Mahane Yehuda!!!

Holla for halvah!

I finally made it to the outdoor market on a Friday (which is like Saturday here). It was AWESOME! It's both very touristy and very local. The cheapest place to buy produce and pitas, everyone local goes there to stock up for Shabbat diners. Tourists are all over to because it's this cool, crazy busy, bustling market with everything from tomatoes to Manorah's and scarves and jewelry. Like a really cool farmers market. You can identify the tourists from the locals a lot just by the head wear--as illustrated above.

I finally bought some Halvah (It's this sweet, crumbly .... stuff. Hmm. Kind of like ... a nougat roll or something? But, more grainy? It's really good! I think it's made out of sesame seed oil and flour, sugar and nuts, and vanilla and stuff like that. It's Parve--which means there are no meat or dairy products in it. DE*licious. I also got a Pomegranite Juice which was just that. They halved three pomegranites right in front of me, sqouze them, and handed me the cup. It was also delightful. Then I got my pitas and tomatoes and plums so I could feel less like a tourist and pretend I was just a local--doing my weekly shopping.

On the way there, I passed a 16ish Phillipino looking boy on his bicycle wearing a Toronto Raptor's basketball jersey. I kind of stared for a second because you don't see very many kids in West Jerusalem or really anywhere in Jerusalem) wearing basketball jerseys. He noticed me staring, but didn't crack a smile, wink, blush, or anything. He just stared right back at me. So I kind of half-waived, smiled and kept walking. Without breaking his stare he passed in front of me into a driveway, and then crashed into the wall. I was in front of him at this point so I didn't turn back around to stare--didn't want to embarass him any further by ackoweldging that I'd seen him crash. But then--he came turned back around, very slowly rode next to me on the sidewalk (without saying a word), passed me, turned around AGAIN to ride back towards me and still without smiling said "Hi." He didn't stop though. So by the time I responded I was just saying "hello" to his back. I felt like pretty hot stuff after that encounter. Me and the 16 year olds--I've always had a way with younger men.