07 July 2007 -- The Aptly Named Old City

I'm writing this at the Young Judea Youth Hostel, just about an hour before I enter the Old City of Jerusalem for the first time. The Mickey Leland delegation seems cool enough -- a typical adolescent mix, but cool. (By the way, I learned last night that sababa is "cool" in Hebrew. I'll give a shiny new sheqel to the person who starts a trend of using this word in the United States. A whole sheqel. Of course, that will seem less impressive when you check the exchange rate.) The group consists of loud kids and quiet kids; athletic kids and artistic kids; intellectual kids and those who outwardly resist the trappings of deep thought; a socially awkward, attention-seeking girl and those exasperated by her; a girl with a tendency to offer regular reminders of her coolness (or sababaness?); and a generous helping of straight-up nice kids. All this, and there are only ten students in total! We'll see how they are after a long day of high-temperature walking and high-intensity cultural immersion...

[Later today...]

Well, it was predictably amazing -- so many opportunities to experience tangibly otherwise esoteric historical and literary moments. I was especially struck by the view from the Mount of Olives, which I chose as my title image and which incorporates a veritable Biblical universe, the setting of countless stories whose collective plot still serves as the basis for Western cultural consciousness. Since there is so much to say about Jerusalem, I will limit and guide my narrative by presenting it as a photo essay of sorts.

Elvis is alive and well, and he has opened a restaurant next to a gas station in an Arab village outside of Jerusalem. Really. Okay, not the "alive and well" part, but the Elvis American Diner actually exists in Abu Ghosh. I'm sure the King would have loved their hummus!


This is the view facing the Old City from the Mount of Olives, with the Jewish cemetery in the foreground, the Dome of the Rock in the background, and the eventual site of Judgment Day in between. There seem to be a few plots still available if you want to be first in line for the big day.


Here we are in the garden of Gethsemane. Some of the olive trees are said to be around 2000 years old. Jesus may have been tempted under these very branches. If trees could talk...


This guy is videotaping the room where the Last Supper supposedly took place. I wonder if someone was there to record the actual Last Supper. Probably not, or we would have seen it on YouTube by now.


Behold the altar atop Calvary, at the very spot where Jesus was crucified. All attempts at cleverness aside, it's pretty darn incredible to stand at the exact origin of the Western world's presiding ideology.


Sunlight streams through the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre surrounding Christ's tomb. At least, I think that's sunlight. I mean, what else could it be???


For a more secular sensation, try wandering the expansive markets of the Old City. Don't expect to avoid the hard sell, though. If you make eye contact, you're done. An Arab shopkeeper started speaking to me English and then in Russian. I tried to get out of it by speaking Spanish back to him. He answered in Spanish. I have a feeling that if I had blurted out something in Mongolian, he would have followed suit.


Jerusalem's Old City has four sections: the Christian Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, and...anyone?...no? It's the Armenian Quarter! Yeah, I know, it was on the tip of your tongue. Anyway, these are Armenian monks after a prayer service.


There's no denying it: the Old City is just plain old. In a good way, though.


Here I am in front of the Western Wall -- kotel in Hebrew. For those of you who don't know, this is the only remaining vestige of the Second Temple, and it is therefore Judaism's holiest site. People put written prayers between its stones since this is believed to be the closest Earthly place to G-d. Yes, I put a note in the wall. No, I won't tell you what it said.


Check out the peyot (sidelocks) on the kid in the plaid shirt. Now, that's what I call devout! This is a class of Orthodox boys praying enthusiastically at the Western Wall. Wait, is that what I think it is? Yup, their teacher is carrying an M-16. A real one. And you thought lunch detention was bad...


I wanted to end on an optimistic note, so here's a picture of some Mickey Leland delegates looking at the Western Wall. The one in the gray shirt is from a Muslim family of Pakistani origin. Maybe there's hope for this world...