it took a world of trouble, took a world of tears

instead of waking up and going to the tel aviv museum of art and then thrift shopping, we slept until about 4PM then got ready to take a sheruit to tel aviv at around 6:30PM. we went, of course, straight to the sub kuch. while we were sitting on the curb, i saw this very dark skinned black man dressed in all white. i called him an angel. alice agreed. we hung there for a while with chico, ariel, and david. i was supposed to meet inbal at this metal bar, so al and i left to walk to this bar. as we're walking, ariel pulls up and after some deliberation between us, al decides to go with him. so i figure i am independent enough to hoof it, and i set off to walk to the bar alone. i'm thinking that i know where i'm going, but i end up walking about 20 minutes down allenby and know that i've gone too far. i call inbal and sure enough, she has no fucking clue where i am. so i need tampons and water before i begin my journey back to the middle. i stop at the AMPM market to do so. i walk alllllllllll the way back to where i started, and on the way i see my angel. i give him a look. he looks confused back. oh well.

i finally make it to inbal after much misdirection. turns out that i totally missed the street which was 5 minutes away from the sub kuch. and that the bartender's directions were so easy that i fucked them up. i have to pee and (DISCLAIMER: i'm going to talk about my period...)

change my tampon, so inbal and i find a bathroom in this restaurant. i go to open the box of tampons and i realize that i've bought not tampons but 25 sheckels worth of pantyliners. now anyone that has ever had to use a pantyliner will sympathize with me on this. luckily, inbal had a couple of extra tampons, so that worked.

OK done talking about my period now.

inbal really didn't want to go back to the metal bar, so we walked to this little place that she thought looked cute. we found this little tiny place called 13 with windows so heavily tinted that we couldn't even tell if it was open or not. well, it was and we had a couple of lovely drinks to elvis, temptations, and chuck berry records. this place is a little dream. i mean, not as great as ships, but still pretty great. we wrapped up and walked back to the metal bar to meet inbal's friend and ride. we enter the bar and i'm immediately faced with about 20 death metal dudes, scattered around the bar (or standing on it) headbanging and fist-pumping to the really fucked up song they sing in american history x which is both racist and anti-semitic. inbal's friend notices the expression on my face, which i'm sure was a mixture of confusion, shock, and disgust, and says "don't worry, we're all jewish. it's just for fun." i'm thinking to myself, "what the fuck am i doing here?" but we sit on the couches in the back anyway, only to be approached by a gentleman by the name of andres vodka. andres proceeds to serenade me with death metal and dance moves that have me fearing for the safety of my facial appendages. but its so fucking ridiculous and he is so into it that i can't help but just smile and laugh and it honestly put me in a great mood. afterward, i just watched and even snapped a couple of photos of these drunk metal guys as they alllllll got up on the bar, singing and headbanging along to the fucking empiriral march from star wars. once i stopped laughing, i realized that it was 3AM, so that meant no sheruits until 5AM. i really didn't feel like going to inbal's in hadera because i would've had to bus it back for an hour to ramla. so the only thing i could think to do was to walk back to the sub kuch because i knew that david would be starting his night shift at 4AM so at least i'd have someone to talk to before i walked to the train station. i said goodbye to inbal at the halfway walk point and got to sub kuch in no time.

walked to the bar, and hung out with chico, tomer, mayaan, noa, david and tal. chico invited us all onto the roof to relax and chill...

we all just sat on the couches and drank tea, looking at the sky. all of a sudden, i'm trying to explain the different phases of the moon to chico while david wonders if the words "waxing" and "waning" are german based, and we see a falling star. i make a wish.

we all head back downstairs and david announces that my bed is ready, meaning that i can sleep on the couches in the next room. he brings me a blanket and opens his new book as i pass out on the couch next to him. i woke up several times during this morning, and once i met a older couple from denmark travelling through staying in the guest house. they reminded me of dad and joan and made me think to tell them to stay here. i fell asleep one last time and woke up to david telling me that his shift was over, so i said goodbye and walked to sheruit station. when i was nearly there, i walked by two ethiopian ladies in beautiful, elaborate ceremonial white dresses and hats. i realized after they had passed and after the 2nd time i looked back to see them that i should've taken a photo. i thought about it and remembered that there are 4 photos i regret not taking: those ladies in white in tel aviv, the back of a hassidic boy on a pay phone just outside the old city in jerusalem, a large indian family all in matching purple and orange suris in LA rental car place, two black men in columbus sitting outside yau's, one seizing on the ground, the other looking on. i wish i was diane arbus. and could just ask people, beg people to take their photos. it was nice to be alone these last few hours, maybe i feel like alli is a security blanket. i've always been independent. maybe i just haven't spent enough time alone since i've been here.

slept for a few hours, i've been fasting all day except water. i need to cleanse. slough some stuff off. i made myself eggs. and then watched 'fever pitch' which is horribly bad, but made me miss being in a relationship. a good one. and i can't imagine what that's like anymore. very strange. and then i thought that romantic comedies are such unrealistic bullshit. all of them besides 'punch drunk love'. that captures the disgusting, jarring, surreal, sexy, gut-wrenching wonderment that goes into falling into an infatuation with someone. lasting or not. al came home and now we're planning our halloween costumes. and i have a rash. and now we're watching almost famous. ulpan and work tomorrow. goodnight everyone.

it's all happening.

OH, and i've decided to use the pantyliners as wall decor. that is all.

love,

sally