Cosmo

As I walk towards the city I can hear the Muezzin calling people to pray, quoting passages from the Qur'an at my back.
The main street is crowded with people. I have to slow the pace of my walk near a Russian bookstore, as I am stuck behind two Philippine women who are chatting amiably with each other.

Passing them, I start feeling a hungry, so I look for a place to eat. A few meters from where I stand there's a Thai food stall, a tiny falafel place and a McDonald's.

Deciding I want falafel, I explain to the Chinese seller, using a mix of sign language, Hebrew and English, exactly what salads I want, pay and thank him in Arabic and Hebrew "Todah, al-haqeyfaq!"

Waiting for the pedestrian stoplight to change an orthodox Jewish child runs to the road. His mother scolds him in English. A nearby couple whisper in Hebrew while two old Ethiopians speak in their tongue-smacking language on a park bench.
I take it all in, and smile.
 

Kfar-Saba, Weitzman Street,

2009