Adventures in the Holy Land

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Jerusalem - the pinnacle of cultural and religious significance for so many. The city itself was the most enchanting, magical city I have ever had the pleasure of visiting (better than Venice in my opinion!). It's no wonder that so many people are fighting over ownership of the city. I entered the country with a view to be as objective as possible, given the conflicting stories and opinions that I've been told. Needless to say, my Arab friends were disappointed that I even stepped foot into west Jerusalem (the more Jewish part of Jerusalem also known as the New City).

It was clear that the Israeli government has a lot of money -- the infrastructure was obviously newer and better kept. This was immediately clear once we passed the borders. We also decided to visit the Holocaust Museum. I wanted to compare how the Israelis would portray the tragedy (vs. the European museums I had previously visited). The quality and content of the museum was similar to my European experiences. Of course, some Arabs think that the Holocaust was fake, and if it were real, that maybe 2000 people were killed. I always laughed at such conspiracy theories, but I realized that weekend that even seemingly average Americans raised in a progressive city like San Francisco, can have such views. Even if "only" 2000 people were killed, how does it make the event any less horrid? But I digress.

I don't understand why the oppressed have become the oppressors -- the Jewish, of all people, should be more forgiving. Of course, we can't generalize the military actions of the Israelis as completely attributed to the Jewish. In fact, there are many Jewish people who believe that the land should be divided fairly. On the other hand, it is incredible how much rage and resentment the Palestinians feel against the Israelis. Even the mention of the country's name can make an Arab's blood boil. I must admit though, that their side of the story is rarely heard in North America. Given that my biggest history learning in school was of the Holocaust, I of course thought that the Jewish deserved their own land.

The Old City itself was such a fascinating place. The quarters were very distinct from each other and while people of the same religion lived together in these so-called quarters, there was clear intermingling of people on a daily basis. Speaking as a naive Canadian, I feel that Jerusalem has the potential to become a model of multiculturalism. People of all religions and cultural backgrounds have already lived here in harmony for centuries. To me, it is really the people that don't actually live in the city (who coincidentally have more power) that refuse to share it. But this of course, is only a superficial analysis. There are people who have spent almost their entire lives trying to resolve this conflict, yet the conflict lives on...

It was a weekend of intense learning (in spite of the food poisoning!), given my previous ignorance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I would love to visit again and would in fact, do it every few weekends if I could. However, the crippling inter-city travel and border crossing fees makes it unfeasible with my current salary. Well, we can't have it all!

Welcoming 2011 in the Middle East

Happy New Year everyone!! :) I hope everyone had a great celebration with their family and friends. While I was almost 10000 miles away from my close family and friends, I still managed to have a great time in the desert with friends. Last minute (an hour before departure), one of our friends decided they wanted to go to Karak the night before to break up the drive and see Karak castle (photos below) at the same time. So after work, I quickly packed up some stuff and we headed off. Karak is only about an hour away from Amman, but we hit a large patch of the thickest fog I have ever been in. We had to rely on the rock walls along the side of the road to gauge how parallel we were to the side of the road. But eventually we got there and the weather cleared up. We found a sketchy hotel (or the only hotel that we passed by) and decided to take an apartment suite (with a Jacuzzi!...that we never used due to its sketchiness). The next morning we drove up to Karak castle (Karak is essentially a gigantic hill!) and spent the morning exploring it. It was quite fun as we were allowed to crawl into the empty rooms, with some being so dark that it required a flashlight to explore. It is not often that you can do that in ruins! (These were from the Crusader era – not that I am a history expert by any means…).

After the morning of exploration, we drove towards the south of Jordan (Wadi Rum - the desert where we spent the night (see photos below)) for our New Year’s Eve extravaganza. It was a 3 hour drive but we had to wait awhile for the rest of the gang to get there. While we were waiting, the organizer of our Bedouin camping experience invited us into one of the employee’s home. He had 6 children, though I didn’t know which were his as the cousins and friends were running around as well. One of his daughters was extremely charming and wanted to practice her English with us. She served us the most delicious tea while we chatted and waited in their sitting room. Even in their tiny one-story bungalow that seemed so remote, the head of the household had a computer and was killing time on Facebook. Ah, how I underestimated the reach of globalization.

Anyway, the camping experience was great. We mostly hung out by the fire, took a couple walks into the dark of the desert to watch the stars and told hilarious stories. Dinner was SO delicious. They roasted the food in a barrel buried into a hole in the sand. The contraption had a two-story tray with holes – the top tray holding onions and other vegetables and the lower tray holding the chicken to be roasted. There was a rice pot at the bottom that soaked in the cooking juices of the ingredients from above. The rice was SO delicious!! The next day a few of us went camel-riding and I had the most boisterous camel! I was almost thrown off of him several times, but I still fell in love with him. Too bad I didn’t get his name or number :(

A few days after New Year’s I finally moved into my new place for the year. It’s a cozy flat that I share with 2 other roommates who are great (and very intelligent) people! It felt great to finally unpack my suitcase and make my living quarters more homey. Well, that’s all the update I got for now! Happy New Year!!