I woke up in Israel this morning...

Getting on the plane in Bulgaria was quite an ordeal, but not in the way you might assume. I had read that Israel security was strict, but, 1) I thought it was once you arrived there, and, 2) I had no idea it was THAT strict. I thought I was getting lucky when they took me to the front of the line for check-in, little did I know I was in for serious scrutiny. A young Israeli girl, who warned me that she was training, "so it might take awhile", began to ask me all sorts of questions, insisting for exact details such as names and addresses of people I have stayed with and such. It was kind of cute at first, as she was a bit shy and nervous, probably more so than I was at that moment... and she was asking rather personal questions with no apparent relation to security as if we had met at a bar or something. Once she had written down everything about my life, past, present and future, I was taken to a small area to wait while they examine my bags. They took both of my bags, I was patted down, scanned with a metal detector, they took my shoes and returned them 5 minutes or so later... meanwhile, the other people were busy removing everything from my bags just around the corner out of sight. Every few minutes they brought me an item from my bag and questioned me about it. What is this? a water filter, What do you do with it? filter water, Why do you need it? for emergency, Have you ever used it before? yes, When? about a year ago, Where did you buy it? USA, How long ago? 2 years ago, Have you ever loaned it to someone or has anyone else ever used it? no, Will you show me how it works?.... this went on for about 2 hours with every electronic item I own as well as my chalk for rock climbing and a flavored packet of Ceralyte(an oral rehydration drink), both of which they took a sample to analyze. Finally they brought back most of my items in baskets and gave me my bags to repack. The final basket they brought back was of items they insisted I put in my luggage that would go below and observed me as I put them in the bigger pack before taking it away from me again. I was not allowed to board with any electrical equipment(camera, cell phone, iPod), and they even took my lighter. At that point I felt priviledged to get on the plane fully clothed.

So, some of you may be wondering... "but what about the Bulgarian visa?" Well, after being detained for over 2 hours, it finally came time to go to the gate, as the plane was leaving in 20 minutes or so. I thought there was no way I was leaving the country... for sure it would take more than 20 minutes to deal with Bulgarian border guards... first the questions, then the obligatory reprimand, then the bureaucracy, then the whole process of paying the fine(which of course would be in a different building), getting the receipt, etc, etc, etc... and this was assuming I would have enough money to pay the damn fine. The Israelis gave my carry-on and my passport to another young Israeli girl who would have to escort me to the gate. "Now I'm really screwed!", I thought. Even if by some miracle I could make it past the Bulgarians, surely the Israelis would change their minds now knowing that I had overstayed my visa here in Bulgaria. As I waited in line I noticed the sign clearly stating "No payments here!".... typical. I offered to take the bag from the girl, hoping that maybe this was someone sort of courtesy to ease the fact that I had just been brutally examined, and that she would leave me to the Bulgarians... no such luck. Sensing my uneasiness, she apologized for the security measures and asked if this was my first visit to Israel. I said yes, and she jokingly responded, "... and maybe the last?" "We'll see after I get there," I responded, "IF I even get there." Then, in a CLASSIC case of travel irony, the Bulgarian guard took my passport, ran it through his machine, found the page with my visa and stamped it straight away without even looking at the dates. God only knows what that girl thought when I was now suddenly laughing. After boarding the plane, we were delayed for awhile as they searched for the bags of a few passengers who were "denied by local authorities". HA! but they didn't get me!

So that's the story of my escape from Bulgaria. And once again, it is proven that I never know what to expect. All that fuss over my bulgarian visa... I should have been worried about the Israeli security instead. All is well, I am in Israel.... and I have $300-$3000 more than what I expected to have! Time to explore.... the next post will be something positive about Israel, I promise.... :-)

Well, I finally have some definite plans for the future...

I bought a plane ticket for this coming Tuesday, Sept. 14th from Sofia, Bulgaria to Tel Aviv, Israel. I wanted to stay in Bulgaria for yet one more week so that I could be here for a friend's wedding and the ensuing festivities. And it works out well for me because I'll probably see most of my friends here all within a few days before I leave. Trying to get through Greece and finding a boat to Israel would probably take too long, be too frustrating and might even be more expensive than flying so... this will be a lot less trouble. There is still the issue of my visa, or lack thereof, for Bulgaria. I discovered that my visa had been expired close to thirty days after the fact and therefore decided that since I would have to pay whatever fine when I leave the country no matter what I did at that point, I might as well stay as long as I like and enjoy it. In the back of my mind I was hoping that I might slide buy without paying anything, or only having to pay the border guard $50 to let me go or something. Now that I'm leaving through the airport, I'm a bit concerned that the situation will not be so lenient as it might be at some obscure overland border crossing in the middle of nowhere. I called the US Embassy today to ask them what to expect... In what I have come to view as typical for US embassies, they were brief, uninterested and basically unhelpful. The lady told me that there was nothing I could do and that I would be charged a fine upon leaving the country between 300 and 3000 leva... which is about $300-$3000. So, now I'm really nervous, but...... what can I do? Just keep your fingers crossed for me! :-)

This past weekend was quite a trip. Spent some time in Botevgrad and a small village somewhere near there. We went to a small disco in this village to buy alcohol. It was quite a sight... it was later confirmed that for sure I was the first real, live american they had seen in ten years or so. The doorman came back to the house where we were after the place closed... the whole night was just funny. I can't explain it... you just had to be there. The next day we went to a going away party for a guy that's headed for his military service. Again, you just had to be there. Suffice it to say, the old man that lived next door was the life of the party. Maybe I'll manage to get a copy of the video one day. Next day... back to Sofia, watched the video from the night before, when to a few different houses, didn't sleep the whole night.... another crazy weekend.

So, this weekend is the wedding for Taktaba and Geri. The party starts Friday night, the wedding is on Saturday and then the party continues on... probably for 3 days until I leave on Tuesday. I don't know if I'll make it through the entire thing, but it's sure to be a good time... and it will be a good time for me to say goodbye to everyone here.

If I'm allowed out of the country, I'll make an update soon after I get to Israel to let you know how it went down. Until then.....