Ol' Jerusalem Town

Ao, I feel once again behind in this whole blogging game. Especially because only mooments ago I was writing the finishing touches, and then one touch of the wrong button, lost the whole stinkin' thing...so once again, I will begin. However, I do have to fit 5 days in, so I will try and keep it to the point...as much as someone who tends to ramble can do.


After arriving in Israel, and finally meeting Ellen, and sleeping a night, we were feeling pretty much rested and well enough to see the sights of Israel. Ellen, her husband Fadi, his parents, and his brother and sister in law plus their two kids all live in One house in Beit Jala, Palestine (one road away from Bethlehem). It seems like a rather full house, and with Fadi's other brother and sister-in-law coming over often, they might as well be counted as living here too...so, actually, adding three new members to the family was almost not noticed, except that we don't speak Arabic, so, we don't tend to join in the conversation a lot.

The morning that we woke up, as soon as we stepped into the kitched, we were greeted by a table, full of the most delicious looking largest breakfast I'd ever seen. I remember when my mom used to host continentals and she'd pull out all the stops for breakfast too, like bagles AND toast AND cereal, and eggs of course, and other things, like meat and cheese and fruit. This was much the same idea. A huge amount of food all laid out so the guests had their choice, however, unlike at home where the expectation is to take a few things that you like, the expectation here was that you take soem of everything. And you'd better. So, we tried flat bread with about a thousand different types of cheese topping, a couple that you dip into oil and then dip into this mixture of basil and sesame seeds, and then there was the apricot jam. MMMMMmmmm! I don't know how to describe it. Here in Beit Jala, they produce a very specific type of Apricot, whose name I forget (something majestic or mystical I think), and you can only find them here, in this little city. They are amazing. I have to say, I've eaten about a kilo all on my own, and I could eat them exclusively for a good long time before I got tired of them. They are so very sweet and full of flavour. And every morning, we get to have jam, made from these heavely fruits!

After we ate our fill (and by fill I mean, we ate more at breakfast than we had been eating in a whole day for the last two weeks), we were going to go to the beach. Ellen had mentioned that we'd be going, and that the family was going to come, so naturally we pictured the 11 in the house, plus the other brother and his wife, making the total 13 people with us included. A big group, but you know, whatever.....well, this is not the way that Arabic families work I guess. It seems that by "that family is coming" we were bringing a whole lot more people than just those in the house...in fact, on our hour and a bit long drive, we constantly would pull over and stop at a meeting point while an additional car would add itself to the train. By the end, our caravan was six or seven cars large, and we had more than 30 people coming to the beach. I thought it was so funny how I had misjudged the situation, but I was more than happy to meet all of the people that came. They were so very friendly, and, above all, hospitable. Throughout the day, they woudl introduce themselves and ask why you weren't eating something, and how you liked the trip, and their home ect...

As for the food. There was enough to go around a thousand times! Everyone offered you food all the time. And, when you couldn't eat anymore, they'd get worried and ask if you wre sick and if you needed a remedy of some falafel or something...quite funny. Often, you would just swallow down the last bite of some flat bread or a cucumber, and then you'd take a sip of water, and look down at your hand, and miraculously, it would be full of a piece of cake or potato pastry...and you never even knew what hit you. It was very fun.

Another big fun part of the day was the beach itself. We ended up going to a beach on the mediterranean, in an area called the white sea. The day had to have been about 39 C, but you couldn't tell because the breeze was so cool and nice. The sand was smooth and clean, and the water was beautiful. Unlike Greece, where the water was chilly and you had to will youself to get all wet and splash around a bit before the feeling came back into your feet, this water was so very warm. Comparable to the water in the caribean, and far more fun. The waves on the day that we'd gone were so high, most of them up to our chests, and crashing into them, or jumping over them reminded me of happy times with youth groups at West Edmonton Mall water park. There were also jelly fish, a few of which stung us, but they were so tiny they just left wee marks on us, that faded the next day, but we saw some bigger ones, the size of a fist i suppose, and being that they were more dangerous, we often would retreat to the beach or the edge of the water for a while until they cleared out. All in all, it was a fantastic beach time, and we all renewed most of the tan that had been lost while we were all covered up in Egypt and Jordan. So, back to the gold again!

After the beach, the whole family wanted to go to the mall to shoop around a little bit. I can't imagine our family at a gathering all going to the mall together...maybe the ladies, but this was grandma, grandpa, the kids, the teens, the boys, and girls...and the foreign canadian visitors!! It was so funny. But we searched through the mall for deals and enjoyed seeing the fashions of the area. The cost of clothes here is quite high, especially for good quality, and so, no one really ended up getting anything at all. Beth and I bought hair dye though. You see, the bottom of my hair is super dark still, much like when I left, though, the top of my head, my bangs and such, are quite blond from the sun. So, the dye is a lighter colour, to try and even things all out a bit...I hope.


