Shopping Till We Dropped in the Old City Blog #13

Blog # 13

Shopping Till We Dropped in the Old City  

Old City Jerusalem 

So far on this trip I had only purchased some embroidered Bedouin ankle sleeves (allegedly for the bottom of my jeans) at the Bedouin women’s market ~ although I was pretty sure they would look pretty weird on me when I got home. John declined to comment on my purchase or the innovative design I envisioned. He had bought a camel basket in Nizwa (with actual droppings of camel milk still left in it) after intense bartering as well as some “best quality” dates. (He bought the basket because he jokes about my fetish for baskets so I appreciate the effort.) When John sees me interested in a shop he immediately takes off as he finds shopping with me torture, especially because I take too much time to make up my mind. I wasn’t particularly worried about my lack of purchases because Diane had promised to take me to the two stores in the Old City that had purchases “to die for” ~ well actually she said after 5 years of comparison price checking she found these two particular local stores to have the best prices, most honest Arab sellers and highest quality goods. I envision going shopping with Diane without John and or any time pressure. She was now becoming not only our travel guide and driver, border crossing coach, cultural and food advisor but also my shopping mentor and coach. To my surprise, John wanted to come as well but warned me he wouldn’t stay more than a half hour and he was only interested in seeing rugs.

First we go to a lovely pottery shop. The owner and artists are there when we arrive and we watch them hand paint the bowls, tiles and cups that were beautifully displayed in the windows. They were finely painted with scenes of Jerusalem as well as symbols of local foods we had been eating such as pomegranates, dates, grapes, olives and onions. We spend almost an hour in this store admiring their work and picking out items we could manage to transport home. Diane assures us she will send everything home for us ~ “no problem” she says and assures us she is not on commission.  


John and I take our delicate purchases back to the car trunk and proceed following our leader Diane into the bowels of the Old City past many stores with men trying to entice us to see their store. We arrive at the Well which is so packed with beautiful items that it is like being in a candy store with too many things to taste ~ I am overwhelmed. Will I look at jewelry, scarves, rugs, or artwork?

The Well ~ one of three rooms packed to the gills 

This is a Palestinian family owned store that has been in business for over 300 years and is now run by four brothers. The youngest brother 35 years old, lives above the store and said he did a masters degree at Northwestern in Chicago. Apparently he cannot get a job in Israel because he is not Jewish.  All four brothers are there on this day and as each one sees Diane they react with delight as if the Queen has arrived giving her hugs and kisses. Diane introduces us and they tell us how much they love Diane, as she is part of their family. John tells them we want to see rugs. One of the brothers tells John to relax, take his time, and take a seat. He also mentions the store has Internet.  John googles Kilim rugs on his I-phone to research the history of these rugs and reads some of the books provided on rugs. (I had once done a presentation project on Turkish Kilim rugs and have always loved their simple design and weave) Diane and I look around the store where I realize I could spend a day and still only see 20% of the items.  After an hour of soaking up the atmosphere John reminds the middle brother we want to see rugs. He throws down the first kilim rug and all three of us exclaim, “it is beautiful.” The brother replies, “don’t buy the first thing you see, you will see many more. Take your time.” He throws down another equally beautiful rug and after the third one is on the floor a rather large tour group arrives. 

Brothers, John and Diane 

The brothers offer us lunch and ask us if we can wait until they are finished with the tour group.  We say we don’t need lunch but after a half hour where the brothers have  been thoroughly engaged with the other tourists, lunch is brought to us. I truly found this to be one of the best meals I have had in Israel ~ I loved the schwarma lamb and the hummus, warm and freshly baked pita bread. They also included salad! As we eat the food they bring in more food and eventually as the other tour group left they join us for lunch. I am thinking we have been here 2 hours, bought nothing and John is still with us! We discuss many things over lunch but one interaction was particularly disturbing. After they found out John was a cardiologist one of the brothers tells us about his heart pains which feel like a heart attack. He has them 2-3 times a week but has some medication to take with helps him. (he shows John the meds) After some further probing questions on John’s part it turns out he is having panic attacks. The older brother explains he has these attacks due to an incident when his brother was aged 16 and was beat up by the Israeli police for putting up a Palestine flag. He was put in jail for 2 years and experienced torture. Since then he has had panic attacks. We tell him this is post traumatic stress syndrome and there is treatment for this.  Diane offers her services.  We have heard other stories such as these and read in the newspaper that same morning that a Palestinian man who was sent to jail for throwing a rock had died and this was causing further unrest and protests.  The atmosphere in the Old City is tense and the brothers talk about the stress they feel.  

Now three hours have passed and John reminds the brothers he would like to see some rugs.  They bring out a dozen or so more – and John measures them and we try to decide if one will be adequately big for our kitchen. We don’t seem to be able to find a small one that color matches to go in front of the door. The brothers tell us rugs don’t have to match and we can cut them down if needed.  We ask about price but are told price is not a problem – how many do we want? We will get a discount. We are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the choices and finally pick out the main rug and one other small rug which we don’t think matches but we are imagining other places we might put that rug.  John is thinking of Vashon of course. Finally we say we will take a 3^rd rug – at this point I think we have been completely seduced by this family who have entranced us. The third brother then throws in a 4^th small rug as a bonus (which we aren't wild about). Price.. still very uncertain but there will be a discount and we are told we have made the best long-term decision and chosen the best quality rugs.   
John has surpassed any shopping event I’ve ever had with him in 40 years ~ maybe something was put in the Turkish coffee or mint tea!  He says he is going to the hotel for a nap.  

Diane and I stay to look at scarves and I get a lesson from the youngest brother on how scarves should be worn and what my colors are. While I usually wear black, grey, white and tan – earth colors – I am told I should be wearing spring colors and the earth colors make me look dull.  Diane confirms that I should wear spring colors. I try on different colored scarves and I get further coaching in how to wear the scarves for a further hour. As we are proceeding to antique jewelry discussions I realize I have overdosed and much as I want to shop on my own with Diane ~ I am unable.  The brothers understand and one of them tells me to come back sometime to visit…not to buy .. as we are now part of the family. We head back to the car following another family member who carries the rugs.  I realize we have spent most of a day in the store with this charismatic family. And I am trying to figure out how the shackles I spent translate into dollars and realize I have been distracted and don't know how much I have spent.  It was an incredible experience that I will never forget.  I wonder if we will like what we bought when we get it home – in fact, I am not sure exactly what we have bought. I wake up suddenly in the middle of the night wondering what came over John and I.