My friends and I just managed to get lost on the outskirts of Mea She’arim on the way back from the Old City!! (Remind me never to let someone suggest a 'short cut' ever again?!)
For those of you who don’t know, Mea She’arim is one of the big Ultra Orthodox neighbourhoods in West Jerusalem, and it is literally only a street or two away from where I am staying (hence the number of Haredim I keep seeing).
It was pretty tense…because I’ve heard so many stories about the place, and suddenly I was very aware of the fact that I wasn’t wearing a skirt, but jeans…and we were three women alone on the outskirts of Mea She’arim at the start of Shabbat!!!
YIKES!
Luckily for us nobody was mean, and three very nice Haredi women helped us on our way out of the neighbourhood. I nearly died when I saw the sign indicating the neighbourhood…The Haredi fascinate me, but I don’t want to go there again in a hurry!
Shabbat Shalom everyone - some pictures and a longer post coming either later of tomorrow with a relaxing Shabbat morning ahead of me! :D
Friday 8 April 2011
Tuesday 5 April 2011
The Only Goy in the Village
Hi everyone! So...I'm in Jerusalem - can hardly believe it!
My first day here is barely halfway gone, but having been out on the streets of Jerusalem four times for about an hour at a time before retreating I've decided to take it slowly...so I'm having a break and blogging!
So...my journey really began yesterday when I checked in at Luton airport. I found myself in the departures lounge seriously feeling like the only Goy in the village...heh heh! (for those of you who don't know, 'goy' is a Hebrew word often used in reference to non-Jews; really, it just translates as 'nation') I amused myself by people watching, and it tickled me pink to see all the Modern Orthodox men arriving in Departures with various head gear (baseball caps, flat caps...use your imagination!) and then like magic the aforementioned hats were stashed away and the characteristic black knitted kippot appeared en masse!
By the time I got to the departure gate, about an hour before we were due to fly, I felt strangely like I was already in Israel...at this point I truly realised that I was just about the only non-Jew going on this flight...and one of only a handful of British people! There were a token few Haredim (i.e. Ultra-Orthodox: imagine the big black coats, hats etc.) who are, surprisingly, not so scary up close as you might think (and having walked past literally hundreds of them during the course of the day I have discovered they are perfectly benign...as long as you don't, you know, do something unforgivable like wear trousers in their neighbourhoods, or carry a camera by the Western Wall on Shabbat...).
There was a young Israeli couple standing next to me in line with their two-young children, speaking Hebrew at the rate which we mere mortals can only dream of (Read: Rach turns green) and they were clearly secular, but I still had a bit of a shock when the mother pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich for the little girl...Hee hee! Oh yes, welcome to the wonderfully bizarre and eccentric mixture of Israeli culture and society! In my head a bizarre little exchange occurred wherein the whole situation turned into a comedy sketch:
'Oh yeah...screw that! I'm not just going to eat treif - I'm going to eat treif and milk products TOGETHER!! Ha ha! Take that!'
It reminded me of a story I heard once about a guy who used to put honey-roast ham between two pieces of matzah for Passover...I love it! It's no wonder they have so much problem deciding who is actually a Jew and who isn't! ; )
The flight was as all flights are - pretty tedious - but it was clear skies until we got to Tel Aviv so there were some pretty cool views when flying over Turkey and Cyprus. We arrived 40 minutes early (I will never mock EasyJet again!) and after a bumpy descent through the rain clouds (which would have had my mum reaching for medication...) I got my first glimpse of Israel. I don't know exactly what I expected, but I know that everytime I go to Egypt and I see that country out of the window for the first time my heart jumps and I end up grinning like a cheshire cat. (First time I went to Luxor I nearly cried...pathetic, I know!) I didn't have any sort of reaction to Israel, to be honest. Tel Aviv looked like pretty much any other Western city...and I think that's one thing I've found so far - Jerusalem is very much a modern Western city (with the exception of the Old City, and the fact that everything is written in Hebrew) - it doesn't have the Middle Eastern charm of some other places; at least not in my humble opinion.
I'll admit that I was a bit wary on landing as we've all heard the horror stories about arriving in Ben Gurion airport...rigorous questioning, bag searches, IDF everywhere... Well, there was none of that. The airport was airy, modern and absolutely massive and it took me barely 15 minutes to get out of there, including passport control, baggage claim, customs - the whole thing! Maybe we were just lucky? Who knows...
