I have arrived!

I arrived in Israel late Monday afternoon, and was picked up at the airport by Rev. Kristen Brown. She heads up the Methodist Liaison office here, and will therefore be my primary contact and lifeline. However, she just left today for a conference in the U.S. where she will be for the next two weeks...

So, I am kind of on my own. But only kind of. Yesterday was a whirlwind day of getting settled in and meeting various people as she tried to impart enough information to me to last until she gets back.

I was taken through a few areas of both Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Basically just enough so that I can find my way back there on my own (in theory). I took today as a rest/unpacking day at my apartment, but plan to do some serious exploring Thursday and Friday. Thursday I will spend all day exploring Jerusalem, and then Friday will be spent doing the same in Bethlehem. Mostly I'm wanting to get my bearings: find the nearest grocery store, figure out the public transportation system, navigate through the checkpoint on my own. I'll let you know how it goes!

I thought people might be curious about my living arrangements here, and so recorded a video you can play below. I am sub-letting an apartment in Jerusalem. Another U.S. missionary lives here 6 months out of the year and has been coming here for several years. She will return to Israel in October, but, until then, I'm staying in her apartment. So, it is home for now:

Besides that, I am still getting adjusted to the different time zone (it is 8 hours ahead here), as well as getting used to hearing Arabic and Hebrew spoken all around me and written on signs, groceries, etc. My one year of Modern Hebrew has come in handy when trying to read signs, though I haven't had a chance to really try speaking it to anyone yet. Hopefully tomorrow in Jerusalem I will get the chance to. Now, whether I'm actually brave enough to when the time comes...well, we shall see.

I don't know any Arabic yet, but may get the opportunity to learn at least a little bit of it here soon, which will be very useful. Right now it just looks like squiggly marks in cursive. Which isn't super helpful when trying to shop for food.

I'm about to venture out and explore my neighborhood a little bit this evening. Try to find a restaurant to eat at. I'll be posting more on here soon, though. Feel free to leave questions in the comments if you want to hear more about something!