Ba'aretz: Celebrating the Fourth of July: A How-to Guide

This wednesday, we travelled after class again to the Old City. This time, we were joined by our flatmate Noriko. She hasn't really poked her head out much since we've been here, but we happened to bump into her on our way out and invited her along. Her English is good despite not being fluent, but she studies Hebrew with Jordan, and we learned that she is a Buddhist from Japan.

Our first day in the Old City was for the beaten Tourist-treks. Wednesday, we took a different angle of the City. Off of the Armenian Bazaar are stairs that lead up to public rooftops you can walk along. There, it's quieter, as most tourists don't know about them. You get unbelievable views of the city and have an unobstructed view of the Temple Mount. We stopped there to take several hundred pictures.

From there, we walked along the seam between the Jewish and Muslim quarters. The line is easy to spot. The buildings change dramatically. On the single path that separates them that leads both to the Temple Mount mosque and the Kotel, people once throw rocks down on the people below. When the metal grate overhead that remains there was put up, they started pouring water and hot oil. On the train ride home, Jordan and I chatted about the more subtle social separations in Israel. Education for Muslims and Jews is separate, causing economic stratification on the schools and people. If Jews will only go to a Jewish doctor and Muslims will only go to a Palestinian doctor, who may have different levels of education and resources, does this cause a bigger separation for healthcare? It's easy to think about the conflicts of territory and religion on the streets of Jerusalem, but what about the day to day struggles?

We returned to the Kotel after that, this time from a quieter, rooftop observation point, from which we could see the entire plaza. We stood for a long time watching the people pray, watching groups of soldiers approach on a break, watching them assemble as one was given a medal of some kind.

On our way out, we walked along the ramparts to the City of David, old stone structures with ancient guard towers at intervals. If the Western Wall wasn't enough, standing here, where a guard would have patrolled some 2,000 years ago, reminded us of where we really were. Jordan, however, reminded me that the delightful iron railings that keep you balanced on the thin, slippery stone steps would not have been there for those ancient guards, and we decided that they were even more impressive for not falling to their deaths on a daily basis. In the distance, we could see the Palestinian wall, the Judean desert, and far away, the mountains of Jordan, covered in haze.

As we made our way home, we stopped off at Ben Yehuda street for some more tasty falafel, this time with the traditional hot sauce that makes it oh so much better. I, once again, ordered exclusively in Hebrew, and while Katie did the same, the man in the shop replied to her in English. For me, however, he replied in Hebrew, and I was able to tell him falafel in a pita, yes hot sauce, yes everything, no drink, 12 shekels, thank you very much! I may have gloated afterward.

Not that my Hebrew's that good. Yes, I got by in the city today speaking exclusively Hebrew, but I still struggle to keep up. Jordan has this annoyingly helpful habit of speaking to me in Hebrew when we're in the city, so I have to follow and learn new words as she points things out. It's awful, I know.

It wasn't until that night, as we did a bit of homework and chatted about the day, when we saw some fireworks shoot off from the city skyline, we remembered it was the Fourth of July. Not that those were what the fireworks were for. There seem to be fireworks every night here. We're not really sure why. Maybe they're just very, very happy. (Unlikely. Jerusalem.)

I think I celebrated the holiday quite appropriately. In my, er, own way.

The next day in class, I put my Hebrew to the test, not only in our, well, actual test, but also in the film we watched that afternoon, an Israeli movie called "Noodle." Despite our wild predictions as to what it could be about (my vote was for an inner-city teacher who reaches her students through Italian food-making. Classmate James backed a translation of "Avatar."), it turned out to be an adorable film about a boy whose mother is deported and is left in the hands of his mom's Israeli employer, an El Al flight attendant who smuggles him to China to be with her.

Now here's the thing about me. There is one thing above all else in films that I cannot handle. That is small children being separated from their parents. And if you ask me if I cried in a lecture hall at the Hebrew University surrounded by a bunch of students I barely know, I will answer no. No I did not.

Once I had recovered, I went to get more money from the ATM. This should not be as momentous as it was, but after my first money-getting experience, it's always a victory. When I first arrived at Ben Gurion airport, I came with no shekels, planning to just get some from the ATM I knew to be there. It was there; that is technically true. But at that point I a) knew zero Hebrew and b) was dead from aforementioned Flight From Hell. So I started pressing buttons, and eventually, the card slot light up. Instinctively, I put my card in. Which proceeded to get stuck right on the lip of the slot, neither being pulled in or spit back out. I, in turn, proceed to freak out. I would not be losing my ATM card my first 10 minutes in the country. I would not allow that. I informed the ATM thusly.

When it didn't respond to my words of abuse, I pulled out my health insurance card and a Starbucks giftcard (Oh Starbucks, what can't you do for me?) and after about five or so minutes of fishing, managed to slide it out. I eventually found another ATM at a small bank on the empty second floor of the airport and clutched my new shekels victoriously.

So when getting money works, I'm usually relieved. I got my ingredients for Shabbat dinner--my turn to cook. Which I'm actually doing it right now, but I'll tell you about that in my next post about today's adventures.