Artist-in-residency in an olive coloured holy land

Al-Ma'mal Foundation, Jerusalem

16 Sep-23 Nov 2007
One Pic & One Word Blog:
My Holy-days in Palestine and a bit of Israel

Page 2

25 October 07

a farm taking from outside the wired fance. there's a community behind the farm which is gated and patrolled by earthy green uniformed men on a wheels, garding them?!

a taxi driver says, "i can not go in there. i will make a problem if i go."

26 October 07

a kitchen in a village for roaming people... some go back to the camp on the weekend. not much areas to roam around for them any more.

i start walking to an old house with many holes. roaming kids follow us. apparently, they use it as a strage. we walk towards the animals eating food outside. one of the kid says, "You can take one to japan."

27 October 07

a view at the university, new buildings have been built with donations from in and outside as the government has no money... the students pay much higher fee than the other university students.

a friend and her flat mate invite me for dinner at theirs, after taking me around the university. young kids pass by to hang around. they are too shy to come in for food, they stay outside and say to each other, "you, crazy!" "Shut up" "You crazy!"... too many bad films and bad songs in english??

28 October 07

a view of a shop in nablus. there are so many buildings and interiors with western influence...

a palestinian police man starts talking to me. i find out there's a japanese man standing behind me. i start talking to him. he says, "i see more girls wearing hijab this year than last year..."

29 October 07

a view taken from under an olive tree.

i keep waking up with the noise. the dogs says, "Bowwow! bowbowwow! bowwow! bowwowwow bowwow!" every fifteen to twenty min. for about two hours and then something else says, "Bangbangbangbangbangbangbang bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang bangbang bang...Bomb!... bangbang bangbangbangbangbag" for... i don't know how long. another thing says, "Bang, bang bang ... bang." the chikens wake up a little too early. the prayer starts much too early.

30 October 07

a view taken outside jaffa gate.

i rush around to get from the shop back to the centre in the old city, where people usually snail around. i hit a shoe of a lady. both of us start apologising to each other. the other lady says, "Don't be sorry, be happy."

31 October 07

a view of a street of the old city taken from the roof garden.

i walk down the street to get home in the evening. i see a couple of earthy uniformed men with some breads (and aslo some heavy staff) walking beside me. one of them says, "Do you wanna join us?"

01 November 07

a window of a shawarma shop in jenin. i asked if they serve coffee. they don't ... but they are having one for themselves and they gave me a cup of arabic coffee and refused to take money.

i and a guy i met on the way to nazareth decide to go to the church. he asks a tour guide how to get there, the tour guide says, "If you like to join the group, we'll be there in two min."

02 November 07

a view in west jerusalem, a street behind the market.

i and two friends go to have lunch in west jerusalem, a place famouse for stew. we sit by the window. one of the guy sitting by the wall of the restaurant starts doing meditation. after a while, he says, "Uhooooooooooooooo."

03 November 07

a pic taken by himself, wanting to take a photo of his sisters... ??? in the old city of ramallah.

i watch a film in the cinema. it finishes at 9pm. i rush off to get a bus back to jerusalem, run into the bus terminal. i see only one shared taxi service in the dark parking area, ask a couple of guys if there is any more buses to jerusalem. one of them says, "Jerusalem... problem."

04 November 07

a view of a village festival near Qaliqiliya. i thought i could pick some olives but i got there too late. they finished early and i stayed with them for the festival...

a couple with two small children give me a lift from the village to jerusalem. we see a long line of cars in front. we stay for a min, see a car with blue flaged number plate driving past to get to the front. the taxi driver behind says, "!!!!! (go go)" with his arm. the hired car with blue flag carries us forward. see many yellow number plated cars staying in line, see no other flagged number plates in front. the hired car drives towards earthy green uniformed men.

05 November 07

a view of a glass panel - mermaid? left outside of the shop/restaurant/hotel? in the old city.

i go to YMCA in east jerusalem, ask about the swimming pool in there. a man says, "It's not good time for woman now..."

06 November 07

workers already working at just after dawn!!!

i go to have lunch with the others after some work in the cafe near nablus. the guy in the cafe says, "Are you Israeli like the others?" i tell him i'm not. he says, "Why not?"

07 November 07

tile factry plate, over 100 years old... neds a wash... and one of many many cctv cams next to it.

i walk out of the house with my sunglasses, put the rubbish in a big green rubbish bin on the street. a lady says, "xxxx xx x xxx?" I say, "sorry, I don't speak... hebrew..."

08 November 07

a ceiling view of a house owned by a man who has a hearing problem but has two wives and four kids? and maybe more...

i get picked up by a service taxi. i explain where to. the taxi driver takes me to the closest where he can get to. on the way going around on the small roads along the villages. he shows me the big city over the other side. he says, "that's Israel. It's very far..."

09 November 07

a gigantic monsterous aroe vera! in west jerusalem. grrrr!

i go to a restaurant for dinner with friends, spend a long time looking at the menu to decide what to have. at the bottom of the menu, it says, "Security NI 2 (Voluntarily). Thank you." !!!???

