Museum on the Seam

Located in a former checkpoint house between the Israeli and Jordanese parts of divided Jerusalem, scared from gunfires from several assult, this museum now raises questions about socio-political reality and the various civil rights. It's not big, we went through it in a couple of ours, and some of the "art" is only art because it's in a museum. But it also had some nice pieces, that made me think. First of all that I still don't know the local history well enough. And I didn't know the razor-wire was invented in South Africa (an artist from SA had bended razor-wire into frames).


I liked the very expressive and composed photographies by Claudia Rogge - e.g. one with people in black robes, had they been white were it Ku Klux Klan, one holding a big silver cross supported on the ground - and the "invisible Man" photo bu Liu Bolin, apparently he's made many more, very impressive photographs. (Here's an article about him with many pictures.)


The best Israeli piece was a short movie by Doron Solomons (and normally I don't like movies in museums, I think they are too wierd), called "Blood brothers" in Hebrew and "Brothers in arms" in English. A repeating scene called "Brotherly love" was the artist as a siametic twin, doing worse and worse things to his other half - I interpreted it as Israelis and Palestinians who fight over this piece of land - ending with something like "maybe I can't control my own body, but he's not going to control it!" and the own siametic twin shooting the other in the head. And maybe dying also, because they share the same body, the same vital organs?

All this religiousness

Jews in traditional clothes,
Monks and nones èn masse in and around the Old City
Pilgrims walking and chanting, carrying a cross on Via Dolorosa (the believed path Jesus went with his cross - and it has changed several time over the centuries)
Muslim women with scarfs, some few with niqab
Big beards, wheather Muslim, Jewmish or Armish...
Souvenirs and souvenirs and tonnes of souvenirs from the three religions, often side by side.

One should think I would get inspired by it all.
But what I was most inspired by was a video send to me by a friend in DK, "Science saved my soul".
We're all made of stardust, everything we have here on Earth has at some point been inside a star. We're very small and unimportant. But we're here. Able to observe it all, to marvel over nature and everything in it, from the smallest plants growing, to the biggest stars and galaxies.

No restrictions from any God in this view (I miss leverpostej!), but because I am so amazed of how everything works (created by a God or not), because I think it's all so beautiful, I want not to harm it, and therefore I am kind to it.

And this is enough for me.
For now.

Let's see if Jerusalem can change my view...

New strings for my 3oud!

I was happy to get my 3oud back - didn't think I had become so attached to it already, I've only had it for a month, and my theory is that one connects more to a wind instrument (through the mouth) than to a string instrument. But I might be wrong.

My teacher had put on new and better strings for me, and I can hear the difference in sound, though I didn't think I would be able to. I wish I had my tuner (which I forgot in the bag of my "old" 3oud in Denmark) so I could tune it properly - but I'm still able to do the fingering exercises I got. Thanks to my teacher for actually giving me tips on how to do "zakhrafe" [ornamentations] in the Arabic style, and for his patience with my still fumbling fingers. There's still a long way before I can play fluently, but I'll get there.

Palestinian orchestral challenges

Today I rehearsed with the wind band at ESNCM. That is, we 10 people rehearsed in one of the three fractions of the wind band. The other two fractions, with 30 more people all in all, are in Ramallah and Bethlehem, respectively. It would be convenient to meet in Jerusalem to rehearse all together, but not all the kids from the Palestinian Territories are allowed to go to Jerusalem. So we meet in Ramallah. But only when we have a sceduled concert to get ready to, which we don't have now. But our conductor tries to get one, if not for anything else then for us to try to play in a bigger orchestra.

And once again I feel fortunate at home to play in a big orchestra, that can meet without thoughts of checkpoints, permissions and big distances.

Concert with Shmemel!

We went to The Lab (where the entrance stamp is a mouse - of course) to hear Shmemel play (again after suggetion from the couchsurfer community). They play a mix of klezmer, funk, rock, and with loads of energy! They were great - unfortunately we'd forgotten our earplugs (and the soundmaster was of the regular type thinking "loud is great"), so we couldn't bear to stand in front and dance with the other people enjoying the music.

