The rest of last week in point form

A few more thoughts/events/situations that popped up this week:


- My newly-made friends Anne and Donna, Canadian anthropologists working at Trent University and the University of Toronto, who I spent much of my first three weeks here with departed on Monday.

- I travelled the Armenian quarter this week and stumbled across St. Mark's Church, a Syrian Orthodox Church said to be built on the same spot as the apostle Mark's house. I found it at 4pm and returned at 5pm for an evening service. It was beautiful, despite my not understanding a word. I did not take pictures inside the church because (honestly) not having taken the time to figure out my camera properly, I couldn't be sure my flash wouldn't go off and they asked for no flash.

- In between finding the church and returning, I wandered the quarter. A shop owner recommended I climb to the roofs and take a view of the city from the quarter, which I did.



- I admit, I blatantly lied to said shop owner, who asked if he could take me out that night, saying I have a guy at home. phft. I attribute this lie to the equivalent of my saying to other shop owners "no I can't come see your store today, I'm meeting someone" when I am not interested in shopping for something I don't need. I try to be polite!

- While I was on the roof, a group of unarmed Israeli soldiers came up. They were being trained (hence the lack of ammunition) and the guide that was pointing out sites to them. This is probably the only picture of the Israeli military I will attempt to take.

- In my wandering I reached a corner and saw a Jewish man leave a house. As I passed the house, I heard from inside, two children crying and what I assume was their mother saying, in perfect English: "well, do you want Daddy to come back?!" I stood off to the side of the window out of sight and listened for about a minute to the exchange. It was, in a word, horrible and heartbreaking. 



- Then distracted in my wandering, I ended up in a dead end. Reading a plaque on a wall outside a house I heard a "hello." I responded with "hello" and a man came out the door. He almost immediately upon seeing me asked to cover up my cross chain because it was offensive to him. I did so, a) because I don't want to be antagonistic and b) I'm in a dead end street with a guy who's offended by my cross! He chatted for about 10 minutes and while I never felt unsafe, I couldn't be sure he was 'all there'. In the end, he told me I should go to a book store and find some literature on "Gentiles" because I am still young enough to "live right."


- I had dinner with Fr. Bob, Deb and Joshua (who's last name I did not get) but who runs Kids4Peace. This is an interfaith organization initiated with the help of St. George's, that supports Israeli, Palestinian and North American youth to learn about each other. They provide summer camps in which Israeli and Palestinian youth travel to the US for a week and spend time together learning about each other's faith and culture and customs. There is a Canadian branch and I would be highly supportive of any parish or individual or group that decided to support this effort to .help youth foster peace and reconciliation.

- Josh shared stories with us of his experiences working with the youth. Among them: the Muslim and Christian students have names nicknames for each other: Bells and Buckets. You figure it out. We didn't learn what they call the Jewish children.

- Yesterday, I toured the Tower of David. It is a fabulous way to get a grasp on the last 5000 years of regional history. It was ridiculously hot out (about 38 degrees), so the air conditioned exhibts were a welcome distraction.