after i last wrote, jono, al, and i walked to sharet to play soccer with the littler boys. i really suck at soccer, but i kept going for the ball anyway. it was hot. i was sweaty. and sucking. after soccer, i started walking to nave yonatan for my photography class, but realized i had plenty of time so i walked back to meander with al and jono until it was time for me to leave. took photos of this shoe repairman that works out of the back of his van. then walekd to nave yonatan with my camera in hand, asking people if i could take photos of them. not many 'yes' responses. it's scary to ask. i would rather take candids but i always remember what a man in the jerusalem market said to me when i was sneaking photos in the shook. he said, "don't steal photos'", which really struck me for reason. but its these decisions that i must make as a photographer. that, and i really need to work on my composition. i feel like i'm not really doing anything interesting at all, besides the subject matter. anyway, i took some cool stuff on the way to the school, only finding out upon arrival that i need to schedule the class on a different day because the girls want a bigger class. so i walked home instead, taking more photos on the way.
got home and showered before heading off to meet naama and peeps at the apartment so we could all walk together to this pro co-existence event being held in ramla, featuring an israeli and then a palestinian hip-hop group. once we got there, we sat through a bunch of speeches in hebrew and then the israeli hip-hop guy. he was actually pretty good, even though we couldn't understand him. would have been nice to know. but al and i left early so we could get to the open mic night at the sub kuch in time for me to play. we picked up jono at the house and caught a sheruit on the street, jono telling us about the time he had snake in china.
we arrived at the sub kuch in plenty of time, just sticking our heads into the gallery to see what time everything was starting before retreating to daniel's room to play guitar and hang out. went down to the bar right before, and tomer dedicated 'mercedes benz' to me, plopping a tiny toy benz in front of me. after watching a few others, eventually it was time for me to play, so taking some inspiration from earlier, i belted as best i could, 'mercedes benz', just rapping on the guitar. no chords, just percussion and vocals. everyone clapped along. had some accompanying singers. it was great. then i played 'i will be there when you die' and 'history of fiction'. i finished, and al and jono gave me nice feedback. so did a few other people. some guy from brooklyn said i reminded him of regina spektor. nice compliment. then we went back downstairs to the bar for a bit before it was time to leave. daniel cleared up an embarrassing non-misunderstanding misunderstanding. it was really sweet. that guy is amazing. we went back up to his room to hang out a little bit more before we said goodbye and he told us about his new company where he delivers food from all surrounding restaurants on bikes. al signed us both up to do it, but i don't know if it was the night or the beer or not eating. so we'll see. anyway, i tried to round us up the best i could, paying and saying our goodbyes. but al couldn't make it to the sheruit station and we are too broke to take a cab, so we waited. i was a little bit frustrated, as i wanted to go home and sleep before we volunteered. but it made the most sense given the circumstances. so she passed out on the couch, and i went outside for some air. two guys were sitting outside talking about their ex-relationships that had coincidentally just ended that day. both of them. talking about what went wrong. why. how. i shared some of my own personal experiences when prompted. then i was approached by some of the guys that heard me play. one played for me and asked me a bunch of intense questions. one told me i have a style that reminds him of all the famous female vocalists. that one felt pretty good. the intense guy was a little too intense for my mood (inviting me to play sometime or go camping with him, which reminded me of some weirdness from home), so i went inside to check on alice (i.e. escape). i tried to lay down on the couch and fall asleep. i opened my eyes very briefly just in time to see intense guy walk in, see me sleeping, and very quickly turn around to leave. i felt kind of badly about that one. but it just wasn't the time. i did it to myself. i admit i was curious about the guy, he looks like thurston moore.
anyway, daniel came down and saw us sleeping after he had earlier asked us if we needed to crash in his room. he laughed and asked why we were so funny. he set up a mattress for me on his floor and i woke alice up to tell her i was sleeping there. i passed out after many thank yous and woke up to al banging on the door at 5:30AM. we walked downstairs to leave, saying hi to david who had just began his shift. big warm hugs all around, then a cold walk to the sheruit station. we talked about the night before and i was still not super excited about it, grabbing some food and water on the way. but we caught the sheruit and got home in enough time climb through the window, since i've lost my keys, pass out, and sleep through both our alarms. naama woke us up later, upset, asking us if we wanted to try to still go to the greenhouse project. it didn't work out so we just talked in the kitchen as i did dishes and made myself peanut butter toast. she told me that after we left the co-existence event, the palestinian hip-hop artist got really controversial, talking about how the jews stole his land (all in arabic of course), to which naama became defensive, albeit very articulately. she knows the issue well, more than most people, and is of course biased. but at least she puts forth more educated and well stated arguments than pretty much everyone i've spoken to on the subject. she had to leave, so we said goodbye. now i've just been sitting here, writing and thinking a lot. looking up volunteer programs in india and africa. feeling kind of lost in a safe way. confused and a little homesick, as always. thinking about people at home and being here and what's next. reading all my old blogs and feeling sweet and sad and happy. so many amazing people. i'm actually proud of myself and all the things i've written. a lot of it seems to progress in circles, but i'm really glad i took the time to document everything i feel and think and silly things and wonderful things. i'm emailing them all to myself so i never lose them. writing is good for me. maybe it's my outlet. hmmmm. and also thinking about starting a business that incorporates photography and volunteering. somehow. i don't know. later we have kadima. so that'll be nice. i'm just looking forward to laying low tonight. maybe watching a movie. taking a shower. buying a toothbrush. finding out about my retainer. funny how losing a piece of plastic can dismantle any semblance of a nighttime routine. hmm. ok. good morning.
love,
sally
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