I was very pleased to see my pre-booked taxi driver waiting for me (even though the darn thing cost a fortune!), and although he was very brusque and had hardly a word of English he did his job and got me into Jerusalem safe and sound. The drive into the city was a rather sureal experience...it's not like when you first arrive in a country like Egypt and are immediately struck by how different everything is - the Israeli highways are just like British motorways except they drive the 'wrong' side of the road. The signs are all trilingual - (whoop! Instant vocab tool!!!) and one of the first things I saw as we were coming to the turning for central Jerusalem was a McDonald's...yikes.
Having been safely delivered to my accommodation I settled in for the night. The hostel I'm staying in has been great so far. The staff are friendly and quite helpful, although, they're not very good at helping you to find places to buy stuff (eg. when I asked where I could find a shop that sold toiletries they just gave me vague street names - grrrrreat! lol). The atmosphere is great, and they help organise tours, which is handy for me, especially to go places like Galilee and to the Mount of Olives (which has a reputation for being dodgy for the solo female traveller).
My dorm mates...*face palm*. Two left this morning, so I didn't really get chance to know them, and the remaining two are evangelical Christians on a mission to 'save' me.
My first day here is barely halfway gone, but having been out on the streets of Jerusalem four times for about an hour at a time before retreating I've decided to take it slowly...so I'm having a break and blogging!
So...my journey really began yesterday when I checked in at Luton airport. I found myself in the departures lounge seriously feeling like the only Goy in the village...heh heh! (for those of you who don't know, 'goy' is a Hebrew word often used in reference to non-Jews; really, it just translates as 'nation') I amused myself by people watching, and it tickled me pink to see all the Modern Orthodox men arriving in Departures with various head gear (baseball caps, flat caps...use your imagination!) and then like magic the aforementioned hats were stashed away and the characteristic black knitted kippot appeared en masse!
By the time I got to the departure gate, about an hour before we were due to fly, I felt strangely like I was already in Israel...at this point I truly realised that I was just about the only non-Jew going on this flight...and one of only a handful of British people! There were a token few Haredim (i.e. Ultra-Orthodox: imagine the big black coats, hats etc.) who are, surprisingly, not so scary up close as you might think (and having walked past literally hundreds of them during the course of the day I have discovered they are perfectly benign...as long as you don't, you know, do something unforgivable like wear trousers in their neighbourhoods, or carry a camera by the Western Wall on Shabbat...).
There was a young Israeli couple standing next to me in line with their two-young children, speaking Hebrew at the rate which we mere mortals can only dream of (Read: Rach turns green) and they were clearly secular, but I still had a bit of a shock when the mother pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich for the little girl...Hee hee! Oh yes, welcome to the wonderfully bizarre and eccentric mixture of Israeli culture and society! In my head a bizarre little exchange occurred wherein the whole situation turned into a comedy sketch:
'Oh yeah...screw that! I'm not just going to eat treif - I'm going to eat treif and milk products TOGETHER!! Ha ha! Take that!'
It reminded me of a story I heard once about a guy who used to put honey-roast ham between two pieces of matzah for Passover...I love it! It's no wonder they have so much problem deciding who is actually a Jew and who isn't! ; )
The flight was as all flights are - pretty tedious - but it was clear skies until we got to Tel Aviv so there were some pretty cool views when flying over Turkey and Cyprus. We arrived 40 minutes early (I will never mock EasyJet again!) and after a bumpy descent through the rain clouds (which would have had my mum reaching for medication...) I got my first glimpse of Israel. I don't know exactly what I expected, but I know that everytime I go to Egypt and I see that country out of the window for the first time my heart jumps and I end up grinning like a cheshire cat. (First time I went to Luxor I nearly cried...pathetic, I know!) I didn't have any sort of reaction to Israel, to be honest. Tel Aviv looked like pretty much any other Western city...and I think that's one thing I've found so far - Jerusalem is very much a modern Western city (with the exception of the Old City, and the fact that everything is written in Hebrew) - it doesn't have the Middle Eastern charm of some other places; at least not in my humble opinion.
I'll admit that I was a bit wary on landing as we've all heard the horror stories about arriving in Ben Gurion airport...rigorous questioning, bag searches, IDF everywhere... Well, there was none of that. The airport was airy, modern and absolutely massive and it took me barely 15 minutes to get out of there, including passport control, baggage claim, customs - the whole thing! Maybe we were just lucky? Who knows...
I was very pleased to see my pre-booked taxi driver waiting for me (even though the darn thing cost a fortune!), and although he was very brusque and had hardly a word of English he did his job and got me into Jerusalem safe and sound. The drive into the city was a rather sureal experience...it's not like when you first arrive in a country like Egypt and are immediately struck by how different everything is - the Israeli highways are just like British motorways except they drive the 'wrong' side of the road. The signs are all trilingual - (whoop! Instant vocab tool!!!) and one of the first things I saw as we were coming to the turning for central Jerusalem was a McDonald's...yikes.
