12/14/04
sometimes, timing is everything. you just end up somehow at the right place and the right time, and it’s really all based on luck. my friend sage just happened to randomly be going to israel this month with the program Birthright Israel. by some total freak coincidence, she ended up here in jerusalem at the same time as i was. given that out of the year long trip, i’m only here for 7 days, it’s a pretty crazy one in a million chance that our paths happened to cross! sage is staying across town in a hostel with the other people in her program so we cabbed it over there to meet up. it was so exciting!! seriously… there’s nothing quite like meeting up w/ a close friend in another country. first off, after not having seen hardly anyone that you know for a long time, it’s really exciting to see your friends again. but it’s more than just that. hanging out w/ someone so far away from the place that you are used to seeing them, really adds a new dimension to it. you get to see the place you’re in through their eyes, and they get to see it through yours. and it’s all so surreal.. here we are on the other side of the planet, in jerusalem of all places, and we’re having coffee w/ a close friend from home. nice!!
unfortunately, our time hanging out was brief. the program that sage is on is pretty hectic, and the two weeks that she is spending here are jam packed w/ activities. pretty much the only time that she could hang out was last night, and just for a couple hours. nevertheless, it was realy wonderful. we got to chat about our thoughts on israel and jerusalem, talk about back home in sf, she and caryn spun poi for a while… it was great. the program that sh’es on sounds hella cool. i guess anyone who’s jewish can do this program and they fly you to israel for free and take you around the country for two weeks showeing you the highlights. it seemed like the other people in her group were really cool, and all in all this really seems like a super fun way to see the country. i kinda wish that i had done it at some point, but oh well.
when we got back to our hostel, there was a hippy banging loudly on the door to the place. huh? well, turns out the hostel for some reason locked the door, even though they are to be open 24 hours, and this guy has been stranded outside in the cold for half an hour!! we started banging on the door too, yelling, knocking, kickin it, ringing the bell…. no answer!! crap. what the hell were we gonna do? it was 1:30 am. the old city was completely dead, and we couldnt get inside. after a bit, another girl walked up, and also tried in vain to bang on the door. finally we wandered off to the police station to see if they had the phone number of the hotel. luckily, they did, and after calling several times, we finally got into the room. sheeez!! we were really worried for a bit though… it was damn cold outside, and it would have been nearly impossible to find another room at that hour!
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