Our Last Shabbat in Israel

We woke up super late (aka 9am) because it was Shabbat and we had no place to go. Andrew became Bar Mitzvah this morning, and we were all happy for him, even if we didn't all make it out of bed in time to see it. From there we took a walk to Jerusalem's capital center and took some cool pictures along the way. We had another session of 'stump Malka' like the one in Tiberia. This one took on the subjects of evolution, Creationism and science in general. Basically, it killed me and I couldn't wait for it to end. Kaila fell asleep on me, as did Emma at one point.

We made it back to the hotel and had some random adventures. John used my harmonica and in like 10 minutes learned how to beatbox and play it. Crazy talented kid, but we all had fun. By now the group had really become cohesive for the most part, and everyone was hanging with everyone. We pissed hotel security off by breakdancing and playing drums, showing each other our sweetest dance moves. I turned my back for about two minutes and other Ben was wearing a wig, earrings and Malka's wig. He proceeded to act like Liz for a while, and continued to wear the makeup etc. all throughout the night.

Gift of Life paid us a visit, but since Eric and I had already done it with AEPi, we sat back and messed around with the Israelis. After Gift of Life, it was off to Ben Yehuda Street! We bought some beer and some falafel, and John, Jackie and I hit up a sweet hookah bar. I gave my second beer before walking in, really just to be nice. Since we had no timepiece, and I didn't want to third-wheel it any longer, I left to get someone who did. I found Liz and Ben, still in drag from the shoulders up. He got propositioned by a bald guy selling hookah, and I guided Liz to the Burger King so she could use the facilities. We finally made it back to the hookah bar, but wanted to go dance.

The guys who I gave my beer to directed us (mostly in Hebrew) to a dance bar called Bonita. When we arrived, we paid 40 shekel to get into a club that was packed....with eleven Australian Taglit students who could NOT dance. So I continued to third-wheel it for a while until we found another bar with less dancing space, but no cover. I had been done drinking for a while so I just chatted up the other Americans, who thought I was Israeli and had a really awesome eyebrow. We left around midnight for the hotel, and continued the party.

As if we hadn't pissed the people at Jerusalem Gate off enough, we decided to light up the hookah in my room. I wasn't smoking, and I really shouldn't have been there, but one of the guys knocked the burning coal off of the hookah onto Harrison's leg, which he promptly shook onto the carpet. We heard security was coming and everyone would have jetted if not for me, who made everyone stay and clean. (Flashbacks from the fall semester? Maybe.) After that, everyone relocated the hookah to an uncarpeted room near the elevator, where we hung till about two talking about our experience and about life in general. The highlight there must have been Ami, our slightly nerdy tour guide, taking a hit or two of hookah, and our trip organizer Hadassah trying her hardest to blow smoke rings. I left for Kayla and Emma's around 2, and we got a good 2 hours of sleep.