The band had a wind section of three sometimes four musicians, electric piano, 2 guitars, bass, drums, and a very expressive-crazy lead singer. Well, all of them were very expressive, and you could see how they enjoyed to be on stage and play. Many were jumping up and down a good deal of the time. They don't have a CD yet, but might release one in July. And then we'll be there. With earplugs so we can dance!

Link to video with some samples of their music - but the jumping energy miss!

Language school found!

Yay, I've found a language school so I can learn Palestinian dialect, understand what people here are saying, and stop sounding Egyptian. It's located in the Old City very close to the Temple Mount, and it's a part of al-Quds University (Jerusalem is called al-Quds [the Holy] in Arabic), at the Centre for Jerusalem studies. The teacher is very sweet and cheerful and pleasant, and I got a whole page of new words from our 3 hours' lesson. The class started in mid-January, but I'm jumping in anyway. It's the highest level they offer in dialect with class lessons, and I want classmates for sociable reasons. The class is meeting each tuesday and thursday for 3 hours, and today we were 7 students. It's gonna be good.

Backyard nature

I know it's not nice to take pictures of people without their concent, but this scene was just too great not to share. I was walking the dog we're "babysitting" (annoying little thing when he barks and whimpers all morning before we've got up, but I enjoy the few walks we've taken), and in the green valley in our backyard I saw this highly religious Jewish man sit on his chair in the middle of all the green reading the Torah. And he was not the first I'd come across on the walk.
Wonderful that there's green retreats around, and wonderful that people are using them!

When music becomes noise

During the rehersal tonight with the Israeli amateur orchestra I play in, I reaslised how fortunate we are at home in Greve at the music school to be trained so well in good sound on our instruments, and that there's so much focus on noise and that we have to take care of our ears so we don't get hearing damages. Two things that really miss here!

I considered to sponser a SoundEar (see the picture), to make the orchestra aware of their own noise level - but then I also want a little sign next to it, saying "Thanks to Re'em JLM for sponsoring this great device, which made our rehersals so much nicer". [There are SO many of these "sponsered by ..." signs and memorables here, I think it's silly.] I had to use earplugs during the rehersal, something I never really need at home.

Oh, and we're also fortunate to have a good conductor, who clearly shows where which beats are. And she places them in down-strokes, not in up-strokes... (Which has confused me many times; where is the beat going to be?)

But otherwise it's a lovely orchestra with very sweet people. And I look forward to play with them, and try to play concerts also.

Oriental music concert

We went to a student concert at the Centre for Middle Eastern Classical Music, an Israeli music school close to the Old City. All the musicians did a good job - though the hall was too small for all the many people wanting to listen; maybe they heard about the concert via couchsurfing.org, as we did. I enjoyed 3oud and qanoun sounds, and the oriental rhythms, I was carried away by one of the group songs in two voices (I guess it was Hebrew; in Arabic you normally don't use harmony). It was funny to hear Israelis sing in Arabic (I knew "Zourouni" originally sung by Fairouz), because the r's are different, and Arabic have some more guttural sounds.

I wonder if this school knows about ESNCM and vice versa - and if they would be interested in making concerts together... Their interest area is the same (music, more specific Oriental music), though the students at ESNCM are considerably younger than those at this centre. Language might also be a problem, though maybe not the biggest.

O, patience!

I wish I had it. Patience. This time in the context of drawing. I went to the Jerusalem Studio School to see in their "Drawing in Daylight" was something for me. Three and a half hours in their hall with a variety of sculpturs (mainly Greek/Roman replica), my bench and paper, and willow charcoal - and I was angry with my... work after 2 hours. Stupid thing, it didn't look like I wanted it!

It made sence what the teacher said:
- Don't draw the contours of the object, but draw the shapes of the different shadows and light, the geometrics.
- Then tell about the relationships between the different tones [draw the greytones, shadows].
...I just couldn't make it look like the torso in front of me.

