Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
Many people may see foreign reporting as glamorous, but a lot of the time it’s quite lonely. So I was lucky to find Salon Jaffa in the Jaffa flea market while on assignment in Israel.
Inbal Blech, an Israeli Jew, owns the salon in this historic port town with a mixed population that’s part of greater Tel Aviv. A 48-year-old woman with dark hair and a raucous laugh, she holds court on a bench just outside her salon, rolling cigarettes, drinking coffee and welcoming a steady rotation of people — mainly women — who sit and have a chat. Sometimes they go in for a manicure or a wax, sometimes they just come to visit.
I became one of those people. When I needed a break from the heaviness of covering the news, I’d go and sit by her and the other technicians. On a recent day, I joined Inbal sitting with nail technician Mayan Shany and snapped this photo.
Tensions between Palestinians and Jews after Oct. 7, 2023, reached an all-time high in Israel, but at Salon Jaffa, people from both communities feel safe and protected by Inbal. Palestinian and Jewish women come to exchange stories and gossip, and for just a few hours a day, you can see what this place could really be.
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