Ahuva Elany

I've been wandering again - this time I dipped into an "Ethnic Art shop" (also on Jaffa Road), where I fell in love with some metal reliefs by artist Ahuva Elany. From her webpage:

"Graduate of the Bezalel Art Academy's Welding Department (1998) and the Reshet Amal School of Jewelry Manufacturing (2001).

The items are made from thick sheets of copper. The copper is cut by means of a very thin saw that allows for precise and delicate slicing of the sheets. The colors are the natural shades of copper, varying in degree due to special heating and cooling techniques."

Also these pieces of art are probably out of reach for my budget, but I can still enjoy them on exhibition! This one was in the shop - and much more impressive than the picture shows, with all the colours playing on the surface of the metal:

Mobile Seven Species:
These grains and fruits were specially promised to the israelites in the
event of their allagiance to the covenant of god. (from the webpage.)

Detail of same motif as in the above.

Weather report

Rain and showers. Third day now - and we're SO happy we've moved indoor in a house, and don't live in the bungalow on the roof of Citadel Hostel any more, it would have been very wet. And I don't like that.

I'm glad I brought my rain clothes! So I could go shopping today in the old city; where I wondered why umbrella in Arabic is called "shamsiyya" from shams=Sun, when it's against rain, so shouldn't it be called matariyya? - and in the city centre; where I was amused to see a Jewish guy with a platic cover over his traditional hat, but otherwise nothing special against the rain.

It seems like the rain tries to catch up with the expectance for it; norm for Jerusalem in January is around 130mm, and according to those we've talked to, it hasn't rained properly i January. Before now.
But it's also kind of homely. ;)

The Danish House in Palestine

I recieved a tip today from a dear friend about the Danish House in Palestine - dhip.dk. I didn't know about it before, but apparently it's also quite new. It's an organization, now with office in Ramallah, aiming to make dialogue between Danes and Palestinians on all levels and in all fields. So far they've had projects for mechanics and chefs - and plan something for inspiring orphans. And they look for volunteers of all kinds for different projeects, and they aim to be as broad as possible - so maybe they also something cultural/ artistic for me.
I definitely have to pay them a visit!

We have a home!

YAY!

Just moved in today; exploded our bags on the shelves and in the drawers (and oh, I've been longing to do that!), then some food, and then part one of concuring the kitchen (clean it). Next steps of kitchen-claiming will include more cleaning and probably reorganising of things, plus adding some stuff we like - I hope our roommate (who's mother owns the house and lives upstairs) is okay with it...

Next steps of moving in will be to buy practical stuff like hangers and boxes for socks, cosy stuff like a carpet and something for the walls to break the whiteness and a plant for the window (we saw some very nice cactus somewhere around Jaffa Road). Oh, and we also saw some cool mountain bikes today; and because Jerusalem is so hilly, you have to have a mountainbike. And they were a lot cheaper than in Denmark - lets hope the quality is the same.

A at the shelves&table IKEA-thingie. First homely stuff: books, lots of books!
And mess. Mess is also very homely. And it's a heater in the bottom of the
picture; it's pretty cold down here during the night.

Ben Avram

I've been wandering about in Jerusalem to get lost and find my way back, to get to know the city - and on Jaffa Road I stopped at a framing gallery, where I fell in love with some pictures by this artist. His name is Ben Avram, and according to wikipedia (which is more detailed than his own homepage):

"Edward Ben Avram (born 1941) is an artist who was born in Bombay, India and immigrated to Israel as a teenager. He graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 1965 and continues to make his home in Jerusalem.

Most of Ben Avram’s oil paintings and watercolors portray Israeli cities, religious festivals, and Bible stories. He paints in creamy sensual tones incorporating symbols such as doves, a menorah, and Shabbat candles."

I love the bright colours he uses, and I spend some time studying his techniques (not brush but spatula). As A later pointed out, his colours reminds of Esben Hanefeldts (e.g. this). The dealer asked how many I wanted, and already started to descibe how he would roll the painting so I could bring them home to Denmark - but we still have some time here, and still need to find the money for it. =)

Just another picture to show his style.

First orchestra

A. had a singing lesson at his Ulpan (Hebrew language course) with a teacher from the Jerusalem Music Centre. And as the good husband he is, he asked the teacher for an amateur orchestra for his wife. (Hihi, I'm still getting used to our new titles.) And so I went to look for this orchestra and their weekly rehersal yesterday's evening. I had an idea of where the Music Centre was placed, so I walked in what I thought would be the straightest way. But Jerusalem is very hilly, and it turned out the road I had to cross to where some 20 metres down - so I had to go back and start over.

