Be'er Sheeva

I am currently in Be'er Sheeva, a city known to most Israeli's as their sordid shit hole in the South, not far from the Dead Sea. It's quite chilly now, and I'm sitting in a room in a house that belongs to the parent's of my good friend Nadan. Nadan in Hebrew means "sheath" or "prostitutes pay" and is not a common name by any means.

Nadan and I met up last night in Tel Aviv, and then met with his friend Sarah who was on the birthright trip that he chaperoned for ten days last week. We went to a club in the South of Tel Aviv called Cafe Barzilay, where the promoters apparently felt that there was not enough second hand smoke generated by the all the cigarettes, and so operated a powerful smoke machine that, while creating a mysterious smoky vibe, also created small tumors in my lungs. I felt as though I was on the inside of an actual cigarette butt, and I now have a smokers cough even though I haven't smoked a cigarette in years. Cough, cough.

The music in the club was awful, and the fact that the club demographic was 80% 17 year old boys did not help improve our general experience. Someone recommended the club to us, and we were pretty much stuck there for the night. We made the most of it, and at four AM, put Sarah in a cab headed for the airport, where she boarded a plane early this morning for the USA via Istanbul. Nadan was sorry to see her go.

So now we are in BS, and I'm relaxing, thinking about trying to sell some Israeli stuff on Ebay. Here is what I think I can buy here cheap and sell to Jewish Americans and Europeans for a profit: handcrafted backgammon boards, menorahs, Seder plates, dembouk drums, hookahs, IDF hats, dead sea salts, and so much more. I know I can do this because plenty of Israeli's are already doing this, so I wanna piece of the action. Plus I need something to do with the money I have sitting in a bank somewhere.

Also tomorrow I will go check out the Ben Gurion University's Business School. Because I studied economics in college and I "worked" for the last few years as a manager, my parents seem to think that an MBA is the way for me to go. In Israel I can also get an MBA for free as an Oleh Ha dash. I, have absolutely zero interest in getting an MBA, but for their sake I will go check out the program. I am also half-heartedly studying for the GMAT exam.

In general things are better in Israel now after the horror that befell me two weeks ago, that is, being deathly ill and getting fired from a lame job. Another friend of mine just hooked me up with a two day per week bartending gig at a four story club in Haifa, and I'm not sick anymore, and also the country is gearing up for some seriously sunny weather. Everything is good in the hood.

Menorah.