Chofesh...

So, purim has come and gone, and I must say that it was enjoyable as ever. I think. It was much different this time around, due to the fact that purim in Jerusalem is celebrated on the day the rest of the world is hung over; that is, shushan purim. The reason for this is because Jerusalem is a walled city, and just like Shushan - the capital of Persia- was a walled city, so too every walled city celebrates purim on that day.
Add that to the fact that most americans in the Holy Land don't collect for a tzedakah on Purim, it gives a whole different feeling. Then again, if collecting was a reason not to start drinking right away, in the Holy Land there is none.
Anyway, once I woke up on thursday morning, I realized with surprise that I didn't have a hangover. And so, I started off my day just like every other day. However, when it came to the later part of the day, I realized that my second seder chavrusah had left that day. And due to the fact we didn't have shiur, I really had nothing else to do for the rest of the day.
So, I decided to go on a vacation with a few of my buddies, most of whom would not be returning after pesach. We boarded a bus and headed up north to the lovely city of Tiberias. Once we arrived, we were all so ready to let loose, and ready for that much needed vacation, that we did exactly what we'd been anticipating and champing at the bit to do: nothing.
Of course, when I was approached and asked if I wanted to come, I pointed out the slight flaw in this logic.
Me: What will you be doing there?
Buddy: You know, chill out, relax, walk around...
Me: basically, you're doing nothing.
Him: uhhhh....well....
Me: and you want to take a two and a half hour bus to do nothing?
Him: uhhh... yeah....
Me: cool. I'm in.
You see, even if you're doing nothing, absolutely nothing, there still is something to be said about doing nothing somewhere else over the place where you'd normally be doing nothing. And so, we made our way up north and got ourselves the cheapest hotel rooms we could find. Then we went out for a stroll.
When we got back, most of the guys went to sleep, but since I'd slept so much in my detoxification state, I decided to stay up and watch TV. As of late, nothing on TV really interested me. The quality of today's cartoons have gone so far down, it's really saddening. I'm happy to say not much has changed since the last time I turned the boob tube on...
Of course, aside from watching crappy tv, there was the added excitement of watching crappy foreign tv. If you though telemundo was bad, you don't know about Israeli television. Of course, there was telemundo on as well, but it paled in comparison to the Israeli stuff. One observation I can make though: of all the different genres of tv programs nowadays, there are only two types that can cross the language barrier, The first one is horror. There was a realy shoddy german slasher flick on at about 2 in the morning, and even though I couldn't understand what was being said, the creepy music and screaming definitely conveyed the point. Of course, how that differs from the american stuff once you think about it....The second one was, naturally, porn. Not that I watched, of course. But for the brief few minutes that I was on that channel (at first, with the creepy music and screaming, I thought it was another crappy horror flick...), I was able to make that observation.
When I returned to jerusalem in the morning, as I got off the bus, I really needed the john. The central bus station is quite large, and I was having difficulty findin the bathroom. Finally, on the third floor, I found it. By that time I was running, and as I came to the entrance, I saw this guy siting in front of the door with a cash register. As I approached, he demanded a one shekel fee for use of the bathroom. In a rush, I told him that he could take a shekel and shove it, and blew past him without paying. I had full intention of paying him after my business was finished, I just wasn't going to stop and dig for change while my bladder threatened to burst.
While I was taking care of my business, a cop comes in and starts yelling at me that I have to pay.
Him (in ivrit, and then in broken english): you can't just come in here! You must come outside and pay!
Me (while standing at the urinal): Right now?
Anyway, with that taken care of, I went back to my apartement and got ready for shabbos. I'll be coming back to the states this week for bein hazmanim....
Originally posted Sunday, 19 March 2006