Succot!

This week has been crazy, since it's been Succot in Israel.  During Succot (largely one of the more insignificant holidays, if you ask me), kids have off from school, and it's generally a week-long national vacation.  Thus, none of us has volunteering or classes.  Tuesday night, after the siyur, I ended up doing very little.  Nathan and I watched Hellboy II, which was pretty much the same thing as the first one.

Then, Wednesday, we woke up late and went to Ulpan at 12 to do a workshop with a band called The Shuk.  The workshop was pretty lame, but then we came back an hour after it for a concert they put on that wasn't actually too bad.  That night, I saw Shirit, who I haven't seen since Machon.  She is on a different gap year program in Israel which sounds pretty cool, as well.  I then went into Tel-Aviv with Scott and Nathan to meet up with Hadley and some of her friends to see her for the first time since we each came to Israel (her on Nativ, a more religious program belonging to USY, and I on Year Course).  We headed over to Moses to meet up with both my apartment and Eli Cohen 24 (previously known as Nathan's/Scott's/Simon's/Aaron's/Ben's/Ohad's apartment).  On the way there, we saw Sam from sports track--he was wasted out of his mind, and we tried to get him to take a cab home but he insisted he wanted to "go home for free" after "beating the shit out of" his friends.  We decided to let him go after trying to point him towards Bat Yam for about twenty minutes (he kept heading in the opposite direction).  I'm glad I never get this way.

After this, however, we went to Moses, which is easily the best burger experience I've ever had.  Words cannot begin to describe.  Some other time, when I am less tired and less has happened to write about, and when I've just returned from Moses, I will devote an entire post to it, complete with pictures and all.  Just know that my burger zenith has been reached disappointingly early in my life.

Then we woke up on Thursday to go to the Tsofim tiyul in the Kinneret.  We went to the "Hidden Lake" in the middle of nowhere kind of near the Kinneret first, and then had barbecue on the Kinneret that night.  Scott, Simon, Anna, Carrie, I, and some others played a hilarious game of 21, and then the majority of us went skinny dipping in the Kinneret.  If Jesus walked on it, I should be able to swim in it naked.

On Friday, we went rafting in the Jordan River, something which is typically boring, but I actually had a lot of fun with this time.  Nathan, Scott, David, Jordan, Sam and I took a raft and decided to be pirates and steal other rafts' paddles.  At first, nobody suspected anything, and it was easy to steal paddles, but word spread quickly.  At the height of our pirating we had 9 paddles, but the pirate gods taught us a lesson for being too greedy and we slowly started to lose our paddles.  By the end of the river, we had but 5 paddles, and were missing Scott.  Technically it was 5 and a half paddles, if you count the "battle paddle" I was holding that was missing one of its ends.  Regardless, it was a fun experience:



As you may (or may not) be able to see, we also took Lior and Maya hostage at one point.

Then, when we returned on Friday, I went over to Eli Cohen 24 (previously known as Nathan's/Scott's/Simon's/Aaron's/Ben's/Ohad's apartment) and had Shabbat dinner with Noah, who was visiting.  Idan Tishell, our mishlachat counselor from Hadracha, also came over for dinner, and great fun was had by all.  After dinner, we all went into Holon to get some alcohol.  We got fairly drunk, and headed down to the beach, where I and Nathan embarked with Anna and Emilie and Judith to Arlekino, a fancy ice cream place.  For 30 shekels, we got 9 scoops of ice cream in three different flavors with a waffle on the bottom.  It was probably one of the best ice cream experiences I've ever had, I must go again soon.

Today, we all woke up fairly late, and the Midwest boys (I, Nathan, Scott, Simon, Ephy, Aaron, Ben, and Noah) went down to the park to play a rigorous game of ultimate frisbee.  We then went to the beach, and then came back home.  This is beginning to be the regular shabbos routine whenever Noah is in town, and I like it a good deal.

I went and watched "Waking Life" with Cera and Ilanah at their apartment, and now I'm going to sleep.  I hope your last week has been fantastic, and that this one matches if not exceeds the intensity of fun you've had during it.  Please, feel free to skype me or send me a facebook message or, hell, even shoot me an e-mail (ittai.eres@gmail.com).  Undoubtedly I would love to hear from you.  Take it easy!