Silly Hat Party

Jerusalem is known as a quiet and religious city, and this is true, but because I am who I am I managed to have an exceptionally raucous weekend anyway. Can take the girl out of New Zealand, but ... (lalala).

I had been looking forward to this Silly Hat Party for some time, as it was at the flat of lovely Noa and Shlomi - my darling Israeli hosts who let me stay in their apartment for a rawther long time. However, instead of preparing for this fest in a sensible fashion, I spent all afternoon at my 'local' watching the FA cup (Arsenal VS Leeds) and being introduced to Hot Toddys, which will henceforth bear the name "my favourite drink ever." Well, first equal with Gin.

Unfortunately, as I am out of drinking practice (due to restrictive finances, not a change in ethics), this resulted in me being rather sozzled by quite early evening. Here is evidence, in the form of a PhotoBooth picture I took of myself before heading out the door:

In New Zealand, turning up at a party already drunk is, if not quite acceptable, not really a big deal. In Israel, where people are generally much more measured and demure, it is quite strange. I roll in to a room full of softly spoken sweethearts wearing actually rather nice hats and promptly start bouncing off the walls like a little tigger.

Luckily for me, my host Noa (pictured below) is a rather rambunctious character herself and she took control of the situation by putting on loud music and clearing a dance floor. Hence forth, I could jump around all I wanted. A few words about Noa: she is a badass waitress/ design student whose work I'd love to photograph but it's pretty protected and will be at a Toy Exhibition soon. Noa loves Hebrew, good food and comic books, so we understand each other very well. Note her amazing heart dress.

Pictured above is Shlomi the other host and also a design student. He comes from a town up north whose name I constantly forget and is very tolerant of me stealing his olives. When I was staying on their couch, Shlomi would wake me in the morning with a cup of tea. This is the kind of thing I like, very much.

It might seem cheesy to say, but my weekend in Jerusalem meant a lot more to me than simple hedonistic fun (although I'm not complaining about that part). On all three evenings (Thurs, Fri, Sat) I had things to do and people to see, and the people I got to see were so kind, hilarious and, well, 'my kind of people'. To have a weekend in a relatively new city where I feel so welcomed and such a part of a really exciting community is A Big Deal Indeed. I've never felt so at home so quickly.

'Til next time. Ex Oh Ex Oh.