But when she added the next step:
- Now tell the story about the meeting between light and dark, between the tones. Do they argue, do they dance? [Is it a sharp edge or a soft toning from dark to light?]
And suddenly, and when I walked a bit away from my paper, it looked like something! I still need to get the proportions right, but I was pretty proud of myself in the end.

The "model" and my result, including chaos-coal-trying-scratches in the margins.

And maybe I've learned a little more patience with drawing!?

Concert with Goldschmidt, Singh, and Irshed!

Two of my musical "heros", Henrik Goldschmidt on the oboe and Bilal Irshed on the 3oud, were in Jerusalem tonight to play a concert in the Bible Lands Museum, together with their long time partner Singh on accordion (but I don't know so much about him).

It was a fantastic concert! Goldschmidt was, as always, very expressive and beaming with life and musical joy, teasing the audience with breaks and changes in the music so everybody stayed alert on what would happen next, his sound on the oboe as soft and charming as ever.

The seccond piece they played were a combination of an Arabic love song, a Danish psalm, and a Jewish traditional song. It started out very softly, the 3oud enchanting me with its deep, full sound, and the xaphoon (as I think the recorder with clarinet mounthpiece is called) took over with soft, sweet tones, the accordion being a harmonic drone in the back. I was moved.

And the rest of the concert continued with happy, fast Yiddish tunes, Goldschmidt singing about the teacher teaching his students the Hebrew alphabet (and we, the audience, we the students, who had to repeat after the teacher), Danish folksongs played in Arabic style, a bit of taqsiim [solo improvisation] on 3oud (not enough for me!), and other lively pieces.

It all ended too soon, but we had had a great time - and I almost feel sorry for all of you who missed it! For those in Denmark check out Singh&Goldschmidt's turnéliste, if you want to hear them (without Bilal on 3oud), or Bilal Irshed's page on when he plays. I recommend Fatma Zidan Group as much as Middle East Peace Orchestra - Fatma is my former teacher in Arabic singing.

Second 3oud lesson

A quote from my teacher today:
"The 3oud is a bass instrument!"
said with excitement and affection for his instrument - and I completely understand him. I didn't get to say "bass clarinet", but I thought it.
'Cus bass is nice!
The deepest string of the 3oud is tuned to F/ fa below the staff, the second to A/ la below the staff - and I got some excersices on octave jumps, an important part of the "zakhrafe" or ornamentations in Arabic music played on 3oud.

Do you have a joke?

Link to the teaser

Tonight we went to the French Culturel Centre in Jerusalem (and it was easy to find! - once we had found the address on the internet, which wasn't so easy, why write it on the poster for the event?) to watch a documentary with the titles "3endak nokta" in Arabic and "(No) laughing matter" in English. It's about a French woman traveling around Palestine to find and record examples of Palestinian humor, an idea she got while she stayed in the country learning Palestinian (after 3 years of Arabic studies in france). She was amazed that the Palestinians in their peculiar situation were still able to joke about it and about each other, and she wanted to show this to the rest of the world, who normally only hear about Palestine in the news connected to words like terrorist, suicidebomber, and extremists.

We laughed a lot, sometimes of "common" jokes about stupid people from Hebron (like we have molbo-historier in Denmark), sometimes because the situation in the joke was too absurd (e.g. involving and exploded bus with killed people as the setting), sometimes just because the people in the movie laughed. It was nice to see people find a way to cope with the situation - but still the French director managed to show the situation for the Palestinians, to show the context of the jokes.

A nice little movie, not too naïve, if you get a chance to see it, do it.

The role of Social Media in Palestine

I went to Ramallah tonight to join a discussion in the Danish House in Palestine about the role of social medias (facebook, tweeter, ...). Well, I mainly went to see the DHIP and to try to network with the people there - you never know, they might have some interesting projects!

To my surprise, it was actually easy to find; the hint "next to Falafel Abu Khalil" helped a lot. But only because I can read Arabic, as the falafel place only had its name written in Arabic. It also helped a lot that I met two Danish girls outside, trying to put up a poster about the event. Which wasn't easy in the fog, rain and wind (almost weather like a Danish spring-storm).

