January 7, 2002

We traveled with good thoughts of our time in Jordan.

Happy Orthodox Christmas. Today was our yom tawil - long day. We left Amman early in the morning, catching the shared taxi to the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge. Our inexplicably long wait before entering the Israeli-side of the bridge was just the beginning of the delays. We were pulled aside before having our bags x-rayed - clearly someone was being trained, and we looked like just the folks to train on. They asked a lot of questions about where we stayed, who watched our bags, then more about our work - whom did we know, did we have friends or phone numbers...our computer bag was triple-searched, and Marthame's visa was scrutinized - all of which kept us from meeting our taxi. So we caught the Palestinian bus to Jericho, where we found a taxi on its way to Jenin.

The situation on the roads is interesting, both being much worse than it was when we arrived but better than when we left for Christmas. New checkpoints have taken on a much more permanent look in the meantime. Fortunately, it was snowing (!), so no soldier wanted to stay out and scrutinize for too long. We could see snow-capped hills and even at times snow on the roadside as we headed back to Zababdeh. It was good to get back, even if the wind has knocked our telephone service out for the evening.