Day 3 -- 06/12/18

Today was surprisingly good -- I think just having a general idea of where everything was and how I was supposed to go about it made it a lot easier. Got a cheese danish while I waited for the bus (I keep getting up and thinking that it’s hard to adjust to all this newness, I should get myself a treat for breakfast -- hopefully this mindset fades soon!). Everyone who has heard that I’m living at Mount Scopus but working in Ein Kerem (exact opposites from each other in the city) has told me that the commute is bad enough that I should really look into finding a different place to live. It may just be early infatuation with new experiences (it probably is), but I’ve found the bus rides to be one of my favorite parts of the day! Today I listened to a few Revisionist History and Fresh Air podcasts, and it got even better! I’ve never really been that into podcasts before, but realized that listening to them on the bus combines my favorite part of driving (listening to NPR) with my favorite part of public transportation (people watching without fear of a car accident)! So if you have any suggestions please send them my way! I think with my commute I’ll be able to get through ~2.5 a day, so that definitely will add up!


Getting into the lab, there was an entirely new set of people! A women named Emma (originally from Philadelphia, but has lived in Jerusalem for 10 years) and two women named Orly (one of the Orlys did not really speak to me at all, but the other was really lovely, and super talkative with almost perfect English). Emma is orthodox, which is exciting to me because I’ve been accumulating so many questions just observing the different religious communities here, and I think (hope) that my questions have less of a chance of being perceived as offensive since English is her first language!


My luggage arrived midway through the day, and I was far more excited to receive it than I had pictured. I think part of it was that I have only had rather “scandalous” clothing, by Jerusalem standards (aka short jean shorts and T-shirts). I’ve gotten some very critical stares from older men and women, and almost everyone have just glared pointedly at my legs, which has been weird as someone who rarely dresses for attention. So tomorrow, I’m looking forward to (hopefully) not being frowned at by everyone I pass! (Or maybe this is just how people walk past each other in Jerusalem…)


After work, I was looking forward to exploring a new section of town, but unfortunately had all my luggage to take back, so had to go straight to the dorm (and got far more glares from people on the already crowded bus as I tried to keep my huge suitcase from crushing everyone's’ feet). One other commute advice I’ve been hearing from everyone is that I should never try taking the 19 bus -- it has a super long, windy path through the heart of Jerusalem and takes forever to make it from one side to the other. However, this a long, windy tour though Jerusalem is exactly what I wanted! And it was exactly that -- it probably took me an extra half hour, but offered such wonderful views of the different parts of the city, and excellent people watching. Sort of like a guided tour bus, just without the tour! (I’m so tempted to try to draw all the different people I see on the bus, but think this might be very rude -- not just because I would be staring at them for a long amount of time, but also, as my mom can attest, my portrait skills are not always flattering!)


Once I got back to the dorm, I put my luggage away and went out again with some dinner to go explore the Hebrew University campus. I started off at the British Cemetery, which I still haven’t quite figured out. It is a huge, extremely well-kept cemetery just for Allied Soldiers from WWI. (Jerusalem has been beautiful, but I don’t think I would describe it as well-kept...so not sure who is doing all this upkeep!) Also, the inscription says it is on land donated by Palestinians, which is nice, except for the fact that all the rest of the land that Hebrew University sits on was more stolen from the Palestinians….


Afterwards, I walked along the far side of the campus. I’m terrified of heights, but love a safe view from a distance, and this offered a really amazing view of the side facing onto the West Bank and away from Jerusalem. When I sat down to eat overlooking this view, broadcasted prayers (based on looking it up, I believe it was the Islamic Maghrib prayer). I was going to listen to more podcasts, but this was far more beautiful. But if you look carefully, you can see a huge border wall between the Jerusalem (closer to the camera) and the West Bank. Really crazy to be so close to, and just sort of casually walking past, all of the tension and conflict that that border represents, both historically and currently.





I stayed until the sun set fully, and the mosquitoes came out, before heading back to my dorm, and getting slightly (but not very!) lost along the way. I have not yet opened my suitcase, but am so excited to spend the first night in my pjs, and hopefully get fully unpacked very soon!