I didn't post anything yesterday because nothing really happened yesterday. It was cold, but sunny, I get home from work and trained well, and had a good night sleep for today.
Today I went to Jerusalem, to visit Jerusalem. Also to visit Joseph Emmanuel. He was a very close friend of (Father) Bruno Hussar, the founder of the village. Well, actually Joseph is one of the founders too. I 'googled' his name but all I could find out was that he was the director of the Israel Interfaith Committee in the 80s and received several peace prizes. Now he is at this state hospital in Jerusalem, he lives there, goes into dialysis. I think he's still married and his wife visits him frequently. Timo has been in Neve Shalom for almost 6 months and ever since he's been visiting Joseph once a week. Those who know me also knows how much I hate being in a hospital. And this one does not necessarily fancied my taste. I think I'm going to be a very grumpy old woman when it comes to cleanliness one day. Or just the opposite. What do I know?
So we went to the common room of the pension (hospital) he resides in. Most elder patients were on wheel chair, looking real weak, and some of them seemed to be in their own respective world, or just pretending to be there, I can't be sure. And I don't want to feel inconsiderate to even comment on their state of being old, ill and seemingly lonely. And maybe I should be ashamed to admit that I just wanted to get out of there and run as fast as I could. Maybe it's because it was a hospital, and didn't look as clean as a hospital should. Yeah, probably why, because I never felt this way when I'm around elder people.
Anyway, we picked a table closer to the corridor that Joseph was supposed to come out of. Timo said he had a walker. I saw an old man with thick glasses on very slowly walking our way. He looked sweet and taking his time. I felt like the time has slowed down as well, as in everything around me was in slow motion, life was awkwardly not in a hurry. Fully digesting every moment that passed. Too poetic and cheesy perhaps. Joseph wanted to sit somewhere closer to the garden, made me happy so we switched tables. He has a lovely smile, and he does smile a lot. A very curious man, he likes hearing our stories, remembering them the following week and getting updates. Timo says this is like a mind gymnastic for him, recalling all information about us, asking for more... I can see Timo and Joseph really like each other's company. Timo's boss, the gardener, is also a good friend of Joseph and it is him who arranges these visits to Joseph. So this first meeting was pretty much an observation for me, of Timo and Joseph, joking about things and laughing and getting along pretty well. They're both sad that Timo's leaving in 3 weeks. Joseph thinks he didn't stay long enough in Israel and he should stay more, make his grad school applications from here. No need to go back to Germany this early.
He looked at me, Joseph, and asked what my story was. "Coming from Turkey" is always a good conversation starter here. Like when this guy and gal gave us a ride to the Latrun junction on our way to J'salem. Apparently he wrote a book on Armenian genocide, an information he delightfully shared with me once he found out where I was from. We didn't have time to go into details but apparently the book is in English. We'll see if I see them again and have him talk more about this. Back to Mr. Emmanuel. Joseph didn't give me any vibes of sarcasm when he smiled at me for being Turkish. He expressed his sadness that Turkey and Israel had very good relations until recently. Well I always like to separate the governments and the people they allegedly represent, something I'm academically and personally looking into. This whole experience, if I act smart and productive enough will be very helpful and enlightening? Again, we'll see. The rest of the conversation was mostly Joseph asking Timo about the village, how the work goes, his studies... We stayed there for an hour and then went to the old city. On the way to the central bus station, we passed a very ultra orthodox neighborhood. Everybody was in black or dark browns and grays (with white shirts inside), peyoth ringlets, wide brimmed hats and beards, tightly wrapped heads, long dark skirts and dark boots, plus a cloudy day with no sun shine, made me feel not just self-conscious but also in a fantasy story, like in a different realm. I don't know how best to describe my sense of existence at that moment.
When we get to the old city it was already dark. On the way there, the Jaffa Street was actually quiet good-looking. And it looks like Istanbul, how's that?! Although I must say most of the old buildings look like they could use some restoration, or simply some paint job. Also I wasn't expecting the streets to be this dirty, as in unused garbage bins in the city. Overall though, I like that street with antique stores, bars, restaurants... We wanted to grab a bite before actually going in to the old city. So we went to East Jerusalem section where they sell falafels. Timo took us to his favorite falafel buffet. It was, yes, delicious, but I really don't think I'll be able to do that again. Unless, the nice fella making the falafel sandwich decides to put on gloves while he's grasping the falafel and the pita bread. :O I was actually going to suggest him to do so but I just couldn't probably because that "self-consciousness" kicked in real hard. Anyhow, the guy won't be getting away with it next time, IF I decide to eat falafel from that buffet ever again.
So we finished our sandwiches, and passed through the double security check to the Western Wall. It's a very small area, I always pictured it as a bigger wall, or wider. The wall is separated in two areas, for girls and boys, and for the sake of being consistent with how they interpret the religion or perhaps how the religion really is, the area that was reserved for women is smaller than men. Sorry. I can't help it. The bazaar side reminded me of the old city in Sa'naa, Yemen. AND a little bit of the grand baazar in Istanbul. We left the Western Wall pretty fast and wanted to walk around the outer wall. We climbed up the hill to see the Arab sector and the West Bank. It's quite impressive actually. You see this wall, behind it can be the capital of another country that you recently were in war with. It's an impressive scenery when it's dark and all the lights are on, including the green minaret lights. I'd like to see this day time, and will come back here surely, with my camera this time. Maybe next week BEFORE visiting Joseph.
The gate that was fired on from the inside by the Israelis and from outside by the Jordanians (if I'm not mistaken) was still full of bullet holes. Towards the end of the wall you can see some Jewish grave stones in between the stone bricks that constitute the wall. I'm not sure who put them there, but I know that they're most likely the grave stones that were stolen by the Jordanians to be used as cobblestones.
There was a green area, nice looking, at the Armenian section of the old city. I'd like to hang out there. Next time. Then what happened? Then we walked back to the central bus station to take the bus back to Latrun junction. Our friend from Neve Shalom was waiting for us to drive us back to the village. Very tired, very exhausted, I worked a little, finished my pretzels with lebane and hummus, then read some of the testimonies from the Breaking the Silence booklet. After that, a quite nice tunnel filled with memories and wishes.
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