Praise Allah, It’s Thursday

Dearest Rachel –

I gather that just by using this title, I’m marking myself as an impious infidel; however, I can’t help but wonder if, since their day of worship is tomorrow, and they party tonight, whether Muslims have a similar attitude toward Thursday evening as we Westerners tend to think of Friday, and thank God for it just as we do.

The reason it comes to mind is because we won’t be able to go out to the markets, or the restaurants or the bars tomorrow, because of the fact that Friday is a day of worship for the Muslim population of Jerusalem. And that’s understandable; everyone needs a day of rest and worship. Indeed, in certain Arab-majority towns, the weekend is split up with a workday in the middle: Friday, the shops close for the Muslims, and Sunday for the Christians, but school is in session, and the shops are open, on Saturdays instead. It makes me wonder also how often people skip out on Saturdays in order to enjoy a three-day weekend. I certainly wouldn’t blame them for trying.

In any event, that means that today is the day for us to go out on the town, if we want to; we won’t get the chance tomorrow. I wonder now if that’s not part of the reason we got back to the hotel so early this afternoon, relatively speaking. Well, no matter; while Daniel and I aren’t exactly nightlife people, how often do we get a chance to make our way about the city – any city – like this? Best to take the option while it’s available – at least, as long as the group is going somewhere.

After hanging out in the lobby bar while everyone assembles, it’s finally decided that we are heading out to the market, both to shop and for dinner.  However, it turns out that the light rail won’t take foreign credit cards, so some of us need to exchange funds at the concierge. And I know, I’d planned to withdraw funds at an ATM, where I would get a better exchange rate, but hey, it’s only twenty bucks, and anything else I buy is likely to be paid for in plastic.

After also hurrying back to the room for my jacket, I make a quick dash to the lobby, just as the group (about twenty strong of us) is making for the door.  Perfect timing, really.  Maddie and Nicole set the pace, with Daniel and I following as closely behind as possible.  In no time, we’re way ahead of nearly everyone else.  It isn’t until a police car, lights flashing and siren blaring, go by, and I call out to the girls to “pull over – you’re going too fast!” that they turn around and realize just how far ahead they’ve gotten.

At least by being there first, Maddie is able to walk the rest of us through buying our rail tickets. I pay for Maureen (for which she recompenses me in dollars), and we’re on the way to the Mahane Yehuda Street station, only three stops down from our hotel.

But boy, is it crowded in here!  The Blue Line ‘L’ has absolutely nothing on this car. That, or I ride it at less than peak times. I don’t know

Once we reach the market station, we walk down the entire length of the street, just trying to take everything in…

…before Junior (who, along with Nicole, has – apparently inadvertently – been leading our merry little band) acknowledges he’s got no idea where he’s going, either.  Since we’re just here, following the crowd, we’re of no help (although I point out that, with his neon green sleeves, Daniel would be a natural for everyone to follow – if only he knew where he was going)

Denim claims to know of a five-star pizzeria in the area and, once he calls the location up on his phone, he takes the lead.  However, a few people peel off and by the time we get there, we’ve been reduced to a half-dozen or so. Maureen decides to head to a different place offering Latin street food, which she thought several of her other friends had left for. Since the pizzeria is pretty crowded, our group seems to have scattered, and – come on, we’re from Chicago – we can get plenty of good pizza at home, we’re fine with following her instead.

However, by the time we get to the Latin street food joint, there’s nobody there that any of us recognize.  It seems they’ve headed off to greener pastures.  So, she doubles back to the pizza place after all, which is now jam-packed with all of us, including her other friends. Much to our surprise, we managed to squeeze in there, and take up a single small table for ourselves. Although, we do wind up having to steal a chair from another table.

Since we’re at a separate table, it’s a little difficult to converse with the rest of the group; we also showed up and ordered later, so we’re a little out of sync with them, as well. So most of them settle their bill and head out a bit before we manage to finish (and Maureen offers to bring the half of my water bottle that I didn’t manage to finish in her bag until we get back to the hotel). We wander about afterwards for a while, taking in the sights. However, since we’ve just eaten, none of the foodstuffs are even remotely appealing (particularly the fish, in Daniel’s opinion).  Besides, a lot of the produce looks like something from the European markets we have back at home; just without the shouts of the shopkeepers, insisting that we buy their wares.

I’m not sure if these qualify as graffiti; it seems (especially in the case of the apologetic señorita) these are deliberately painted on the storefront doors, some even spelling out that they’re closed. Regardless, they’re fascinating. I especially like the fact that the bearded gentleman seems to be eyeing the can of Sprite on the table in front of him as if he really wanted it for himself. It’s really quite cool.

But as there’s nothing that call out to any of us to buy, the three of us eventually make our way back to the station. I buy the tickets (albeit only one at a time – unlike Maddie, I can’t seem to figure out how to but multiple tickets with a single transaction), Maureen pays me back, and we prepare to get on the train. The announcements at the rail station remind Daniel and me of those on various amusement park rides. Which is all well and good, but I’d wager there have been a lot more than six flags over Jerusalem.

And so, that’s where you find me today, filling you in on everything as Daniel dozes in front of me (since he wasn’t able to before dinner; don’t know if he’s going to be able to sustain this until morning, but I’m not about to disturb him.

Keep an eye on us, honey, and wish us luck. We’re going to need it.