Arrival (Part 1)

After a sleepless 8 hours of flying time, I made it to London's Heathrow Airport. For those who haven't experienced the joy of landing in LHR, it's huge. Sporting 5 Terminals and hosting over 40 airlines, I had to bolt from my first gate, hope a train, clear UK security and then a bus to find my way to the departing terminal. 


Last year's adventure required transfers through Frankfurt and Munich. I gotta say that two German airports were easier then one British airport. In the German airports everything is clearly marked, not to confusing. Heathrow, not so much. Rant, over.


In retrospect, navigating Heathrow wasn't all that bad. That was the easy part. 


Unbeknownst to me El Al airlines, Israels largest passenger airline company, has it's very own stringent security. After answering the same series of questions, (who I was, what the origin of my last name is, who was my father, why was I going to Israel, did I know anyone in Israel, etc.) by about six different security staff and having my carry-on luggage thoroughly examined, I was finally allowed on the plane to Tel Aviv. JUST in time, I might add. There were a number of times that I thought that my journey might have ended right there at Heathrow and a few times that I thought "man, this is not worth it and I should just transfer my ticket to Europe and then go home." 


But finally I arrived.


After about 16hrs of travel time I stepped out of Ben Gurion International and took my first breaths in Israel and Palestine. I am pretty sure that the Taxi driver who drove me to Neve Shalom/Wahat-al-Salam that I was insane. I spent the dark taxi ride peering out the window, asking all sorts of questions in broken Hebrew about "what's that?!" and "how far to Jerusalem?!" and so on, the anxiety of my transit washed away in excitement and anticipation. I was pretty delirious from sleep deprivation.


I had only seen a few photos of NSWAS from the web after I applied and did research about the internship here. Around 11:55pm and a serious of junctions off the freeway we started up a winding hill, dotted with the lights of few street lamps and houses. After spending a few confused minutes on my phone with the girl running the reception desk of the guest house, I was through the gate and brought to the volunteers compound, which is series of dormitory type rooms attached to a common area with living room and kitchen.


I was introduced to a few of the other folks staying as volunteers. One guy from Germany, another from Hungary and an Israeli girl, who have been here between 2-4 months already. 


After getting my bearings and calling my beloved mother I finally managed to pass out for a few hours.


The next few days are sure to bring many revelations...