I am always blown away by how small Israel is- not physically but more socially and interconnectedly (I just made that into word... you will soon be hearing Hillary Clinton using it during presidential debates). Two examples from this past week:
1) Last Sunday was the 12th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination and there was a big commemoration at the square where he was murdered. I was on my way to go out with my friend Noah, and still not knowing the bus routes well, got on a bus that leads right to the square. As I stepped onto the overstuffed bus (once again reminiscent of Cuba), the person in the front seat excitedly screams my name... It was my Israeli friend Yuval who spent three summers on staff at Herzl Camp. He doesn't even live in Tel Aviv, but here I am running into him on line 25.... Who would have thought that out of the 150,000 people at the square, I would run into one of the maybe 15 people I know in this city :). We ended up getting off the bus and walking the rest of the way until we met up with his friends. It was quite moving to hear people like Simon Peres speak about Rabin and his quest to put Israel on track towards peace. I finally left Yuval, as I was already about an hour late to meet my friend (how quickly I pick up the Israeli trend of tardiness!) but continued to listen to the songs and speeches that represented the mood. As I walked away, I thought to myself, for the 47th time since getting here, "only in Israel..."
2) My friend Eyal (another former staff member at Herzl) and I went out one night to a bar that one of his friends owns. We had a great time catching up and hanging out with some of his friends, including a special character named Omri. Eyal called me a few days later to go celebrate Omri's birthday but I bailed in order to be a good pupil and study my Arabic (I told you I am a nerd!). Fast forward to the next day- I am sitting in class with my new friend Eran. He was bummed that our class was canceled because he had been out until 4 am celebrating. So I causally asked him, already having a gut feeling, "Oh, what were you celebrating?" and he responds with, "A friend's birthday." My gut feeling is confirmed as I say, "Let me guess, Omri's!" I was right!!! Turns out Eran and Omri have known eachother since they were 14... Eran has since become friends with Eyal and they are all a part of one extended group of friends. We were both invited to one-of-the-15-people-I-know-in-Tel-Aviv's birthday party. Its a small world after all.
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