“I am one of the most popular personas in Jerusalem”
Shilgi Yerushalmi – “Although I visit Jerusalem once a year at best I am still one of the most popular personas here. Moreover, whenever it snows here which is of course, the only time I visit Jerusalem switches into an exaggerated yet amusing fuss of preparations.
The presnow period goes like this: hysterical grocery purchasing as if Armageddon is knocking on the door; a municipal operations room that is active 24/7; the local ultrapopular weather website and app “Yerushamaim” keeps on crashing as it is loaded with visitors that are anxious to know when will it snow. And on the top of it all a general excitement and enthusiasm towards the white precipitation that is about to fall from the sky.
Eventually when it falls, 2 inches of snow are enough for schools and universities to close their gates (or for students to ditch) and for people to miss work and stay at home. Generally, the city is semiparalyzed but in a good way: the streets are full of people of all ages, all with the same silly and wide smile all over their face, throwing snowballs, sliding on snowy slopes in the city’s different parks and greeting each other with “happy snow holiday”.
And of course, on the top of it all, they create me and my friends and family!
By the way, I am dying to visit here in the summer. Somehow, it just never works out.”
