A Mediocre Evening With Idan Raichel

Some of you may remember that I attended a Masa sponsored Hadag Nachash concert last year in Jerusalem, and came away disappointed. Last night I ignored my better instincts and attended their spring concert, featuring the Idan Raichel Project. I saw them live in Champaign 3 years ago and it was one of the better concerts I've ever been to, so I had hopes for this one as well. Masa chartered a bus for us this time around so I rode with the other Haifaniks to Jerusalem directly. We got off the bus and were milling around outside before going in when I got tackled from behind. Bev Baer was hanging off of my back and screaming. I've said it before, but this sort of thing only happens in Jerusalem. Completely fucked up. She is spending the year in Ramla volunteering, and was in J'lem for the same reason as I. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to catch up because security was shooing us inside, so we had to say goodbye for the time being.

Bev and I outside the convention center.

Our seats were in the balcony, and well off to the left. The sight lines weren't great so we couldn't see the stage very well. We were treated to a half hour of verbal masturbation from a parade of self-congratulatory government officials before the band finally took the stage around 9:30. The concert itself was better than the Hadag Nachash show but just as short. They were on stage for all of 1 hour from start to finish. It's shameful that anyone would even call that a concert. Still, they were mostly good when they were playing.

Americans pretend to get excited over
songs they've never heard before.

I made my way down to the lower level to get closer to the stage, and there ran into Eli and the rest of the kids on his program. We hung out for about 10 minutes and talked about scheduling a time to go to Jordan together (yes, I am trying again.) The band closed out the concert by playing their hit single "boi", which got by far the loudest reaction, probably because it is the only song 90% of the audience recognized.

A candid shot of the international students dancing.

Because the show was over at about 10:30, we had no problem making it back to the bus by the 11 PM time we had set before going in. And to think, I had worried we were going to miss the end of the show! It was a lazy ride back to Haifa, with one stop in Netanya to drop off a group of Israelis who had hitched a ride with us. We got home around 1:15 in the morning and I went straight to bed. These kitsch , theme concerts just don't work for me anymore, and I will not be going to another if there is one. Shabbat shalom.

A Moment Of Clarity

My schedule for this upcoming semester is finally set, and since I know you have all been anticipating this for weeks, I won't make you suffer to wait any longer. I am only taking two classes this semester, Hebrew and Arabic. I have Hebrew from 8-10 AM on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and from 10 - Noon on Thursdays. I have Arabic from Noon - 2 PM on Tuesdays and from 2:30 - 4 PM on Thursdays. Arabic will be a little different this go around, as Rina is no longer teaching us. I still have Mina for Hebrew, and as you know, I adore her.

I'll be filling out the rest of my schedule by volunteering at the Ofakim school in Mercaz HaCarmel, a school for Israelis with severe developmental disorders, predominantly cerebral palsy. I'll be there 15 hours a week, filling a number of different roles. I'll know more once I get started (next Monday), but I'm really excited to be doing something new, getting out into the city and helping people.

This photo is totally unrelated to today's post. I just like it.