Goings On

A bit of a mid-week grab bag...

Spring weather 

It is indeed a rollercoaster into spring in Jerusalem. Yesterday we had our first Saharan low. Huh? Apparently, this is when a low pressure system from around Morocco and Tunisia arrives over Israel full of dust and pushing the cooler high pressure system out of the way. It was 25C, hazy and windy. Then suddenly, the temperature bottoms out. Today it was 15C, windy, with some "drops" of rain. These are typical spring events. We can expect a couple more and the heat to be higher. The most important thing is to not leave your laundry on the line when the rain comes. The rain is welcome since it clears the dust out of the air, but it will wreak havoc on your laundry...well, I, at least, consider a soiled load of washing havoc and a royal pain.

Still no coalition

At the weekend, Peres granted Bibi two more weeks to put together his coalition. So far Bibi has only managed to ensure Tzipi Livni and her Hatnua party will join the coalition. Yesh Atir (Lapid) and HaBayit HaYehudi (Bennett) are playing hard to get. It's next to unfathomable that Bibi will fail to put a coalition together, but the screws are tightening. Stay tuned!  Meanwhile Barack cannot confirm his travel dates because he isn't coming until the coalition is in place.

West Bank unrest

While I was playing at Purim, there were protests in the West Bank. I won't go into the details, but it's about prisoners and prisoner's rights. Some headlines were wondering if we are seeing the simmering start of the Third Intifada. No one knows, everyone hopes not.

RavKav 2

You may recall that in October I wrote a long entry about the saga of getting a RavKav card for the bus. I bought a one semester RavKav not knowing where I'd be in the second semester. The 1st semester card expired on Thursday. Earlier in February I mentioned to friends, a couple of times, that I ought to go get my new RavKav before the new semester started (Feb 26). But did I? Of course not! That's the thing about human nature...or at least some humans' nature, such as mine. I seem to be of the type who like to put off the less fun things in life. And, admittedly, I had foolishly expected the renewal of the RavKav to be straightforward. Hahahahaha. I have now learned my lesson about Israeli bureaucracy: It never gets any easier and you can never eliminate any steps.

I went to the Central Bus Depot (no renewals on campus in February) on Thursday and waited an hour and a half for my number (you know those red numbered ticket dispensers -- they have them here and occasionally use them) to be called only to find out that students didn't need to get a number, they just needed to queue stand in a mob and wait to enter the office to get their RavKav renewed. Once in the queue mob, I pretty effectively made my way to the front (being taller than the average male is an advantage only in this context!).  I made it to the office only to find out I needed my passport. Whywhywhywhywhy? (Refresher: This is contemporary Hebrew for "I am overwhelmed in a negative way".)

Despite the fact that to pay for a new Rav Kav online you have to enter your ID (Passport number) and a password (your personalized password -- no one else would have this) to access your account, and that you presented your passport and proof of status at the university in October -- which was scanned into your file -- you still need to show your passport at the RavKav office to recharge your card.  I may not be the only person who was perplexed by this. On my second attempt to get my RavKav there was a new sign outside the office:

I didn't try the photocopy, but this made me laugh. The tourist bit means -- if you are not an Israeli, the only document you can show us is your passport - the real thing - we don't care if we've seen it before and scanned it, and no your non Israeli driver's licence is not sufficient proof of identity!

My nearly 6 months in Israel has taught me that you need to approach the bureaucracy with two skills - patience and perseverance. You must be exceptionally patient -- waiting over an hour is to be expected, and you must also persevere. The first answer will always be "Lo!" (NO!) so it's essential to reframe and restate and ask again, a few times. I made about 7 attempts on Thursday with 3 different people -- none of them worked. I did get yelled at in Hebrew though -- a sure sign that I had reached the limit: Egged bus company: 1; Me: a big zero.

