Around the 'Hood

I live in East Jerusalem. The designation is important here. One of the three major issues that peace needs to deal with is the status of Jerusalem. Who does it "belong to"? East Jerusalem is predominantly Arab and is more or less considered part of Palestine, although it is not necessary to pass a check point to get here. West Jerusalem is clearly Israel. The two sides are very different.

I live in a mostly commercial area. The other day I went strolling and found an area with all kinds of useful shops - a hardware store even! The streets are usually busy and full of life and all kinds of interesting shops and people. I love walking around here. I've bonded with my favorites, of course: the ice cream shop, the money changer I use (the owner used to live in Ft Worth!), my favorite little restaurant, a laundry, a really great book and office supply store. Not too far away is the place where I'll be studying Arabic in January.

I love the people whose community I share. Quite handsome, and I have found them always polite, amazingly hospitable, friendly, and so easy to laugh. They love jokes and laughing. Sadly, there is high unemployment, so there are always alot of young people about. Music is heard everywhere on the streets. It's a very energetic place.

There are sort of 3 days of weekend here and it took me awhile to plan accordingly. Friday is the Muslim day of prayer, so in my area most shops and businesses are closed. Saturday is the Jewish Shabbat which is not so noticeable here but most of West Jerusalem is closed on that day. Sunday is Christian sabbath, but there are very few Christians left here - less than 2% of the population now - so it is only noticeable to a few probably.

The Old City is just a few blocks away. It's become one of my favorite places in the world. As we see it now, it dates from about the 15th century or so. It's not as it was in Jesus' time. The Jerusalem he knew was to the south of the current Old City. In fact, inside today's Old City is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, aka Church of the Resurrection, which commemorates the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial - events which by their nature had to be outside the city in his day. There are four quarters of the Old City: Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Armenian. Each has a distinctive feel.

A wall, mostly built by Suleiman the Magnificent, completely surrounds today's Old City. There are about 8 gates into the city. It's easy to think of the Old City as just commercial but in fact about 30,000 people live there.

Some photos of the area I live in are on the slideshow. Click on the slideshow and you will go to the web album where they're posted for captions and easier viewing.

I'll be doing alot more exploring and will do my best to write about it, with photos.