The discussion itself was no big revolution, but there were some nice inputs and I wrote down some things to check out when I got home (a comic made by some Israeli guys about some Arabic guys - which I haven't found, but then found other interesting things).

Our Jewish roommate was surprised to hear about the young Palestinians at the meeting suggested that the Palestinians should focus on reforming their own, internal structure (get rid of corruption in the PA, get a proper ready-to-take-over-if-we-get-a-state-apparatus) instead of always focusing on the occupation. We didn't really conclude anything, but some of the main figures in social media in Palestine met for the first time - and that might be a step on the way.

Jerusalem Studio School

I've always wanted to be able to draw and paint, but never taken my time to practise (I guess I don't have enough patience for it...). But, being here and taking a year of for pursuing my interests, I'm looking for drawing- and or painting classes. I found the Jerusalem Studio School online, and called to ask if I could attend a class and see if it wass something for me.

First challenge was to find the place. They hadn't written their address on their webpage (apparently, all the institutions I plan to visit have P.O.boxes, and therefore don't care to mention their physical location), and the lady in the telephone gave me the hints "it's close to the (something I forgot) Mall, in the building with the round windows, take the rightest elevetor to the floor number 5", and when I asked "Is it in Yad Harutzim street?", she answered "yes, closeto that." So I though I had it. But still spend 45 minutes finding the place, and not in the street I expected, and only because I had decided to walk in every building and take a closer look - cus nothing were written outside, or only in Hebrew. But I found it!

The class was an introduction to painting with oil colours - in Hebrew - and I had good talk with the teacher afterwards and a nice Norwegian guy (and we agreed it was good that the other one was not a Swede ;). So on monday I'll go and see their "drawing in daylight" class, and probably sign up for that and the painting one on tuesdays.

Hiking in Ein Gedi

We spend the second day of our little trip on hiking in the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, leaving the bikes at the entrance.


We saw the David Waterfall (apparently David should have hidden there after fleeing from king Saul, the brouchure quotes Samuel I 23:29 - and then continues to say no archeological proofs of this have been found) together with other flocks of tourists, then walked of to the paths "for fit hikers only!", to the Dodim Cave, which is not the cave of doom (as we read it several times) but the Cave of the Lovers. The Wadi David (David's valley) in rich in water compared to many other places in the area, and with the Judean Desert just next to it, and we saw this in all the waterfalls and pools and dripping wet rocks hanging over us. Again, it was good we went here in the winter, cus already now it's hot [for a Dane], and we we're thankful for all the little clouds shading us.








Then on to a high point with great view over the Dead Sea, though still not the hight of the Desert Plateu (200m above sae level, which means 600m above the dead Sea), where we enjoyed the silence of the wild and could look down on ravens gliding far above the ground. We also saw the outlines of a 5000 years old Chalcolite temple up there, one of the earliest remnants found in Ein Gedi. Another old treasure is the "Oldest Synagoge" down from all the hills, with its marvelous mossaic floors.


We took the bus back to Jerusalem, luckily there were no problems in taking the bikes on the bus. The trip went too fast compared to our speed yesterday - but I was happy that I didn't have to bike up to Jerusalem. And also happy we biked the other way, and hence had the option to stop and enjoy the view.

Swimming in the Dead Sea!

...is impossible.
The water refuses to let you sink in deep enough to be able to make swimming stroke.

My legs were kicking in the air when I tried, and A tried to dive down (with goggles on!), but came laughing up, cus it was close to impossible. So we floated literally on the water, and could turn around as if on wobbly grass. It was a very curious experience.

The water was very greasy or oily to touch, and when I looked down in the water close to the shore where it was only some centimetres deep, it looked like when you pour acid or liquid soap into water; the same twisting patterns. But the bottom was covered with salt crystals, and I found some salt "stones" to bring home.

