Jetlagged, I felt very groggy getting up, but we had a nice breakfast at our Paris hotel and left by 7:30AM to go to the Charles DeGaulle Airport. We walked about 12 blocks to the train station, Gare d Nord to catch the train to the airport. A really helpful Frenchman directed our way and as he walked a half block ahead of us, he often turned to make sure we were going the right direction. How thoughtful!It rained during the night. It was only barely above freezing, but today felt much warmer because there was no wind.
At the airport we ate our eighth chocolate croissant in 24 hours! Our flight on Air France to Tel Aviv was great. They served me my own special diet and offered seconds on the delicious French bread. There was turbulence over the Alps, but the views of the mountains were spectacular. I was just thinking about maybe getting air sick when the pilot announced that it would be bumpy for another 40 minutes. Yikes! Two minutes later the turbulence abruptly stopped. Yeah!
The Ben Gurion airport is gorgeous! I could hardly believe I was in Israel, but orthodox Jewish dress on all sides made it self-evident. It was hard to shift gears from just being the two of us to suddenly having tons of friends and strangers surrounding us and trying to connect with all the GYI participants. Almost all the Latinos arrived within one hour of our arrival - several separate flights. Immigration held some of the Latinos for over an hour of questioning. The immigration officials didn't understand why Latinos have two last names.
We met up there with River (from Bolivia), Jeffry, Miguel (from Ecuador), Jeff, Mark, and the other Jeffry, along with a number of others. Woody stayed at the airport to help Randy meet up with other participants. I rode on a minibus with a bunch of other GYI folks. I felt very out of place - shyness kicking in! We learned that today 8 Jewish students were killed in Jerusalem by a terrorist. Security was high, but we got through fine. In the van I listened to our driver talk on speaker phone for the whole trip. It sounded like he was arguing with everyone, but I would learn that was pretty typical in Israel. I think he also called his wife. That's the only phone call that he was almost silent for. She talked a lot. Of course, I can't understand a word of what they say! I could understand at least a little French.
I checked in to the Regency Jerusalem on Mount Scopus. We had a buffet supper in a banquet room of the hotel. It was way too crowded, but the food was good - especially all the kinds of bread. I could eat just bread the whole trip! Woody arrived at the tail end of supper. We paid for Internet (almost $20 for one day!) and Woody answered many emails. My stomach was hurting a lot, but still I slept - Woody didn't.
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