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Jerusalem markets with Julia

1:25pm IST Friday 07 October 2005

Went wandering around some markets in Jerusalem with Julia today. I met her this morning as she was writing notes about some videos she had taken in Hebron, about 45 minutes away, where Israeli citizens were fucking with Palestinian citizens. Israelis are allowed to carry weapons. Not just the soldiers.

I joined her for a bit of a semi-directed wander around the area; the short version: we went to the post office (where she mailed her video tapes home so they couldn't be confiscated if she is searched at the airport), a market, and the old city.

She helped begin my education process about all the madness that's going on around here. She said I should always carry my passport.

Because it's Ramadan, Friday, and a Jewish holiday, police and soldiers are out in full force. To some extent they are just for show, most of the women soldiers don't have clips in their rifles. I estimate about 1/4 of the soldiers visible on the streets here are women. But they sure do have rifles.

We got some carrot juice (I got carrot and banana, which wasn't as fantastic as I had hoped) for 7 or 10 NIS, depending on the size of the cups. We asked the guy what he did with the shreddings after the carrots had been food-processed. He pointed to the trash can.

We were like, "noooo!" and he turned to the back of his little shop and grabbed a plastic spoon to let me save some of the shreddings from their doom. I had a few bites (wanted a doggie bag, but didn't try to ask for one) and then he dumped the rest.

We headed up the street in search of a market she had seen in previous adventures. The streets are well paved with a bit of rubbish on the sides, and we saw one man drinking and spitting up on himself in his misery. Stopped in a Dollar Store equivalent just to look. There were no shelves in the middle of the store, a concrete room about 12 x 12 feet. He had shelves along the side and boxes in the middle, all filled with stuff that seemed a bit dirty and less valuable than our money.

Arrived at the market shortly thereafter. It was basically food (fruits, baked goods, raw meat, fish, candy) and some household items (kitchenware that should be in a dollar store, washcloths, hats). People mostly wore "normal" western clothes, with a few women wearing head scarves. I was most intrigued by the hasidic Jewish men. Here are average pictures from within the market.

Here are pictures from within the market featuring Israeli citizens with guns.

Here are pictures of soldiers with guns around the market. Basically I was too intimidated by the men with guns, so I didn't try to photograph them. The women generally didn't have clips in their guns, but on their belts.

We left the market area, with a couple of bags worth of dried fruit and some nuts and baclava (?) and water. I saw some girls having lunch and got the feeling if I didn't at least try to get a picture with them, I'd berate myself later. I'm glad I got it.

This is a poster from the market, but I don't know what it says.

Today

10:47pm IST Friday 07 October 2005

Today I basically finished my journal (including pictures!) for P/B. There are some more pictures that I might add, but there are plenty of pictures included now.

I read more of the Buddha book (a bit over halfway finished now) and Julia passed on some Palestinian information pamphlets that had been handed down to her.

I got a bit caught up on email, wrote five postcards, including one in Japanese (to Kin from 49th voyage) and one with upside down writing to keep people from easily reading its pro-Palestinian content, which I suspect could get it tossed instead of sent.

I'll take pictures of those now. (pics might end up here)

Chillin' in the hostel included speaking a bit of Japanese with Kayo and Daisuke, who checked my card to Kin (two kanji were way messed up), but though I used basically ÂçÂçÂç instead of Âç¾æÉ×, he didn't seem to notice.

Went walking a bit with Sarah to get some foodage for tomorrow. I got pita and humus; she got chocolate.