And it tastes horrible! No surprise. Except every times I got it in my mouth.
And the 33% salt in the water made my eyes water, when I accidentially splashed.
But it should be very good for the skin - so hopefully my acne have gotten the final stroke now!

Bike trip to Ein Gedi

Crazy Danes as we are, we decided to bike from Jerusalem to Ein Gedi (route on Google maps) along the shore of the Dead Sea on a small vacation, to get away from the city and enjoy some of the local nature in all her splendor.

We got up with the Sun and on the way. Highway actually, all the way from Jerusalem to the plane of Jericho. 27 km horisontal, 1000m vertical; from Jerusalem's 800m above Sea Level to the plane's 200m below Sea Level.

Jerusalem's surroundings were green, the morning air chilly. I was a bit surprised to see "shacks" in all their lasting temporariness of corrugated metal, and wondered if these were small refugee villages, and if the people living there really didn't have another option.

The road's declination varied from plain to steep, and we wheeled along at a great speed (thanks for good breaks!), but still had time to stop at sea level - a great tourist attraction (though without any souvenir sellers).

It was breathtaking to come out of the mountains and look at the flat, vast plane of Jericho (it might officially be called something else, but this is my name for it), finally see the Dead Sea sparkle in the sunlight, see the city of Jericho in the distance, and know that the next range of mountains must be Jordan.

The road along the Dead Sea offers a great view over the water, though a bit far away because the water level has decreased over the past years, due to less rainfall, more people using the water in the streams feeding the sea, and a block on one of the greater streams flowing from Jordan into the Dead Sea. Our roommate quoted some estimates saying that in 10 years it will only be Dead but no more Sea, if nothing is done to change this direction.

But it has left pools on the past-sea bottom with a great variety of colours due to all the minerals in the water. We could also marvel at the rocks and mountains on "our" side of the sea - as Danes we always find these big chunks of rock fascinating - and look to the distant and misty mountains of Jordan on the other side. And apparently we brought a bit of Danish weather [clouds], which cooled us nicely in the heat and made spectacular sceneries in the sky. Or was it Divine Presence here in the Holy Land?



It was a good ride, and I'm very proud of myself that I managed all 75km - though the first 30km downhill doesn't really count. The hills afterwards were challenging me, but I took my breaks when I needed and enjoyed the view while catching my breath again - and was happy that I got to know my bike and the gears, so I could climb as efficient as possible. We had forgotten sunblocker, so in the evening I looked like a Danish-coloured inverted panda (marks after my sunglasses), but thanks to moisturiser it doesn't hurt.

We came across some "desert street art" just after making the turn to road 90, but luckily we and our bikes didn't suffer a similar fate.

Next time we're going all the way to Masada (some 20km more), and/or making a longer stop in Qumran to see the Dead sea Scrolls Museum. But with the heat already it has to be latest in March!

First 3oud lesson

I had my first 3oud lesson today (the teacher was ill last week), and it went very well, though I had to borrow my teacher's rîsha [plectron] because I had forgotten to ask for one when I bought my 3oud. The teacher said I had a good way of holding my right hand on the neck, and showed me how to properly hold the rîsha, and I could hear the difference in sound at once.

I read some notes and played them the same time (luckily I avoided to sing them - but I might have to get used to singing before playing), we talked a bit about maqamat, and he instructed me how to make my own rîsha out of plastic cable ties (or those used by the police as handcuffs) by putting it in olive oil. Very important that it's olive oil. I aked why, and suggest myself it's because we're in Palestina, famous for its olives.

I enjoyed the lesson and the teacher seems very nice and skilled - I just don't like the time on late friday afternoon. Our roommate had invited us for "Kabbala Shabbat", Shabbat celebration with lots of music, but I couldn't attend because of my lesson. And later on, when we want to go on longer trips to see the country, it could be nice to leave friday morning (A's weekend from the university is friday and saturday), and return sunday (none of us have classes sunday, the first day of the week). So I'll ask to get another time. But then it has to be with another teacher, cus this one only teaches friday...

sa(K)Hlab

Our conditor roommate made sahlab tonight, and we got a taste! =)

SaHlab with the hard H in Arabic, which turns to kh (like German ach) in Hebrew; sakhlab.

