Exploring Jerusalem

Jerusalem 4 November 2010

Today's cleverly designed activity filled me with dread at first – then admiration for the course design. Divided into groups of four we were sent out to explore the old city – it's one square mile and has 40000 people resident here. We were asked to talk with shopkeepers and others – how scary but it turned out to be a fantastic learning opportunity.

Our task was to wonder the Christian Quarter being open to the sights and allowing ourselves to experience it – so here's my first impressions.

It was so much quieter than I had expected – in our previous foray through the Damascus Gate to the allegedly best falafel in Jerusalem – we'd been overwhelmed by the crowds and pushing and yelling. But so much of the Christian quarter was quiet and almost empty – in this aspect it struck me how much residential area there actually is – away from the shops there's just gates in stone walls along alley ways. In some places scraps of greenery cling to walls – and further down in the Armenian quarter there seemed to be more arches – so a quiet Saturday morning stroll with kids off at school. We half used the map and half used our senses – I'd have to say I'm ever so much more comfortable with a map – I have discovered on this trip how much I dislike the totally unknown and unpicturable – I'm happy to travel but I do want to hold onto the map – and not disappear off it too far. So we looped down along the city wall which borders the edge of the quarter and attempted to find some of the many churches – most seemed closed.

Our real treasure was meeting a master tailor Sami Babous who has lived in Jerusalem all his life – he was born here during the British Mandate and has had the same shop in the Christian Quarter since 1959 – today he makes stoles and robes for clergy. As a young man he had his photo taken by Lord Snowden and it hangs alongside the snaps of family and customers behind the machine. He told us about his family and the ways his business has changed over the years. He's sad to say that in all his life there has never been peace in this place – and he's glad to be here as his whole family is here his dad having migrated here from Turkey at the end of the 1^st World War. He was kind and gracious and is the leader of the Syrian church in the city – he told me that they used to speak Aramaic but when they converted they called the church Syriac – believers.

I met a man selling antiques in the Bazaar on Christian Quarter Rd where true craftsmen practice alongside the bazaar equivalent of the religious $2 shop – he had kind eyes and didn't try to hassle me to look at his shop or buy anything – which of course meant I went back to his shop later in the afternoon and bought from him. He said that it's important to remember that all this is about Jesus and not the processions or the trappings all around him – he likes Geoff Bullock's songs.

We walked past a house where the Jewish prayers for the dead were happening everyone crowded into the shopfront with much singing and drumming happening. A little further along we were reminded of the melting pot nature of this place with a call to prayer and almost getting in the way of the procession of Greek Orthodox as they walked their way towards the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher) to perform the weekly mass to celebrate that Jesus broke out of hell at 3pm on Saturday, In late afternoon in desperate need of a seat we made our way to the vespers service in the Armenian Cathedral and got fully bells and smells-ed.

One funny thing from the day was the lunch experience we were looking for something that had seating – not an easy find in this city – I haven't' quite worked out if people don't eat at all or what – for I rarely see people eating in the streets and yet there are few sit down restaurants. SO when we spotted a place with chairs we made a bee line and pointed at what we thought were two different sorts of cheese pastry – to our surprise (and my delight) it turned out to be incredibly sweet and somewhat similar to the sweets we had in Jordan. Sugar empowered we were able to face the crush and alien devotional practices we next encountered at the Holy Sepulcher – I'm hoping this place will be less offensive when we go with the guide and have things explained so it doesn't look like a queue of people all trying to light their candles and touch the tomb.

We're off to talk about our experiences with everyone else now – I wonder what stories they'll bring back.