So this past weekend Lauren, Leore and I went down to Tel Aviv for an AMERICAN style Halloween. It was in every single way every single thing that I needed. People were in COSTUME. Fabulous. Ours were of course stupid, I was Lauren, she was Leore and Leore was me. Obviously no one understood it, obviously we got endless pleasure out of acting like one another all night (as if we haven't already adopted every part of one anothers personalities already...but this gave us an excuse finally.) There was a pre-party at Lyndsey's apartment and the apartment across the way and then all of their friends (who are all studying at Sackler the American Med-school program at TAU and who also obv couldn't miss the best day of the year) had organized a party at this place called Liquor Bar. After somehow talking ourselves into being lost, so we were FORCED to stop for ice cream and I drunk dialed my mom we finally managed to walk across the street and actually enter the bar. I'd love to recount the events of the evening for you from there but all I realistically remember is broken glass, cigarettes (I know I quit, so sue me), the Hulk, and Karnaf (shut up only this like phenomenal meat sandwich restaurant thing place that I'm not sure how I never knew about until now, it's like the Chipotle of Israel). Well next thing I know I woke up...there are pictures - most of which are embarrassing, this one isnt.
Leore, Lauren, Anne (respectively)The rest of the weekend involved walking from food to food, to food to chocolate, to dessert to food, at one point someone promised me a bag of kittens, they didn't follow through....sigh, ummm anyways - oh and no one letting me watch Shakespeare in Love, I mean really what were we doing that was just so important I just couldn't possibly have ever watched that damned movie. Oh that's right eating and napping, my b. Although we were able to peel ourselves off of the couch long enough to check out the memorial to Yitzak Rabin in Rabin Square.
No joke 150,000 people showed up - it was unreal to see that many people flood the streets to pay their respects to the late Prime Minister, even 12 years after his death. And did you know that the man who killed him (a fellow Jew who murdered him at a peace rally in '95, if you were unaware) has scheduled his son's bris on the day Rabin died - reminds me not to forget people really aren't all good, Jews kill Jews over peace - speaks volumes.On the horizon:
Tuesday I'm headed off to Bet Shemesh (literally House of Sun) Washington D.C.'s partnership 2000 sister city, where I'll be living come January 2nd. Checkin out the pad and seeing some volunteer opportunities - pretty psyched about that. And here's the clincher Thursday we are basically having the most amazing, like seriously AMAZING (legit capitalization here) educational day (no not with Jared the funky educator like you were obv thinking, someone new). We are going to the Kotel (boring over it - Just kidding), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Dome of the Rock (you know the gold dome building everyone sees in pictures of Jerusalem, it's probably all you know of Israel). This is a huge deal it's in East Jerusalem, not many people, well of the non-muslim persuasion, ever get to go there. Seeing as it's not exactly in the safest place ever being in East Jeru and all.
Here's a little background if you didn't know: Kotel = Western/Wailing wall, the only remaining wall of the 2nd temple and the holiest place for Jews.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre is where Jesus was said to have been crucified, and where he was buried (so I suppose the X-ians might find that important).
Dome of the Rock would be literally the rock on which Muhammad ascended to Heaven after having flown on a magic horse to Jerusalem from Mecca; and for Judaism it's the stone at the place where Abraham was sent when God requested him to sacrifice his son Isaac, it's also the Temple Mount and is speculated that the rock was the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the First Temple. It was also used in the Second Temple days during Yom Kippur services and Rabbinc legend tells that the entire world was created from this rock. So as you can imagine these three places are pretty fucking important to a large percentage of the world. 
(thanks Wikipedia for summing that up for me succinctly, it's paraphrased not completely stolen...because I'm creative!!!)Other news:
Security update, we've been banned from Peki'in. Something about a cellular tower causing cancer, the Druze being mad at the Jews, a Police woman being kidnapped and chickens. Whatever I can't go there any more. Also there is the forthcoming peace agreement in Annapolis between the US, Israel and Palestine....keep your ears open for that.
Wrap Up:
Things are going well, but I've always got to remind myself that that isn't always the case. In my personal life, in my life as a Jew and in my life as an Israeli (for the time being - I'm still on to you Israel, I know what you want from me)--don't worry about that of course that's just where I causally bring up my conspiracy theory.
Irrationally yours,
A PE PG
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