On Tiberias and Escapism

I've been trying to make time to get another post up, but I've been incredibly busy between travel and classes and cooking and cleaning, but here goes, I suppose. I'll just give a recap of my weekend, because I'm too lazy to pick and choose.

Thursday

Andy, Ari and I went in on a rather expensive bottle of absinthe, which we thought to contain the elusive wormwood, but alas, Israel has not legalized true absinthe. Regardless, this beverage was 70% alcohol content, much more than traditional hard liquor. We drank it in a traditional manner (with the optional fire).

Absinthe flambe

The three of us went downstairs to the girls room to find them beyond smashed, and literally smashing things. Anyways, the capable ones of us went out on the good ol' eighteen bus line to Ben Yehuda street (yucky). I hung out with my friend Oscar for the night, a very down-to-earth dude from Muncie, New York and we explored the area a bit, went to a pretty cool, secluded courtyard, and chilled for a while. Oscar heard about this DJ called Captain Hook (he's on YouTube somewhere) at a club called Bass. Sure...why not? So we went there with a few other Aardvarkians at about two in the morning, raged for a couple hours until four, and then went back home.

Club Bass, notable for the absurd ratio of dudes to chicks

Friday

I had the strangest dream ever that night, involving an evil resort manager, a strange spirit world, and faeries (possibly the absinthe?) Anyways, I woke up surprisingly refreshed despite the mere four hours of sleep I got, and started packing for traveling the weekend. Ari's friend Franco (who I've hung out with on a few occasions...great guy) made Aliyah and is studying Hebrew at Kibbutz Degania Alef, on the south-western coast of the Kinneret, before he joins the army. So we went up to visit him. Degania Alef is a really incredible place. To boot, there twice as many dogs as there are families, and people here don't believe in leashes and caging their dogs, so the dogs are a part of the community. The area where Franco was living has a few hammocks set up, a firepit, actual grass, and some really cool trees. It's such a change of pace from urban life; people seem leisurely and more carefree, but maybe that's just me assigning emotions.

Degania Alef

Ari and I got to Tiberias (the main city on the Kinneret) at about three, got down to the Kibbutz at four. Franco is in a group of twenty-two "lone soldiers", or soldiers who are here without their parents. Their group is made up of Canadians and mid-westerners. The three of us, along with about four of the other soldiers had dinner of sorts at their "matriarch's" house, a really nice lady who is in charge of the group. All the other kids I met were really quite interesting, incredibly intelligent, and all had their part to say in every conversation we were having, which made for some great conversation. Afterwards, we all had drinks (a common theme) and went out to this very ritzy bar in hopes of avoiding the Arsim (Israeli guidos) infected bars that dot the area. It was a beautiful restaurant/bar on the Jordan River, fifteen minutes north of the Kibbutz by foot. We had some food and drink, and hung out by the Jordan for a bit. Ari and I went skinny dipping.

Saturday

We woke up early in order to go on a hike and beat the heat. The "matriarch", a word that doesn't really describe her properly, as she's a really sweet lady, gave the three of us a ride to the north-eastern side of the Kinneret to go on a really unique "hike". The trail was called the Zaki Stream Trail, which follows the Zaki Stream (surprise!), a tributary of the sea. Essentially the entire hike is just walking and swimming down this stream. It was a pretty unique experience, as the entire river was fucking gorgeous. We met some young people escaping Tel Aviv for the day at a swimming hole, one arguing that Israeli girls are not very attractive (lies). The trail ended in a mango grove, where we picked mangoes from the trees and ate the most savory, delicious fruit I can remember. I'll definitely be back to the area with a tent at some point.

Zaki Stream, not us, Ari lost the memory card

We went back to the Kibbutz, had lunch, and I said my goodbyes. Off to Tel Aviv for the night. I got to the city around 7 and went to my friend Mika's house, where I was to crash for the night. She, I, and one of her friends all went out to a bar with her brother (really cool guy, a few parallels to my brother: same age, bio and psych) and her cousin (really cool gal, she's writing a book on streets in Jerusalem). I was really too exhausted to make it a long night, so we went to bed around 1.

I caught a train back Sunday morning, in time for classes.

All in all it was a very fun, low budget weekend. More to come. I'm making it a goal not to spend a single weekend in my apartment for as long as I can. People camp everywhere in Israel (on the beach, in the woods, on streets), so I'll always be able to find a home as long as I bring my tent.

Blessa - Toro y Moi