We left early in the morning on a bus to Jerusalem. From Jerusalem we had to take another smaller, Palestinian operated, bus into Bethlehem. Everything we read online to prepare for our trip cautioned against using Hebrew in the West Bank. From the get-go this proved tricky and it became apparent to me that certain Hebrew words have infiltrated my English vocabulary.
When we got to Bethlehem, the bus stopped somewhere in the middle of the city and the driver instructed everyone to get off. We didn't know quite where to go to get to Manger Square, but seeing as it was Christmas, the city's busiest tourism day of the year, people were more than happy to point us in the right direction. Well, at least they thought it was the right direction. It turned out that the direction they told us to go ended up being very much the opposite of where we needed. Everything happens for a reason though, because we ended up at the wall that divides the West Bank from the rest of Israel. The infamous wall looked just as it did in pictures. An enormous cement wall, covered in graffitied messages calling for peace and justice for Palestine, it was actually a lot bigger than I imagined. This was arguably my favorite site of the day. The wall is a symbol of the conflict in the Middle East, and to see it in person was mind-blowing. After we gawked at it and took pictures with it, we moved on and found our way to Manger Square.
Though it was a bit longer of a walk to Manger Square than we had anticipated, it was amusing to see the stores with Arabic writing on the signs and Christmas decorations and lights in the windows. On one end of Manger Square stood a huge Christmas tree (it reminded me of the one Disneyland has during the holidays) with a nativity scene in front, and directly across the square from it stood a mosque. The square was packed with tourists, so we found our way to The Church of the Nativity. The church was old and beautiful, but nothing like the more striking ones I've seen in Italy. We entered on the wrong side and ended up cutting the long line of people who were waiting to go downstairs to see the star that marks the place where Jesus was born. So instead of waiting the two hours like everyone else, our wait was only about twenty minutes. Oops?
I thought the star marking the birthplace of Jesus was a bit underwhelming, which was not so surprising since I don't have any sort of emotional attachment to it. It was probably also because each person gets literally two seconds to look at it before an angry monk makes you leave so the next person can get a turn. Looking back, I'm not sure if I even looked at it or if I just had time to take a picture, see that the picture was blurry, take another picture, and get told by the monk that my time was up.
After "seeing" the star, we were ushered up a tiny staircase that spilled out into a beautiful big church. I heard a familiar sound...Christmas carols! One of the worst parts of the holidays in the US, are the constant bombardment with Christmas songs even before Thanksgiving, all the way up until the start of the new year. Not only is there a wonderful lack of Christmas songs in Israel, I even heard a few sporadic Chanukah songs playing in stores! So when I entered the church and heard Christmas songs playing, it was actually kind of nice to hear.
After the church, we enjoyed our lunches that we were smart enough to bring from home. We ate in Manger Square, observing the tourists and vendors. Mostly the tourists were taking pictures with the tree and buying corn on the cob from the vendors. One particularly funny site was that of a man selling cotton candy out of his trunk. After lunch, we explored the Arab market a bit. My favorite part was seeing all of the ridiculous mannequins. Apparently, any mannequin is acceptable to display clothing on, even if the face has been scratched off or it is missing a limb or two. It was cool seeing how similar the market was to the Israeli ones.
After the market, we made our way to yet another church. On the way we were harassed by a taxi driver who wanted to take us to Shepherd's Field, and wouldn't take no for an answer. He ended up walking us all the way to the church trying to convince us. Along the way, he showed us where a beautiful lookout was. We were able to see most of the rooftops in Bethlehem, and it was absolutely stunning even though it was a bit cloudy out. Despite this, we still did not end up going with him, mostly because it was getting late and we wanted to be able to spend some time in Jerusalem before heading back to Netanya, but it was interesting to see the lengths he would go just to make 20 shekels (about $5).
We made our way back to Jerusalem without a problem, although soldiers did enter the bus when we crossed the border to check passports. In Jerusalem, we walked to the old city and Mamilla mall. We had a lovely Christmas dinner at an Italian restaurant before heading back home. Even though I was exhausted, and it was difficult to wake up early for work the next morning, the trip was definitely worth it. It was an amazing experience and I am really glad I had the opportunity.
As some of you have noticed, it has been a while since I have posted anything. For this, I apologize. It is my New Year's resolution to post more often. Yeah, yeah, I know resolutions don't have the best reputation for sticking, but I really do enjoy writing about my experiences. I have a few posts in the works, so stay tuned. I hope everyone at home had a great holiday season and that 2013 is off to a good start!
Melanie
After "seeing" the star, we were ushered up a tiny staircase that spilled out into a beautiful big church. I heard a familiar sound...Christmas carols! One of the worst parts of the holidays in the US, are the constant bombardment with Christmas songs even before Thanksgiving, all the way up until the start of the new year. Not only is there a wonderful lack of Christmas songs in Israel, I even heard a few sporadic Chanukah songs playing in stores! So when I entered the church and heard Christmas songs playing, it was actually kind of nice to hear.
After the church, we enjoyed our lunches that we were smart enough to bring from home. We ate in Manger Square, observing the tourists and vendors. Mostly the tourists were taking pictures with the tree and buying corn on the cob from the vendors. One particularly funny site was that of a man selling cotton candy out of his trunk. After lunch, we explored the Arab market a bit. My favorite part was seeing all of the ridiculous mannequins. Apparently, any mannequin is acceptable to display clothing on, even if the face has been scratched off or it is missing a limb or two. It was cool seeing how similar the market was to the Israeli ones.
After the market, we made our way to yet another church. On the way we were harassed by a taxi driver who wanted to take us to Shepherd's Field, and wouldn't take no for an answer. He ended up walking us all the way to the church trying to convince us. Along the way, he showed us where a beautiful lookout was. We were able to see most of the rooftops in Bethlehem, and it was absolutely stunning even though it was a bit cloudy out. Despite this, we still did not end up going with him, mostly because it was getting late and we wanted to be able to spend some time in Jerusalem before heading back to Netanya, but it was interesting to see the lengths he would go just to make 20 shekels (about $5).
We made our way back to Jerusalem without a problem, although soldiers did enter the bus when we crossed the border to check passports. In Jerusalem, we walked to the old city and Mamilla mall. We had a lovely Christmas dinner at an Italian restaurant before heading back home. Even though I was exhausted, and it was difficult to wake up early for work the next morning, the trip was definitely worth it. It was an amazing experience and I am really glad I had the opportunity.
As some of you have noticed, it has been a while since I have posted anything. For this, I apologize. It is my New Year's resolution to post more often. Yeah, yeah, I know resolutions don't have the best reputation for sticking, but I really do enjoy writing about my experiences. I have a few posts in the works, so stay tuned. I hope everyone at home had a great holiday season and that 2013 is off to a good start!
Melanie
 |
| Manger Square: Christmas tree on the left, mosque on the right. |
 |
| Entering the church from the wrong side. |
 |
| Blurry picture of where Jesus was born. |
 |
| The definition of sketchiness: selling cotton candy out of a trunk. |
 |
| Potentially diseased mannequin. |
 |
| The Bethlehem side of the infamous wall. |
 |
| Feeling tiny in front of the enormous wall. |
No comments:
Post a Comment