Last week, we had a little ceremony at the ulpan, kind of a Pesach thing. Due to my well-written essay on what freedom means, it was chosen from the 250 essays to get read during the ceremony. I guess I am honored. You know how sometimes you do something that other people think is really great and they give this look like they expect you to say something or somehow express how happy or honored you are or... I don't know but they definitely expect you to say something fitting. During those moments, I am just not on the same wavelength as the people expecting a certain reaction from me. So either I robotically say what needs to be said or I just tell them that I don't think it's that great and that I couldn't care less. The last approach shocks people, and I seem to prefer it. I just don't do sentimentality very well. I am a heartless bastard. Except when it comes to a few topics, then I have the potential to get emotional and moved to an almost absurd point.
Anyways, I spent last weeked in Givat Tzarfatit, and, unlike three months ago, I understood half of Eretz Nehederet. That's a comedy show kind of like the Daily Show in the US, that basically makes fun and parodies everything about Israeli culture/politics, while giving news with a comic spin. Comedy is the most difficult thing to understand in a foreign language, and when people are making jokes, they are usually speaking quickly, with lots of slang and cultural intonations that can't be taught in a classroom. So understanding even half of it is an accomplishment. In some scenes I got three quarters, which really surprised me. I guess it depends on the topic.
Two weekends ago, I visited Abu Gosh. Not for the hummus, although it's AMAZING there. Abu Gosh is an Arab village about 20 minutes west of Jerusalem. It's mostly Moslem, but it's one of the few villages that has never been hostile to Israel, not even during the insanity of 1948-9. My relatives went there to buy house plants. For some reason there are several large greenhouses that sell a wide variety of flowers and accoutremants relevant to having a nice looking balcony/garden in Abu Gosh. Really interesting town, and quite wealthy and attractive. The hills west of Jerusalem, while not as nice as the Judean Hills themselves, have a classic look when combined with well-tended white stone homes.
In keeping with the chronologically illogical structure of this post, now we're at last night. There was a nice house party in Moshava Germanit (German Colony), which I earlier explained was a nice residential area off of Emek Refaim. It was mainly Anglos, some of them studying here, others having moved here permanently. $900 for a three bedroom place, on 2.5 floors, with a garden, on a green street with expensive homes. Nice. Hopefully I'll get a similar living arrangement soon. Now, there generally is nothing particularly interesting about a house party. People come, people go, there's alcohol, some people smoke cigarettes, there's music and dancing, some people pretend that they are hitting on women, some women pretend they are attractive and thin, some actually are, a lot aren't. But the unusual thing here is that I met this dude. No, not like that. But he was a copy of me, just two years further down the line, since he was born in 1978. Other than that, very similary background story and life progression. Except that he's more right-wing than me. Which is probably where I am headed in a few years.
Today, I walked around Jerusalem with a bunch of guys from the ulpan, and with a random dude who's studying here in a yeshiva from Chicago. A bit of Mea Shearim, and we had to walk through the Muslim quarter to come out of the Lion's Gate. Chicago boy almost died of a heart attack a few times he was so nervous about being in a crazy Arab crowd. Granted, we were all wearing kippot, and we couldn't even pass for innocent tourists. But it went well.
I don't know why the Moslem quarter was so crowded, but the Lion's Gate was chock full of families. I need to find out what the draw is, maybe there's some sort of market or a particular set of religious services on certain days that draws Arabs from surrounding villages. We walked down into the Kidron Valley, and explored the Tomb of Abshalom and the bottom part of the Mt. of Olives cemetery. From there, we walked over to Silwan, an Arab village on a slope of the Mt. of Olives. We wouldn't have gone there, but it was the fastest way to get to a point from where we could climb the entire mountain via the cemetery. Silwan is one of the most anti-Israel of all the East Jerusalem Arab villages. In practical terms that means that they have stoned cars and people, have supported terrorists, and have had lots of people arrested for plotting unsavory things. They were also a nasty battleground in 1967, and Israel is not a place where people forget. We only had to be in the village itself briefly before getting into the main part of the cemetery.
