Things I've learned about Jerusalem (part 2)

I have now been here just over a month and have to say that I am really, really loving it: my job; my home and my lovely balcony; my neighbourhood; shopping in the market; the hustle and bustle of the week and then the total calm on Shabbat; the knowledge that there will, in fact, be sunshine every day. I am, of course, on a fairly steep learning curve with regard to pretty much everything, so I thought I'd give a little update with some more things I've learned about Jerusalem.

1.       Israelis are rude. Not all of them - many are charming - but the ones that are rude tend to work in key locations like the visa office, the bank and the post office. Being polite and smiley won't help you either and only seems to increase the vague sense you get of being nothing more than an irritant in someone's day. 

2.      Also, people here do not understand the value of a good queue and are prepared to barge in front of you (when you've been waiting for ages anyway) and take your place at the counter or till. I'm British and therefore my love for queues runs deep and true, so I find this rather annoying. I can't quite bring myself to take part in the queue-barging either. I was (in)famous at uni for always jumping the lunch queue but that's different to waiting in line somewhere official. Having said that being bumped down by a notch, usually by elderly women, is perhaps an example of 'what goes around, comes around.' 

3.      The cats that are everywhere are driven by one thing and one thing only: the quest for food. This morning I saw one persistent cat staring into a drain where something was moving (eurgh). We seem to have acquired two tabby cats. One of them has white feet so we call it Socks (original, I know) and the other one we call Tinok, which is Hebrew for baby. We like Tinok but Socks is a bit of a bully. Anyway, both cats are not allowed in the house (due to the visit of my dad who has extreme cat allergies) yet they spend their days trying to find ways to break in, mainly through the bathroom window. Sometimes they are successful - this morning I came down to the kitchen to discover something had attacked the block of cheese my housemate had left out, and it definitely wasn't my dad.   

4.      Jewish people take their festivals seriously. Yom Kippur was last Saturday - the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the year in Judaism when people spend the day fasting as an atonement for sin. Everything was shut down, even more so than the usual Shabbat silence, and people abandoned their usual black and white garb in favour of just white. Because all the roads were closed - and I mean all the roads, even the ones in East Jerusalem where there is an Arab majority - the kids take to the streets with their bikes, scooters, skateboards and roller-skates. This week it's Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. There are little tents outside people's homes, with palm leaves on top, where people eat and even sleep for the duration of the festival (one week). I can't wait for Hanukkah. 

5.      Jewish people also take their celebrations seriously. By this I mean the eating, drinking and general merriment that goes on for Shabbat, for festivals (Yom Kippur excepting) and for weddings or bar/bat mitzvahs. I've been round to my friend Naomi's house for Shabbat meals several times and it's a treat; last night I took my parents too and we ate like royalty in her sukkah, then sang Hebrew songs of blessing (and Jerusalem and Amazing Grace, which was pretty surreal). 

6.      Compared to back home in the UK people here do not place such a premium on fashion or their appearance in general. I wonder if this is due to the fact that there are so many different faiths, sects, ethnicities and backgrounds; in a city where some men wear black silk coats that look like dressing-gowns with hats that look like tyres made from fur, no one is going to care that I'm not wearing this season's shoes. I have to confess that this is a relief - it feels like the pressure is off, to a certain degree.



Possibly Russian Orthodox? Whatever, the hat is pretty awesome.

7.      Having said that, there are some places where you have to think pretty damn carefully about what you do wear. In Mea Shearim where the ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews live, women can't wear trousers but must wear long skirts and cover their arms as well. When visiting places like the Western Wall or Temple Mount, modest clothing is required for everyone (i.e. no shorts, boys). What I find amusing are the shops where they sell pretty coloured dresses, but underneath all of them is a 'modesty layer' of white stretchy fabric to cover arms/legs. 

8.     Men are really not worried about using every street corner as their own personal urinal, especially on some of the less salubrious streets. Also, people do not 'scoop poop' which makes walking down some alleys a bit hazardous. 

9.      People are also not worried about where they put their rubbish - in the skip (or dumpster, if you're American), in the public bins (a rare find), on the street, on the pavement... This extends to old furniture and electrical equipment. 

10.  In a city where faith is so central to so many people's lives and where there are so many forms of faith, it's easy to get a little lost and even discouraged by some of the extremism. I think one of the biggest things I'm learning is how to find my God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - in amongst the mix. I'm learning a lot about the heritage of my own faith - who Jesus was, his Jewish roots, the context he came from and taught within. Walking in the places where Jesus walked; going to buildings where the disciples once worshipped; following in the footsteps of pilgrims and church fathers. Meeting other Christians whose views I do not share but whose faith in in Christ I do. It's a big learning curve; it's testing my patience and forcing me to confront issues that make for some uncomfortable self-analysis. It's also wonderful for the soul.

I know I have a lot more to learn, a lot more to explore and discover and experience. Sometimes I can't quite believe I actually live here and am so grateful to the God I follow for bringing me here. Even if there is cat poo all down my street and the people in the house across the alley insist on banging their drums every night...

Coming soon: Brunskill does Sukkot vacation with the Brunskill parental unit and escapes Jerusalem, heading to a town called Zichron Yaakov where the people are hippy and the wine is better quality than the crap you get in the shuk for 25 NIS.