This is another of my favorite pieces, I pass it everyday on the way home. You can see that the two donkeys have cities on their backs, the white one appears to be bleeding. This originates from the fable of two donkeys tied together who are each straining to reach bales of hay in opposite directions. while they struggle against each other neither one eats. once they start to work together and eat together they will both feast. Apt story given the circumstances.
View of the Old City and beyond from the Mount of Olives. Even through the dust you get a great view of the city and really start to understand how it's all set up. the quintessencial walled city on a hill, it would have been a tough nut to crack back in the day.
The Mount of Olives is sacred to Judaism because it's believed that the dead will pass on a bridge over the Valley of Jehosephat from the Mount of Olives to the site of the (destroyed) temple (ie the current site of the Dome of the Rock) when the end of the world comes. I may be a little hazy on the details there so feel free to add on to this story. As a result of this there is a massive Jewish Cemetery on the Mount with all of the tombs facing the Old City and the site of the temple.
The view to the south of the Mount of Olives. From here you're looking south, to the left is the West Bank, to the right is Israel and Israeli settlements. the line between the two is hard to discern here. Yes I did walk into a hotel and pretend to be a guest there so that I could get this picture from their back garden. It's kind of amazing how many places you can get into if you just act like you belong.
Israel and Palestine, do you see that big thing snaking through the town? That's the Security "Fence"
This is on the back side of the Mount of Olives facing Jordan. You can see that the cemetery winds all the way around, even on this side the tombs all face the old city.
Tamara this is for you! While on the Mount of Olives we went into a church that had the Our Father in about 100 different languages, of course I was most excited to see this one!
View from Shepherds field. Bethlehem is off to the left. In the bottom left of the picture, below the road, you can see a shepherd grazing his flock. It still happens today. amazing.
The Maj! This is my shop keeper friend Majdi, incredibly friendly, he has a lot of contacts in the states and is more than happy to take people around to see the sites. He's a good person to know. This pic was taken inside one of the many caves that dots the side of shepherds field in Beit Sahour (the neighboring town to Bethlehem).
Inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This Greek Orthodox Church with all the sparkly hanging things is built over a cave where they believe Jesus was born (ie the manger in the cave). Right next to it and attached is a Catholic church with stairs down to the room where they believe the Bible was originally translated into Greek and Latin (?) i'm a little hazy on the details.
the original mosaic floor inside the church of the nativity. Dates back a looooooong time.
So without my bike, the gym, or the ability to go jogging (it's not really done in Palestine) these stairs are the closest i get to a work out. yes i do see stars by the time i reach the top.
Amoreena and Dan, smile pretty kids!
This is George (the third one we met, known as George Abdullah) we met him at his sister's bday party at Cosmos (the bethlehem club). really chill guy. we met up with him and his friend Raed and went to..you guessed it...smoke nargila and watch a football game
Meet Raed, Raed likes his girly drinks. Drink your girly drinks Raed, drink!
mmmm pizza
These are some of Amo's friends who joined us on this particular night. The girl (leah?) happened to be carrying a deck of cards and poker chips in her purse so after pizza there was a mighty poker turnament on the streets of Jerusalem.
That's right, I am a good luck charm!
It was a serious tournament, i wasn't playing but I felt the need to be v. serious. focus christie, focus!
George counting his chips, he was doing really well there for a while...
This is a completely different night, we met up with Amo's friend Maya (sp?) and some of her friends (Andrew above). Turns out the guys are living in Beit Sahour which is right next to Bethlehem. Something tells me we'll be seeing them around town.
This is Mark, Mark got chilly so I loaned him my sweater. Doesn't he look cute in that outfit? awww
They're serious guys these Beit Sahour boys
Maya's having fun, Maurice looks like he's about to expound on the virtues of Nargila (Sheesha)
This is what you do in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, you go to a bar/restaurant, order a drink and a hooka then smoke while watching the EuroCup (ie soccer)...I'm rooting for Turkey bc/ their goalie is super cute--what? it's an impartial way to pick a team!
weird smiles and blurry pictures i think this was towards the end of the night.
Andrew's birthday drink. he even popped the pinky out just right.
Change of scenery. the next day (or a few days after, i don't remember) we met up with Raed and George (number 3 aka George Abdullah). First Raed took us by the YMCA where he works. you see that huge tower and pretty building? yup that's the YMCA
See proof
Again the YMCA, kind of crazy to me how pretty the building is. it has the normal activities (sports, day care, youth groups) then it has a swank restaurant and a hotel. a little different from the american version.
