The City of Jerusalem

The Old City:

The Old City of Jerusalem, within the medieval city walls, is divided into four sections. The Christian Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. These names mean a lot, but they are really just artificial designations. All the shopkeepers in the Christian Quarter are Arab, some are Christian, some are Muslim. Many churches, along with their associated grounds, priests, and apartments, are located in the Muslim Quarter.

Shops, squeezed together like broken pottery in a landfill. Tourism is down, so the shopkeepers are even more eager to get your business. Shopkeepers who know you will always ask you to sit down and they will provide you with a variety of drinks. If they don't have what you want, they will send a boy to go get some from a nearby food store. Some of our favorite shopkeepers in the Christian Quarter are:

 Suliman - a Muslim. He has one wife, and probably won't get another because he doesn't have enough money, plus, he thinks his wife might get jealous. He has a five year old son. He also has a nephew, Mote, who runs the shop when he isn't there. Mote is twenty years old, or so he says. And he is looking for a wife. Suliman would lose all his business if it got out to the Christian community that either he or Mote did anything untoward.

Shaban - a Christian. The only place we go to change money. He was in the PLO when he was younger and spent quite a few years in an Israeli prison. He, like most other Arabs, hates Arafat. Shaban is the "godfather" of the Christian "mafia" in Jerusalem. If any of the girls here at JUC is assaulted, we go straight to Shaban's and tell him, he will "take care of things." If Shaban deems the situation as very bad, the perpetrator will be dead by morning.

Zach - a Christian. He thinks America is a dangerous place to live. Not yet married, but trying very hard.

The Muslim quarter is very nice, although we get plenty of strange looks from the locals. The shops there are much less touristy and more for the locals who make the Muslim Quarter their home.

All the shopkeepers think American women are the most gorgeous creatures who ever existed in this universe. They tell us so every time we walk by them. We are going to come back home so conceited.

The New City:

The New City, which is the Jewish settlement west of Jerusalem, is a pretty normal looking European-style city. It is also the most dangerous place to be, since terrorists target these all-Jewish coffee shops and etc. Armed guards check your bags before you enter any potentially high-risk place. However, saying "Good Evening" to them in a perfect Midwest accent with a big smile usually gets you waved right in.

This is a picture of the YMCA in the New City, where we have our Arabic class. It is the nicest and most up-scale Y I have ever been seen.

Our favorite thing in the New City is Aroma, a nice coffee chain. For NIS 9 you can get this Iced Aroma that so cool and refreshing and wonderful...ahhhhh. Which might explain why terrorists have blown up the competing chain, Cafe Hillel, twice now and Aroma none. Maybe.