An American's Journey to Sderot, Israel

The following excerpt was written in December on paper on a bus ride to Sderot…..
(The following post has been posted later than I planned, but with what's going on in the Middle East as I type these words, the timing is right.)

With minimum sleep followed by long days of sightseeing, the trip has been packed with learning the history and culture of Israel.  

No ice cubes

Hummus with every meal

Amazing bread

Fresh juice stands

Freshest produce in the markets

Falafel is amazing!

Bomb Shelter

Our group was just briefed that we’re 1.5 miles from the Gaza Strip! If we hear a siren wailing, we have 15 seconds to find and enter a bomb shelter which are located throughout the city of Sderot. Sderot hears the siren about every other week. Every bus stop is a shelter. The cinema is the ONLY movies there/shelter in the world…..

We’re driving by a playground which has two huge caterpillar/sea dragons on it. I have a feeling they are shelters  :/.

While some live in fear of fear of the rockets which are launched from Gaza, others don’t let it affect their lives…..

We just returned to the bus from a 5 minute up-hill walk. The walk brought us .5 miles from the Gaza Strip. Tomas, our tour guide of Sderot, couldn’t have started the walk any better. ”If you hear a the siren, drop to the ground and cover your head! If you see a spot in the sky flying at you, don’t try to photograph it!"

Our View of the Gaza Strip

While Tomas makes jokes about the issues of Sderot, it’s weird see how people can live in THESE CONDITIONS.

All this makes Sderot the bomb shelter capitol of the world.

Prior to this trip, the first words to come to mind when I heard “Israel” were desert, war and camels.  Although this isn’t completely incorrect it’s far from accurate. Tel Aviv is just like Miami Beach – no camels in sight.

Our hotel in Jerusalem had a bomb shelter which hasn’t been used in years.

With everything that has been going on over the last three days, let's pray for the IDF soldiers who joined us on this trip and  to all civilians. 

Below are the links to the photos from Israel.

Click here to view my photos on DigitalGreg.com.

Click here to view my photos on the DigitalGreg Facebook page.