Walking around the suq in the Old City can be tiring; everyone's trying to get your attention to get you to buy something. Speaking Arabic gives one a different perspective on the whole situation, and people really treat you differently. This is mainly the reason why I am friends with some of the shopkeepers there.
Sometime last week, I met a tourist from Santa Cruz, CA at the hostel (Sta. Cruz is like 30mins from Monterey- for those of you who are unfamiliar with the area). How funny is that?! His name's Dave and he is a total surfer dude- says "awesome!" and "rad" all the time! He was traveling by himself, and we actually got to hang out and go sightseeing together. It was pretty neat because after talking for a while, we realized the different ways one can experience the same city.
I was telling him about my friends in the suq, who, at the time, were helping me look for an apartment- he was pretty surprised to hear about my interactions with the shopkeepers. Later on that day, we decided to go to the wall and walk around the old city. On our way to the wall, we passed by the area where all my friends hang out, so they started talking to me in Arabic. Everything happened just as usual, except when they saw I was walking around with Dave...they were being nice to him and all, but they looked suspiciously at him. Dave felt it too. As soon as we left the store, he said he thought my popularity had been affected by his presence.
The next day, I went to work, and then I passed by the suq to check on one of the apartments that might be available. I saw the same shopkeepers as the day before and after the usual enthusiastic hellos, the questioning began; who was that yesterday? Is he your boyfriend? If I were you, I would be careful…he looks like a fox! – I couldn’t do anything but laugh. It was weird to have to explain myself to these people that I barely know, but, I did anyways.
We continued on with our conversation and then I decided to buy a couple of scarves from one of them. I had been in his store a few times before and had my eye on two beautiful scarves. I finally decided to buy them. When I asked Hashem how much they were he said I could have them for free. He had already given me a pair of earrings (my welcome present), so I really didn't want to take them for free, so I asked him how much- He said, just give me 20 shekels (about $5-6). Although I'm pretty good at bargaining, it was nice to not have to fight for the price I wanted :) So, despite the initial hassle, I still got preferential treatment.
About an hour later, I saw Dave. He told me he had been walking around the suq and the same guys started asking him about me and where I was. Then, they tried selling him stuff from their store- just like any other tourist.
From that day on, we tried to avoid their street, but I think everyone in the suq knew who we were.
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