I returned to the Central Bus Station on Sunday morning. With passport in hand I walked straight into the office where I learned the happy information that, indeed, people -- even students -- were to  queue by number. Okay? I'm fine with queuing by number, but how are you supposed to know when the rules shift? A total mystery. Thankfully, 15 minutes later I had a new RavKav -- for some reason I couldn't just recharge my old one. Then it was off to the cashier to charge the card...another mystery. The highest technology implemented through a labyrinthine bureaucracy. I suppose the upside is more jobs. 

Pretty Flowers on Bible Hill

Bible Hill is small hilltop of a city park between the Old Train Station and the Hebron Road just east of the German Colony.  The western stairs to Bible Hill are just behind my bus stop. Last week, I was a bit ahead of schedule and since my bus (direct to Mt Scopus) only comes every half hour, I decided to spend my extra time climbing up Bible Hill to see the flowers. They were spectacular.

Looking northeast on Bible Hill

Red anemones

North on Bible Hill

Bible Hill Anemones -- looking northeast to Dormition Abbey

Anemones

Early Spring in Beit Guvrin

This post has been delayed by 6 weeks! When we (Amit,  Thomas, Theresa and I) went to Beit Guvrin (in central Israel) in mid-January the sight of spring was truly spectacular. Just the week before, we'd evacuated Jerusalem and the snow for the kibbutz on the coast near Netanya. At Beit Guvrin spring was springing with spectacular almond blossoms (something like a white cherry blossom) and fields blanketed with early red wildflowers -- anemones and ranunculus. The birds were chirping. (It would be 4 more weeks before we really heard the birds in Jerusalem.) (Photo credits: TT)

The fields at Beit Guvrin

Fields, looking west

Anemone

Almond blossoms

Iris

About Beit Guvrin

Beit Guvrin is a national park that covers an area that includes the ruins of a town from the Second Temple Period (500 BCE - 70 CE) and a Roman city. Bell-shaped caves are the defining feature of the area. Mostly made of chalk, the caves were relatively easy to dig out. Over the years the caves were dug for columbaria to house birds, for burial caves, and for their chalk to make roadways.

A & T in a columbarium

descent

inside a columbarium

down into a columbarium

is that a toilet in there?

Sidonian burial caves

standing in a bell cave, looking at the bats way up in the ceiling

inside a large bell cave

inside a large bell cave

The caves would be dug from the surface (ground level), with a small hole and then gradually hollowed out as the radius was expanded below the surface. The chalk would be lifted up out of the caves. Obviously, we didn't enter these caves from above. At this point, many of the caves are accessible from one side that is at ground level -- when this happened, I'm not entirely sure (as in is this only the case because the caves have been excavated that there is an entry at ground level?)  And, how the bell caves were used isn't entirely clear either. Did they just excavate the chalk or did they also host summer parties in the cool shade of the caves?

inside a large bell cave

Bell Cave

Bell Cave

the remains of St. Anne's Church

The Byzantines built a church that the Crusaders later restored in the 12th Century -- St. Anne's.

St. Anne's Church

We enjoyed touring Beit Guvrin -- the caves are truly unique -- and the wildflowers were a delight.

Jerusalem Marathon

Today was the Jerusalem Marathon. A perfect weather day:  slightly overcast, temperature between 9C and 12C, and little wind. I saw a bunch of the marathoners that were probably between a 3:40 and 4:20 pace come through Emek Refaim when I was out running errands.

It's a beautiful route through the city, but the elevation is punishing.  They call it the "Breathtaking Jerusalem Winter Marathon". I'm not sure if they meant "breathtaking" to be such a pun -- up and down the hills of this city will take your breath away, and if that doesn't do it the views should!

Emek Refaim marathon route

cheering llama and rider!

Dressing up and Drinking

It's Purim today in most of Israel, and tomorrow in Jerusalem (because it's a walled city and fighting went on longer in the walled city where the event that is being commemorated happened).  Both days are holidays -- not shabbat type holidays, but Western weekend type holidays. Some shops are open, schools are closed.

