Friday

All kinds of incense

It was a relatively quiet Friday till about half an hour ago when crowds of muslims coming out from evening prayer started to demonstrate against the police ... at least that's what I was told. I could hear the chantings in the street outside Bab Hutta. Luckily there were no tear gas or stun grenades fired. The crowd dispersed after 10 minutes.

I guess local arabs are also very tense because the Jerusalem mayor has promised to tear down lots of arab houses in response to the High Court decision to dismantle illegal jewish settlements in arab land. It's the old tit-for-tat game. The far right has been emboldened by the election of Trump and they are sure he will not oppose the building of more settlements in arab lands, as well as displacement of arabs from their homes. I think there will be more protests to come this winter ... if and when it doesn't rain or snow.

Weatherwise it has warmed up a bit. Still everyone is playing safe ... with jackets and hoodies. Lots of people have become sick. Lucky for me I had the inoculation 3 weeks back so I haven't caught anything ... fingers crossed.

All sorts of spices

Last week I took a walk down the Suq (market in the Old City). It's been a long time since I did that. It was good to see and smell the Middle East again ... all types of incense and spices. My life is now between home and work, and I've missed a lot of the daily life just 200 metres away. The incense and spices are not just condiments and ritual things ... here they are medicinal. But most shops sell them as souvenirs rather than medicine or condiments. Locals would never buy them from these shops as they cater for tourists and the prices are jacked up. There are markets outside the Old City where locals go to buy their stuff at local prices. That's where I go too to buy veggies and other stuff as well.  With my arabic, I'm able to bargain down prices and have made friends with several shopkeepers so I get my things at local prices.