Wheelin' & Dealin'

We went into the Old City today so that I could look for some souvenirs for my friends and family. I knew that the business owners are very pushy, but I also knew that they love to make a deal with you; so I prepared myself. We got to the streets that are packed with shops and started our hunt for goodies. I have so many people that I want to buy something for that it makes it difficult. I feel very limited as to how much money I can spend on each since there's so many that need to be purchased. And if there's one thing that's hard to find in the Old City, it is anything inexpensive! But, we will be here for a while, so I'm trying to take my time and shop around. I did have one thing in mind, that I had seen the last time we were there, that I knew I wanted to get. I have a friend in Okinawa, Rachel B., who is just about as southern as they come. Every time I see this I think immediately of her. It always makes me giggle. So, Rachel, this will be coming your way shortly.

The man who sold this to me said it was hand-painted. I guess that means this artist is very busy, because I saw the same thing at almost every store we went to!! I'm guessing that this man thinks Americans aren't very intelligent. But, it's cute just the same and we talked him down to giving it to us at half the price he was asking.

The next store we went to had us leaving empty-handed, but not without a good fight from the owner. We found many things there that we liked, but he wouldn't budge enough on the price. I was very tempted to purchase a Bible for my friend Heather. It was just an average, hard back, King James Bible, but the front and back covers were covered in wood and had little windows with "holy" dirt, and "holy" water in them. The idea was nice, but upon my husband's close inspection we decided that it wasn't worth the money he was asking since it was just cheap plywood. It's nice to have a skilled woodworker along when you're going to buy something wooden.

The next store drew us inside because of their lovely leather bags. None of them really suited my style, but I did see other items there that intrigued me. This particular one kept my attention. While making the costumes this year for the church's play, "The Centurion", I did a lot of research for the high priest's breastplate with the stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel. I found it very interesting, so this was something that I know I will enjoy.

I looked up some of the words in my Hebrew-English dictionary and found that the words under the stones are the names of the stones, not the tribe which they represent. But that's okay; most of the people that look at this won't be able to read it anyway.

You have to imagine what it's like while shopping in these stores. There's no such thing as, "No thanks, I'm just looking." These people are polite, but aggressive!! They want to make a sale and will do whatever it takes to do it. The man at this store got some money out of his pocket and was going to send his little boy off to get our kids something to drink and a snack. We had to tell him "no" repeatedly. It's a nice gesture, yes, but then you feel guilted into buying something from him. He started showing me some large scarves that were really lovely. Very well made, beautiful pattern--high price. My husband thought it might make nice decoration, so we were considering it. You don't get any time to think when you're in a store like this. The vendors are putting things before your face and trying to make a deal with you. At one point we just told him, "No, we don't want the scarf, just the plaque." To which he replied, "Okay, I'll make you a deal: two scarves for this price." I don't know what made him think we'd want two when we didn't even want one! In the end I got my plaque and as he's putting it in the bag, he puts a scarf in as well and ties the bag. I guess he thought that meant we had to buy it now. We had to tell him yet again, "NO! We only want the plaque." He reluctantly took it out of the bag and took our money. As we were walking out he put the scarf in a bag again and gave us a price we couldn't refuse. I'm sure the scarf will look pretty in our house, but more than anything I think I'll like looking at it as a memory of this funny day.

Almost done.....I had one more place that I wanted to see. I had read about a fabric store here and I was determined to find it. Finally, we found the place and it all started again. "You're looking for cotton? Come this way." I got shown about a hundred different fabrics; none of which were the right thing. I did finally settle on some sort of synthetic fabric after the man brought me over to a mirror and wrapped me up in it to show me how nice it would look next to my "light skin and blue eyes". Of course, he also said the shiny lime green with the pink metallic flowers would look nice on me. Hmmmm. I'm sure my sensible blue with small flowers will make a much nicer dress for myself. I have a feeling that I will be ordering my fabric online after this.

Overall it was a fun day and I hope we can go back and do it again soon. I guess we'll have to since I was only able to cross one friend off my souvenir list!!