A Queer Break

I have been on Kibbutz Lotan (except for the journey to Eilat) since I arrived over three weeks ago. And while it is a wonderful place with wonderful people, it is itty bitty (150 people) and in the middle of nowhere (Arava Desert) and extremely arid (fewer than 30mm of rain a year). Needless to say, I had to leave. So I spent the weekend in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Sheer and I left together and we had a great time. We went to Jaffa:

watched a movie (with English subtitles), and wandered around appreciating the freedom. Sheer and I went our separate ways on Friday - she to Lotan and I stayed in Tel Aviv (and then Jerusalem) to get my queer on. I went to J-town to attend a queer street party. It was totally adorable:


About 25-30 people were there, we danced and hung out for about 2 hours. I mostly sat and watched because everything was in Hebrew... Maybe you all know this, but Jerusalem does not like the queers so much and everyone was happy that there was no violence from the police or the orthodox Jews. (Perhaps we can all agree that religious fundamentalism, ANY religious fundamentalism, is bad bad bad.) It made me appreciate the US a lot. Well, it made me appreciate Seattle at least.
After that, I went back to Tel Aviv, saw a drag king show, and then slept. The next day I returned to Lotan where I immediately recommenced sweating...