Salam from Bethlehem!

Good Morning from Bethlehem. Actually, more specifically the neighborhood where we are is called Beit Jala. We arrived in Tel Aviv perfectly on schedule yesterday. We had no problems at the airport which is a huge answer to prayer. All they asked us were a few generic questions about where we going and if we had family here. We were able to be nice and vague and let the school fly under the radar which is good. They gave us a 3 month visa.
Mrs. Linda (everyone here goes by Mrs., Ms., or Mr. and their first name) was there to pick us up at the airport and take us back to the school along with another teacher Miss Gwen who flew in about the same time as us. The drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was beautiful. It allowed me to show Mandy 3 of the major geographical areas: the coastal plain, The Shephelah (or low hill country), and the Hill country, which is where both Jerusalem and Bethlehem are located. Then we stopped by Linda's house to pick up another car which Mandy and I used to follow Linda down to Bethlehem. Driving here is sort of like driving in Boston. The roads are tiny and people are dashing in and out of traffic and changing lanes without signaling etc. The hardest part of the drive for me yesterday was that we drove right by the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and we couldn't stop. I just can't wait to take Mandy there. It is so amazing.
Then we arrived home and saw our new apartment. They have furnished it beautifully and better than we expected. The furniture is brand new and nicer than we had in our apartment in Uxbridge. We are on the 5th floor and the views from our windows are simply awesome.
We went back to Miss Grace's (the Elementary Principal) house last night and her sister welcomed us with traditional Arabic hospitality and feast of rice, chicken and fresh fruit. Then we came home and slept like logs because we hadn't done much of that over the last 48 hours.
We woke up refreshed this morning, still a little jet-lagged but not too bad. We were amazed again at what we were looking at out our windows and at God's faithfulness to us in bringing us to this point. Today we are going to hit the market, change some money and pick up a few things we still need for the apartment.
We love you all, we miss you all, and we have seen the answers to all your prayers for us over the last 2 days. Keep 'em coming! :-)
We will be taking pictures and posting them to our snapfish account soon!
-Love,
Doug & Mandy