A Night in Tel Aviv

This post will be like any other up to date. One, it’s a joint blog. Danny and I (Sos) have come together to describe this event. Two, there is no spiritual or moral lesson/connection. This is simply the true story of two guys who bought a one-way ticket to Tel Aviv, ended up at a Middle Eastern rave, lost all their money, had no way of getting back, and lived to tell about it. Now to begin….

It’s funny how you wake up in the morning, not knowing what the day holds. But I think if we knew what the day of February 11^th held, we would have gone back to bed.We knew about a Matisyahu concert a couple weeks ago, but like typical college boys, we didn’t really make a plan. We thought it would be cool- we mentioned it a few times in passing- and that was that. Then Thursday afternoon rolled around and I asked Danny, in the break of my Hebrew class around 1:30, if we were going to go. I told him to check into it- and in typical Danny fashion- I found him on the internet with nothing done when I returned around 2:30. So, then the race began. We tried to look up bus/train tickets for about an hour and a half. The real difficult part was trying to find the details of the concert when all the websites were in Hebrew. And the concert venue was virtually unknown to Google- as well as everything else concerning the logistics. So I was fed up eventually and said, let’s just get on a bus to Tel Aviv and we’ll figure it out from there. Now Tel Aviv is a major Israel metropolis about an hour and a half from Jerusalem. Our only knowledge of the city was from 30,000 feet as we flew over it. But unflinchingly, with no knowledge of where this place was, or common sense, we departed with no plan of a way back. Our tip of the day (for p90x-er’s) was “Stop thinking, start making moves.”

After a number of connecting bus rides, we arrived in Tel Aviv at the central bus station. No harm done. Now the hard part- finding where the heck this place was. We asked information at the bus station where a concert place called “Trade Fair Center” might be. They had no clue, but they did know where a place that might have concerts- just take bus 70. Unswervingly, I went for it. I was the move maker. Upon getting outside, Danny thought for a second.“Wait, do we really want to get on a bus to where a concert might be in the city of Tel Aviv- or should we get more clarification?” So we returned to information, and bought a map. And the first thing we saw was the Fair Trade Center- nowhere near bus 70’s route. So we changed routes to bus 28. After passing strip clubs, bars, and soldiers with automatic weapons, we safely arrived at the Fair Trade Center- to an empty house. We thought we had the wrong place, but it turns out we were the first one’s there at 6- thinking the start time was 7. The concert started at 12:30.

Consequently, we were the first in line to buy tickets. Approaching the ticket counter, we planned on two tickets costing 400 shekels (as found in the vague details of the internet). In actuality, the two ticket were 519 shekels- we had 520 shekels combined. We made our moves, and thought later. We were left with 1 shekel, and no plan or money to get back to Jerusalem. After this move, we waited for 5 hours for the concert to start. During this time, we had a moment to think and consider of the implications of our actions, we found out Matisyahu was not the main act- Infected Mushroom was (a hard-core, Middle-Eastern, rock-rap-trance-techno group). Counting our losses, we entered and made camp front row, center stage. As the concert began, so did the mosh pit. Much to our surprise, it was a techno rave, complete with DJ, glow sticks, and shirtless men. We never thought we’d have this experience, but here we were- living it. After the DJ did his thing for 2 hours (no fabrication), at 12:30 Infected Mushroom took the stage. At this, the party reached a new level. Now, I (Sos) was dry humped and jostled for position by stoned middle school boys who had never used deordorant and blew smoke in my face all night. On top of this, the mosh pit came together trapping us against the front wall of the stage. Then, a beam of light shone upon us as Matisyahu took the stage for a total of four songs during the middle of the concert- which interrupted the base-pumping, loud, terrible music. Instantly, we thought all these light, momentary afflictions did not compare with listening to the surpassing greatness of Matisyahu. Then he exited the stage, along with the pleasures of his Jewish, reggae melodies, and slowly the base starting bumping, the screws of Infected Mushroom’s sound grew louder, taking us back to reality. (Their songs consisted of one sentence repeated over and over and over and over). And we were bamboozled.

Next, we clawed our way through thousands of screaming fans and out the exit- shocked at the brevity of Matisyahu’s appearance. It was during this time (3:30 am) that we realized the bus system had shut down for the night- not that we had money for a bus ticket in the first place. After checking in futility for an ATM, we started walking towards the central bus station of Tel Aviv, miles away from the concert venue. But we did buy a map, so all was not in vain. We walked one block, and out of nowhere, two angelic train-station security guards came up and asked if we were lost. I do not know why they stopped. We did not wave them down; furthermore we were a couple college students right next to the campus of Tel Aviv University; but obviously something gave our desperate situation away. They flew in for the rescue. After discussing our lot, they offered to take us to the bus station. Now our mom’s told us never to get in the car with strangers, but we proceeded- figuring Arabs were safer than Americans. Upon arrival, we watched the last bus to Jerusalem pull out of the station. The next one to leave- 6:30. The guy then took us to the train station and personally escorted us to everything we need- tickets, ATM, everything. We got tickets on the 5:45 train to Jerusalem- not knowing where we’d end up in Jerusalem. But we at least we were headed in the right direction. And remember the tip of the day- “make moves, think later.”

We arrived in Jerusalem promptly at 7:30- on the complete opposite side of Jerusalem. After getting directions from a couple Arab friends, we got on a bus back to Mount Zion and walked in just in time for 8 AM breakfast at Jerusalem University College- if only the other students knew the night we just had.

Partied Out,

Danny and Sos

At 5 AM in the train station