West Side

I am spending lots of time in the West, the Jewish section of Jerusalem. I have been defending Israel left and right, attending birthday parties where all the food is kosher and men wear Kippot, and going to the movies. Now that I have my membership and an empty apartment, I keep going to movies. For whatever reason, I keep seeing war movies - guns, explosions, death. It feels strange to watch in a culture that is so dominated by war and violence. I keep waiting for someone to run out crying, due to flashbacks.
Now I am sitting in a kosher Bagel restaurant, in a very American area. I don't know why I came here. I am half in the mood to run into people, half hiding. I am trying to explore different parts of this city, and I don't want to hide from certain neighborhoods anymore. Its not worth it. It is strange to be a place where you can have a "Bagel with a shmear". There's a large group of religious Americans sitting together, enjoying a birthday dinner of salads, pasta, and bagel sandwiches. There is a large boisterous man next to me telling inappropriate jokes, singing to himself, and playing fantasy computer games. There is a young couple with a young child who won't shut up, but for whatever reason they won't leave. At least I have gotten this out of my system, and I don't need to come to this area for a long, long time.
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My birthday was last week. Lots of people came to help me celebrate, at a Tapas bar in West Jerusalem. It was amazing to have so many people from different places together - Jews, Christians, Muslims, and atheists. Israeli, Palestinian, American, Italian, Canadian, British. One friend I've known since I was 5, others from the Arava, some people I have just met in the last couple of weeks, and a friend who I first met randomly at a party in Jordan 3.5 years ago. The a large crew of friends of a friend tromped in, sang Happy Birthday in Hebrew, then left. At first the mingling wasn't so smooth, but by the end some numbers were exchanged. A success.
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Friday was a little nutsy: I went on an alternative archeology tour of the City of David and Silwan. Did some quick food-shopping errands. Met up for cocktails with a friend and got some closure (and my French coffee press!). Then Friday night dinner with old family friends and a combo of random young people. Then out until 3am with a bunch of Israeli Arabs, drinking and smoking, getting stared at for using Arabic in public and feeling funny for still wearing my shabbat clothes at a dance bar.

All in all, an interesting night. More things happened over the weekend, but I have to get out of this neighborhood. I need to learn to live life NOW instead of just reflecting on what was and over thinking what could be. But I still need a job...

Reality Bites

The workshop is over. A month and a half of my life - sleepless nights, sudden trips to Ramallah, countless stops at the printer's to print budgets and schedules and CVs, but now it is done. It ended in an unexciting way - sitting at the border in Eilat. As usual my Syrian stamps caused me problems, and I had to sit and wait at the border for an hour, without explanation. My boss and participants were eager to get home, so they ditched me. Luckily my co-worker stayed and escorted me to Eilat where I got a bus to Tel Aviv, then a sherut to Jerusalem. Once I got the visa it took me over 7 hours to get home. I should've just rented a car and charged the workshop, but because I was in charge of the budget I knew there wasn't much spare money for it. But it' done. And after nearly a week of terse emails to America I have MOST of my salary in my bank account, and now just need a few hundred shekels and a couple JD to reimburse me for the expenses I paid out of pocket. Time to take a break from the Arava for a while...

Being back in Jerusalem is bittersweet. I must have started to idealize it, during the quiet nights on the Kibbutz. I should be grateful for the handful of people I DO have and to know a number of coffee shops where I can hang out with laptop and family friends where I can invite myself over for Shabbat - I need to remember to do that today.

One way to kill time is to see movies. I finally bought a membership to the cinematheque, which means I will be staying in Jerusalem for a few more months. Just because I can I need to see lots of movies. The other night I went to see a movie about outsourcing to India. It wasn't very good, but not so bad that I wanted to walk out. And I am trying to learn not to leave in the middle of cultural activities - I got pretty bad in London. I wanted to take a bus home since I had walked 30 mins there, but the street going towards the German colony was blocked with a police van and no one was walking through. I saw a bus stopped at a weird angle, heard some police yelling through a loud speaker, and then a loud "boom". There was an attack in Dimona a couple days ago, and people have been talking about the escapees from Gaza and how it's just a matter of time until something happens here. But this is the city of peace. And I am invincible. I walked home as quickly as I could and looked at Haaretz/JPost/Debka, but no news of a bombing. Maybe it was just practice or an unidentified left bag. Whatever it was I am back on edge again, and not very excited about it.


So there are good days and there are bad days. I need to work on getting Health Insurance and opening a bank account. And this whole job thing - go Japanese! But in between I should spend some quality time in Hebron, pick up some stuff from the boy's house in Haifa, read a book at the Austrian Hospice, take a road trip, and see my old Arabic tutor. And try to make some new friends, without a job or school to ease the transition. This could be interesting...