These people are for the most part healthy, but they are home bound due to the circumstances of the Old City such as the uneven streets and the staircases leading up to their houses. We took them lunch and sang hymns to them which they really enjoyed.
The Good Samaritan, to point out the obvious, is a Christian organization. I think it's interesting to hear the different takes on religion from different religions, for example today when we were learning about this center the director (who seems like a great guy, all of the elderly people love him) was really ripping into Muslim people and their religion. A lot of things he said I thought in my mind "that's not true". For instance, he was saying that the Qur'an is an evil book (not true) and that all it teaches Muslims is to kill for their God (not true). What I also found interesting and strange is that the Christian schools in the Old City don't teach their children anything about the Old Testament. The director was telling us how he thought this was a bad thing, which I agree with. But then when I take a step back from the situation I realize that I never really studied from the Old Testament before now. How did I miss the importance of it? I don't know.
After visiting the people of the Good Samaritan we waited around for our van to pick us up and explored the mall in West Jerusalem. I was curious about how much more expensive the prices were here, so I went into a Gap. Interesting and funny, I had to go through security to get into the store. That was a new experience! Anyway, the verdict was about $20 dollars for a cotton t-shirt. Seeing clothing stores kills me because even though I'm not a big shopper at all, I'm so tempted to buy new clothes because I am getting tired of my same seven shirts. But then I see the price, and I suddenly feel very content with what I have.
One thing that irks me (I hope this isn't turning into too negative of a blog post) is the West Bank. Israel has a separate walled section for Palestinians to live in called the West Bank. From what I have gathered, the government claims that this wall is put in place for security reasons, but any Palestinian I have talked to says that that is nonsense. In order for a Palestinian to get into Jerusalem (if they are qualified to or have good enough reason) they have to have several different permits and passports to get through the gate. My Arab teacher passed around his permits in class, I think it's a little ridiculous. And my teacher is even an American, but because he is of Arab descent he has to aquire these permits and renew them every six months.
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The Wall and the West Bank
The reason that I am bothered about this especially today is because on Tuesday my teacher couldn't make it across the border to teach our class. (He said that in the mornings he has to leave 3 hours early to make time to get through the border). Today in class he told us that they just wouldn't let him through, they didn't tell him any reason, they just kept him from crossing. He went in the next day to get all of his fingerprints and permits checked on and they were all valid, so he has no idea why he wasn't permitted into Jerusalem. How humiliating to be turned away from going somwhere where you need to be, for no reason.
Through learning about both Jewish and Palestinian history I feel like I can make more informed opinions on the conflict of Israel. I may still be ignorant, however, because I know a lot more than what I know has fueled this conflict for so many years. And I hope I don't give off the impression that I dislike the Israeli Jewish people, because I don't. I love my Judaism teacher, Ophir Yardin, and I have met some very nice Jewish people in West Jerusalem. I just don't understand why they do what they do. I really don't understand it.
But then again, I will be here for more time and part of the purpose of this program is to thoroughly educate me on this matter. So I'm interested to see how my opinion will change and evolve throughout my time here.
By the way, I stumbled upon this link: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/02/10/jerusalem.road.discovery/index.html
It's kind of cool, check it out. I was actually just here today! This city is my play ground!
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