Walking
the neighborhoods, #1
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Sep
3 |
About
10pm Ghzwan, my wonderful interpreter and friend, set out for a walk in
his neighborhood--al Hashmi al Shamali.
This year the whole month of September is Ramadan, a
time when Muslims fast from 4am until 7pm, so the evenings take on
somewhat more significance than usual.
We strolled along an extremely busy street of shops,
then wandered onto a side street that contained residences and
small workshops.
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As we walked we stopped and chatted with people.
Here's Subhi Mohammed, who runs a small TV repair shop. |
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Ali
Eid
Ashraf Al-Smade
We even spent a pleasant five minutes with the local
gendarmes, who ran across the street to buy iced drinks for
us. Ghzwan says that these two have been very friendly to
Iraqi refugees. |
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Met this claque of enthusiastic young boys, and taught
them how to do a high five (totally foreign to everyone here, it seems) |
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As we were strolling the side street, through a door
across the street I spied Kadeja Awad Hussan lying on a mat, with her
daughter-in-law near her. We asked if I could come and photograph
Kadeja. |
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In the living room with Mustafa majdoubeh, her son
When I asked permission to include his wife in a
photo, he refused. This is typical here; it's considered "too
familiar" |
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Kadeja is an 80-year-old Palestinian woman, and was
born in Yalo, a small village in Palestine. Her garment is a
traditional Palestinian one. |
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Hard of hearing, sight failing, she still has an
upbeat spirit, and enthusiastically said she wanted to go to America |
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Then
strolling a bit later I spied three men taking tea in a small courtyard
just off the sidewalk. I looked in and waved to them.
Immediately, one of the men waved us into the gathering. |
So we joined them around the table; they are three
cousins |
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Ali Al-Baraisaa'h, a bedouin
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Hilal Al-Baraisaa'h
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Rashed Al-Baraisaa'h and me; he is a former member
of the Jordanian parliament
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They soon began grooming me for a starring role in the
next Lawrence of Arabia sequel
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Or perhaps sheikdom. Whaddaya think?
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The workshops along the street tended to be very casual
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We ended the evening with Ghzwan lusting after this
police motorcycle
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