Eclectic Doesn't Even Begin to Cover It...

This Wednesday was pretty crazy for a school day. First off, I had to survive two different Arabic quizzes I had spent the better part of the first half of my week preparing for. After classes I was ready to go home, relax, and unwind. However, that just wasn't the universe's plan for my evening.

Theresa and I were walking back from campus when we noticed a large gathering of people and police at the top of the hill. Clearly, this was way too interesting not to investigate.

A view over Theresa's shoulder of the police at the top of the hill.

We soon found out that there was a student "tour" about to happen of Isawiya, the Arab neighborhood right next to campus that all of the recent drama has been occurring in. Confused as to why students would want to take a "tour" of a residential (and Arab) neighborhood so close to home, I realized by asking around that what was actually about to happen was a demonstration.

The part of me with common sense thought about turning back. However, I'm partaking in an Arabic immersion program. Here's not only an Arab neighborhood, but these people are literally my neighbors. And after all, when in Rome do as the Romans do... so, clearly my time in the Middle East wouldn't be complete without a little politically-charged activism. So Theresa and I decided to stand with the locals from Isawiya and the students from Hebrew University. And thus began our march....

The "tour" walking toward the roadblock Israel put up that blocks off the neighborhood from being accessible to the rest of Jerusalem.

Local residents of Isawiya hanging out and watching everything happen.

The interesting part of this picture is that balloon in the sky. First off, it's right next to my apartment. So I was literally under half a mile from my home. Those parachute balloon things hold 360-degree cameras that observe all of the things going on below in Jerusalem.

A picture I managed to capture of one of the soldiers walking off to the side to overlook Isawiya and the surrounding areas of Jerusalem from the top of the hill.

A video I took of some of the chants that were happening during the demonstration.

What was one of the most frustrating parts though was that as long as the university students were there, it was purposely unescalated. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely zero desire to be in the center of violence and in close proximity to canisters of tear gas going off, but there was still something so disturbing about the situation. After a little over an hour the police commanded the non-locals to leave the proximity. Suddenly, being perceived as white, a student, and possibly Jewish, I had way more rights than my neighbors around me. I could walk through the military line without a second glance. I had the strange ability to assimilate to the Israeli crowd, the local Arabs, or float around with little fear for my safety. The local Arabs don't even have the same freedom I do, to walk down the road out of their village.

Additionally, once the students were evacuated, the police's weapons were no longer passive. As long as I had stood near they kept their guns open so that it would be impossible to fire. Now that students and local Jews were out of the way the guns were locked and loaded. Theresa and I lingered as long as we could, but it was starting to get seriously dark and we really weren't interested in making ourselves close range targets.

A view from behind the police line. The main line is down by the protest, but here behind it different officers walk around freely tending to yell at passersby.

 Upon returning home I still didn't manage to get to my restful night. Downtown there was an Indie music festival going on that most students around Jerusalem were showing up to. Three stages and hours of music and festivities. I guess I just hadn't fulfilled enough of my desire of standing in large, packed, and emotionally charged crowds for the night. So, Noah and I filed onto the train. Tonight the usual orthodox crowd was joined by a large number of people in skinny jeans and thick framed glasses packed amongst the train car.

In fact, the music festival was pretty cool. The streets downtown were absolutely packed. Other than Noah, who I had traveled into town with, the chances of finding any of our other friends seemed slim, however we'd later learn that wasn't the case.

Just a small portion of the crowd packed in front of one of the stages.

A cool panoramic Noah took at one of the street intersections downtown. You can actually see two of the performance stages from this spot.

After Noah took that picture our wandering was soon interrupted by him recognizing a friend from school. We went up to say hi and immediately after introductions his friend asked us, "were you on your way to the drag show?". Out of all of religiously pious Jerusalem, Noah and I would end up standing outside the city's gay bar. His friend Alex quickly explained he usually performs in drag at the venue but was taking this month off. Who were we to decline an inviation to be personally led inside?

Soon the Indie music playing outside was replaced with showtunes, ballads, and Israeli pop music being performed by a bunch of fierce drag queens. Easily the highlight of the night out was when I volunteered them to pull Noah up on stage. For nearly ten minutes Noah humorously bantered back and forth with the queens on stage much to the amusement of the rest of the club.

Noah on stage at gay bar.

I finished up a day full of quizzes and political demonstrations simply by having a blast jaming out with a bunch of guys rocking heels. Within hours I had gone from academics, to protests, to music festivals, and ended up at a drag show. If that doesn't show just how crazy eclectic life is here in Israel, I don't know what does. And when in doubt, just have a kiki.