It's a warm milky drink or pudding (depending on who makes it and how thick they like it), with cinnamon and pistaccio and lots of sugar (of course! we're in the Middle East). Normally it's whiter, but our roommate likes cacao (and so do we) and therefore added some.
Very tasty and very filling.

First lessons on ESNCM

Today I had my first lessons at the ESNCM. First one was "Maqamat 1", which is about the Arabic counterpart to scales. Here, the different maqâmât are thaught, their intervals, starting note, which two half-scales (ajnâs) they are build of, and their behavior (tasarruf). The behavior is the most important part, all the rest is just "facts". The music and the expertise lies in knowing how and when to use which maqâm, to know it's mood and colour.

After a longer break and a date with my dear husband, the next class was "Introduction to Oriental Music". This one teaches the different types of Arabic musical pieces, both the instrumental and the sung, the various rhythms (and there are many!), a bit about the instruments.

Classes started after the summer holidays, so I'm jumping in in the middle of things and these two were in Palestinian Arabic, so I don't understand everything. But enough to get invited by my girlish classmates on a trip "to find food", food as in cake.

Last class was Harmony with an Austrian teacher, so this was in English, and a bit more easy for me to follow. It is Western music theory and how to use it when composing.

After all this (and I'm a bit sad that all my three theory classes are on the same evening; I would like to come twice a week instead) I biked (! ^^) on to the Jerusalem Music Center for rehersal with the Israeli wind band, HarEl. Long day with lots of music!

New 3oud!

I went on my new bike (! ^^) to Jaffa Street / Ben Yahuda to the music and instruments shop there - 3ouds starting from 790 shekels for beginners, but not very nice looking...
So I went to the old city to try to look for an 3oud there, though I doubted the quality of 3ouds available. But I met a guy in front of Jaffa Gate - one of those shouting "shoppin' today?!" after tourists, and whom I normally ignore with all my might - who actually knew a shop just in of Jaffa Gate, he played 3oud (or lute, as he said) himself, and didn't even charge me for talking to him.

So I got this nice 3oud, hibiscus coloured and with beautiful decorations on the front - and, most important, a label in the "belly", visible through the shamsiyat (sound holes), saying it comes from Bait el-3oud (the House/Home of 3oud) in Cairo, which I heard of when I was there, but unfortunately never got around to visit.

So yay! new instrument. Though I realised my tuner is with my other 3oud. In Denmark. But our roommate tuned it for me, with his tuner on his computer. =)

BIKES!

We've bought bikes!!! So wonderful to sit on a bike again when we tried some out. We ended up with a pair of used mountain bikes but still in very good condition - and with suspention and 24 gears and disk brakes. =D (And all the other goodies the nice men in the shop threw into the deal.)

Ain't they great?! A's to the left (red), mine to the right (white).

Biking home through the massive rain and on streets turned into small rivers was not so fun, though. But I - and A - look very much forward to go exploring on our new bikes, both in the city and in the country.

We wonder whether it's possible to take our bike to the Palestinian territories (e.g. to the Dead Sea and to Galilee) - cus there isn't really room for a bike through the walk-through-parts of checkpoints. We asked a local friend later, and after telling us nobody biked so long distance and we were crazy to try, he admitted that we would look odd enough to get through with it - obviously tourists with our fair complexion, and on bikes!

Yoga for butterflies

I went to Ramallah today to attend a yoga introduction class at Farashe Yoga Center (Farashe means butterfly in Arabic). The class was great and I felt a lot better after it (I especially love the Sun greating) - and I have signed up for their introduction course the next 6 weeks.

But coming to Ramallah from Jerusalem and finding the place in Ramallah was a challange!

