Happy Days

Wednesday night, I ran from the bus stop to Prima Kings and up to the hotel room where my daddy was staying. We walked around the neighborhood and ended up at a really nice little Italian restaurant with delicious food! Then we visited my friends, who were all at Herzl, playing beer pong. After getting introduced to all the Nativers in their natural state, Dad and I walked through Mamilla to the Old City and ended at the Kotel. We walked home when it started getting late.

While I was getting ready for my shower, my roommates came home from beer pong. Debbie kept me company by sitting on the (closed) toilet seat while I was showering and we chatted away. When I emerged from the bathroom in my Lion King towel, I was greeted by a chorus of Happy Birthday, balloons, banners, and my best friends holding a cake! We all dug into the chocolate mousse and I was so surprised and happy and grateful. It was perfect!!!

I woke up late on Thursday and went to the hotel to pick up Dad. Together, we took the 4 to the mall, where we got kosher fast food (I haven't had chicken nuggets like that in sooo long and it was amaaazing) and then we asked around for directions to the zoo. Dad, predictably, was drawn to the natural food store and luckily someone knew how to walk there. So we walked. It took a long time though, and I was slightly nervous about the vague directions.

We arrived finally, though, and the zoo turned out to be incredible! Lions, tigers, bears...you name it. Elephants, ostriches, zebras, deer, leopards, tropical birds, tapirs, red pandas, chimps, lemurs, monkeys, rhinos. There was even a petting zoo with sheep, alpacas, and GOATS! If you've read my facebook profile, you know that I LOVE GOATS! Like so much. So I pet them and took pics with them and talked to them. It was great.

We got bored of waiting for the bus home and took a taxi. The taxi driver was super pushy and really wanted to take us to the Dead Sea instead of Rehavia. We made it home in one piece fortunately, and I had dinner at home with Nativ. Then Ariella came with me on a spur of the moment dessert run with my dad, and it was great because they had some common interests, so to speak. Also, dessert at Cup of Joe was really yummy and quite a treat!

After dessert, everyone in the building was in a frenzy to prepare for the best night ever. We got dressed to the hilt and all the girls helped me cover up my chin which was home to, unsurprisingly, the most disgusting pimple on the face of the earth that I had been repeatedly picking to the point of bleeding for the last two days. The night started with a trip to Zolli's, a bar that I often sit at with a soda and popcorn, but on that night, I had a Sexy Lady to drink and even though it was a pink slushy and had next to no alcohol content, it was very exciting for everyone that I was having a drink. We got a happy hour special so I was able to get another one for free, but I gave up on it about a quarter of the way through and donated it to the thirsty friends at the table. Then we started taking lots of pictures since we are all very beautiful people and wanted to preserve our youthful radiance for eternity.

Adina, who is bff with the bar manager or something named Leo, struck a deal so we all got into an adjacent dance club, called Fusion, for free. Fusion is really great because the creepers don't come out until later so it was as if Nativ had rented out the whole club for hours! Everyone came out and we were all dancing all over, sitting on the zebra print booths, partying up on the bar, and generally creating magnificent mayhem. The club got uncomfortably crowded later at night and I decided to leave on a high note instead of getting smushed in an uncomfortable creepy Israeli sandwich on the dance floor.

It was the best birthday ever!!!

Friday was in great contrast to the best birthday ever, since we had to get up rull rull early for classssssss. It sucked. We had double period Hebrew starting at 8:30!! Who could have ever invented such a cruel and unusual punishment? The good news out of all of it is that we have really baller Hebrew teachers and then we got to watch Sallach Shabati, a really funny satire about Oriental Jews who moved to Israel in the 50's and had to live in really miserable temporary camps.

When I got home from class, I took Daddy on a walk to the shuk and around the shopping area. We got him Shabbat clothes and I got some shuk gummies. The shuk was its usual state of craziness on Friday afternoon, but I was too exhausted to deal with it and we didn't spend too much time there.

Shabbat was here before we knew it, and then it was time for shul. I went with Shosh, Seth, David, Debbie, Debbie's parents, Adina, Debbie, and Rachel to Kol Rina. It was my first time at the famed bomb shelter synagogue, and it was pretty cool. I think I was too tired to really get into it. It was interesting to see the mix of Jewish denominations present, ranging from black hats to multi colored kipot. I like the melodies a lot, but it got long. We walked home in the chilly evening weather to have dinner in -3, which was quite an exciting change of venue. I said good bye to Daddy, went to the tisch for a bit, read a lil Catcher in the Rye, and positively collapsed in my bed.

I was asleep until 11 am this morning, despite the alarm that went off at 8:30 and I kept resetting to go off every fifteen minutes. I read a little for school and then it was lunch time. We had a nice lunch with Debbie and her parents, and then Dad and I walked around Jerusalem for two hours. We literally walked everywhereeee. But it was great. Then I got home, read for Art History a really long and pointless article that continually repeated "on the one hand, on the other hand" unnecessarily, and then I went to Seudah Shlishit, Maariv, and Havdalah. Now I am blogging and getting ready for a night of dinner, dessert, and Art History homework.

Shavua tov m'od!