...it didn't get better.

I thought Thursday would be the worst of the Obama madness.  I really had counted on it.  But I was wrong.  Friday was worse.  So much worse.

I headed out of the house around 9am to go to campus to organize a few last things for my current project.  As I got to the bus stop, I saw that the road ahead was closed.  My bus would have to take a round-about route that might not stop on campus.  I decided to walk.

The deserted road to campus/home from town.

My walk started out well.  I met less cops than the day before and the ones I met said I wouldn't have a problem getting to campus via my normal route.  But that was not quite the case.  About a minuteafter I asked the first cluster of police officers if I would be able to get to campus, I was stopped and told the road was closed to pedestrians (but not to cars...so Israeli).  I explained that I had just been told the road all the way to campus would be open, so the police woman called a few other people and in the end agreed to let me pass.

A completely blocked off intersection on my walk home.

Another few minutes down the road, I was stopped again.  This time the officer said the road was closed and after our exchange and his follow-up check with a few other security officers, it actually was.  But still only to pedestrians--cars were allowed to pass freely.  It was so Israeli when he let me go anyways because I had already been given "permission" by two other people, so who was he to take it away.  I didn't complain and continued my walk to campus.  When I got to the end of the secured area, right near campus, an officer came up to me and asked if he could ask me a question.  Of course I said yes, and he asked where I had come from.  When I told him that I cam from the direction of Israel Museum, he did not seem thrilled, but I had reached campus and just continued on my way, so there was nothing else for me to do.

It was so Israeli when we used buses to block roads.

The rest of the day went down hill from there.  I was able to catch a bus into town without too many problems, but getting home was a disaster.  Somewhere between the 78°F morning and my sunny shopping trip around town, the winds picked up. Then the temperature dropped, and we were in the midst of a full blown dust storm.  I went to wait for a bus because the weather was too horrendous to walk in.  It was also apparently too horrendous for Obama because instead of flying to Bethlehem he drove.  And because he drove the roads were closed.  And because the roads were closed my bus couldn't drive its normal route.  And because I live at the intersection of all of two closed roads, I couldn't take a different bus.  And because there was a sand storm, I was miserable for the entire walk home.  I was so happy to be wearing sunglasses as eye protection.  But I also desperately wanted a scarf.  I was inhaling sand and could feel it caking on my lips, recently chap-sticked in response to the sudden appearance of cold, dry weather.  It had cooled off quite a bit too, and I was not prepared for the chill or the sand or the walk.  I was prepared for Obama to leave and for my life to return to normal.  Now, it finally has.

One of the many memes surrounding Obama's visit.