festa explosaõ

This holiday Purim has been very interesting... halloween in March! The children's costume party event at the Jewish place across the street was blaring loud techno music, as I attempted to counteract it with my Jordanian Bedoin music. As I'm surrounded with Hebrew I'm forced to practice a bit, at least in listening comprehension and as required in the shopping environment. After studying Arabic all day, my Argentinian-Israeli friend Ariel invited me to my Israeli Capoeira teacher's house for a Purim party. For this costumed event I decided to dress as a Palestinian freedom fighter (sans qassam)... and Dror was dressed like a Mexican! One guy at the party was dressed as a Dutch woman, we had an Irish leprechaun, and several Israelis... no costume necessary. They made me tell the story about my Palestinian German boyfriend, and how he has influenced my research on the Arab-Israeli conflict. At one point in the evening, I was switching between Spanish and Arabic (and of course English) while listening to Hebrew... as Dror was trying to speak with me in Portuguese.

about Purim and the international sphere... I heard that because of the recent Palestinian "issues" with the unity government AND ongoing "conditions" in the territories (West Bank and Gaza) that the border checkpoints were closed (going into Israel) until AFTER Purim festivities are over. This holiday lasts like a week (Im over it already), and for the past week in my neighborhood there have been loud "explosions" going off. Turns out its just kids shooting off "explosives" in celebration, but what would prevent someone from shooting off "explosives" for any other reason, and would they be easily confused for the celebratory type? People appear very distracted by this holiday, insofar as they might not be as alert as usual... perhaps that is one reason why the borders are closed. Muito interesante!