The next day was Jerusalem day. The thing about staying in Palestine is that you get to see the real story behind the Israel/Palestine debate. I mean, there are check points everywhere...and often the Israeli's will stop cars, or search them for no reason, mostly of the time they don't even look, they just want to flaunt their power. Sometimes, they will reject people if they have a West Bank day pass, and if you are from West Bank, you most certainly will have a struggle getting to the other side. There are special licence plates and id cards, and you can tell an Arab from a Jew every time. They are in the process of building a huge thick cement wall with barbed wire at the top to keep the west bankers in. The wall is for sure in progress, and we passed through several check points with the wall finished. Really, its horrible. I understand that the Israeli's are currently occupying the Palestinian land, but they are really bullies. Today, they pulled us over and searched through all of our bags and wallets, checked our passports, and the car, and it was ridiculous. The reasons they serached us is because when they asked us if we were doing illegal things, Fadi smirked when we said no...which is stupid, because it's a dumb question. Anyway, the whole controversy is far more real to me now that I've seen it.

Anyway, we went through the checkpoints and into Jerusalem. At first, we thought we might need two days or more in the city that had so many landmarks, but we ended up seeing everything we'd wanted to in a matter of hours. There was the infamous wailing wall, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of the holy seplucar, and some extra's like the Greek Orthodox church where the stoning point of Stephen was found, and the rock in Gethsemane where Jesus prayed his famous "take this cup: prayer", mary's tomb, and in the church of the seplucar, there was the concrete slab where Jesus's body was laid, and the stone on which he was whipped. We saw the mount of olives, which is actually a selection of moutains surrounding the old city, and conpletely built on and inhabited so it looks like any of the other moutains in the area...with the exception of the terraced graveyard which graces a half of one of the hill faces. Mt. Zion too is simply a big hill that houses people in the area. I always pictured it being a big place where you can go and worship and where crazy things might happen later on in history, however, it was just an ordinary mountain. Overall, I can't say that any of us were really impressed by Jerusalem. Anything thatJesus actually touched is all covered over and rebuilt, and anything that they say he touched is questionable. And, you can literally do it in two hours. All of it, except for the underground tunnels, which would have been cool to see, but you need to make a reservation in advance via internet or phone...who knew? There is also a free walking tour, from the same group that offeres them all over Europe, and I'm fairly sure that we'll go on that later in the week...they might offer some stories and insight on the places that we saw already.

The shops in the Old city are much like those everywhere else, with people trying to barter with you. We all throught you could get killer Jesus sandals here...you can't. Leather sandals yes, but the stylized "Jesus" sandal, you should get in Greece...again, Who knew? So, we did a little shopping, all of us are almost done buying gifts and trinkets and clothes and we're also out of money, and so, we didn't get a ton of things....but we did enjoy ourselves. Each city always has a specialty. Cereamica are big here, and we haven't seen a ton elsewhere, so that is maybe something to keep in mind for those who are coming to visit. At the peak of the day, around 2 or 3, the heat creeps up to 40 or 45, and because it's so hot, you often lose your gusto. So, we finished up and went back home for a delicious lunch/dinner. That's another interesting thing. They eat at 4 here, and then they don't eat after. So, it's like breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and bed. Works for me. Especially when at mid day all you want to eat is water or fruit that is filled with water.

We dyed our hair that evening. It didn't work.


So, our next day in Jerusalem was a tuesday and we were on our way out to Nazareth. We ended up running around the old city and buying last purchases before we took a bus to the main bus station and boarded. The bus ride was short. Around two hours, which was appreciated. We didn't stop during the ride, and the air conditioning worked...all of which are things to be grateful for. We had taken a later bus so we arrived in Nazareth around 7pm. At taht point, everything is already closed, and we didn't know how we'd find our hostel...with convoluted directions from our beloved hostel world, we were simply getting our barings when some guy approached us. He was the only other guy who got off at our stop, and came right up and said "are you guys looking for the Fauzi Azar inn?" And of course, we were. (in fact, I think that's the only budget hostel in Nazareth at all). Well, thank the Lord, this guy worked there and took us all the way without even a question. I guess that there is a rule where you can volunteer for the hostel for three hours a day, doing check in's or clean up's or tour's or whatever, and then you get free board. So people come and stay for three to six weeks at a time, and really just enjoy getting to know the area. We thought this would have been a great idea, with the exception that there is NOTHING to do there. Nothing. There is one big church...that is all.

The evening we arrived was too late to do much so we found our token bakery and fruit shop and then just went to bed. The heat has been getting to everyone a little bit, and often the evenings have a few arguments in them, and so, bed is a good place for us to be.

The next morning, we took the first few hours to look around Nazareth. We saw the big church, including the very house where Mary was told she would concieve by the Angel Gabriel...right. And, there were two churches in the building, one of the main floor, and the other on the second...which I thought was cool. The best part of the church was that there have been huge murals designed and donated by tons of countires around the world, all portracying Jesus, or mother and child in a different way...often its a Madonna and Child, with different colours, or symbols on top, but sometimes, you'd get cool ones. Like an asian mother and child from both Japan and Thailand, or a picture of a family from Slovenia, or a picture of the pope with Jesus from the vatican (go figure).

