No Pain, No Gain

I was up working until 3:30am only to wake up at 7am to start my day. It was off to our office here in the West Bank. I don't know how more fabulous an office could be. There is a pool and there are four feeder lines that from the office makes the most serene noise - very zen. It is fabulous - hoping to take a lunch and sit by the pool. My day got eventful on my ride back from the West Bank into Jerusalem. Going through one of the checkpoints we were pulled to the side. My driver who I credit as being amazing and really took care of the situation swung into action. My passport is not stamped due to my future travels to other countries who may have problems with my having an Israeli stamp there, so there was no record that I had entered their country. Understandably they would have a problem, but I guess that it is fairly common for those working on aid projects to not have their passports stamped. Well after a half hour of my driver going through discussions with multiple ARMED soldiers we were able to proceed on our way.

Church in Shepards' Fields

Grotto of the Nativity

Gremisan

A little intense, but I told my driver that whenever I feel stressed at work I will think back to that situation and realize that it could be worse - those I am have intense discussions with could have loaded weapons!

From there it was a great afternoon in Bethlehem. I was able to visit the Church of the Nativity to see the Grotto of the Nativity (where Jesus was born) and also the Shepards' Fields where the shepards were watching their flocks when they saw the angels proclaiming the birth of Christ. We also went to a vineyard - what kind of trip would I go on without visiting a vineyard?! It was beautiful there - Gramisan. Dinner was fabulous and shared with two of our subcontractors. I had hummus - made me think of Adam Sandler as the Zohan.

Tomorrow will be a long work day and I don't anticipate any site seeing - but driving through here in the mountains and valleys is just breathtaking, especially at sunset and listening to the Call to prayer is a very soothing sound.