09 November 07

one of the street name plates. some of the other ones i photographed are not like this.... but with stickers, black spray paints... this is somehting i didn't want to photograph before... but i found some on the highway which are crossed out by black spray paints. so, i decided to photograph them now...

i walk around the old city, try to go back to where i saw the plates one of three was illuminated. i photograph them, see a head scarfed lady with a skirt looking at me. she says, "!!!!!"

10 November 07

a record i bought from the market in west jerusalem last friday. it rained this everning....

i walk along the street to get home, see a group of teens on the street to mine. i walk past them, stop at the front door, take out the keys. one of them says, "I live here! next door! if you need anything, just tell me!"

11 November 07

kids playing football in anata before going to ramallah for arafat's death anniversary march. when i got there, it was all finished...

i wlak along the street to find a service taxi, see a girl walking beside me. we chat for a bit. she goes into a house. see other girls coming out. we have a chat for a bit. one of them offeres me a coffee, boys come out. they all offer me a coffee. i tell them i have to go to ramallah. we all say good bye. one of them says, "Sharom! (hi in hebrew, their second language?)"

12 November 07

a stuffed black tiger hanging from the balcony in east jerusalem.

i wlak through the market to get to damascus gate. one of the guys in the market says, "You coming in to buy something? you told me you will. i gave you a free gift before." !!! he did not!!!

13 November 07

kids showing off back flips and front flips for me when i expected to photograph them playing football. there was only half the numbers of kids at the beggining...

i walk around the old city of beit jala, see group of kids playing football. i stop for a while, the small ones come up. they say, "Subllina! Sublina! (picture me! picture me!)"

14 November 07

congestion... takes 2-3 hours to get through...

a young man says, "tomorrow is an independence day of palestine, but it's like a joke."

15 November 07

a walled bathing area on the beach in tel aviv. three days each for each gender, sat not included.

i stop at the trafic light to the old city. a young man with twisted sidebarns with a little hat on start talking to me in his language. i tell him i don't speak his language. he keeps talking to me as i walk towards home. he says, "What's your name?" i see an old man with twisted sideburns walking towards us, see a young man moving away from me.

16 November 07

a view of the end of the day at the market in the old city.

i go to the restaurant, finish the meal, go to pay for it. the owner says, "Where are you from? Vietnam?"
*this is a new one, quite good one!

17 November 07

a cat having a take away dinner in the old city.

i walk around the market, see not many stolls open. keep walking aorund, see a falafel man on the corner. i haven't been there for a couple of weeks. i say hello to him in his language. he says with his body language. "Hello. nice to see you again."

18 November 07

a view in the old styled west jerusalem.

i wait around for the gallery to be opened. i start getting bored, decide to play with street cats. they are not interested. i take a photo of the washing hanging on the rooftop, see a man coming out of the house, saying nothing. i start worrying if he's going to tell me off, i say hello to him. he asks me some questions, i reply to him. he says, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

19 November 07

a nice walk path from the bank of west jerusalem up to zion gate at the old city. the only people walking are ... me and ...

i walk along the street in the old city, see a car parking right in the middle. i see a man walking towards the car and start talking to the driver. i walk back a little, walk around the car to the other side. the driver says, "Sorry! forgive me."

20 November 07

a view in anata at dusk.

i get on the bus with a friend. the bus takes us to the checkpoint. the green earthy uniformed men check my ID. one of them says, "Visa?" i explain about no stamp on my passport. he says, "Get out (Get off the bus). you can't pass here." we return to anata, another bus takes us there for the second time. the earthy uniformed man check my ID, the one who refused me in before says, "Get out. Chinese, Japanese, we don't owe them anything. Get out." we get off the bus to go to the other chekpoint to get back into jerusalem.

21 November 07

rain drops non stop this evening. lightening and thunders... a huge lightening at night.

i walk home at 10-ish pm, all the shops are closed. there's nobody on the street because of rain. i walk into the restaurant for a quick dinner, ask them if they are still open. they say, "No, sorry. tomorrow."

22 November 07

two cleaners cleaning the floor after the street performers going past, west jerusalem shopping mall.

i walk to a play ground, try to take a photo there. i find some kids with twisted sideburns playing outside the primary school. i say hello. they come up. we have a chat for a while. some of them keep calling me chinese as usual. an older kid speaks to me in engllish. we continue some communication. there are more than double numbers of kids out. they start getting agressive. they say, "Go home! Go!" one after another getting more and more agressive. try not to get angry. a teacher comes out, tring to calm them. not working. decide to leave. i walk off, one of them spits on me.

23 November 07

after the check in with "grade 5", half way through the security check at the airport.

i join the queue at the airport before the x-ray to checking in. a couple of female officers talk to me with smiles. they check my face with the passport for a long time, ask me more questions. they call their supervisor, it's her turn to talk to me. she calls someone else. the other person talks to me. they go off for a while, come back with stiff faces. i have the x-ray, queue up again, have contents of my suite case checked. when it's done, one of the girls says, "please don't forget these." pointing at 'singing in the rain' record. she helps me to pack and close the suitcase.