Having been safely delivered to my accommodation I settled in for the night. The hostel I'm staying in has been great so far. The staff are friendly and quite helpful, although, they're not very good at helping you to find places to buy stuff (eg. when I asked where I could find a shop that sold toiletries they just gave me vague street names - grrrrreat! lol). The atmosphere is great, and they help organise tours, which is handy for me, especially to go places like Galilee and to the Mount of Olives (which has a reputation for being dodgy for the solo female traveller).
My dorm mates...*face palm*. Two left this morning, so I didn't really get chance to know them, and the remaining two are evangelical Christians on a mission to 'save' me.
Dear Lord, PLEASE save me from your followers!!
Apparently anyone not 'born again' isn't a real Christian and is bound for hell. I would so love to put my brain into gear and shoot them down...but the thing is, they both mean well and truly believe in what they are doing...I just think they actually don't realise what damage they are doing to their own cause and to Christianity as a whole by being so persistent and 'in your face'. I had to sit through being given leaflets and having the Bible quoted at me this morning at breakfast and I was ready to throw something...but as long as they back off now, I won't mind. One of them, however, who is American...she is clearly here on a mission. She has a suitcase full of her little 'Are you going to Heaven?' leaflets all printed in Hebrew. She's here to chase Jews...which, I'm sorry, I find absolutely abhorrent (and, in all humility, I mean no offense to anyone - I believe in freedom of religion for all, but shoving your beliefs down someone elses throat and telling them that they are damned? No. Just no).
I digress...
So, my first day in Jerusalem has been a bit of a mixed bag so far! I don't really like it or dislike it...I'm neutral. I get the feeling that I'm going to love the Old City, but the New City just leaves me cold. It's a bit intimidating for a traveller because everything is in Hebrew with very few translations anywhere - I haven't even found a cafe or anywhere that has a menu with an English translation yet, so wish me luck when I try to find food later!!!
I went out early to find that Jerusalem has at least one thing in common with other Middle Eastern countries - nothing opens until quite late, even the newspaper places. I managed to get myself around a few of the local streets without actually knowing where I was going, even with the use of my map...and the city is quite intense. It's busy and bustling, there's loads of traffic. So...just imagine a big city with no English signs, with everything, and I mean everything even bottled water only having Hebrew on it (there's not even Arabic on them...so I'm screwed!!) and people automatically speaking to you in Hebrew.
It's intimidating - there's no doubt about that; and Israeli's have quite a brusque manner. Those I've spoken to seem nice, but there is not the sense of hospitality or friendliness like you see in the Arab countries. no-one looks at each other, no-one talks to you except to take payment from you or ask for directions (invariably in Hebrew...LOL). Interestingly enough, I seem to be a popular target for people asking directions - I must look like I know where I'm going! Well...I don't! Ha ha! The only response they get at the moment is 'ani lo medabaret Ivrit!'
Ultimately, I've accomplished hardly anything I set out to do today...I haven't even located the two Ulpanim I want to check out! I did, however, manage to find and buy bottled water and toiletries, find somewhere to change money and found a cashpoint which will take my card. So...I guess I've not done too badly to begin with! It would, no doubt, be easier if I wasn't on my own because the language barrier is incredibly isolating at the moment because my Hebrew is sadly lacking! Though, I am absolutely loving this 'hip' way that young Israeli's say goodbye - Arabic and Hebrew meet: yalla bai!
On the upside, I've got my day planned tomorrow - I'm going on a (free!!!) tour of the Old City run by the hostel I'm staying at, and I've also booked trips to Masada & the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, and Galilee over the next 14 days, so I'll keep you posted and tomorrow there will be photos!!!
Yalla bai!! : )
Saturday 26 March 2011
Eight Days Until Israel...
In eight days time I'm moving to Jerusalem for, God willing, a few months to work on my language skills and to do some academic research...Wow!
Anyway...I've tried to get myself going with this blogging malarkey a few times in the past and never really got off the mark, but now I'm moving abroad for a while I've decided to get myself in gear, mostly so I can share my experiences easily with family and friends back home!
So...eight days to go...and sooo much to do!!! My next post will most likely be once I'm in Jerusalem...wish me luck!
Anyway...I've tried to get myself going with this blogging malarkey a few times in the past and never really got off the mark, but now I'm moving abroad for a while I've decided to get myself in gear, mostly so I can share my experiences easily with family and friends back home!
So...eight days to go...and sooo much to do!!! My next post will most likely be once I'm in Jerusalem...wish me luck!
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