'Murica

As of Sunday I had no plans for this coming week so I was delighted when a facebook message thread started amongst some of my friends talking about the various events people had planned on attending or places people wanted to go, inviting others to join. One of these events was an Open House at the American Center in Jerusalem, put on by the American Embassy in Israel. Although the embassy itself is in Tel Aviv, there is a cultural center in Jerusalem that puts on events and provides all sorts of services to Americans living in the area. This event was broadcast as an evening of culture, including slam poetry, comedy, music, and more. We decided to check it out and despite getting off at the wrong bus stop, walking down incorrect streets a few times, and getting rained on, we found the place (it was right by Abraham Lincoln Road, which we felt like was a good omen). We should have taken a hint of what was to come when we entered the building (past more intense security than I’ve seen lately) and found ourselves amongst a sea of 55+ year-old individuals, milling about drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn. As wet 20 year olds in jeans and sneakers we looked a little out of place. Nonetheless, we helped ourselves to snacks and sat down by the stage (some sat in chairs, but Dana and I chose the much more inviting option: giant pillows on the carpet). The atmosphere made me feel really cultured and classy, aside from the Barack Obama cardboard cutout that was strategically placed so I felt like it was watching both me and the stage at the same time.

The first act was a conservative Jewish slam poet. I’ll just let that image sink in for a few seconds. Now, I like slam poetry a lot. I think it’s very cool and can be really powerful. This guy was not. He had some really good phrases and word plays and good messages in general, but he was not an excellent performer, got very unnecessarily sexual (especially for the location and audience), and really just made me feel more uncomfortable than anything else. But, the evening was only going to get more bizarre.

Up next was the comedy section, with David Kilimnick as an “emcee” of sorts. Now, he is supposed to be the king of “Anglo-Comedy” in Israel, but I’m fairly certain there was more laughter out of shock than humor during his spiels. His material ranged from Israeli politics to terrorists to Orthodox Jewish women to Americans who don’t get Israeli pop culture (aka us). My personal favorite was when he made a crack about he and his father going to see Passion of the Christ as Jew Father Son bonding and laughing at it. That was cute. Or better yet, his frustration with EL-AL and subsequent desire to go to “suicide school” and fly with Al Qaeda Airlines, “We’ll Almost Get You There”. That was followed with a “too soon?”. Yes, Mr. Kilimnick. Too soon.

But I have to say, he was funnier than the man he introduced, a man affectionately nicknamed “Doctor Jazz”. When I heard “Doctor Jazz” was going to come do stand up for us, I pictured a guy in a snazzy suit, sunglasses, and beret doing alternative comedy with a really smooth voice and lots of lateral swinging motions. I did not, however, imagine a very very very large gray-bearded man in a sweater, jeans, socks, and sandals, telling terrible jokes that I did not even realize were jokes until he paused for laughter. The poor man eventually resorted to making fun of himself with jokes about him “occupying more territory” than most people. He did have a few funny lines and during those I guffawed extra hard just to give him the support he so clearly desired. It was very sad, really. After Doctor Jazz an Israeli comedian took the stage and as he was going to be doing his routine in Hebrew and we weren’t sure how much more we could take, we bailed and went to Ben Yehuda street to get dinner.

So while the evening was not the cultural experience I was looking for, it was certainly an experience, and one that I’m thrilled I partook in. The American Center is a very cool place, we did some America Trivia and won lots of chocolate for it, discovered a new part of Jerusalem, and got a ton of laughs amongst ourselves in our discussion of the beyond ridiculous event we attended. Moral of the story: If you see an event such as this, GO, but don’t expect much.

In other news, I took advantage of a free day last Shabbat to go for a run around the outer walls of campus to explore and discovered some really cool look out sites. I went back later with my friend Brittany and took some pictures. Here is a sampling!