Jerusalem

Happy new year to all! Mary and I are back from our trip to Israel and Egypt, and I have been sorting through the pictures (discarding the many blurry and pointless ones I took--I'm telling you, digital cameras were MADE for photographers like me!)

I have so many impressions and memories, it's been hard to know even where to start. I just loved Jerusalem and was astounded by it. Even though I'm not at all religious, I have a Catholic upbringing and being in the places that were talked about in the Bible felt quite profound. We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (one of the pictures here) where Jesus was laid after his crucifixion. And saw another church where Mary (the mother of Jesus) is purported to be.

And it's not just Christianity of course...I have never seen so many Orthodox Jews in my life--I remember going to New York City and being struck by all the men with black clothing, hats and forelocks--well, that was NOTHING next to Jerusalem! I was dying to take pictures but thought it would be kinda rude.

One of the pictures here, the gold roofed building, is the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim mosque. A memory that really sticks with me is being in the Old City, where so many stalls are, and hearing the Muslim call for prayers being broadcast...I have never heard anything like that before.

It is so quiet on Saturdays--almost no traffic, no businesses open...because it is the Jewish Sabbath and the city of Jeruselum is influenced greatly by Orthodox Jews. Commerce comes to a halt and there is no driving. It is truly a day of rest.

It was a delight to go to the market to food shop. All the fresh produce, the breads, spices, meat and fish, dairy--it was just gorgeous and everything was so delicious! Coming from the land whose national cuisine is fish and chips, or bangers and mash, well it was a delight. I ate homous there that tasted like none of the homous I've had in Canada...I swear I could have eaten it every day, and then alternate it with the falafel. Mary and I both swore to start diets once we got back to England, but she is doing better with it than I am.

We bought some Armenian painted tiles for our bathroom renovation this summer--there are so many gorgeous ceramics that it was bewildering to choose. And of course every shop keeper is like, how much do you want, I'll give you a good price, here look at these, do you want to take two? At first I felt bombarded but then I got into the spirit, either ignoring them or else haggling the price, even to the point of walking away til they lowered it. One of the pictures shows Mary in a bead stall--but I wish I could capture the beauty of the old city, with stall after stall after stall filled with gorgeous coloured things.

Because we were there at Christmas, there were TONS of tours, and many Christians overcome with emotion I guess, kissing altars and such. Christmas Eve we made dinner with the fabulous friends we stayed with, Ellen and Anat--both secular Jews, but quite happy to help us celebrate--you'll notice our "Christmas" tree, a big plant of theirs we decorated. On Christmas Day we went to Tel Aviv, about 45 minutes away--a much more modern city, also beautiful with some really great architecture. It felt so nice to have no Christmas hoopla--it was just a regular day there, people sitting outside having coffee, lots of great shops to look at.

Mary and I were so thrilled to stay with Ellen and Anat--they were so hospitable and we were so glad to have friends to share time with, after being a lot on our own here in Peasedown. And of course it is always interesting to see a place with people who live there.

We went past the Women in Black demonstration, where women (and men) are protesting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. I think, how hard to be a citizen of a country that you love, but whose government policy you hate...well, I guess I am starting to get a taste of it with Harper in power in Canada, but of course Israel has so much more conflict. It felt very peaceful and safe, though I would be reminded at times of the threat--like, going into the bus station to catch the bus to Egypt, you had to walk through a metal detector, and put your bags through an Xray machine...and also had to do that coming off the bus from Egypt, to even get into the bus station and then exit onto the street.

Another fascinating thing for me was hearing about being in the army. All Israeli Jews do mandatory military service when they're 18. I realized that I have never talked before to anyone who has been in an army--nor to anyone who has even held a firearm, let alone fired one.

I'll write another posting later about being in Sinai, in Egypt. There is just so much and I don't want to blab on and on and lose my readers! :-)

I guess to sum up, I think somehow in my mind Israel had an almost mythical status--it is so much in the news, so discussed, and often the images I've seen were of bombs or conflict. And when I went, I discovered a green and beautiful place, with flowers and great food, and a vast number of people living their daily lives, just like we all do.

I really loved it.

So more later--I have to get pictures from Mary's camera of the camels in Sinai--they made quite an impression on me. Last Christmas, being in a seaside town in Guatemala, it was the pigs roaming the streets that really struck me--this year it was camels wandering across the highway.

More soon!

Karen