Day 1: Travel

Cramped up on the plane now, huddled over a dim screen.  Intermittent deep nasal outbursts and infant screams disturb the white noise of the triple-seven jet cutting through the thin 35,000 ft air at 600 mph.  Ahh, this is transatlantic travel.  As the brayton driven engines carry us onward my body clock is more stunned, not sure whether I should submit to the overwhelming weight of my heavy eyelids or press onward with an Abbey novel to Coleman Hawkins.  Another pull of bottled water and a refreshing rush of cool dampens my depths.

Tomorrow (maybe today now, depending on what time-zone we happen to currently be in) we will collide head on with oncoming daylight somewhere in the Atlantic on our sweeping great circle route to the East end of the Mediterranean.  So far, if the flight is any indication of what we will find in Tel Aviv, we will enter a county not all that dissimilar to our own.  This morning I left the peaceful confines of rural Northern Colorado to enter a region divided by an ancient conflict that is fired by deep passion passed from generation-to-generation.

Expectations:  As of now I see very few striking differences, but I'm still several thousand miles away from the destination.  I am already a bit cautious during all conversation.  I have a sense that for the next eight days I will need to have a careful respect for my "audience".  At the same time I am excited to probe into a society that superficially may not be all that different from American society, aside from the rich abundance of ancient religious sites, but under the surface is focused on much deeper problems than paying the monthly credit card statement.  I hope to respectively and cautiously dig into this sublayer and get a first hand taste of the general sentiment.  In a couple of days we will enter a different world than the thriving Israeli society.  Crossing the checkpoint to Palestine will add a new flavor to the experience.  A massive separation wall, border guards, bulldozers demolishing homes, and armed gunman in the streets.   However, if my research proves correct, peering beyond the images that we see on CNN will reveal a renaissance seedling sprouting from within the city ruins.  Humanitarian organizations (mostly from Europe) have set up camp and recruited brave volunteers to give some aid to the Palestinians, under the close watch of Israeli soldiers.  International observers follow peaceful protestors to the border checkpoints to document international humanitarian violations.  There is activity in this neglected area.  That is our purpose.  Lend a helping hand to those in need, be it Jew or Muslim, Palestinian or Israeli.  Hopefully it's as simple as that.

Signing out.  DJS