I knew thar the white-and-green Arabic bus no.18 goes to Ramallah, and that it goes along the main road just next to where we live. I wanted to look around Ramallah before the class, so I left home almost 3 hours before it should start. Waiting for the bus took half an hour - but I had a good audiobook and the Sun was shining. Once in the bus, the traffic soon jammed, especially around the Qalandiya check-point, were I saw several examples of "creative driving" the wrong way in the roundabout to skip some of the line. After the checkpoint the trafic was still jammed a long way, and many of my fellow passengers got of and walked, which was much faster. But they knew where they were going, I was new in the area.

Finally, after almost 1½ hours in traffic, we arrived at the bus "station" (really just a parking space) in Ramallah. I got out and was overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city. It looked like downtown Cairo, with people and cars and busses everywhere (though no donkeys), colourful shoes and clothes and big fluffy hearts (it's soon Valentine's, or "romantic holiday" (3eid al-3ashaq) as it's called here) and food and sweets everywhere along the street, and of course trash in piles or pieces in every corner.


My Lonely Planet had described Manara Sq. (the central square in Ramallah) as a "Trafalgar Square in miniature and with a Palestinian twist, complete with columns (though no Nelson), stone lions (bearing Palestinian-flag graffiti), trafic and pidgeons", and I easily recognised the lions. And the Yoga Centre should be close to.

Now, addresses are not something commonly used in the Arab world (as far as I know), and instead of an address I had directions to find the Yoga Centre: "beside Manara Sq, opposite the police station, on the street that connects to Ein Misbah. The building's door is green, we're on the second floor." I assumed the police station would be easy to find - and was proven wrong. After some wandering around I went into a bank to ask for directions, went down the street he pointed to, and found nothing. Got back to Manara Sq, asked a cap driver, who pointed in another direction - and found the police station! But it lay on the corner of a road, so "opposite the police station" could be two directions. I went in the first, found a green door and went in. The stairs were dark, and nothing on the door on the second floor... So back again, and try the other street. And bingo! The green door was there, and there was a small, but new and clear sign on the door: "Farashe Yoga Centre". And I was even five minutes early for class!


On the way back (with the same bus and the same driver) we of course had to go through the check point - and the trafic jam around it. And going into Israel always requires more control, so most of my fellow passengers got of the bus to walk through all the checks inside the check-point, while the few privilegded of us with the proper papers could stay in the bus. Two soldiers got in, with each their machine gun, one to check the vehicle, the other to check our papers. But they wished the driver "aHla leila" (good evening) and smiled as they left - they're just doing their job... We picked up the other passengers again, and off we were to Jerusalem. With one more slight delay when the Light Rail Train drove lazily across an intersection in its testing mode.

I was a bit tired of waiting and delays and checks after all this; almost three hours to go to Ramallah and one going back, for 1½ hours of yoga practise... But I can go back to Denmark - the Palestinians are living in this.

Zedekiah's Cave

We were walking down to the Old City and came across Zedekiah's Cave or Solomon's Quarry (between Herod's Gate and Damascus Gate), and went in to get a break from the rain. Luckily they accepted my student card from Copenhagen (A had no problem with his student card from the Hebrew University), and we went in with a brochure on the place.

The cave is huge and man-made, and stretching under a great part of the Muslim Quarters of the Old City, and stones from it has been used to a lot of different, significant buildings in Jerusalem (though I don't know which). It is called Solomon's Quarries because tales go, that King Solomon used stones from this very quarry to built the First Temple on the Temple Mount - and the Freemasons, who consider Solomon as the first and greatest Freemason, hold their meetings in Jerusalem in this cave.

It is called Zedekiah's Cave, because another story (from the Bible; Jeremiah 52:7-8) tells that Zedekiah, the last of the Judean kings from Jerusalem, fled from the Chaldean troops through the cave - and the water dripping from the ceiling are called Zedekiah's Tears, because of the tears he shed when he saw his children executed.


The cave is worth a visit for people who're very fond of rocks, or if you want to get out of the rain or away from the Sun and warmth, or want a bit of quiteness in the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem. But otherwise I think the most interesting about the cave is all the stories connected to it.

