here's one just before i'm continuing to berlin (the alarm clock will wake me up in 3 hours).
i'm having a great time here with much relaxation, socialization, good food, good drinks and good laughs. freedom from serious responsibilities is something i havn't had for such a long time, and it is a pure bliss for me!
got here after a white night before my flight from israel, been packing until sunrise, and finished everything reasonably well. thanks again for the beautiful last evening and for all your help. KADIMA BOZEZIM!!
as i planned, the first 24 hours were mostly about chilling out, sleeping and recovering, including a quiet dinner in a local bar with ilan and annie, his beautiful and pleasant girl. as you will see, i was taken care of quiet well.
next day a slow and easy morning, after who knows how long. there's a beatiful balcony here and it was very easy to enjoy it and give up exploring london. then, an afternoon train to colchester, a small town an hour from london, to meet sara, a good english friend i met last summer in dharamsala.
asa always it was pleasant, interesting and funny. much drinking, much laughing, jam session with her friend who plays a blues harmonica, funny games and more drinks until the small hours. next day a trip around colchester, and i'm getting to know the english country and some local charachters.
i'm back in london around 16:30, just when ilan finishes his business, and i'm going directly to the beautiful area of primrose hill for the first drink of the weekend. we are meeting friends at 19:30 for a dinner at the carribean restaurant, and at the meantime ilan takes annie (ilan's girl, remember?) and me to a tour in primrose hill, to see his favorite spots and bars. we're getting to dinner quiet warmed up and with a lot of alcohol in our blood. the owner is ilan's friend, and a world class expert for rum, so we are switching now to rum coctails. the friends are gathering. there are 8 of us, all except me live in london, none is english, and ilan and me are the only 2 from the same country. most of them do finance. they are nice and smart fellows, and the evening is funny and pleasant. The last part in ilan's production is a great fringe performance in the round house, just around the corner. before I go to sleep I enjoy some reading, another pleasure I neglected recently.
I take the next half day resting, although there is a beautiful sunny day in London. I join joaana, a friend of ilan to lunch with 2 girlfriends, and am quiet bored as they're having their hard-core girl talk. An afternoon nap, and there's another event in the London financiers scene. a birthday dinner, I'm the only guy in a girls' table again, but this time the conversation is much more enjoyable. Ilan and annie are leaving at 23:30, and I'm almost joining them, but in a short while I'm finding myself in a Londoner party tour with Joanna and 3 more people I met half an hour before. The scene is quite exciting, I'm alone in the big world, and we're getting to a private party in an amazing penthouse with a hard to imagine view over the river Thames and the Tower Bridge. The mingling is going on and it's sometimes a bit too much for me. Here's a polish girl, there's a guy from Belgium. Banking is usually the occupation. Joanna is talking half an hour with some guy while I'm switching from the Castillo del Diablo to a glass of water, but then commanded by Magda to join a round of vodka-red bull. After a while Joanna joins me and we're sneaking outside to culminate the night in her place.
The next day is today, and I visited my friend noam who just came back from sri lanka with his originally sri lankan girlfriend. After that I met ilan in Stamford Bridge and saw Chelsea beating Manchester City 3:0 in the first game of the football season.
That's it. Quiet intensive, but there was a lot of laid back time in the middle. And tomorrow morning - Berlin!!
ראש השנה ומחר אני מתחיל ללמוד. ההרגשה היא כמו ברכבת הרים, כשמטפסים לאט לאט לראש המגדל, ואז יש את הרגע הזה, שהכל שקט ואתה יודע שעוד שנייה הדברים יתחילו לקרות בקצב מטורף ותתהפך לך הבטן.
פחות חשוב הוא שיש כאן חלון שפונה למקלחות של הבנות, וערבים של ראות טובה אפשר להציץ על כמה מהסודות היותר כמוסים של אוניברסיטת שיקגו.
