arrival and madness

greetings from the holy land!

i arrived friday here afternoon, severly jet lagged and still recovering from the rude reclamation of my toothpaste by the fascist german customs
agents (i'd been awake for too many hours, and yes i cried in the bathroom for 5 minutes while enjoying my final fennel-licous dental moment).

an hour after my arrival here in tel aviv, gershon (russian/israeli friend from klez kanada, religious jew from a West Bank settlement, klezmer bassist and violinist, and all around crazy guy) dragged me to a chabad (religious jewish organization) shabbat dinner at the university--i was still having to remind myself what country i was in and prop my eye lids open, but it was fun and crazed and festive--the rabbi was getting drunk on cheap vodka and pouring shots for everyone (gershon sniffed his cup, and said to me "i don't drink fuel"), there was lots of singing and table pounding and food and general merryment.

Saturday, we walked to the (mediterranean) sea and went swimming in our underwear (despite the cool, breezy tempurature), then went back to chabad for shabbos lunch and more vodka-induced merriment. gershon had a dramatic emotional breakdown which included telling me that i couldn't stay with him, but thankfully that has now passed.

after shabbos ended, we took a bus to Jaffa (pronounced YA-fo), a very old city in the south that is now part of tel aviv. its about 3000 years old and is mentioned in the bible, very beautiful with castle-like buildings, winding alleys and tons of weird, wirey cats meandering around. afterward, we walked about a million miles to a bar back in the city where gershon's band, Oy Division, was playing...(traditional klez with accordian, bass, violin and clarinet). unfortunately i accidentally drank some caffinated tea when we went to a friends house to get blankets, so i was up until about 2 am...

This morning, gershon woke me up by sitting on me at 7am, but then we had the best breakfast ever--scary instant coffee, avacado on bagels, grapes and bananas. delicious!

then we started putting together a set for our new band, "in the russian style," which will be coming to a kibbutz/moshav near YOU sometime soon. the name has a funny story which probably won't translate over email, so i'll save you the grief...save to say that it is cause for much hilarity. (sidenote: according to gersh, russian is the only language in which you can conduct in depth analytical conversations about literature, politics, art, etc., using only curses).

also i found out today that tomorrow i'll go to a religious kibbutz in the center of israel for an ulpan, hebrew study and working on the kibbutz. the course is 5 months long, but i'll stay for 3 weeks. gershon lived on this kibbutz for 4 years, and the people that run it love him and anything he touches, so apparently the $2000 fee will be greatly reduced!?!? it's all happening very fast, but everyone concerned has repeatedly assured me that all will be fine, so i'm doing my best to take them at their word and go with the flow.

today gershon left for philharmonic choir rehearsal, so it is my day to explore the city on my own before leaving tomorrow. i'm writing this email from tel aviv university, after, i'll go visit the jewish diaspora museum (also here on campus, and apparently home to a music library with a giant collection of klezmer music), then take a bus to jaffa to explore some more. tonight, we'll have more band practice, and presumably sleep at some point (that seems to figure in last...).