So, after I posted last, I bought this cool, hand-woven camel hair rug in the Old City for half the asking price, no big deal, then met up with the Germans. We played a little soccer, well a variation of it, and then Thomas and I went to get some kenafa which could be the sweetest treat ever invented, ever. Afterward, I partyed a little bit with the Germans since a few of them are leaving in the next week or so. I met some cool guys like Raffy (Raphael) and Flo (Florian) and they taught me how to play a drinking game called Flunkey Bahl, it's pretty fun, I may bring it back to the States. We went to a couple clubs in Jerusalem (because that's just what you do the day after Shabat) and then made our way home.
When I woke up yesterday, I found out we were going to the beach in Tel Aviv. I borrowed some shorts and we headed over there. Now, once on the beach, I was blown away at the things I saw. I can safely say that about half the people on the beach were drunk, if this seems normal to you, touche, but of that half, many of them were children who couldn't have been over the age of 12. Not only were kids drinking openly on the beach, but they were also smoking heavily - either cigarettes or argeelah. The adults that were drinking were either fighting or yelling at random people in Arabic or Hebrew; one man that we were watching chugged an entire bottle of vodka, seemed to pray, threw sand in the air, and then pounded the glass bottle into the sand (afterward staring at us and yelling "Israel!" and "F*** Superman!"). I had no idea what was going on. I understand that people enjoy things such as alcohol and cigarettes, I get that, but when it is allowed to be abused so openly in public and by children, I don't understand. This, from the small experience I had in Tel Aviv, is what I have come to call Telavivianism - the allowance of the abuse of alcohol and drugs in public by individuals of all ages. However, in the other parts of Tel Aviv we walked through, some people seemed pretty normal and pretty relaxed.
Other than the fights, the yelling, and the premature abuse of drugs, the beach was fantastic. We swam in the sea a little bit, I stepped on a jellyfish (not poisonous, no worries), and we met some other chill foreigners. Overall, I had a great time in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem this weekend, this next weekend, I am planning on going up to the Sea of Galilee, I hear it's just super. Tonight though, we're all going to pick up some meat and beer and have a little BBQ since Daher isn't coming back from his weekend until tomorrow. I'm pretty pumped. All for now though, thanks for reading.
Luke,
ReplyDeleteNot sure how you're getting to the Sea of G, but if you can, head on up to Safed -- it's where a lot of the Jewish mysticism started (Kaballah and all). You should try to get to Yad Vashem (Jerusalem) sometime as well. North of the Sea of G is the Baniass, one of the headwaters of the Jordan River and beautiful. And just north of there is Kiryat Shmona and Tel Dan, where I dug lo these many years ago (and where Jeroboam set up the golden calf). I think Hebrew Union College still does a dig there every summer. If you get a chance you should go to Haifa. The Bahai Gardens are one of the most beautiful spots in Israel.
Tel Avivers are crazy. They strive to be the party capitol of the mideast and maintain a spiritual distance from Jerusalem.
Elizabeth