Purim commemorates the saving of the Jewish people in Persia, the story is in the book of Esther. It's a bit like Hallowe'en, everyone is dressed up -- well, not today, for now it's just the really keen folks and children. Firecrackers are going off. Festivals and public parties are the order of the day. Instead of candy, it's cookies for Purim. They are called Haman's (the scheming Persian prime minister whose plot to kill the Jews Esther, and her adoptive father Mordecai, foiled) ears -- triangles of dough filled with poppy seeds or prunes. Yum!

And, get this, it's the one day of the year that you are meant to get drunk...drunk enough that you lose certain cognitive functions, like the ability to distinguish the phrases "cursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordecai"...whether you lose those functions because you are sleeping or blotto is a matter of some debate.

 If I get some pictures tomorrow at the street party I'll post them here.

street party in Nachlaot

a carrot and bunny i know

Purim - Jerusalem February 25, 2013

beer, beer, beer

News & Views

I'm just back from a long weekend roadtrip to the North and the Golan. It's still winter in the Golan but we (Theresa and I) had a great time. More on that soon when I have the pictures sorted.

This week coalition talks continue and things are not getting any clearer. Bibi is in the trenches to make the coalition he wants -- it's looking like he might have to cede more than he ever has before. It's also looking like the Palestinian issue (or in Hebrew the "diplomatic issue") is going to be far more central to this government's (when it is formed) mandate than the elections would have had us believe.  Bibi has until March 15 to make a coalition government. If he cannot, President Peres will invite someone else to form a coalition. If he or she fails then there will be another election in mid-July. Meanwhile, Bibi's taking the heat for the saga of "Prisoner X" (and the attempt to censor the story) and for his ice cream budget! It was such a scandal that Netanyahu has cancelled his ice cream contract (USD 2800 per year). I feel a bit badly for him; I can imagine that a regular supply of pistachio gelato helps to soothe the life of the PM.

In weather news we are getting warmer daytime highs and feeling the heat of the sun again, but the nighttime lows are lower than they were in most of January. I continue to get good wear out of my down jacket!

This weekend we drove back to Jerusalem through the Jordan and Bet Shean valleys where spring is about to give over to summer (at 200 m below sea level the seasons are ahead!). It was a treat to be so warm. As we climbed out of the Judean desert and back into the Judean hills the mercury dropped and we remembered -- at 800 m above sea level it's a bumpy ride through spring! 

Jerusalem the Green & Mount of Olives

Everything is green.

From Mt Zion, looking north to Mamilla (Yemin Moshe on L)

 
Jerusalem really looks completely different after a winter of heavy rains.  These pictures were taken last Monday when Theresa and I took the morning off and walked up Mount of Olives and over to Mt Scopus (where the university is). (Photo credits: TT)

The route to the Mount of Olives from the German Colony goes by a boatload of historic and sacred sites, not all of them were on our itinerary.

From the Cinematheque bridge looking north toward Jaffa Gate (Yemin Moshe on L)

Yemin Moshe was the first Jewish neighbourhood outside of the walled city. Built in 1891, it was constructed to relieve crowding in the Jewish Quarter. Today it's considered a premiere neighbourhood in Jerusalem, but it's not always been so desirable. When the City was divided from 1948-1967, Jordanian snipers often volleyed shots into the neighbourhood!

Yemin Moshe

The Dormition Abbey is a Benedictine abbey just outside the Zion Gate on the south end of the Old City on Mount Zion. [ed. note. Mary is meant to have died at the Dormition Abbey]. King David's tomb is also on Mt Zion. And, the Last Supper is meant to have been served at Mt Zion.

Mt Zion - Old City and the Dormition Abbey (04.02.2013)

At the Dormition Abbey

The Dormition Abbey

We passed a bar mitzvah celebration. Some families celebrate by coming to Jerusalem, hiring some musicians and dancing into the Western Wall.

