Crack Square Dancing

Saturday night in the city of Jerusalem is a trip. The transition from Shabbat to regular life is very quick in certain ways and incredibly slow in others. The streets instantly become a mix of the young ravers with the music pounding, and the very orthodox slowly walking through, still resplendent in their Shabbat finery.

Maddie and I headed out to the light rail to meet my brother and his kids. We stopped off at SuperPharm because Maddie needed deodorant (not on my recommendation...she decided this on her own). From there we walked over to Black Burger. This place is a serious burger bar. I know because we ate burgers, seriously. I had a "Lord Black" which is a burger, while my brother had a Spinacha which is a burger. Much the same story rang out around the table. Maddie had a purple cocktail of some sort while I had a Stella and the babies drank water explaining that they have work tomorrow. Babies. Sheesh.

The food was, in a word, meh. Burgers taste like cow and have plenty of stuff on them and sides, but I just don't get the allure. I can get burgers in lots of places, and I intend to. So chalk this up to another one and done on the food front.

We headed back from Black Burger n Shlom Tziyon Hamalka and started walking up Ben Yehuda. We wended our way through "Crack Square" which is called that for completely non-offensive reasons so no one should worry...really...Part of that walk required navigating the stroller through a rave. Emmy wanted to dance. Bitz asked for hookah. It was a blast. We ran into so many people -- former students of mine, army friends of Maddies, people Tasha, Zevi, Eli or Josie knew. We started our walk having eaten fleishigs but by the time we got to the top we were practically dairy. Ira and his brood kept walking, heading to the bus and home. Maddie and I turned around and headed back down into the fray. In between awkward small talk with all the various people, we connected with two of Maddie's friends, sat for a while in the cold (getting colder) outside of an ice cream place (Katzefet) watching foolish people not wear enough clothes and talk too loud, and then decided to go for a drink. The young people directed me to a little market called "Goah" which is a hole in the wall candy-and-soda place which also happened to pour drinks in the back. I saw a whole bunch of former student and they bought me a drink. This is how I know I was a successful mentor and good influence -- they paid. They bought me this stuff called Tubi which is some sort of wheatgrass alcohol and tasted like lemon juice and vinegar mixed with iodine and ground tires. Another one and done. I made sure to wash it down with vodka. So there I was, in the back of a bodega, drinking mini shots (called "chasers" they are half of a real shot and about an eighth of a reasonable drink) with my kid until we decided it was time to take the light rail back.

On a side note, shout out to Maddie's friends who tried to freak me out. Like that can happen. So, Nash and all the others whom you told I was your father, super to you.

Add double sided foam tape to our extensive shopping list for tomorrow. Vacation, all I ever wanted.