Halloween in the Holy Land

Two nights ago, around midnight, I got back from the busiest week of travel I have had thus far on Year Course. Jam-packed with long bus rides, tours, concerts, dinners, parties and costumes, the week is finally beginning to wind down.

So, I am back home in quiet Arad, reflecting on the past week, and couldn’t be happier.

The week began on a musical note when on Sunday, the majority of section one hopped on a coach bus to see Idan Raichel, a well known Israeli singer, perform at the MASA event in Jerusalem.

Lets just say I have never seen so many Jewish American teenagers in one place, at one time, in my life. The auditorium holds up to 3000 seats, and nearly every one was filled by a teenager on some Israel program. So, not only was I able to re-connect with people from other sections, I also ran into friends from various other programs.

This was my third time seeing Idan Raichel perform live, yet the experience was completely unlike the previous two. The cool thing about him is that he always performs with new people from different cultures and backgrounds; each time the shift in language, dance, and voice adds something special to his performance.

This time, the auditorium was filled with over the top, visually impressive eye candy. Acrobats hung from the ceiling, dancers flew across the stage to African rhythms, and confetti was released during a climactic song. Truthfully, I was expecting it to be an outdoor hippie-fest (which is usually is) with a mix Young Judaeans and Israelis. Though it wasn’t quite what I expected, I enjoyed his music nonetheless and appreciated the change of venue.

Wednesday, after Ulpan, the local community center hosted a Yitchack Rabin memorial, during which a famous singer from the 90’s made a guest appearance. I really like his music…. it’s Eddie Vedder meets Incubus, with an Israeli twist.

After the concert our apartment headed over to a local restaurant bar called Max’s and ate a delicious dinner together with our leftover stipend money…oh the benefits of good budgeting!

For our Siyur on Thursday, all of Year Course headed back to Jerusalem for the annual Breast Cancer walk. My friend Melissa (from section 1) and I were chosen by our leaders to carry the Hadassa and Young Judaea flags and stand at the front of the group, which apparently is an honor. I even had a short conversation with the president of Hadassah, Nancy—and for some reason it felt like I was meeting a celebrity?

After the 5 K walk my friend Izzy and I walked a few miles to our friend’s apartment from section 1. We napped, ate a nice dinner at “Waffle Bar” for our friend’s birthday, and stayed out until pretty late. It was a nice mix of people from all sections—I feel like I’m really starting to get to know people in Jerusalem and Bat Yam…so it’s a shame Year Course doesn’t have more activities with the “others.” (Side note: I think a greater sense of Year Course unity would greatly benefit the program.)

The next morning, on Friday, we discovered a bus that goes directly to Bat Yam from the Jerusalem bus station! This was pretty exciting news, seeing that we are constantly traveling on weekends, and direct busses are just so much better.

I’d like to think I’m becoming fairly travel savvy in Israel. I’m also getting familiar with the areas I’m going to be living in during my second and third trimesters in here, so I feel like I already have one foot in Jerusalem and…one arm in Bat Yam?

Ok, moving onto the exciting part of my weekend!

Once I arrived to Bat Yam all could hear from all Year Courser’s was: “have you figured out your costume yet!?”

Clearly, despite the pagan decent of the holiday, no American can pass up celebrating the most exciting holiday of the year—Halloween.

Two of my friends and I decided to dress up together as Charlie’s Angels, myself being Lucy Liu, of course. Basically we needed a costume that was do-able, easy, and affordable. So, we frantically ran to the toy store, bought the least intimidating Nerf guns (in the world) and got white poster board to make wings.

With our sleek black outfits, guns, wings, and makeup, I think we pulled the costume off. We finally made our way around 10 pm to the club in Tel Aviv and had a great time. I must say, some people got really clever with their costumes…my favorite of the night probably was Jimmy, who dressed as an old cat lady. Definitely appropriate for Israel, the land of stray cats.

The next morning we woke up hoping to spend a lazy afternoon on the beach; to our dismay, we got there on the one cloudy, drizzly day Bat Yam has seen in a while. Nevertheless, the majority of Year Coursers were on the beach, exchanging funny stories about the night before.

After packing all our belongings, Ben invited Jake and me to dinner with his parents in the beautiful (and ancient!) port city Jaffa. We celebrated his parent’s last night in Israel with delicious mushroom salad, chicken, and seafood. After a bit of schmoozing and eating, we bid his parents farewell, hopped in a cab, and arrived at the central bus station.

October 31st, Halloween. I woke up as if it was any other day. There was no scent of autumn, no pumpkin carving, no kids dressed up in costume eager to fill their baskets with candy. I even forgot it was a holiday until somebody asked me about it at volunteering!

So, to officially recognize the holiday, I figured I'd do something small and cozy with a few friends--we made punch and brownies, got a bit dressed up, and downloaded scary movies. Surprisingly, I fell asleep while watching The Exorcist (I hardly ever make it through movies past 12 am) so I ended up sleeping at my friend's apartment.

The next morning I woke up with the hype of Halloween behind me, ready and excited to begin a productive week of volunteering.