Those of you who have seen the Mt. of Olives from the Jewish quarter know what a site it is. Well, it's worth a visit, and it's interesting to climb up and check out graves on the way. The further up we went, the more exclusive the plots became. At this point in history, there aren't any available plots, all have been bought, and most have been filled. Although there's still plenty of space, and if any of you have a few (million) shiney shekels to spend, you can buy a plot off someone. There are various sections, belonging to different groups of Jews. Kavkaz, Bukharan, Hassidic, Litvak, Sephardi, Mizrahi (which is not Sephardi, there's a difference although most people don't know). Towards the top, we came to a great view of the Old City westwards, and a view south into the Judean Hills. Parts of the separation fence can be seen from there, as well as Jewish towns that are in limbo with regard to whether the Israeli government will include them in the fence or not.
On top of the Mt. of Olives is a hotel build by the Jordanians before 1967 in order to profane the Jewish sanctity of the mountain. It's still there, I have no idea who operates it. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Israeli government allows the Arabs to run it so that rich Arab visitors can have a nice view of Al-Quds. It could run by the Hyatt family. The Hyatts are an Arab Christian family from East Jerusalem who have a few mansions on the Mt. of Olives. Yes, they own the Hyatt chain of hotels. To say that they are rich is an exreme understatement. They are one of the wealthiest families in the world. Our very own Israeli Arabs making it big time in hotels and real estate around the world. Yay.
There's also a Mormon university on the mountain, I still need to go snooping around there. There are some churches on the Mt. of Olives, and on the side of the mountain. The land was bought by the Church in the 19th century and the various European churches built there. The mountain contains the Gardens of Gethsemane where Jesus walked about, preached and was kissed by Judah. The Gardens are in a complex controlled by a Russian Orthodox church, which is beautiful by the way. It has a dozen onion-shaped golden domes and maintains its grounds impeccably. Part way down there are also tombs of two prophets - Hagai and Ben-Zoar. On the way down the Mt. of Olives, we were treated to a bizarre sight - two Jerusalem policemen came galloping up the mountain on massive horses.
Dinner was sabikh. Sabikh is served in a pita or laffa, it's basically fried eggplant and boiled egg. Various veggies, fresh and pickled, hummus, harif, tehina, amba and you have a serious meal. It's a good alternative to felafel and shwarma. I also downed about a gallon of ice cream after dinner, I don't know why but sometimes these things happen.
Anyways, I spent last weeked in Givat Tzarfatit, and, unlike three months ago, I understood half of Eretz Nehederet. That's a comedy show kind of like the Daily Show in the US, that basically makes fun and parodies everything about Israeli culture/politics, while giving news with a comic spin. Comedy is the most difficult thing to understand in a foreign language, and when people are making jokes, they are usually speaking quickly, with lots of slang and cultural intonations that can't be taught in a classroom. So understanding even half of it is an accomplishment. In some scenes I got three quarters, which really surprised me. I guess it depends on the topic.
Two weekends ago, I visited Abu Gosh. Not for the hummus, although it's AMAZING there. Abu Gosh is an Arab village about 20 minutes west of Jerusalem. It's mostly Moslem, but it's one of the few villages that has never been hostile to Israel, not even during the insanity of 1948-9. My relatives went there to buy house plants. For some reason there are several large greenhouses that sell a wide variety of flowers and accoutremants relevant to having a nice looking balcony/garden in Abu Gosh. Really interesting town, and quite wealthy and attractive. The hills west of Jerusalem, while not as nice as the Judean Hills themselves, have a classic look when combined with well-tended white stone homes.
In keeping with the chronologically illogical structure of this post, now we're at last night. There was a nice house party in Moshava Germanit (German Colony), which I earlier explained was a nice residential area off of Emek Refaim. It was mainly Anglos, some of them studying here, others having moved here permanently. $900 for a three bedroom place, on 2.5 floors, with a garden, on a green street with expensive homes. Nice. Hopefully I'll get a similar living arrangement soon. Now, there generally is nothing particularly interesting about a house party. People come, people go, there's alcohol, some people smoke cigarettes, there's music and dancing, some people pretend that they are hitting on women, some women pretend they are attractive and thin, some actually are, a lot aren't. But the unusual thing here is that I met this dude. No, not like that. But he was a copy of me, just two years further down the line, since he was born in 1978. Other than that, very similary background story and life progression. Except that he's more right-wing than me. Which is probably where I am headed in a few years.
