1st Day of School

You must be confused when I speak about the weekend ... because sometimes I refer to the muslim weekend, sometimes to the jewish weekend and sometimes to the christian weekend. Technically weekend means 3 days from Friday to Sunday.

Zion Square night market was quiet

Well it's the weekend (!!!) and the night market at Ben Yehudi Mall was up and running as usual. But yesterday it was pretty quiet. Perhaps it's the first day of school so most of the children and youths have no time to come out. Tourists are also few ... perhaps because of the heat but also because of fear. Such a pity. There were street performers and buskers but they drew very few audiences. The famous violinist wasn't even there ... as was missing also the ultra-orthodox guitarist. It was all very downcast, I felt.

Ben Yehuda is
also quiet

And what was I doing there? Well I couldn't get home!! My street was blocked off by the police because jewish youths were marching through my street. They do it once a month ... very provocative ... to show that East Jerusalem (mainly arab) belongs to Israel. They come in the hundreds singing, chanting and banging drums and waving Israeli flags. And everyone else must stand aside and keep out of their way. And they pass through my main door and we're not allowed to open it. They spit at us. So I was locked out and decided instead to walk around the New City till they reopened the road. That was about 9pm.

This week was also the Beer Fest held annually at Independence Park. Lots of different brewers come to show their products and lots of youths come to drink. And there's also a live concert. I'm not interested in beer nor the concert. But we can hear the noise from New Gate.

Yesterday was the 1st day of school for both Israel and Palestine. Early morning and afternoon saw thousands of students going and returning from school. In between that, the streets are quiet, peaceful and less stressful. School can be quite a relief for parents and residents.