סיבה למסיבה

One thing Israelis are great at is finding any old reason to throw a bitchin' crazy party. Last night we had TWO great reasons to party. Devorah's birthday is later this month, and the family threw her a massive surprise birthday blowout last night. I couldn't mention it on this page earlier for obvious reasons. The party was at a restaurant in the German Colony and it was really fancy. It looked like over 100 people showed up and cramed into an upstairs party room the size of my flat's living room. It was really warm. Amir made a nice movie for Devorah with friends and family wishing her a happy birthday and mazal and happiness and everything that goes along with it.

Shachar parties down with one of his cousins.

The food was fantastic. I had a salmon patty with greens and mashed potatoes that was absolutely to die for. Plus they kept the wine flowing. Devorah was smiling and blushing so much that I thought she was going to just faint. I've got to give big props to everyone who had a hand in planning last night. I wish I could say I did. It was an unmitigated success!

Menachem and Carmit at dinner.

I left the birthday party a little after ten o'clock to roll for my second party of the evening. As I've previously mentioned, the international school semester is over, and last night was our one last chance to go out, celebrate and all hang out together before people start leaving. We went to a put down by the port and near to the German Colony, Eli's Pub. I've never been to any of the bars by the water before (except for the overpriced, watered down beer they hawk at the beaches.) The neighborhoods change quickly in Haifa. I walked about a half block down Yaffo street towards the pub, and all of the sudden I was in one of the rattiest neighborhoods I've seen in Israel. The pub was actually awesome on the inside. A nice atmosphere, chill, with a little room to dance but mostly a place to sit and talk with your friends over a pint. As a bonus, they had a great soundtrack going all night with lots of classic rock.

4 of us sat at the bar until the main group arrived.

If there was one potential drawback to this pub, it's that it wasn't very large. We began to ask the bartender about tables, since I had made a lot of calls and was expecting a large group to show up. They had one huge empty table, but apparently it was reserved. When she asked me how many to expect and I estimated 15, she smiled and offered us the table! Earlier that night when I had been on the phone talking to Anna, she mentioned that she knew the manager at the pub and would call to let him know we were coming. She asked me for a number and I gave her the same estimate, and the manager blocked off the table for us! The bartender's words (translated from Hebrew) were "are you here with the Hungarian girls who called?" Just marvelous!

What a lovely kiss!

I will miss my friends a lot, but I'm looking forward to meeting a whole new group of people soon. In the meantime, my vacation travel begins this morning. I am leaving for Jerusalem in a half an hour, and I'll hopefully be seeing plenty of old friends. I'll update when I return. Shabbat shalom.