But I found it! And enjoyed 2½ hours of music with this Israeli wind band called HarEl (which should mean God's Mountain). It has some 35 members, some years older than "my" orchestra back in Denmark. But some of the music was the same, even the same arrangements of Disney's Aladdin, and Leroy Andrson's Trumpeter's Lullaby (we also played The Syncopated Clock; I was happy!). And the conductor's great-nephew plays in the orchestra; family business as usual. ;) They even asked me to join them for a school concert on friday, so I must have done a good job.

It was nice to play again, and music is a universal language. I didn't understand much of the instruction, cus all was in Hebrew, though my staff-mate was helpfull with traslating - but all the musical expressions (mainly Italian) were the same. And I learned the Hebrew word for trompets: khatatot.

Sunburn

As a Dane, I feel obliged to be outside when the Sun is shining. Especially in the winter, where we so rarely see it in Denmark. So I enjoyed sitting outside in the sun today, and I didn't even need a shirt! (The locals still think it's cold here now.)

But I also were confirmed that the Sun in Jerusalem feels obliged to sunburn anybody who's stupid enough to sit outside in it for two hours around mid-day.

لأنني دنماركية أحس انني استوجب على أكون خارجاً في المشمس عندما الشمس يشرق. خاصةً في الشتاء الذي الموسم فيه نشوف الشمس نادراً. فاستمتعت اليوم الجالس خارجاً في المشمس ولم احتاج إلى قميص! (المحليون يظنون إن هنا لا يزال بارداً.)

ولكنني تأكدت أيضاً اليوم من الشمس في القدس تحس أنها تستوجب على تسفع أي شخص غبي يجلس خارجاً فيها في ساعتين في منتصف النهار.

Bethlehem

Wonderful finally to be there, though only for a short while this first time. But I will be back. =)

Our friends took us to one of the "attractions"; the Wall surrounding the town. I can only tell as so many before me have told: it's high, it's ugly, it's cutting off people from their land. But on this sad example of human untrust and disbelief, I was happy to see human will to change and survival in all the creative paintings and writings on the wall. A restaurent has even put up their menu in big types, and occationally shows movies on it.

Some of the wall decorations - I'll post more as I see them!

First impressions

Walking around in the Old city of Jerusalem is like being in a tale from Arabian Nights ("1001 nights"); Narrow streets winding up and down like a maze you can easily get lost in, even with a map; Colourful wares of all sorts everywhere in small shops, that can be closed with big metal doors, completely hiding which type of shop is behind; Lots of people in different clothing: Jews with kippahs or black hats and curls, women with scarves, Christian priests in black robes (and tourists with cameras on their belly and same-coloured caps); street cats everywhere, small carts (no room for cars, and also the stairs make it impossible). I was afraid we wouldn't get enough excersice here, but all the walking up and down has proven me wrong.

التجول في القدس القديمة كحضور في حكاية من ألف ليلى وليلى؛ شوارع ضيقة تلف إلى الأعلى وإلى الأسفل كمتاهة يضيع سهلاً فيها حتى لو معك خريطة؛ سلع للبيع (colorful) من كل أنواع في كل المكان في دكاكين صغيرة تغلق بأبواب معدنية كبيرة تختفى تماماً الدكان خلفها؛ عدد كبير من ناس بملابس مختلفة:

(to be continued)

Hectic!

The view from the roof top; notice the golden dome of Dome of the Rock (not the same as Al-Aqsa mosque, which is in the right of the picture).

We're here! Arrived at the hostel at 5 in the morning, just in time to hear the morning call for prayer - and the cock joining in with his crow. Then to bed after almost 23 hours of exam, emigrating from Denmark (o vogons, know your own forms and papers, and hurry up!), flight, security questions, second flight, passport control (went more smoothly than we had imagined), shuttle finding (not easy in the middle of the night!), hostel finding (where is Jaffa gate?), and climbing the stairs to the roof of the hostel and our "bungalow".

!اننا هنا

وصلنا إلى بيت الشباب الساعة خامسة صباحاً واستمعنا إلى اذان الفجر، والديك يصيح معه، قبل أن وجدنا سريرينا - بعد تقريباً ٢٣ ساعة بإمتحان وبهجرة من الدنمارك (يا بيروقراطيون! إعرفو مساتنيدكم (؟) وورقكم، وإستعجلو!) وبطيران وبأسئلة أمنية وبطيران ثاني وبتحكم جواز السفر (الذي كان أسهل مما تخيلنا) وببحث إلى نقل إلى القدس (ليس سهل في وسط الليل!) وببحث بيت الشباب (فين باب الخليل؟) وبتسلق الدرجات إلى سطح البيت و"بونجلو"نا.

نص الصورة
.(المنظر من السطح؛ لاحظ القبة الذهبية في مسجد قبة الصخرة (مختلف من المسجد الأقصى قبته في اليمين في الصورة