And actually, this Israeli guy spoke to me in Chinese

“Are you from China?”

I replied, “Umm. Taiwan.” And then I was waiting for his reply. Was he going to ask me about one-China policy? Taiwan’s independence? China’s one-child policy?

But hold on, his next question was…

“How do you say Jacob in Chinese?”

He asked the oddest question in Chinese. Was I supposed to know who Jacob was? I never expected to come across such question. But gladly, as a Bible-reading Christian, I do know how to say Jacob in Mandarin, both in Taiwanese version and Chinese version.

Then he said..

“How is my Chinese?”

All the conversation above was done in Chinese, so I actually thought he did a good job. And it reminds me that I used to think of ways to start conversations in MRT with foreigners in Taiwan. I didn’t mind that he wanted to practice Chinese with me, even though I had to watch how I pronounce certain words. (Taiwanese’ mandarin accent is softer than Chinese accent)

The big China dream. I knew that.

But what’s interesting to me was that he learned Chinese through some app on his phone!! And I think he didn’t learn more lessons so our conversation switched to English.

And yup! That was pretty much the story! No juice! 

I have no idea why he had to ask those questions though. Was it even that important？

But I did learn something. The IDF soldier’s heavy bags. Every time I see them traveling, they carry big bags. I mean why? Isn’t it just a weekend home? Do they really need that much stuff for one weekend?

And noooooo.

“It’s their dirty clothes inside”

“Why do they need to take their dirty clothes home? Why can’t they do laundry in the army?”

“Because there’s no laundry facility in the army….”

And I was shocked because in Taiwan boys serve military for 1 year (now it’s reduced to 4 months). And you aren’t allowed to take army clothes out of a post, or to carry a weapon. I knew this was the difference, but it never came to my mind that while these IDF soldiers carry honor with them all the time, they have to carry dirty clothes back home too.

Well, let’s just say it isn’t easy to be an Israeli soldier!

Bonus：How to Start a Conversation with an Asian?

Well well… the chances are, people who travel all know some English. Just try! You never know unless you talk to them personally. Don’t judge.

Start with a question that seems unobtrusive. For example, ask us for directions, or things involve with numbers. Asians love to help.

It’s a good idea to avoid saying things like “Are you from Korea?” Because it doesn’t matter that much unless you speak Korean right? And the following statement could be, “Oh you are from Taiwan? I’ve been to Thailand.”

Even though you might think it is the same region, but for us….  umm we don’t know how to respond to this type of ‘statement’. So yes, be direct if you want to ask something.  Be as straightforward as you can!

Anyways, if you don’t know what to talk about, always talk about food. These things fascinate all Asians, even though we do look skinny. Seriously!

“You can’t go there by foot, Bethlehem is 2 hours away from here!”

As soon as we passed the wall, taxi drivers surrounded us and gave us ‘good offers’. When we declined the offers, it became sarcasm. Anyways we ignored what they said and followed GPS to reach Manger Square in Bethlehem.

But today’s atmosphere is strange. Usually, there are long queues at checkpoints, but there was no one here today. No vendors, no passers-by, no fruit sellers… where was everyone?

After a few minutes following Google Maps, I found myself in a dead lane.  Did Google Maps expect me to jump over this wall? Or was I missing some secret passage? Suddenly a passerby wearing a blue suit approached us.

“Where do you want to go?”, he said.

I said “manger square”. And then he pointed the direction we came,

“You have to go from there.”

I was a little angry why GPS brought us to this wall.

“There’s no way from here?”

But he gently said,

“There is no road here. The wall has blocked all the roads. You need to go back to the checkpoint. You can catch a taxi or mini-van from there.”

And I protested:

“But there is no mini-van at the checkpoint! Only taxi!”

And then as if he remembered something, he agreed that there was no mini-van today. So finally I brought up my confusion on this unexpected “ghost town” Bethlehem. And he said with a smile,

“It’s Easter Saturday today. There will be activities in the afternoon. Everyone is preparing, so that’s why you don’t see people on the road and shops are not open.” Then he pointed to the building behind him: “I saw you from my house, so I came down to see if you need any help. “

I had never heard about such thing as “Easter Saturday”. Plus Easter was a month ago…..   Did I hear him wrong? Though I knew that 2016 was a strange year because Easter was in March and Passover was in April! Then he said,

“Today is the Easter for Eastern Christians. It is different from the Easter of Gregorian calendar.  I’m going to the event in the afternoon too.”

“Oh! Are you….an Orthodox Christian?”

I studied this man. Greenish-blue eyes. I don’t know if it is polite to ask about someone’s faith. But he frankly shared with us,

“I am a Greek Orthodox Christian because my mother is a Greek, but my wife is a Catholic.”

“Oh! Orthodox Christian and Catholic! So which Easter does your wife celebrate?”

“Actually, we celebrate both. There is Coptic Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox here and we are all called Christians. We are only 1% and we cannot be divided.”

I keep thinking about his words from his heart.  As an outsider, we see a division of so many sects in Israel, but the locals actually tell us this “we cannot be divided”. That’s powerful! Then he shared his family story, but in short, the wall had been here since 2003. I had no idea why Google Maps took me to a dead end if this wall had been here for more than 10 years…..

Then, Johnny, the man told us that he had never been to Jerusalem since. He just couldn’t get a permit from the Israeli government. But his tone, there was no hatred in his tone.  I was surprised by this because here I was, in front of a real “Palestinian” whose freedom was completely restricted, but as a Christian, he had no complaints against Israel.  Only a tad of sadness with a ton of understanding.  His previous wealthy life is tremendously affected and tourism business isn’t easy, and he could have many reasons to turn cynical, but he didn’t.

And he was the person who told me “We are only 1% and we cannot be divided.”

That is a priceless lesson learned.

Just as Jewish quarter changed after the Israeli army went in this gate in 1967, my life changed after coming here…… (just kidding)

Then my skinny brother found a fat cat by Zion Gate. We were simply looking at this cat for 10 seconds, then… an Orthodox Jew came to us!

From what I heard from locals and from the internet, Orthodox Jews don’t go to normal schools, they don’t work and don’t serve in IDF. But this Orthodox Jew came to us! I was surprised and thrilled. Nervous too.

He opened his mouth, and spoke to us in English!

In Israel…

I thought he was going to introduce his country to us. But how interesting that he said,

Cat no eat.

Hmmmm. So Israeli cats don’t eat? But this cat is pretty chubby. Or did he mean that we shouldn’t feed stray cats? I asked him, still in a friendly and innocent tone.

But his face was serious, and he left us with these words,

No eat!

And….. 10 seconds later…..

Whaaaaat?

Did he seriously think that my brother and I were going to eat this cat? Is it because we are Chinese (by blood)? Oh well! Whatever!

I get that Israel is an expensive place to live. I get that people know Chinese eat dogs and all sorts of weird animals. But we are nice tourists in Israel, we aren’t here to eat any cat! Did he have bad experience spotting Asians eating cats, I wonder? 

I told my Israeli friend (secular Jew) about this experience. His first experience was…

He could speak English? 

I guess we all have stereotypes on people!