Things change. Things stay the same.

All week long I’ve been thinking about how much things have changed and how much things have stayed the same. Please humor me as I make random observations in no particular order.

Things that have changed:

Jaffa Road. If this blog were a musical I would be bursting into the “Whole New World” song right now. The light rail goes all the way up/down Jaffa so there are no buses and no cars on Jaffa. So weird. Rabbit trail: They are running the train with no passengers to test it. Makes sense, right? But a few trial runs and you should be good to go. Oh no. It’s been running empty for weeks, maybe even months now. No lie. Anyway...Jaffa Road now has wider sidewalks which is pure awesomeness. You can get up and down without being taken out by fellow sidewalkers. What is not pure awesomeness is Agrippas St. All the buses that used to run down Jaffa...yep...over on Agrippas. Not sure whose bright idea that was. Let’s take the tiny little road by the shuk that’s a nightmare at the best of times and add a whole bunch of buses to the mix. Bad times. I did what I always used to do on Jaffa. I walked in the street. I’d rather take my chances with getting hit by a bus than try to maneuver through the sidewalks teeming with people and the crowded bus stops.

Traffic patterns. You can’t drive past the old train station anymore. Which really cramps my style. I may have messed that up more than once. Old habits die hard and that was the quickest route to the city center from my neighborhood.

My coffee shop. This is the one that I really grieved. I see the shell, but it’s all torn up and they are reconstructing it. I can see the counter but everything else is gone. Sad times.

The guards at the post office. I walked past the post office on my way down to the Old City and by habit was going to stop and say hi to all my security guards. Didn’t recognize a single one.

Friends. So many of my friends are no longer in Israel. That was quite a difficult thing for me but I knew it would be and had tried to prepare myself. But I still found myself really missing all my old pals. Life moves on.

Things that have stayed the same:

Dates. Nothing beats a delicious date from the land of milk and honey. I think I understand how people who like chocolate feel when they open up a chocolate bar. That’s the feeling I have when I open up a bag of fresh dates from the shuk. Delish.

Smells. Speaking of the shuk, the smell hasn’t changed a bit. The delightful mix of olives, spices and then of course the not so delightful fish smell. But it all collides to instantly transport me to the world of shouting vendors and fruits and vegetables that make our produce in grocery stores back home look like they are on life support.

Dust. This is one I forgot about. Living in Jerusalem one quickly gets accustomed to always feeling a fine layer of dust on everything. The first day or two back in Israel I really noticed it again.

Smiles. Or the lack thereof. People don’t smile much. Maybe it’s the difficulty of life and the fact that everything is a fight. But unless people see someone they know, most walk down the street without smiling. If you smile at them, they don’t seem to know what to do with it.

Crazies. Jerusalem attracts them. My first day back I was walking down Jaffa and saw the guy who swears he is CIA. Even the briefest of conversations quickly leads to a conclusion that he’s not firing on all cylinders. I saw a few of the other old faithfuls as well. Didn’t see any John the Baptists or Elijahs this time. And I heard the woman in the white robes with the golden scepter got deported.

Music man. Same guy sitting at the same place...Tzomet X where Jaffa and King George intersect. And yes, indeed, he is still playing the very same songs he was playing when I left three years ago.

Pick up lines. Still lame. Still hilarious in their own way. Still frequent. And yes, I still have the ability to tell instantly whether it’s a pick up line or someone who really needs help with something. I remember having to teach newbies who came to visit me that not every guy who is asking for directions or the time or any other random bit of information actually needs anything other than your phone number. You gotta give them points for chutzpah.

Friends. Yes, many have moved on. But some have stayed and it was refreshing to spend time with them again. And I made some new friends which is inevitable in Jerusalem. People come and people go but the shared experiences of Jerusalem’s “refining fire” create a quick bond that in the end is really unique and special.