Here's an excerpt from my journal:
Oct. 1
" Yesterday we arrived in the City of David and toured the tunnels...the aquaducts. It was refreshing except Yiscah kept on screeming and whooping like a war hawk in my ear. Soooo annoying. We did a Hakafot tour. Eh. Went to a couple of synagogues to try to get a taste of simchat torah. But the truth is, Jewish life feels empty in a synagogue her if you're a woman. I was literally thrust behind a curtain in a sweatbox of a balcony. It is very difficult to feel spiritual in a constrained environment.
Thursday night we went to Ben Yehuda. It looked like the Golden Calf scene in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments for fifteen-year-olds. Everyone was maybe my age or younger all congregating, awkwardly hugging, tugging at eachother, drinking from the cup of lasciviousness and raging hormones. This place is steeped with nostalgia from Bronfman, being a street musician with my family, March of the Living, etc. We met up with some of Naftali's friends at Mirror Bar, the club located within the Mamila Hotel. When we opened the door, we realized we had walked into frum Sodom and Gemorah. Orthodox girls hiking up their knee-length skirts to grind with Yeshiva boys. Teens in kippot and tzit-tzit downing shots, hip-shaking to Rihanna. Frum girls passed out on couch cushions, obviously exhausted by their first drink and alcoholic and diabolic independence.
I danced. It felt great to be "normally" dressed in shorts and a long-sleeved shirt and feel like a skank.
Yesterday, Friday, we had a 3-religion tour of Jerusalem. It was reaaaally hot. My favorite stop was at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was incredibly mesmerizing. So many colors and sounds and languages spoken. I got scolded by a Russian Orthodox priest because I was wearing jean shorts that were too short (above my knee). I wasn't the only one. I left the building with my hair infused with the smell of frankincense smoke.
Then we went to the shuk. I got a really good 7 sheckel falafel and brought my friends to Marzipan (the best place to get chocolate ruggalach)
I was a happy girl. I ordered everything in Hebrew.
Kabbalat Shabbat was at the Great Synagogue where they had a male choir leading selected prayers. It was very church-like. It was actually quite comical.
More comical was bumping into Yedidyah and Carmie, these dudes I know from Makom. I saw them froma distance after services and rejoiced int he sight of familiarity...kids from MY hometown!!!! I walked up from behind them..tapped Y-diddy's shoulder and they were like...
'Hey. Aliza'
It was stagnant. Like they pretended they didn't know me. Weird.
Anyways, you've probably noticed that I'm writing in a new pen signifying that this is me just catching myself up from when my pen ran out of ink. But in truth...a lot has happened since then.
I am in my new dorm in Hebrew University. It is so pristine and beautiful and quiet (except for the dance party happening below on campus) Things that happened worth taking note of:
Leaving Tel Aviv
Had a boring Bauhaus tour the night before. Bauhaus is basically cubes. Imagine looking at cube houses for 2 hours where we live. It made no difference familiarizing ourselves with the architecture when we were to leave the following morning for good. That night I went to Cafe Nostra with Olivia and Sarah. Ended up finishing packing and going to bed at 3 AM.
The next morning i felt okay (thank you, Ibuprofen)
I had to sweep the whole filthy apartment. Cups and cups and cups of filth. What a hell hole.
These new dorms look like they were leased by Mr. Clean, comparatively. Paid a cab 30 NIS to take 3 bags of mine to Hotel Devorah. And we were off. Very unsentimental. I was glad to leave that terrible, dank, fetid situation.
We stopped at the Jerusalem Center Ulpan. Got orally tested in Hebrew. The dude looked like Israeli Larry David. I put on my accent. He drank it up. I moved up a level. Whooopeee.
Later we toured Bezalel. An amazing facility. So fun. People look so cool. Courses include "erotic drawing" to "street photo".
I have a mandatory class called "Spirituality and Consciousness".
I know this is right up Dad's alley. I am so excited. Things are unfolding. I am going to the desert tomorrow!
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