A bar mitzvah party

At the southeast corner of the Old City there are great views of Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

Theresa (Al-Aqsa behind)

Continuing east we descended into the Kidron Valley (in the Bible this is the Valley of Jehoshaphat).

Kidron Valley looking southwest toward Silwan

The east side of the Kidron Valley is the western slope of the Mount of Olives. This is where the burial sites start.  Observant Jews and Christians consider it an honour to be buried on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. Why? Because when the Messiah comes, he'll come here first.  King David and Jesus both ascended Mount of Olives as they exited Jerusalem.

Kidron Valley -- Tomb of Zechariah and Tomb of Benei Hezir

Here's another cemetery in the Kidron Valley. East beyond the walls of the Old City is the Temple Mount where you find the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Kidron Valley looking west to Old City

I'm not sure if this part of the cemetery has its own name. It's across the way from the Garden of Gethsemane ("oil press" named for the olive trees) and the Church of All Nations.
 

Church of All Nations - Garden of Gethsemane to left

The Garden is most famous as the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before he was arrested.

On the way up the Mount of Olives there are more churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church of Maria Magdalene...

Church of Maria Magdalene

and more gravesites. This is the Jewish cemetery:

Jewish cemetery Mt of Olives

And then the view from the top of Mount of Olives:

Looking south -- at the centre top is the Dormition Abbey

Looking west to the Old City

Still looking west - wide angle

From the Mt of Olives we walked the rolling 2 km route to the Hebrew U campus on Mt Scopus. Right at the edge, where Mount of Olives turns into Mount Scopus there is a Lutheran Centre on the west side of the road, and a Christian Hospital on the east. The road narrows, acquires fencing and the sidewalk disappears. It's as if one isn't meant to walk from Mount of Olives to Mt Scopus. Thankfully, it's a short walk and the traffic was respectful of us on the road.

From Mount Scopus there is a spectacular view east to the Judean Desert (the West Bank) and beyond, the Dead Sea, and the mountains of Jordan. In the summer this view is of burnt desert -- it is astonishingly green right now. And you can really see how the amount of precipitation falls off precipitously! In the bottom right of this photo the road you can see disappears into a tunnel. This road links to Hwy 1, the Israeli road that goes to the Dead Sea; there's a checkpoint on the west side a bit east (around the hill on the right of the picture) of the tunnel [ed note: earlier I made an error in describing where the checkpoint is. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused!)

East to the Judean desert from Mt Scopus

The east side of Hebrew U's Mt. Scopus campus

Isawiya the Arab (Palestinian) neighbourhood that is on the eastern slope of Mt Scopus

Me, calling our friend Amit to meet us for falafel lunch

After stuffing ourselves with falafel for lunch we hopped on the bus and headed down to Mahane Yehuda (the shuk) to get some groceries.

What's with my name?

As it turns out, it's a bit funny introducing oneself as "Christina" in a predominantly Jewish town.  The nature of the Jewish diaspora is that I can pass as Jewish until I tell people my name.

I'm not and have never been a practicing Christian, but it is obviously the tradition I most identify with -- Christmas & Easter being the biggest events on my "religious" calendar. But, having a name that suggests fidelity to Christianity is meaningful when you live in the Holy Land. It means some folks identify me by religion first, which is really a new experience.

I am quite certain this happens to people all the time in Canada, in person and on paper. It doesn't happen to me though, because in Canada my name is not unique. But, names that suggest their carriers (people) are adherents to a certain religion and/or ethnic group that isn't -- I don't know -- quite "Canadian" yet probably have this experience regularly. I overheard some American-Israelis discussing Barack Obama's inauguration speech and someone said, "Isn't it scary his second name is Hussein?  ...Um, no.

But, is a name ever just a name? What is a name if it isn't a categorization, an identity, a memory of someone or something? And, does it ever mean the same thing to the holder of the name as to the hearer of the name?