Celebration!

I endured a rather tortuous journey to Rafah with a driver who refused to allow me to sleep. Although I was stretched out on the back seat with my eyes firmly shut, he persistently shouted at me, purposely jolted the car repeatedly in an effort to shake me awake, and even resorted to calling my mobile in the backseat from his mobile in the front. I was livid by the time we arrived at the border crossing.

It was a different world from the one I encountered just six days earlier. The sun was shining, people were smiling, and the general atmosphere was much more relaxed. And, best of all, I was allowed to cross back into Gaza. After exactly a month away, I was finally back!

The journey and crossing took just nine hours, and I got to the office by 1pm. Not too bad. What a welcome I received! Nobody does welcomes like the Palestinians. The face of every person I met lit up when they saw me. It seemed they were as relieved as me that I had made it back.

Happily, I arrived into one meeting just in time to share in a delicious lunch from my favourite restaurant, Matoug. I had almost forgotten how incredible the food is in Gaza.

A quick afternoon nap after work, and then I went to my friend Miguel's house, as he was throwing a dinner. It was no-one's birthday, but he had a cake and sparklers anyway. I like to think it was all for me.