After a spell of a 90+ degree daily temperature, a good bit of cloud and wind has made its way to Ramallah over the last few days. Although it has made for slightly more humid weather, it has also made it tolerably cooler. This makes me happy as I can walk around and go shopping without sweat dripping from my face within 5 minutes of when I step outside. So the other day after work I went to the big produce market in Ramallah's city center. I have one particular vegetable stand that I always go to as it pretty much has everything I need and because the man who works it always gives me good deals. I made my way through the crowds -- young boys asking if I need a shopping cart, men saying "welcome, welcome," old women waddling along in their traditional Palestinian dresses, the specials of the day being shouted out, the smell of melon in the air.
I made it to my favorite booth. "Marhaba... keif halik? Shoaf barik? Shoo biddick?" (Hello... How are you? What is new? What would you like?) "Marhaba... taman, wa enta? Anna mish airif biddee... mumken shway kool ishi." (Hello... I am fine, and you? I don't know what I want... maybe a little of everything.) He handed me a bag (kees) and I started loading it up with tomatoes, cucumbers, and zuchinni. Then I asked him if he could get me a couple of green peppers (filfel). After putting the peppers in, he held up 2 hot chiles and asked if I wanted them. I said no its ok, but he put them in the bag anyway. Then I asked if I could get a couple of onions (basal). After he put the onions in the bag, he held up 2 potatoes and asked if I wanted them. I said "leesh la?" (why not?) and he threw them in too. So in the end I had a huge bag full of tomatoes, cucumbers, zuchinni, peppers (green and chile), onions, and potatoes. The grand total... a whopping 5 shekels -- $1.25. To say that produce is cheap here is an understatement. It is glorious!
After the produce market I needed to get some nuts (pecans to be exact) Getting nuts here is not like in the U.S.-- you don't just walk into a store and buy a can of mixed nuts, cashews, almonds, or whatever your heart desires. There are specific shops that specialize in nut roasting and they are where everyone purchases their nuts from. I have one particular place, Al-Maslamani, that I absolutely love. I got a 1/2 kilo of pecans (noos kilo joz) and then noticed that they had my favorite "Chinese mix" - a trail mix made of sweet and spicy rice treat goodness. You know how in most trail mixes there is one particular part that you like the most and that you can't get enough of? Like in gordetto's its those rye bread chips. Well this mix is no different. There are these large chunky dense rice cake things that are cheesy, and sweet and spicy and just plain delicious. I told Ghazi (the guy who works at Maslamani) "Anna bihib hatha bess" (I only like these), while pointing to the good bits. So, being the good man that he is, he took his scoop and worked his way through the Chinese mix and got me a little bag full of just my favorite parts. "Moomtaz... shukran jazeelan ya Ghazi!" (Perfect... thank you so much Ghazi!).
I needed a few basic food items (milk, water, yogurt) so I went to my local corner store, Ar-Rafedin, to pick them up. I was looking at the spice rack, taking my time because I had to turn all the labels around so that I could read them in English rather than Arabic just because I was too lazy to read the Arabic. The store was recently renovated and up at the registers they installed a call button for the staff to use if they need assistance from another staff member. When the button is pressed a kind of doorbell sound is heard in the store. On this particular day I was standing by the speaker where the sound was coming from. However, in addition to the ding-dong sound, there was also a creepy, high-pitched voice (think Bird Lady from Kids in the Hall) saying something like "hello and welcome." It completely caught me off guard and I thought it was the funniest thing so I just started laughing out loud in the middle of the store while looking at spices. Of course as soon as I started to laugh, some guys were walking by who had no clue why I was laughing. I couldn't stop. It was Bird Lady. In Palestine.
At times I wonder what it would be like to just wander around in an Iraqi city, take it in non-tactically. Probably won't be reasonably safe for a non-muslim American to do within my lifetime though. Options (and much more scenic) are Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and even Palestine, as your blog beautifully illustrates.
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