Once we'd seen that church, we were out of ideas. We walked around shops a bit, but the shops in Nazareth are exactly like dollar stores, with a huge selection of random, poorly made stuff. Literally. SO, we didn't buy anything, and had nothing left to do. The big plan from Nazareth was going to be to taking a bus to the Sea of Galilee and going on a canoe ride there. The sea is currently located in Tiberious, an hour bus ride from Nazareth. It seems though that we were given wrong bus information. We were told to catch the bus at 11:15am, bus number 341. Well, we waited at that stop for a long long time. An hour and a half later, we began asking bus drivers where the bus was, and they (unlike Edmonton drivers who can and will tell you about almost any route) didn't know ANYTHING, except that to get to Tiberious I needed bus 431. Well, we knew that. "What time?" We'd ask as we pointed to our imaginary watches...and they would shrug and drive off. Ridiculous.

Two and a half hours after we'd started waiting, a man came out of his office and asked what we were waiting for...and He, graciouly enough told us that the bus comes irregularly, and the next one wouldn't be until 315...and we could take the 28 or the 22 to a special church outside the city and the 431 would pick us up from there if we'd like...well, we had nothign else to do, so we waited another half hour for the 22 or the 28, and, loe and behold, neither one came. So, fed up, tired of the heat (which must have been 40 or more), and completely frustrated with the incompetance of the city and it's transportation, we left, bought fruit and had a ciesta. We laid in bed, ate things, drank things, and read books for the rest of the day. What a waste.

The next morning we caught a bus back to Jerusalem. Luckily this bus did come. Hurrah! I think now, in retrospect, we should have done the Jesus trail instead. There is a free trail all throughout the region, that basically travels the places that Jesus would have, and from our hostel, there is a daily tour that goes through 18 km of it before you get to take a bus back. I feel as though having limited time, and not knowing the buses, that would have been a better option, and I actually am interested to do the whole thing. I believe it's about 60 Km, and you can do it over 3 or 4 days...stopping here or there with a tent, or in a nearby town. most natural stopping points have daily tours so you can just catch the tour for that day to the next point, and the whole thing is free, and probably inspirational...yet another goal to put on my list I guess.

When we arrived back in Jerusalem, Fadi and Ellen were waited for us. We had to go to Ramalah for some errands. Fadi and Ellen are coming back to Canada on the 5th of July, so they are getting a ton of things organized to go. Fadi, works in a huge theatre doing lights in Ramalah (about 45 minutes from Bete jala). He has an Israeli passport because when he was a kid, he lived in Jerusalem, so passing through checkpoints is fairly easy...ha ha ha which is an operative word. So, in Ramalah, he goes to get his final check (which he's been telling them for two whole months he wanted on this particular day) and it wasn't ready...which tells you a little bit about the society. So, defeated and frustrated, we all went to get some fresh juice...which is something we're missing in Canada. Most of the places we've been you can buy fresh juice....from vegitables and fuits that they have right in front of them, that become pressed and sqashed and turn into juice right before your eyes...in Canada, booster juice is as close as we get (but I'm not dissin' booster juice...I really like it still).

We ate lunch at this place called Dollars. It was quite funny going with Ellen and Fadi.. They have a standard order, that they get evertime, so, they know how much it costs, but just incase we didn't all want that (which we did anyway) they brought us English menus...and the english prices were like 5 or 6 sheckels higher than those from the arabic menu...strange. So, we ordered "Arabic sandwhiches" and told them the english ones cost too much...but Fadi was fairly angry that they even tried to pull the trick at all.

This afternoon we went to the dead sea. It was hillarious! First of all, I'm not sure if the water is always this warm, or if it's because it was like 47 degrees outside (literally), but the water was practically hot. And you walk in, and the sand beneath you is gross squishy mud...and you keep going in, being careful not to slip in the mud, because you don't want to fall, because you don't want to get this stuff in your eyes...it's way to salty, and if you try to run out the salt in your eye with a salty hand...well, you get the picture. So, once we were in far enough (to your knees) you get down and lay on your back and you just float. You can't help but float. It's like there is a force holding you up and no matter what you do, you're going to float. swimming is difficult as well, because you're too high in the water to use your arms and legs effectively for speed and distance. Very strange. We small and floated and took our "dead sea floating pictures" and then we went to where the gross sloshy think mud was, and covered our bodies from head to toe with the stuff. The mud explolitates, for one, and for two is supposed to have healing propertites because of the salt, and it's also very oily, so our skin was super soft, and also slippery when we finally washed it off, but not until we got some killer pictures or being mud people!

What a day. I am told that tomorrow I am going to be eating fried tongue. This is such an adventure! I'm glad that I'll be home in just under a week, but boy o boy, I'm lucky to have done and seen all that I have these last two months!