A few notes on life in East Jerusalem
There are some things I want to post about here... I know I'll just forget about some of them if I don't.
1. Last week, I tripped and fell in this neighborhood. I wasn't scared of breaking bones. No, no. I was TERRIFIED of falling on broken glass, which is as common as pebbles here. Luckily, there was no glass but I did get a HUGE gash on the palm of my hand. I got home, cleaned up and prayed to God that my tetanus shots were still good. That area where I fell was FILTHY, considering the way they do their garbage removal in this neighborhood. The next day, Sister Columbia cleaned it up real nice. It's almost completely healed now.
It's something we talk about often here, how the Jewish areas are so much cleaner than the Arab. The French here insist, "It's just the Arab lifestyle." Of course, I thought it was something else. When I asked Mr. Busdriverman about it, he confirmed my suspicions: that the municipality here spends more money to clean the Jewish neighborhoods than the Arab. Oh yeah, they have garbage removal like in other places but it seems to be less frequent and they don't clean around the garbage containers. In Gaza, I'm told they barely have any waste removal because they can't even get gas for the trucks, due to the embargos. It's something else.
2. Late last week, I was walking up to La Maison from the Old City and I passed a group of youngsters playing in the street. It looked like great fun so I was smiling at them. One started to talk to me a little and then the smallest one, no more than 4 or 5 years old got a look in his eye. I wasn't sure what it was but then he made his way to a good sized rock, picked it up and tried to throw it at me. Then he spit at me. I walked over to him, gently took him by the arm and told him, "No." The other tried to get me to back off, but I was insistant. Then the babysitter came around, apologized and led him away.
I was more shocked at how small he was than what he did. I know other people who work here have been grabbed inappropriately and had rocks thrown at them before but this was something else. The child was so small and yet knew that I was different and deserved to be disrespected.
1. Last week, I tripped and fell in this neighborhood. I wasn't scared of breaking bones. No, no. I was TERRIFIED of falling on broken glass, which is as common as pebbles here. Luckily, there was no glass but I did get a HUGE gash on the palm of my hand. I got home, cleaned up and prayed to God that my tetanus shots were still good. That area where I fell was FILTHY, considering the way they do their garbage removal in this neighborhood. The next day, Sister Columbia cleaned it up real nice. It's almost completely healed now.
It's something we talk about often here, how the Jewish areas are so much cleaner than the Arab. The French here insist, "It's just the Arab lifestyle." Of course, I thought it was something else. When I asked Mr. Busdriverman about it, he confirmed my suspicions: that the municipality here spends more money to clean the Jewish neighborhoods than the Arab. Oh yeah, they have garbage removal like in other places but it seems to be less frequent and they don't clean around the garbage containers. In Gaza, I'm told they barely have any waste removal because they can't even get gas for the trucks, due to the embargos. It's something else.
2. Late last week, I was walking up to La Maison from the Old City and I passed a group of youngsters playing in the street. It looked like great fun so I was smiling at them. One started to talk to me a little and then the smallest one, no more than 4 or 5 years old got a look in his eye. I wasn't sure what it was but then he made his way to a good sized rock, picked it up and tried to throw it at me. Then he spit at me. I walked over to him, gently took him by the arm and told him, "No." The other tried to get me to back off, but I was insistant. Then the babysitter came around, apologized and led him away.
I was more shocked at how small he was than what he did. I know other people who work here have been grabbed inappropriately and had rocks thrown at them before but this was something else. The child was so small and yet knew that I was different and deserved to be disrespected.