Purim: PARTY!

At school today there was a Purim celebration. The whole school and the teachers were dressed up. I was running a little late, but it didn't end up mattering because everyone was.

The first thing that happened was that we exchanged Mishloach Manot, which is a small bundle of fun stuff that you exchange on Purim. Generally the "fun stuff" is candy and Hamentaschen. I have the feeling I explained this before. Oh well.

So I received a considerably large package, after which everyone began pigging out on what they got. That lasted for maybe ten minutes. After that, everyone went to join the festivities.

The whole school had been decorated with colorful posters and fairly random decorations (there was some sort of curtain which was decorated with fake money...and a giant spider). The basketball court had been turned into a dancing space. There was a DJ and music blaring. Groups of students had set up little food stands - I saw smoothies, candy, and hot dogs. I found some of my friends from another class and we went around finding out what people had dressed up as. There were a lot of pirates, since all of the twelfth graders had dressed up as that, and a considerable amount of boys cross-dressing, but none vice versa. I actually went into the girls' bathroom at one point and this guy in a dress came in and started making poses in the mirror the way I guess boys think girls do. There were two girls dressed as light and dark, which really freaked me out because my friend and I did that this past Halloween, and tons of people as Stabilo brand highlighters (which here are called markers, just in an Israeli accent). I found vampires, James Bond, smurfs, people in togas (not sure if they were Greek or Roman), bees, angels, a hypnotist, ladybugs, a cat, and probably so many more.

Most of the day was a photo opportunity. I took pictures of and with my friends and after I was tired of that it was basically just waiting. We couldn't go home until the gates were opened, but there wasn't much to do after the first two hours. Someone brought some sort of popping firework-ish noisemakers, which they banged on with a cane from a costume. It was extremely loud and the whole area smelled like gunpowder after that.

The thing I love most about Purim is its randomness. Purim isn't anything, not scary like Halloween or Christmas-y like Christmas. Purim is, well, Purim. (I mean, where else do you find a curtain with fake money and a giant spider?) You can dress up as anything, it doesn't have to be scary or any specific kind. You get candy, you dress up, you party. What more could you ask for?

Purim: sort of Day 1

So this week we have Purim, a Jewish holiday. The story, set in Persia, is that a guy named Haman wanted to kill all the Jews because one guy Mordechai didn't bow to him (supposedly, Jews only bow to God). At the same time, the king, Ahash Verosh, kicked his former wife out of the palace and was looking for a new one, so Mordechai's pretty daughter Esther went to the gathering and lo and behold, the king chooses her as his new wife. Of course, he doesn't know that she's Jewish. And it's all about how she saved the Jews against all odds and Haman got hanged and everybody lived happily ever after.

So on Purim, we dress up in costumes and party and eat triangular cookies with various fillings (Hamentaschen). And we exchange gifts, sort of. It's not like they're Christmas gifts. It's mainly at school, you organize who gives gifts to who. They're generally large bundles of candy and Hamentaschen, which is awesome.

At first I was thinking of just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and taking along an American flag and saying I was dressed up as an American, but then I decided I'd be a doll. It's an easy costume, really, and I've got a puffy dress to wear. I have long hair to put into braids and blush to make my cheeks very, very red and a blank expression. It's great, really.

The best thing about Purim is that no one's too old for it. It's a proper holiday, so everyone celebrates it to some degree. It's not like Halloween, which is based on kids. All through high school you dress up. How cool is that? And you get lots of candy and sweets. And we get a four-day weekend. It's absolutely brilliant.

One-Day Weekends

They're too short. It's not fair! You work and study six days and then it's finally the weekend...and, poof, it's gone. It's Saturday night and it feels like we barely had a break. Which we did - I mean, one day, you know. Of course, the schedule here is much less stressful so maybe we don't precisely need two-day weekends, but it sure would be nice.

On an up note, Purim vacation is less than two weeks away! Three days plus a Saturday of doing absolutely nothing! Hooray! And at the end of March Passover vacation starts. Those will be some awesome two weeks.