The People I Meet

Christian Pilgrims Carry These Crosses

I always want to know the facts about a place.  Other people may be interested in wandering lazily without any idea of the history and significance of a neighborhood, but I like to know all the details.  Not only do I like learning the facts, but I usually remember them.  This is why I decided to take a formal walking tour of the Old City in Jerusalem.  I had meant to do this with my mum, but we didn’t have enough time. 

The tour was fantastic—I got detailed explanations about churches, the four different quarters (Arab, Armenian, Christian, and Jewish), and general Israeli history.  The tour also gave me an opportunity to interact with other people, most of whom I would have been too shy to otherwise approach.  While I love hearing people’s stories, actually introducing myself poses a problem.  Meeting people on a tour, where many people from diverse backgrounds are haphazardly thrown together, is perfect for me.  I get to talk to people, but I don’t have to make the initial contact—the tour has already done that.  This post is a summary of the people with whom I talked, interspersed with descriptions of my most recent Old City adventures. 

The View of the New City from the Ramparts

Tour Assistant: He is a native from Jerusalem.  Although he has probably accompanied this tour hundreds of times, he still says he enjoys it and learns new things.  Each time he walks in the Old City he finds a new alley or side street and learns something new.  There are countless things to discover. 

British Uncle, Son and Cousin:  I asked what brought them to Israel and this tour and I learned that she, the cousin, had been praying to come here for years.  Now, God told her the time was right to visit, so she got cheap flights and is visiting the Holy City with her uncle and his son.  She called me “sweetie” and invited me to spend the afternoon with them.

A Street Outside the Ramparts

Montreal Couple:  I spoke to this couple as we were waiting for the tour guide at the Western Wall.  This couple just arrived two weeks ago and are going to be here for another three months!  They are volunteering at a church in exchange for room and board.  In their free time, they get to be tourists. 

The Old City from the Walls

Israeli schoolgirls:  Two Israeli schoolgirls also came on the tour.  They wanted to here about their city from an alternative perspective for a school project.  I think they were also conducting covert interviews with us tourists to discover what makes us “tick”. 

After the tour, I decided to do “The Ramparts Walk”.  This was also something I had intended to do with my mum… Oh well.  “The Ramparts Walk” is a circumnavigation of the Old City by walking on top of the city walls.  I imagined that I was following the path of centuries of patrols.  I could just picture myself putting my bow in the arrow slits and aiming at some invaders throat.  Or maybe not, I probably would have been cowering behind a chair in our house.  I walked the ramparts in complete solitude; this is probably why my imagination went into hyper-drive. 

Arrow Slit

I think my favorite moment of the walk was when the muezzin called the Muslim to prayer.  I was in a completely deserted area somewhere above the Arab Quarter and suddenly I heard one summons start.  Then another muezzin started his prayer to my right, then my left.  Soon, half-a-dozen calls were happening.  The prayers overlapped and created the most amazing aural textures.  These are some of the people I met that afternoon. 

San Franciscan:  As I was descending from the ramparts, I was presented with a dilemma.  The exit led into a section of the Arab Quarter where I could not see any other tourists.  I was uncomfortable walking back to the tourist area by myself, yet I didn’t want to walk for an hour and a half back along the ramparts.  I was wavering between turning around or bravely continuing to the Arab Quarter when I happened to see another tourist wandering through the streets.  I immediately exited the ramparts

Looking at the Arab Quarter from Above

and ran up to the tourist.  I walked with him until we were back into the area that I recognized, aka the tourist sections.  During our walk, I learned that he was visiting his family in Israel and was taking a day off to be a tourist in Jerusalem. 

Gaggle of Girls:  As I was heading to the bus, a group of Israeli’s asked me to take their photo.  They kept saying smile—did they want me to smile, or was I supposed to wait to take the photo until they were smiling? 

The Bus Passengers:  Getting off the bus in Mevasseret in the afternoon, I asked one person if she knew where I should get off.  She asked the couple across from us.  The people behind them overheard and offered their opinions too.  Then someone asked the bus driver.  Soon, the whole bus was discussing the best places for me to disembark.  Not only does it take a community to raise a child, but it also takes a community to help a tourist!