Today, I walked around Jerusalem with a bunch of guys from the ulpan, and with a random dude who's studying here in a yeshiva from Chicago. A bit of Mea Shearim, and we had to walk through the Muslim quarter to come out of the Lion's Gate. Chicago boy almost died of a heart attack a few times he was so nervous about being in a crazy Arab crowd. Granted, we were all wearing kippot, and we couldn't even pass for innocent tourists. But it went well.
I don't know why the Moslem quarter was so crowded, but the Lion's Gate was chock full of families. I need to find out what the draw is, maybe there's some sort of market or a particular set of religious services on certain days that draws Arabs from surrounding villages. We walked down into the Kidron Valley, and explored the Tomb of Abshalom and the bottom part of the Mt. of Olives cemetery. From there, we walked over to Silwan, an Arab village on a slope of the Mt. of Olives. We wouldn't have gone there, but it was the fastest way to get to a point from where we could climb the entire mountain via the cemetery. Silwan is one of the most anti-Israel of all the East Jerusalem Arab villages. In practical terms that means that they have stoned cars and people, have supported terrorists, and have had lots of people arrested for plotting unsavory things. They were also a nasty battleground in 1967, and Israel is not a place where people forget. We only had to be in the village itself briefly before getting into the main part of the cemetery.
Those of you who have seen the Mt. of Olives from the Jewish quarter know what a site it is. Well, it's worth a visit, and it's interesting to climb up and check out graves on the way. The further up we went, the more exclusive the plots became. At this point in history, there aren't any available plots, all have been bought, and most have been filled. Although there's still plenty of space, and if any of you have a few (million) shiney shekels to spend, you can buy a plot off someone. There are various sections, belonging to different groups of Jews. Kavkaz, Bukharan, Hassidic, Litvak, Sephardi, Mizrahi (which is not Sephardi, there's a difference although most people don't know). Towards the top, we came to a great view of the Old City westwards, and a view south into the Judean Hills. Parts of the separation fence can be seen from there, as well as Jewish towns that are in limbo with regard to whether the Israeli government will include them in the fence or not.
On top of the Mt. of Olives is a hotel build by the Jordanians before 1967 in order to profane the Jewish sanctity of the mountain. It's still there, I have no idea who operates it. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Israeli government allows the Arabs to run it so that rich Arab visitors can have a nice view of Al-Quds. It could run by the Hyatt family. The Hyatts are an Arab Christian family from East Jerusalem who have a few mansions on the Mt. of Olives. Yes, they own the Hyatt chain of hotels. To say that they are rich is an exreme understatement. They are one of the wealthiest families in the world. Our very own Israeli Arabs making it big time in hotels and real estate around the world. Yay.
There's also a Mormon university on the mountain, I still need to go snooping around there. There are some churches on the Mt. of Olives, and on the side of the mountain. The land was bought by the Church in the 19th century and the various European churches built there. The mountain contains the Gardens of Gethsemane where Jesus walked about, preached and was kissed by Judah. The Gardens are in a complex controlled by a Russian Orthodox church, which is beautiful by the way. It has a dozen onion-shaped golden domes and maintains its grounds impeccably. Part way down there are also tombs of two prophets - Hagai and Ben-Zoar. On the way down the Mt. of Olives, we were treated to a bizarre sight - two Jerusalem policemen came galloping up the mountain on massive horses.
Dinner was sabikh. Sabikh is served in a pita or laffa, it's basically fried eggplant and boiled egg. Various veggies, fresh and pickled, hummus, harif, tehina, amba and you have a serious meal. It's a good alternative to felafel and shwarma. I also downed about a gallon of ice cream after dinner, I don't know why but sometimes these things happen.
posted by Felix at
12:34 PM
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