Purim!

Well Purim has now officially concluded, so I can't say Purim sameach, but I hope you all had a great chag! Of course, it can't have been anywhere near as fantastic as mine was, because Purim in this country is absolutely INSANE. There's this old law that says that everywhere in the world Purim is celebrated on the 14th of Adar, but in walled cities (such as Shushan, where Megilat Esther takes place), it is celebrated on the 15th of Adar. This means that in all of Israel, Purim was on Sunday, except in Jerusalem, it began Sunday night and continued through today. So basically, we had two days of Purim. AWESOME. Here are some quick notes on the past few days:

-My Angry Bird costume failed due to the fact that I could not find a beak ANYWHERE, so I went Sunday morning to work at a carnival for kids dressed as a cat, then I went out last night as a cowgirl, and today I was a hippie. All three costumes were assembled from clothing belonging to other Aardvarks, but they all turned out great!

-I went to this WILD street party in the alleys of shuk Machane Yehuda last night! There were hundreds of young people, dressed up and wasted out of their minds, dancing body to body to this crazy hippie music. It was hilarious. Admittedly, I had had a little bit to drink (it's Purim... it's a mitzvah), but the party was ridiculous, I had so much fun!

-So about hamantaschen.... well, first of all, they're really good. But second of all, I have yet to find one here that's as good as Cheryl Ann's. They have weird fillings here, though, some of which are really good, including date, fig, halva, vanilla stuff, and some sort of sweet cheese. However, everyone here seems to belong to the camp that likes crunchy hamataschen rather than the cakey variety that I've grown up with. I made some really good ones, but I had a little bit of a problem with the raspberry jam and it exploded all over the place. Whatever, they still tasted good. :)

-So firecrackers are illegal in this country, but like many other illegal things (underage drinking, hash, jaywalking), the cops either don't really care or just can't really do anything about it, so there have been firecrackers going off constantly for the past three days. When I was in Guatemala, hearing BANG BANG BANG all the time was kind of fun, but here it's TERRIFYING. Every time one goes off, we all think we're about to die. Last night when I was walking one went off like four feet in front of me; I screamed, and everyone around me ran off in different directions. Seriously, who sets off firecrackers in a country traumatized by years of bombing?

-Today, Aardvark had a b'yachad Purim seuda, which was a giant feast of cold cut sandwiches, vegetables, hamantaschen, and plenty of wine. We sang songs, and told jokes, and did Robert De Niro impersonations, and were encouraged by our rabbi to get drunk. Weird, but it was a blast. In the middle of the meal, a bunch of random people we had never seen before ran into the room, grabbed our hands, and led us in a Congo line around the room singing Purim songs. The same thing happened on the bus last night. Seriously, I love this country.

Aside from Purim, everyday life continues in Jerusalem. General updates:

-St. Patrick's Day happened, and almost no one in this country is Irish, so I had to seek out some good Irish fun. We found a party at an American bar called Mike's Place, complete with plenty of green decorations, good beer on tap, and a decent folk-rock-y band. Not quite like Boston, but it was a good night.

-On Saturday, one of my roommates and I walked from our apartment all the way to the Kotel and back. I've been wanting to do it since I moved to Jerusalem, but it was a REALLY long walk! We looked it up later, and it was about 7km, and the second half was mostly going up and down stairs. My knees are still angry at me, but it was a good experience. Walking in this city on Shabbat is amazing.

-So my apartment is falling apart. Nothing on Tel Aviv style falling apart, but seriously. Of the nine lights in the apartment, six do not work, and it's not because of the bulbs. I've changed one of them three separate times and it just keeps going out, so I think it's something wrong with the wiring. Furthermore, our bathroom sink refuses to drain, part of the ceiling fell into the toilet, and my roommate and I have a mold infestation on our ceiling (no worries, though, we're getting it looked at tomorrow). On the bright side, though, the power no longer goes out every time we use the toaster.

-I went to Tel Aviv last week (finally) to get my computer looked at, but all I learned was that I would have to spend a small fortune just to get the thing looked at, so basically, I don't have a computer for the next three and half weeks until I come home. I'm so grateful to have such a generous roommate!

That's all for now; I have to go make a bed on the couch (can't sleep in a mold infested room) and I have to be up early tomorrow for a field trip.

Good night!