Jazz and the White Book

I had a really interesting night last night. Two friends and I decided to check out a venue called Yellow Submarine, which has lots of really cool music, including free Jazz shows on Tuesday nights. We tried to go last week but got the date wrong, so this was our second attempt. Since the place is in kind of a random area we had never been to we took a cab. Normally taking a cab is an ordeal because you have to decide on what a fair price is and then haggle your way down to it. But this time was nothing like that. The man gave us a fair price from the beginning, so we knew he was special. Then we started a conversation with him during which he told us all about his favorite places to go in Jerusalem, his family, and his views on the political situation. Some of his comments were interesting, including how he thinks the US needs to be stronger and exert its influence in the situation, and that even though there’s been turmoil for so long and the conflict is so deep, he’s very hopeful for peace for his children. His English wasn’t great and he had some trouble understanding our questions but all in all it was a really fascinating conversation with an average Israeli guy. We like “Mooti” a lot.

The jazz show itself was so so cool. We got there early so we wandered around the area a little bit (including the smallest ToysRus we’d ever seen, in which we tried on cool hats). The band that played was called Burlesque (questionable) and consisted of an electric guitar, electric bass (5 strings), and drummer. They were amazing. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard such a sick drum solo or seen someone’s fingers move so fast on the guitar. All their songs had really intense names too, like “Pretend” and “Smoke on the What?”. They didn’t sing—just played, which was extra cool because it gave my mind a chance to wander and reflect while I was listening to the music. So it was peaceful while being really fun and cool. Now that we know this place exists we’re defeinitely going back. Including potentially a Beatles cover band on Saturday, for an event aptly titled “Magical Mystery Tour”.

Also, on a completely different note: I’m in a foreign country in an urban area and a large University so obviously my life here is considerably different from the one I lead at W&L, but sometimes something will stick out and make that difference very obvious. One example is the fact that I lock my door each and every time I leave my room. Even if it’s just to go next door. It took a while to get used to, but now it’s second nature, and I even lock it at night (both the apartment and my own room). Last week I got really paranoid because there had been murmerings of thefts happening in the Student Village, even from rooms that had been locked, meaning it was a maintenance staff person with a key that was stealing stuff. I started hiding my computer and other valuables when I left for the day. It was intense. Then, a few days ago there were police in my apartment when I came home, who refused to tell any of us why they were there. Come to find out later that there had been shady dealings going on in the apartment next door and they were using our apartment as a home base to catch the thief. Apparently they did? This is what the rumor mill tells me at least. Anyway, moral of the story is: I miss the Honor System.