Random notes on life in Jerusalem

• Hot water is not necessarily available on demand. If you have a solar panel then you will have hot water on demand about 8 months of the year. Otherwise you had better have patience (or a timer) because it takes about an hour for the boiler to warm the water sufficiently on a cold and cloudy winter day.
• Many households do not have clothes dryers. In the summer this is no problem, you can be sure your clothes will dry within the day inside, faster outside. In the winter, when the rain might be incessant for nearly a week this can be a problem. Plan ahead if you need a particular outfit in your small wardrobe!
• A Haredi man may put his hat in front of his face, or look away, for the duration of the time that you (a female) are in his line of vision - walking by on the street or standing on the bus. 
• Be aware of where you sit on the bus; the last empty seat which is next to a Haredi man might not be a good choice. I've never tried it because I don't want the conflict but there have been serious conflicts in Israel over segregated buses - men in the front, women in the back. Women don't sit next to religious men.
• The cost of consumer goods varies by neighbourhood. For example, 500mL bottle of water costs NIS 5 in most of West Jerusalem and NIS 3 in East Jerusalem. A meal of hummus also costs more on the west side.
• Sidewalks are not just for pedestrians and cats and dogs. They are also for riding bikes, erecting sukkot (the shelters for the upcoming holiday), and parking cars.

  

  Metal bars on sidewalk so that cars parking across the street don't back over the sidewalk

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Pedestrian funnel

  
  

  

  Um?

  
  

  

  Weave!

  
  
  
  
  Should you find yourself with a free, relatively smooth patch of sidewalk be ready to duck, bob, and weave at any moment -- the plants overhanging could knock you out. The City repaved considerable tarmac this summer, maybe they ran out of money for trimming back overgrowth on sidewalks? Maybe it's like this every year? Maybe there is no sidewalk municipal liability here?
  

  

  Time to trim your hedge!

  
  

  

  Duck!

  
  

  

  Jungle Jerusalem

  
  
• If you plan to swim at the community pool confirm the day and hour you've chosen are gender appropriate. Pools have male, female, and mixed sessions. So do yoga and pilates classes.
• Shopping at the drugstore is never fast and it's the kind of experience that belongs in a comedy sketch. Nothing is organized in a way that anyone can find. Each time I go to the SuperPharm there is at least one item I cannot find. Asking for help results in a clerk dragging me around the store in circles and ultimately telling me they don't know where the item I asked for is. I thought this was an experience unique to nonHebrew speakers - it is not.
• Drinking coffee is a daily (or multiple times daily) social activity here. The standard order is a cafe hafooch (or hafuch?) which is meant to be a cap, but usually comes out as a latte. At home many people make Turkish coffee (yum cardamon) by pouring boiling water on the grains and letting it settle. Admittedly, this is better than instant coffee, but it isn't as good as a true boiled Turkish coffee. In sum, the coffee isn't all that good, but no matter, social life revolves around it.
• Hummus is an institution in Israel. Seriously. People argue over where to go for hummus because they disagree on which place makes it best. To appreciate this you need to know that people are not arguing over that small plastic container of yellow-beige goo that you bought at Whole Paycheque and intend to slather on your rice crackers. They are arguing over bowls of warm chickpeas pureed with tahina, lemon, and olive oil, topped with more chickpeas, or "fool" (fava beans - awesome), fried mushrooms, or ground beef (not so much) and served with fresh and warm pita.

  

  A giant lunch: pita, pickles and onions, small hummus and kubba soup

  Critical is the side dish of pickles and onions - and here, I have to tell you - eat the raw onions. I never eat raw onions, but with the hummus, well, just do it. And, a Coke or a beer on the side to wash it all down. Yum! My favourite place to eat hummus is in a cave of a restaurant in the Old City on Fabric Street about halfway to Damascus Gate from the Western Wall. Food made by Arabs, patronized by everyone. On certain days they serve Makloubah (Arabic for upside down) a dish of rice, potatoes, eggplant, onions, nuts and sometimes meat. Also amazing.
• Olive Oil. Yum! The stuff you buy at the supermarket has a taste and 500mL of it sells for $7.
• Falafel - Chickpeas, again! This time ground up into little balls, deep fried, stuck into a laffah (shaped like a tortilla, but spongy: so yummy) or a pita (makes a smaller size sandwich that has a higher bread to filling ratio), surrounded by salads -- cucumber, tomato, cabbage, raw onions, slathered with tahina and topped with soggy, greasy fries if you want.
• Business opportunity -- There is no Mexican food to be found. Devastating. Some days you just want a black bean instead of a garbanzo bean.
• Sabih - This is the Middle Eastern answer to the BLT. Built like a falafel on laffah or pita, filled with salads, fried eggplant and slices of boiled egg topped with tahina, and fries if you want. Surprisingly delightful. 
• Fruit - you know how I feel about the fruit here - Amazing!
• Carob juice - a seasonal treat to be found in the Old City. Looks like flat cola, tastes like sweet carob. Sold in 250mL cups, you really only need about a tablespoon for the experience.
• Building - house or apartment - renovations seem to involve endless jackhammering and I have not figured out why. 
• Music. Israel is an amazing place for music. The Hebrew U includes a Music Academy of excellent quality. I've seen  several spectacular student performances. The Jerusalem Theatre has a full calendar - almost nightly - of concerts (usually classical) including a weekly free concert that is very good. The live jazz scene is fantastic, especially in Tel Aviv. And, other genres and fusions are well represented at the Yellow Submarine in Jerusalem. Frequently you don't need to pay cover; sometimes a hat gets passed around.
• Wine. You may be surprised to learn that Israel has some excellent wine. My favourite is Pelter after a tour of their facilities and a great wine tasting last winter. I particularly love their Cabernet Franc, but my budget doesn't!
  

  

  Pelter cork as gnu

  And, they have amazing goat's cheese. Alas, even wine is political. Pelter is grown in the Golan which is contested territory. 
• In an earlier post I said that Gaza doesn't have many sites to lure an average tourist. That's not quite accurate. Gaza has many interesting historic sites and fantastic Byzantine mosaics.  An archaeologist is quoted in a Ha'aretz story saying Gaza 'was once a "very rich oasis, with gardens, cities and you have settlements, dwellings, fortresses, cities everywhere, everywhere."' This makes sense - Gaza is along the coastal route from Egypt to the Levant. But, the politics of Gaza mean that archaeological preservation and exhibition isn't a priority right now. 
• When making tea, after the water boils wait. Wait for the mineral deposits to settle before you pour the water. And, don't drink to the bottom of your cup, there are more deposits there. You'll know you've reached them when you get that sandy feeling in your mouth.