insomnia

i have a touch of the jet lag. so i couldn't sleep all night so i cancelled my plan to go to ramallah for the day. all i wanted to do was sit somewhere nice, really, by a pool or on a beach, or in a bed, but the hostel isn't nice enough for that and there are no bikini-friendly venues in jerusalem. so i just kind of wandered, in the new city this time.

today was shabbat, so the streets were vacant. i finally came accross a couple little restaurants on a pretty little side street that were open, and so i enjoyed a crisp glass of israeli wine. if you want to drink in solidarity its called: Messah Israeli Vit Kin 2008 White. the tourists there were nice and quiet, but twice i was disturbed by israelis. the first was a hasid who saw us down the street and yelled something about shabbat. i guess yelling at people is a better way to observe the lord's day than relaxing with a glass of wine. the second was a loud couple who sat down with their siberian husky and sang along to the norah jones songs that were playing. talk about sacrilege.

i asked the young russian immigrant waitress with awesome pants where i could wander on shabbat, and she gave me some leads. i walked through an orthodox residential neighborhood, where i took the picture of the kids on the sculpture. 30 seconds later a pack of 10 year old boys came up to me, one looking very stern and said something in hebrew. "huh?" "no pictures. shabbat." i said "you say please," which was an automatic response and then i thought i had offended him by taking a picture of his compatriot, so i said "sorry."

when i walked away i realized he was scolding me as a jew for using a camera on shabbat. little twerp. you should have heard the authority in his voice and i wished i would have told him it's my shabbat too and shouldn't he go back to shul? but that's when the full force of the power that the ultra orthodox have really hit me and i remembered that people get killed over things like that here.

i randomly ran accross the chinese roommate and we went to get a drink at the american colony hotel in east jerusalem. we were amazed at the prices until we realized they were in dollars not shekels, so food was not ordered after all. she told me how shes going to change the world by being an uncompromising artist while making lots of money, i asked how old she was, she said guess, i said sophomore in college, she said, "im going to be." i introduced her to mojitos and the term "asian bar tan".

tomorrow evening i meet up with the homos and i can't wait. i can't wait to have someone else to show me beautiful things and tell me all about them so i don't have to think, and to be around men so men can't talk to me. and i can't wait for the drag show tomorrow night, where i'm assuming i can show my elbows without risking what lonely planet calls "the attentions of the amourous israeli male."

i've been wearing a big ole head scarf today, and while i stronly suspect i look like a retarded tourist (or as hannah said when i was sampling options at home, "you look like you have a tablecloth on your head"), it's cut down on the aforementioned attentions, so im pleased.

maybe some yoga now, then melatonin, then bed.

p.s. does this drink have a name? - fresh squeezed lemonade, crushed mint, vodka? i want to drink it.