Looking for clothes. Lots of cats in Old Jerusalem at night.
I was awakened by a phone call around 10:30 am. It was Michael, who identified himself as director of Superstudio. Apparently Kenny had received one of my messages -- whether by voice mail, email, or Kari Ann -- I don't know. Then Kenny had contacted Michael to let him know I was in Jerusalem, and Michael was contacting me to find out who Kenny was talking out.
I explained that I had worked on the original product that Kenny and Hod where now attempting to reproduce in a different way, and that Hod needed the code and resources that I had brought with me. When he learned that I was a C++ programmer, he brightened up and said that they could always use more programmers.
He also mentioned something about helping me with the lost luggage situation, and asked if I wanted to stay in the hotel for the entire four weeks. I don't particularly like hotels, and would much rather stay with someone who knows the area. He gave me directions to Superstudio and I said I would see him on Sunday.
After our conversation, I felt much better, though still a little guilty for showing up when they didn't expect me.
I put on my last change of clothes and headed for the city center, looking for a place to buy clothes. There were lots of people there.
Every once in a while I would see a soldier or two in the crowd. They seemed to be quite young - around 21. Most of them were mingling with friends, and you wouldn't have known they were soldiers if they weren't uniformed and carrying a gun. I did see one guy without a uniform carrying a gun. Maybe he was off duty, and it was just to look cool -- an accessory, like a hat, or sunglasses.
Eventually I found a department store, and picked up up some t-shirts, boxer shorts, and socks. The socks were hard to size because of the different measurement system. I normally wear size 10.5 shoe, but here I wear a 42. I also looked at the jeans, but a pair of Levis sells for about 270 shekels ($90). Instead, I went to an army surplus store and found a pair of tan Israeli army pants for 60 shekels. Only weird thing about the pants is that they don't have rear pockets, and all the pockets have flaps that button closed.
Afterwards, I sat down for lunch at an outdoor cafe and ordered the smoked salmon salad.
I went back to the hotel, and took a nap.
Later that night, I went back out to find dinner. I stopped to eat at a place called Pipo's, and had some sort of chicken dish with salsa and pasta. As I waited for the bill, I took out my little Hebrew phrase book and started to learn the alphabet. There are no written vowels in true Hebrew - only consonants. In the little phrase book there are special markings to help pronunciation, but those markings are not used on most of the signs that I see. After leaving Pipo's, I made my way toward Old Jerusalem, the original portion of the city that still remain walled off from the rest of Jerusalem. On the way I went on a reading spree, trying to pronounce each sign as I came across it. Different fonts draw the characters in slightly different ways, making the characters harder to recognize.
I came to the walls of Old Jerusalem and entered through the Jaffa gate. The difference between old and new Jerusalem is immediately apparent. It tried to take a few photos, but I fear the digital camera doesn't fare well in low light situations. I can only view the pictures in 16-level greyscale on my laptop, and the pictures are very hard to see, but perhaps you can see them better on your monitor.
I've noticed that this city has a lot of stray cats.
...but maybe that's on purpose, because I saw a lot more cats than I saw rats.
I wandered for quite a while through the twisting narrow passageways through the old city, but I didn't go too far because I have been warned to avoid the Moslem quarter at night, and I don't really know which part is the Moslem quarter yet.
I returned to the hotel, climbing several stairways as they wound through a garden. Herod's tomb was supposedly somewhere in the area. That name sounds familiar, but I don't remember exactly who he was.
At the hotel, I noticed a piano in the lobby, and sat down on the stool. The label read "Paris", and the key looked rather old. I started to play a soft song, but was quickly shooshed by the Jamal, the bartender nearby. I went over to the bar and asked Jamal to explain. He said it was the "shabat", and that many things were not allowed -- driving a car, and smoking, for instance. I asked what religion he was, and he and his friend sitting nearby said they were Moslem. I asked if it didn't bother them that certain things were restricted to them because of the Hebrew religion, and the bartender said, no, "it is better to respect other", and "it is better for peace". However, later or Jamal and his friend chuckled as his friend puffed on a cigar nearby, obviously breaking the no smoking rule. I still don't understand which part is forbidden to whom.
I went back to my room, but couldn't sleep for a long time.