Riding the night train

September 3, 2010 - 2:59 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Travel 

I had the enlightening experience last night of riding the ‘kavei laila’ (night lines) of the Egged bus system.

In most Israeli cities, bus service stops at around 12:30 am every night. But in recent years, Egged, the national bus company, has initiated late night service on Thursday and Saturday nights (not on Friday, of course).

This enables youngsters from suburban Jerusalem neighborhoods and the surrounding areas like Ma’aleh Adumim to enjoy the Jerusalem nightlife late into the night and still be able to get home – it also lets them to leave the driving to Egged, so if they happen to drink too much, there’s no danger on the roads.

I hadn’t been in downtown Jerusalem at 1:30 am for quite a while, but a late night farewell party for a friend who’s leaving the country combined with my car being at home, led me to search out the night line to get home.

First of all, I was amazed how hopping the downtown area was at 1:30 am – hundreds if not thousands of kids, mostly teens but also 20-somethings – bouncing around the streets, filling the clubs, pubs and cafes, and generally creating exuberant mayhem.

My teenage son, who has a wealth of experience in the matter, told me to just look for a bus stop with a lot of people at it, and that would be the one where I’d find the bus to take me home on the half hour until 4 am.

Sure enough, there were hundreds of people at the stop on Shlomzion Hamalka St. as buses arrived to take them to Gilo, Talpiot, Mevasseret, and to my home. Despite the crowds, everyone got a seat, and I was home before I knew it.

So, don’t worry about staying out late as long as it’s a weekend – the kavei laila are a real service – and you don’t have to be a teen to enjoy it.

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Foto Friday – Sexy Tel Aviv

July 11, 2009 - 7:06 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Travel 

Tel Aviv nights are sultry and sexy. Or muggy or humid to the cynics. But for those who love summer in the city, going out clubbing on a Thursday night is just the right thing to do. After all, what’s a little sweat between friends?

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Tel Aviv abounds with dance clubs, bars and night spots. According to the Gay Tel Aviv website, “For a great vacation, you’ve found the right place.”

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The municipality also actively supports that view — and one expects no less from a city hall with a street number of 69! — and will host the annual gathering of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association this coming October. Given Tel Aviv’s gay-friendly status — and the fact that October in Israel has the loveliest weather — registration should be brisk.

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This photo series was taken by citizen journalist/blogger David Shankbone, who wrote about Gay Tel Aviv, his night at the TLV club, and DJ Ofer Nissim (pictured), as follows: “One of the most excellent spectacles to behold in Israel was the amazing high energy of famous Israeli deejay Offer Nissim as several thousand men and women went insane. The entranced audience must have been what Jonestown looked like before the Kool-Aid…”

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Click here for more about that night out on the town.

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Polls with Camel glasses

October 27, 2008 - 5:34 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Politics 

Voting with vats in the backgroundA landmark event took place last night at Tel Aviv’s Dancing Camel brewery, where citizens of the United States were invited to vote for the next US president by an organization called Vote From Israel.

The first initiative of its kind anywhere in the world, Vote From Israel’s goal is to make it as easy as possible for US citizens currently in Israel to participate in the electoral process. The organization’s leadership estimates that out of 125,000 eligible voters in Israel this fall, only 42,000 are registered, so they worked 18-hour days through the hectic fall holidays to register some 7,000 to 10,000 more.

Now that the registration phase is complete, they’ve set up three events where people can hand in the absentee ballots they sent away for, or they can use Vote From Israel-provided Federal Write in Absentee Ballots. Everything is anonymous and sent via Federal Express to the voter’s relevant district office.

The press seems to be lapping it up, too, as a reporter from Newsweek and camera crews from Austrian public TV channel ORF and Israeli commercial Channel 10 competed for the most colorful comments from participants.

At last night’s event, six delicious flavors of beer were on tap, including a sweet and rich stout and seasonal brews seasoned with lemon and pomegranate bouquets. Voters were given coupons for half off of any beer. The Jets-Chiefs game was projected on an enormous screen.

After voting, participants were asked to complete an exit poll, surely a key element to the Vote From Israel concept. Although the organization is officially unaligned, it’s no secret that most Americans whose Zionist bent is strong enough to put them in Israel are likely to favor the 2008 Republican ticket. And with the influence that exit polls can have on undecided voters, one needn’t get so creative to conjecture the motivation behind Vote From Israel’s anonymous funders. The results of the organization’s exit polls can be released to the public a full week before the East Coast votes.

Regardless of the conspiracy theories, the beer, football and nightlife vibes kept the proceedings last night remarkably light. One reveler quipped that he had come to exercise his right not to vote, while another shrugged that he’s come just to meet up with friends, despite being Canadian.

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