Shabbat dinner

Our roommate made delicious shabbat dinner for us today. Our landlord joined the dinner (landlady in Tel Aviv, and other roommate out with some musician friends so we were just the four of us), and they did "the full thing" for us; reading from the Torah (I assume) and joining in with "Amen" (the only word I understood in all the Hebrew!). Then filled a glass with wine to it spilled over, to symbolise that God makes everything plenty on this table, that it will never miss anything, and everybody drank from it in turns, by age. Breakiing the bread and dipping it in salt, giving to everybody, and then we were ready to start the main dinner.
And of course the men wore yarmulkas (the Jewish scull cap) to be decent. We forgot the singing, our roommate said afterwards, but we'll do that another time.

Next friday the other roommate has invited us for Kabbala shabbat, which is more singing, mysticism kinda shabbat. I hope I can join a bit late, after my oud lesson.

Proper Hijab

I saw this "add" in the minibus today on my way home. And I've found it online, so I have to share it - here comes my own (more or less free) translation:

"Wear your hijab properly
Choose your apperance with freedom...but without sinning:
Wear your hijab properly:
don't depict yourself
don't show yourself

The hijab is not only to cover the head, it is wide clothing which doesn't depict you and doesn't show you.

This is not hijab."

I can't figure out who's the sender of this, and I found the picture on a forum. There're some other nice pictures/ adds about proper hijabs.

Music interview

Today I was at an "interview" with my coming oud-teacher at the Edward Said National Conservatory for Music. I was a bit puzzled about the purpose of this interview, but I think it was to test if I had any musical sense; if I could recognize minor and major scales (he played on his oud), if I had any rhythmic sence and could recognize the beats, if I could hear which tone was the higher of the two. After 14 years with my clarinet I passed all the tests "very good" - and I would have been surprised if I had failed...

But finally I've found a place to study music - and I've managed to explain what I want to study! - so besides 45minutes of solo oud-lessons once a week, I'm going to attend classes on Maqamat (Arabic scales and music theory), Introduction to Oriental Music, and Harmony (Western music theory). Most of these in Arabic, which will be a challange, but that's the way to practise my Arabic! I hope to catch up on what the others have been doing for the past half a year - but I look forward to start on wednesday! =)

Edward Said National Conservatory for Music

Knafa!

We went to Bethlehem again to visit friends, and this time they took us out to taste a Palestinian sweet, Knafa. Originally from Nablus it is now known all over the Middle East - and also home in Bazar Vest, though not so good as the ones in Palestine (of course).

The bottom is goat cheese, which I couldn't believe when I was told, cus it doesn't taste like that. Then there's sugar noodles on top (together with a lot of other stuff I couldn't identify - but I'll post a recipe if I get one!), and it's sugary, but not as much as e.g. baklava.

All in all a very tasty experience!

*please update your webpage*

I've spend today trying to find an Arabic music school here in Jerusalem, maybe in Bethlehem (which is close by). I had already found Edward Said National Music Conservatory, which has 5 branches in Palestine, and I had tried to contact the Jerusalem branch in October, but no reply. I had noted that the years written on the website said "2008" or maybe "2009", but hoped the email addresses would work any way. Apparently not.

And today I've looked at

• Popular Arts Centre; with long and good describtions of all their interesting activities, but no schedule for them, no numbers to contact - and latest update for summer camp 2010.
• ArtSchool Palestine; with a long list of "what's on" - latest update in august 2009.
• Palestinian National Theatre; where there's a mimeshow tomorrow - but the website is wishing Happy New Year 2006.
• Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah; with a broad program of activities - the newest took place in September 2005. But there's wonderful oud-music as backgroundsound.
• Sabreen.org; advertising under "workshops" for a music conference - in summer 2000.

Please you people, who make a living from informing other peolpe like me about your exsistence and activities and programs - update your webpages!

Until then, I'll have to find out the "old way"; trying to find the locations, walk in and ask (or more likely come back when it's open). If I can find it - 'cus precise adresses are not used here. Oh well.