Day 2- Tuesday

We have slept 13 hours, but I still sleep in and am very nearly late for our first full day.

I stuff two peices of bread with Nuttella on them into my cool bag, insert that to my bigger back pack and head to the office for the days briefing.

Soon we are off to Bethlehem where we meet the members of the office there, including Civil Engineers who are doing all the re-design work for the area, sponsorship people, and the area directors.

After some sweet Arabic Coffee and a lot of questions from me and Camilla we head out in a car to visit the Al Markour Mountain area of Beit Jala ( a village near Bethlehem) where we will be working. I loose all sense of direction once we get into the winding streets of Bethlehem but or Translator (who also happens to manage the project) guides us surely through.

Once there we visit a few of the rennovated Castles. These castles (they're more like stones huts for temporary accomodation of animals and people) are used by the farmers to cultivate the land more efficiently during key seasons. Oncce the wall is completed they won't be able to visit the land as readily and an ability to stay overnight will be invaluable.

We also travel along some of the new roads others of which are in dire state of repair.

It is a boiling 35 degrees, but the cool air trapped inside the various castles we visit is a great felief. An eduring memory is standing within the simple living accomodation and staring out over the rows and rows of trees. The farmers must be very proud, and feel lucky to farm this land.

We meet one such farmer I'll call him Emad. We share freshly picked almonds with him and listen to his story. Hearing him talk gives us some really clear gudiance as to what questions we will ask over the next few days.

His castle is quite well off, it already has electricity and a bathroom, more advanced than the other that the project is helping. Tomorrow we will interview him in more detail and his family as well, for now we sit drinking sweet tea and over look the beautifull scenery of the Mountain.

We stop for falafel in a small on the road side restaraunt, it is my first of the trip and is deliciously filling, and full of good things. I love falafel and it really picks me up!

We pay a quick visit to the Church of the Nativity (where Christ is said to hav been born), which is a nice building but filled with very pious tourists and less than pious flash cameras at every turn. I'm also put off slightly by the tour guides who are uncomfortable not because they are aggressive, but because they are desperate.

A further trip to the Shepherds field is cancelled due to closure. Another activity, a trip to a refugee camp is also cancelled because no one can get in touch with the leader there. The last cancellation is a particular disapointment, but we are learning very quickly to be flexible.

We spend some time atthe office reading all of the background information and thinking of questions before going back to jerusalem.

Here we quickly get changed out of our sweat drenched clothes and head right back out again for dinner and shopping with some friends who are taking good care of us on this trip.

Finally we're at home writing up our questions before another full day tomorrow.

The sun is sapping our strength quickly during the day, so an early night will be very important.

Still no gin and tonic.

Day 1- Monday

We spend the night travlling with little sleep. As well as being delayed as we leave Zurich the queues at the passport control of Israel are choc a bloc. We inch forward through the crowds and I keep thinking to myself how I already miss the British ability to queue.

We are questioned twice as we enter, once, cursory, at the passport control desk, and a second time, more personally as we walk toward the baggage reclaim. For reasons unknown we are pulled to one side and quizzed as to where we are going, wo we are staying with, how we know each other.

In the end we are two hours late arriving at the Hospital where we will be staying on the Mount of Olives. Oh yes, and it's very very hot- already- and it's 5 in the morning!

We are greeted by various sleepy people and luckily work out which room is our. The room is big, and the bed good. We have an en suite bathroom and are sharing with a Canadian family.

We pass out.

We wake up at 1pm for a quick induction, including security training and issuing of mobile phones etc. and a chance to meet and greet the people of the office, we also go through the project we will be covering in more detail.

We go for coffe and a sandwich at Aroma in Hebrew University. The University admits both Arab adn Israeli students, although there are a lot more Israelis than Arabs. The coffee and sandwich are delcious! (I have portobello mushroom).

Back at the flat we quickly find oursleves caught up in a Basket ball game in which Camilla and a 6ft 6 Candian guy beat three of us in three consequtive games (the shame). Camilla used to play for a team, and I get the feeling basketball will form a large part of any evening sports, although personally my ears prick up when I hear that one of the people has built a frisbee golf course (much more my style). it's very windy.

After a good game and a nice sit down and chat enjoying the spectacular views of this amazing landscape we feel thoroughly at home and ready for a bed/a drink as no one takes us up on the drink we turn in and are in bed by eight thirty for 13 hours sleep.

We are taken to a local palestinian supermarket to buy groceries and other such stuff for the time we are here. I'm confused by the choice, or lack of, but in the end settle for some basics including rice and pasta, some luxuries including Pringles and Pistachios, and some neccessities like toilet roll and water.