Which was not a good experience. I didn't know I would be interogated mercilessly both at the Taba border and at the Tel Aviv airport. I spent more time in Egypt than I had originally planned and booked my ticket out of Tel Aviv, as I had wanted to travel through Israel. THis story did not go well with the soldiers (all women) at the border who didn't understand why I was to be in Israel for a short time, essentially a day. Well, I didn't plan it that way originally, but this is how it has happened. But they took this to mean that I was, I don't know, smuggling drugs or a bomb. After being grilled at the Taba/Eilat border for a half hour, in which they took my credit card, asked me who my Egyptian friends are, what do they do there, why am I in Israel for one day and leaving out of there rather than Egypt, and I think I've explained elsewhere, but they saw it that I had picked up a bomb in Egypt and was planning to take it on an Israeli plane (which is not the case). Finally, I was cleared at the border, only to get the same thing at the Tel Aviv airport. Well, like I said, I didn't plan to be in Israel for a short time, but I didn't realize when I had made my ticket reservations that I would meet people in Cairo and Dahab or that I'd get sick, which I did, or that two weeks would not really be enough time. I didn't think this isn't Europe in which you can easily pass from one country to the next. At the Tel Aviv airport, after repeating my story to the soldier, they took me into a separate room and emptied out my suitcase, went through everything including my make up and eyebrow brush, hand sanitizer, handled my underwear, and took an Egyptian statue and bottle of perfume I had bought. If they think I'm a suicide bomber or drug smuggler, why would they take my cat statue? THe woman soldier said she'd have to put these things in a separate box. THat was when I lost my cool......all along I had told myself don't lose it, you want to get out of here. But I snapped then, and said, why is it you think I'm a criminal cause I went to Egypt, made friends there, bought perfume, and stayed longer than I had planned? THere was a schedule problem and mistake on my part but that is not a crime? THey asked me who my parents are and whether they're first or second generation Americans, why I spent time with people in Egypt I met at a museum, like aren't I afraid to go into a room with a stranger? THis was also a female soldier. THey took my passport and went off with it for an hour. FInally, somehow I was cleared, after they put flourescent stickers on my luggage and passport. Then I lost my graces, particularly on why they took my statue and perfume; that's really terrifying and threatening. I got nastier, and the woman amazingly began to back down. Really, there's nothing threatening about a cat statue and bottle of perfume, unless they think the statue is a bomb and the perfume drugs, but I doubt it.
I'm glad to be in the USA, where there is some, however small, semblance of civil rights and due process. If I'd known Israel would be like this I certainly would have stayed away, and please don't ask me "what were you doing there, don't you know the situation?" I'm aware of the problems there, but other people traveled there and told me they had good experiences so this is a chance you take.
But I'm home, and waiting for my stuff to be sent to me. They also asked my father's last name. THey asked my ethnic background. Is this place for real?

However, there were a few highlights of this very short visit:
I did meet an older man in Jerusalem, in between the two points. I can say that most people I encountered, once inside, were pretty nice and this guy actually showed me around town, where the Western Wall is and Old Jerusalem. There, we sat and had coffee and food, and he told me he wants to stay here. He came to see his son who is in school (they're originally from New Jersey) and said the atmosphere here is not like NYC the "rat race" which I could see. He introduced me to a girl who worked at the hotel, who was planning to travel herself, to NYC among other places. Very kindly he showed me around and it was with his help, along with some others, that I was able to get to the Tel Aviv airport. Apparently you call a shared service and he let me wait at his hotel. Old Jerusalem is pretty quaint and the part we walked through was pretty deserted and remote. It was all stones, like a crypt, with the Jewish Quarter here, Arab there, and Christian very much a minority. I did at least go to the Western Wall, which he said is the holiest site in Judaism. I went to the wall which is a fascinating place to be, like the Pyramids, and where the women were praying, some crying, some shaking their heads. I saw everyone leaving the Wall walking backwards, which I didn't understand, but when I walked directly a woman gave me a shocked look, so I turned around and walked backwards. It's a place where you can gather yourself, in a way, and my companion told me that right next door is a school where people study religion.
The people in Jerusalem were very nice, so I don't want to seem like I'm saying the whole place is wrong, but after what I went through at the airport I told myself I could never return here, and perhaps I had made a mistake coming here at all. I was shaking when I finally got the hell out of Tel Aviv (I was beginning to think I wouldn't) and angry and upset. By the time I landed in Amsterdam and freedom, almost, I was still angry and shaken.
And now I miss my Cairo friends, and am sad cause I haven't heard from them. I haven't heard from Garrett. But both my cats are here, and I ate my usual food for the first time in a month. I listened to the music I had been listening to.