So last night, although we were supposed to go to Tel Aviv, by the time we were done working on our various media projects it was just too late. Instead, we went to Paz's friend's house near Sderot.
It was one of the best nights I've had yet. There was nothing special going on, but it was just a really fun, nice group of people (six of us in all.) We sat outside the host's house sipping Ha'arak, those who were so inclined were smoking cigarettes and hookah, and we were eating sunflower seeds (which are super popular here.)
Within an hour, the guitars, tambourine, and various other instruments came out and we sang and played our way into a frenzy. The two women who were singing were AMAZING. It was really funny though because they were mostly singing songs in English....which led to the best moment of the night when we discovered we all loved the Irish movie "The Commitments." I can't believe I had to travel to the other side of the world to find other people my age who not only have seen it, but know the soundtrack inside and out. Needless to say, we broke into song. And the lord said, "it was good." Or something like that.
However I need to back up in my story. The kibbutz is located at the edge of a long stretch of land that is empty until Be'ersheba. You can see for many, many km. About a half hour into our night, we all heard a small sound like distant thunder. Everyone looked at each other and held their breath, but that was all we heard so we went back to talking.
Fast forward to this morning; I looked up the news on Ha'aretz and sure enough, a rocket had been fired into Be'ersheba--no one was hurt, but it was quite creepy knowing we had heard it the night before. But that's just par for the course down here.
Today, we went to Jerusalem. We couldn't get into the Dome of the Rock because of Ramadan, BUT we did get to see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which is absolutely one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It's beyond huge and filled with caverns, alcoves, narrow staircases, and incredible mosaics.
After that, we went to the Kotel (the Western Wall.) This year, for whatever reason, it was a much more personal and emotional experience. Of course I placed a note in the cracks and took a couple minutes to come as close as I ever get to praying (while touching the wall.) It's funny--last year, the prayer I placed in the wall was answered in such a way that I was really taken back by it. Either God had a sense of humor or I was in touch the with earth's magnetic fields...so I figured I might as well give it a go again this year. I honestly can't imagine coming to Israel and NOT visiting the Wall.
Finally, we went in search of food and damn if we didn't end up at the same falafel place I went to last year in the Old City. Let me tell you, there are LOTS of falafel joints in the Old City. They're like the ABC stores in Hawaii (at least one per block.) So it was pretty cool that I accidentally ended up at the same place. And it tasted just as good.
We got back in the afternoon, I took a nap, and now I'm starting to organize for my interviews in Arad tomorrow. I'll be near(ish) the Dead Sea...and if I finish the interviews early, I'll have my friend Ron (our guard from last year) show me around a bit. Now, I must continue the unpleasant task of logging all of my media in some semblance of an organized way (Ha!)
Until later!
