Jersualem

I've been here three days now and I'm starting to settle in.

My flat is in an area called Baka'a - very leafy and quiet but with some nice cafes and restaurants nearby. It reminds me of Leblon in Rio and I'm very pleased to have ended up here. I am about a half hour walk to college and the centre of Jerusalem, which is fine before the heat of the day really kicks in. Right now I am sitting on one of the two balconies with a glass of wine and some olives and listening to some sort of Brazilian/Israeli fusion CD - samba in Hebrew (yes really).

Today was our first day in college and it looks like it is going to be hard but good. Every morning we start at 7.30 with a shul (synagogue) service and then it's a little breakfast and Modern Hebrew till 12.30. After lunch and another shul service we split into different subjects. I am doing some very interesting stuff on the image of God and on synagogue chant. Or rather that was today. Can't remember what I have signed up for tomorrow but always nice to have a suprise. I know I am doing gardening as part of a volunteer programme on Thursday afternoons.

There is a ferociously strong sense of patriotism here, which I think for my American colleagues is quite natural but seems strange to me. I have had one or two conversations about Palestine but in an odd way the war and the occupation seem to be much further away than they are to us in the UK - and yet at same time they are totally in your face. Everyone is in the army of course and you see soldiers everywhere. Some people are naive or simplistic about the situation (as many Brits are about something like immigration) but most are very thoughtful. The difference is that, while at home I would say our first thoughts are to the situation of the people in Gaza, here people's first thoughts are about the future of the state of Israel. And it is easy to see why. It is early days for me of course but this does seem a wonderful, well run, hospitable and liberal country. And it inspires you: right now I am feeling so energised by the place that I could probably join the army myself. That will settle, of course, but the sensation is a useful reminder that I promised myself I would come here with an open mind.

Crossing Europe, I noticed a pretty constant deterioration in the way people cross the roads. In London we zip across wherever and whenever we can but on the continent things were different. In Cologne 10 or us were standing at the side of the road waiting to cross, with the lights on the red man. There was no traffic in either direction so I strolled across. I had only got as far as the island in the middle when I looked back and found nine jaws hitting the ground in astonishment.

After that, though, road-crossing standards really started to fall, with the Damascus taking the (crumpled, motorway pile-up) biscuit for an almost Saigon-like mixture of cars and pedestrians. There, you stride out into the traffic, try to make eye contact with the driver and just keep going. I had expected the same in Jerusalem, but in fact it is just like Cologne and the drivers are pussy cats compared to somewhere like Rio. They sounds their horns because it's macho but you can tell their hearts aren't in it.

I'll need to go and do my homework now but I'll write more about Jerusalem soon and put some pics up. It was a bit cloudy today so not a great day to take photos. In the meantime my Israel mobile number is +972 54 355 9942 if you want to send a text or get in touch. Or drop me a line by email. It would be great to hear from you.

Dx