Jerusalem Syndrome

Apparently there is something called "Jerusalem Syndrome" where visitors to the holy land are so moved by being in the presence of the holy sites that they suddenly start believing they are the Messiah or a prophet. This syndrome has not afflicted me.

It must not be Asian tourism season in Jerusalem yet because I am quite conspicuous here. I haven't seen very many Asians at all in two full days, although I've encountered tons of American tourists from all over the States. I am soooo sick of hearing "nihau," "konnichiwa," "hello, yes please, you speak English?," etc. from the vendors, taxi drivers and tour guides trying to sell me stuff. This morning one of the vendors yelled out "ohio" and I said "I'm not Japanese" and he just kept saying "ohio" louder and louder as I walked away. Maybe he thought I was from the state of Ohio.

Israel is hands down the most expensive place I've visited so far. A small bottle of water will cost you anywhere from $1.50 to 2.50, a crappy, dirty room in a hybrid hostel-hotel with a shared bathroom in Tel Aviv costs $65 (I've paid half this price for places that are 10 times better in Europe), internet is about $5/hour (more expensive than any other city I've been to so far), even street food such as falafel or shwarma will set you back $6-10. On the subject of falafel, I was walking down the street today and stepped aside to avoid what I thought was dog poo, but then a vendor standing close by laughed and said it was just smashed falafel. People here really love falafel, and the chickpea in general (which shows up in falafel, hummus, stews, with rice, etc.).

I passed by the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption in Jerusalem today. I think we should get one of those in the U.S. and stop being so anti-immigrant.

If the best-looking men during this trip were in Turkey, the best-looking women have been in Israel. Israeli girls are gorgeous. I've passed by so many girls where I do double takes because they are so pretty. Even the Israeli girls in their army garb (Israel requires both men and women to be conscripted for army service) are hot.

Jerusalem is insufferably hot - I really don't know how the Palestinian Muslims who cover themselves head to toe or the Hasidic Jews who wear full black suits with black top hats everyday stand it. I almost melted today. And hot humid weather means...mosquitoes, which I am getting eaten alive by. My legs are covered with angry red bumps. I must be allergic to mosquito bites because my bites swell up to 1 or 2 inches in diameter.

Since this post is basically a random assortment of ramblings, let me just continue my rambling by saying that I make the best rugelach in the world and perhaps Jewish bakeries should come learn how to make it from me. I know this sounds uber-conceited, but I'm just stating fact. I tried rugelach from a popular Jerusalem bakery and it was utter crap. And the rugelach I've seen in the market and other bakeries just look not very good - you can tell that the pastry is made with butter/shortening rather than cream cheese, which is what real rugelach pastry should be made of. Too bad I've hung up my baker's hat.

My first impression of Jerusalem was that there were three distinct groups: Jews, Muslims (which I thought was synonymous with Palestinian in this region) and Christians. But it's not really that simple - within the Jewish population there are Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi, Hasidic, and Beta Israel (probably among others). There are Palestinian Muslims and there are Palestinian Christians. The hostel I am staying at is run by a Palestinian, which I thought meant Muslim, but it turns out that although the owner/manager identifies as Palestinian, he is Christian. Then there are Bedouins and Druze, which also represent significant numbers of the population. People here are so defined by which ethnic and religious group they belong to...I wonder if there are any atheists or agnostics (or Buddhists or Hindus) here. I guess there wouldn't really be an attraction to live here if you were not Jewish, Muslim or Christian since I don't think Jerusalem is a particularly pretty or nice place to live.

And one final random thought - I walked through the Muslim Quarter today to Damascus Gate, the main gate in the Muslim Quarter. Right before the Damascus Gate, in the heart of what is clearly the Muslim Quarter (to even get to the Jewish Quarter from here, you have to first pass through the Christian Quarter), there was an archway, and on top of the arch there was a huge menorah and a huge Israeli flag posted, while underneath the arch Palestinian women sold vegetables, Palestinian kids played soccer and Palestinian vendors sold souvenirs. Honestly...is it really necessary for the Israeli government to go rubbing the Israeli flag in Palestinian's faces, in their own quarter? It kind of reminded me of the scene in "The Sound of Music" when Captain Von Trapp and Maria return from their honeymoon and upon finding the Nazi flag posted on the gate of their house, the Captain tears it down and rips it up. I wonder what would happen if a Palestinian did that to the Israeli flag.

I'm debating between returning to Tel Aviv tomorrow morning or heading east to the Dead Sea. I'm a bit limited on time, and Shabbat also starts tomorrow evening (which means everything, including the bus system, shuts down until Saturday evening), so the only way I could do it is to go to the Northern Dead Sea, which is in the West Bank (i.e. Palestinian occupied territory). Not really sure how dangerous this would be. When you're in the States reading about Israel and Palestine, you think this is a war-torn area where Palestinians and Israelis are trying to take each other out all the time, and that Palestinian territory is dangerous for Americans because of jihad. But once you're here it doesn't feel like a country constantly on the brink of religious warfare (well other than the sight of the many Israeli soldiers with M16s and pistols strolling around everywhere and the security checks every time you enter into anything from a coffee shop to a bus station (even the Sbarro's here has an armed guard at the door that checks your bag before he lets you in)). Nor do Palestinian Muslims seem particularly threatening (it's the machine guns dangling from the sides of 19-21 year old Israeli soldiers that scares me). In fact I am sitting in the Muslim Quarter in a room full of Muslims at a Muslim-run internet cafe (the cheapest one in Old City). And quite frankly, the Muslim locals have been the friendliest and most helpful (but also the pushiest when it comes to trying to sell stuff) in Jerusalem. Such a far cry from the media depictions of fundamentalist Muslims we get in the States, although of course, we knew that....didn't we?