youth hostel in about half an hour to begin my journey to Ramallah, but thought I'd take this opportunity to write a last post.

I see that I didn't give much information about my experience at Tel Aviv airport. It wasn't so much the amount of time it took, or the bag searching and body frisking (the female guard who conducted this was actually really kind and respectful), it was the interrogation part that irked my spirit. I was made out by the guard who was questioning me to be a liar and potentially a dangerous security risk - kept saying that he needed to establish whether I was going to blow myself up. He asked me over and over why I have come all the way from Australia? Why am I apart of all these 'peace things, like the Peace Cycle and Follow the Women. Kept saying that I can either tell him the truth or he can find it out himself, which would be more unpleasant. At times my hands started shaking (which, as anyone who knows me could tell you, is hardly uncommon for me - I could never be a dentist!), and he seemed to take this as a sign that I was lying or something. He would say 'why are your hands shaking? We are just having a nice conversation.' Really the whole experience made me feel quite dirty, made my skin crawl. Unfortunately at one point I tried to make a joke to lighten the situation, but it had the opposite affect and seemed to make the guard even more angry, since it seemed I wasn't taking this seriously. The guard also went through my entire mobile phone contact list - so my apologies to anyone whose number is listed on my phone- they took down any Middle Eastern numbers. There has to be a law against that, doesn't there? Seems silly to even ask that.

After all that, I was given only a one month visa. That just put the icing on the cake for me. I asked - 'what did I do wrong?' and he said 'Nothing. If you had you wouldn't have been let in.' Great. I had done nothing wrong and yet I was given a visa two months shorter than the standard tourist visa. In fact, the three month tourist visa is so much the standard that they don't seem to have a one month visa stamp - the stamp I have is a three month visa stamp with a hand written 1 placed over it.

That's actually another issue - they stamped my passport, which means no more travel to places such as Lebanon for me! At least until I get a new passport, which won't be for about another 7 years, since mine is fairly new.


Tel Aviv itself is quite lovely. I'd like to come back here when my mind is not so stressed so I can enjoy it. Everytime I see an Israeli official my insides start squirming - hence the fugitive feel. I'll shake it eventually.

Well, I'd best go and check out of this hostel and begin my journey to Ramallah. I hope it's without too much difficulty. It's going to be a tough few months, but hopefully it will get easier as I find my feet. I'm looking forward to classes beginning next week, it will give me something to focus on and the chance to find a place here. Only about four days till then!

All the best to everyone!
Micaela