Episode 07: "The Party Week" (+)

Purim is a holiday taken from the triumphant Biblical story of Esther, stretched out to become a week-long celebration in Israel involving Halloweenish costumes and lots and lots of partying. For about a straight week there were dance parties everywhere, and I decided to join in on some of the fun.

On Monday, I hit a club called Constantine, which is my favorite dance spot in Israel so far. Every time I've been for Student Night, there's been enough hip-hop to satisfy me before the inevitable devolution into the mess of techno Israelis seem to dig so much.

Tuesdsay, I helped out a little with setting up the synagogue I went to for Yom Kippur as a dance space for the university's Hillel party, which was a lot of fun. I was about the only one there who didn't care to dress up as something. Toward the end of the night I joined Ashley--my old dance contest partner in crime--in trying to win that night's contest. For some reason, though, I was extremely nervous, and had just about zero confidence going in. Oh, well. I went with it when it was our turn.


But even the combined skills of Eric and Ashley weren't enough to go against the "wow" factor of Breakdancing Ryan, featured below:

Couldn't even be mad we lost to this guy.
I'd rather watch him flare than me shake any day.

The next day (this would be the third day of partying in a row), I decided to go this party out in a huge building made for concerts and whatnot. It was really crowded, with tons of people in a bunch of ridiculous costumes. I wore a black garbage bag just to get people off my case about a "costume," even though I never came up a name for what I actually was. No pictures, though--'pologies.

I was pretty pooped by Thursday, when I helped out with an event put together by my friend and madrich (counselor or guide), Liav. The deal was helping kids put together their own Purim costumes at this community center a-ways off. I didn't do anything significant, but it was scary-fun trying to communicate with the kids. They were rowdy, bold with their words and incredibly funny. And, of course, adorable. After trying to keep them from stealing cookies for like an hour, I took some silly pictures with Ashley to close everything out.

An epic superhero rivalry, coming to its natural conclusion...

Friendship.

Saturday, I was absolutely done with all the partying. But there was one more shindig taking place right outside my building in the Student Village, and somehow one of my friends got me to go out for one final dance.

I hope I looked less awkward in real life.

Never partied that much in one week. First time for everything, I guess.

Shalom,
Eric