The Conflict...

Well, it's no secret. There is quite a conflict between Israel and Gaza right now. Today is the 7th day since the attacks started from Gaza.

This is really nothing new, these conflicts happen a lot. But this time seems to be a bit more severe. We didn't even become cautious until rockets were fired into Tel Aviv, a first since 1991. The other concern with this is Tel Aviv is further from Jerusalem, so if they can reach there, they can reach here.

After the rockets hit Tel Aviv, the university was sending out precaution emails and different groups (UW, our insurance, the STEP program in the usa) were asking for our phone number so they could locate us anytime in case things escalated. We were emailed directions about what to do if rocket/missiles were fired here. They even informed us how long each city has to find cover before the missile would hit from Gaza. Jerusalem has 90 seconds, and that was one of the long ones.

Every Friday night at sundown a gentle siren goes off marking Shabbat (the Sabbath). By then things are officially closed and the Jewish people begin their Shabbat routines. On Friday November 16th, toward the evening, we were hanging out as usual. I was doing Hebrew homework, Skye was working on his dissertation, and our friend Katherine (a fellow American from UW and a good friend of mine) was over borrowing our shower as her hot water was shut down. The Shabbat siren went off and Skye and I looked at each other and hollered to Katherine and we all relaxed concluding that it was just the Shabbat siren as usual on Friday evenings. People were on the streets as normal and the Hebrew homework then continued. We even asked a couple Israelis what the emergency sirens sounded like to be sure. They said, "don't worry, you'll know..."

Katherine headed home to prepare a lovely dinner she had invited us to and I was set on finishing my homework to get it off my shoulders.

About 30 minutes passed and just as we were beginning to think we were being over dramatic about the Shabbat siren, our Israeli friends were right...we knew....it was distinctly the air raid siren. Skye and I scrambled around at first, then we immediately grabbed our laptops and hard drives (Skye's dissertation is stored on them!) and headed into the bomb shelter. Yep, that's right, our bedroom is a bomb shelter. Did you guys read my apartment blog? SO very glad we chose the one with a bomb shelter.

I began to close the window's bomb shutters, and of course it was pitch black because we hadn't turned the light on yet I turned around and Skye had left! It was terrifying! What an idiot! He ran to the balcony to see what the rest of the city was doing. He got in big trouble for that one, don't worry! He went back in the room and we waited there for at least 10 minutes, per the directions from the school. Thankfully we still had internet. I realized immediately that earlier I had needed to go to the bathroom and was just being lazy and didn't go immediately. I wondered where in the world would I pee if we had to stay in the a long time before getting the all clear.

I frantically called Katherine to make sure she was ok, and of course she left her phone inside. But she had escaped to the stairwell.

We got the all clear and were on the BBC reading the live feed like white on rice. Turns out Hamas was aiming for the Kneset, the parliament building here. Guess what I see when I look out from my 3rd floor apartment? That's right, the Kneset. It's only about a 10 or less minute walk from my apartment. This was terrifying because, obviously they have terrible aim, and if they were to try again they could miss and hit our neighborhood. This is the first time rockets/missiles have been fired into Jerusalem since 1970.

The time came to go to Katherine's. I wasn't sure what to think about what had happened, and I wanted to be prepared in case things got bad. So, I packed a bomb bag. I didn't know if we would get stranded at Katherine's or if we would have to evacuate from there, I had no idea. Yes, I was being dramatic, but at that point, I had no idea. I threw some comfie clothes in there, some clean underwear and socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, my Bible, my chargers and electronics, our passports, and of course my warm fuzzy slippers. When we left the apartment we put important things in the bomb shelter, sealed it up and went on our way.

The evening was quiet, and Katherine's dinner was delicious. We continued to obsess over the BBC live feed and other breaking news articles. At one point we even received an email from our insurance company that gave us the go ahead to evacuate, and they were planning to send us to Haifa. We all became enraged at the stupidity of that idea and decided we didn't care if we had to pay for it ourselves, none of us were going to Haifa.

Skye and I slept that night with the bomb shelter sealed and our belongings with us. I even made a bomb survival kit before bed. All the portable food I could find, water, and a bucket with some TP if things got bad. Thankfully the night was quiet and we didn't need any of it.

I went to sleep pretty terrified that night, but I woke up feeling ok about it. As if it was all a bad dream or something. Unfortunately Gaza wasn't lucky enough to have a quiet night as Israel continued firing in defense.

Emails from the school came in again saying classes would continue as normal, that they weren't worried. Each day felt further away from the fear we felt the night of the air raid siren. We were still watching the BBC and being cautious, but things became normal again very fast.

Today, Tuesday November 20th, another normal day. I was working on Hebrew homework (again), Skye was at the library working and at the moment, I was hanging freshly washed laundry to dry. And guess what? I had needed to pee and was trying to hang all the laundry before I went. Suddenly, there it was.....the air raid siren. I was on my balcony and looked around and realized that was a bit stupid so I went inside. I then walked in circles a bit trying to decide if it was real or not. I quickly decided it was, and that if it wasn't, I was better off safe than sorry. I went to the room and didn't even close the bomb shutters right away. I was sort of in denial. As the siren kept going I went ahead and closed them and texted Katherine right away. Skye wasn't online anymore and I needed confirmation that it was in fact the siren. Katherine called me and we talked about it a bit. She heard the boom even. I guess I was too panicky to hear it. I also complained to her about how I had to pee every time this happened, and that hello, Hamas, I'm trying to hang my laundry here....

We quickly got the all clear and I headed out, people were on the streets again as if nothing had happened. Thankfully they missed again and hit an open field near Bethlehem. Still quite far away from the Kneset. I don't, however, know if they were actually aiming for the kneset or not this time.

Skye had gone into the basement at the library with the others there, and Katherine again in her stairwell.

Somehow I managed to get my Hebrew homework done despite the checking of the BBC every 5 minutes. Every time there is a long or unique car horn (people honk here constantly, like it's their jobs and they make an extra thousand dollars for every time they honk, and to see who can honk the longest) I jump and bit and think it may be another siren.

Thankfully, at the present moment, an agreement for the ceasefire has been struck! It isn't official yet, but is to be announced at 9 (if my sources on the BBC are correct). I also read some live feed stuff that mentioned they were getting in some last firing before the agreement. This....seems a bit odd to me, but whatever. So it does make be a bit nervous for the next few hours if that's going to be the case.

Our friends in Germany (where we planned to evacuate to if it became necessary) and in the States were all extremely supportive, and we appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, and emails! Please continue to pray for the Israelis and Palestinians and there have been many lives lost. Here in Jerusalem, we were lucky (aka blessed) to not have to experience violence or destruction. 

The Kneset as seen from our balcony

Our bomb shelter kit!