After a night out in Ramallah and Bethlehem we headed to Tel Aviv for the afternoon, this is the only pic i took, i was way too busy tanning.
Me and Cousin Elias, he lives upstairs from us, really chill guy. he speaks a little english and it's getting better all the time. makes the strangest noises though, a really goofy quirky guy. apparently they exist all over the world.
George and Amo at Cosmos..where else would we go on a saturday night?
Yet another night out with friends. This one is with Maurice, Amo, and Issa (raed's brother)
the old folks on the other side of the table, me and raed, you can't really see it but in the right corner that's raed's girly drink. yeah we give him hassle.
HAIFA!! this pic taken from the bus, i really wanted to get out right there
The main landmark in Haifa, the Bahai gardens and shrine. it's really something to see in person, it's completely symmetrical and there is water running down the side of the steps the whole way with fountains scattered throughout. really really gorgeous
People of the Bahai faith are supposed to come here once in their lives and walk up the steps to the shrine, that's 1400 steps!
requisite tourist pic
GORGEOUS. so the water obviously plays a central part in the symbolism of the gardens, not only is it everywhere but you are not allowed to touch it which is almost cruel when it's that hot outside and you're walking up that many stairs.
I met these two girls at the hostel where I was staying. On the left is Charlotte from England (near Leeds she told me) and on the right is Virginie from France (close to the swiss and german borders). they were really sweet and we decided to tour around together for the day.
So unless you book a tour in advance you can only get into the very bottom and the very top of the gardens. we decided to go for it, which meant we had about 2 hours of this ^ stairs, stairs and more stairs.
On the way up the hill we stopped by the sculpture garden which had a series of sculptures, in...you guessed it...a garden. I was a little off at this point due to an hour of uphill climbing and ridiculous heat so i got a little side tracked
What's that? you have a bird for me? oh thank you!
So we took a side trip on the way up to the top of the gardens. we thought that this was the carmelite monastery (it was listed that way on the map) turns out it was a different monastery. we rang the bell and and v. nice little nun let us in to see the church.
it's not much but it was still really nice, and sooo cool after the baking sun.
don't know if you can make this out, i didn't want to use flash in the church. The central figure (god? prophet Elijah?) is surrounded by 7 symbols, among them a rainbow, an ark, the world, a whale, a cloud and a person. I have no idea what it all meant but it was fun to try and figure it out.
And that's the house i want, good breeze, great view, right next to the Bahai gardens, not too big. I'll take it, now where did i put that lottery ticket?
We finally made it, that only took 3 hours of uphill climbing, definitely worth the effort.
Haifa and beyond
tourist pic. in the background to the left you can see the port, Haifa is a working port city, lots of boats coming in to dock, lots of industry going on in the background. it's a bit of a difference from Jerusalem
After lunch Virginie and I headed back up the hill by bus this time to get to the real carmelite monastery. so we took the bus that they told us to take in the hostel, went through town, went past town, then when we asked the driver he had no idea what we were talking about. he eventually stopped and told us to walk up hill for 10 minutes and we'd find it. so we got off, looked at a map and realized that we were way more than 10 minutes away. after a short stint attempting to hitch a ride we ended up paying a taxi too much but we got there. so the thing below the altar is a cave where the prophet Elijah supposedly lived, more caves, more smoke, still cool
slightly blurry picture of the dome, this is why we came to the church. on the left you can almost make out the chariot of fire that bore Elijah to heaven..that's what the scriptures say at least. again i'm hazy on the details so fill this in if you know more.
So the deal with the cave is that Elijah was part of a hermitic sect that lived in caves and spent their days praying. it's believed that John the Baptist was part of this same sect
to get back down to the main road to catch the bus you can either walk down the big big hill, take a taxi, or ride in the cable car. guess which one i chose
hanging out in Jerusalem for the afternoon, sitting on Ben Yahuda, the pedestrian mall, and listening to a street musician and his buddy in the army. it was a little strange to see a soldier put down his huge gun for a moment and pick up a violin. kind of shows you the innate contradictions of this country.
Ahh the interns, Amo and Ethan waiting to meet up with one of Ethan's Seeds of Peace buddies who lives near to us in Bethlehem. That's a mighty nice pose Ethan
