Thursday 30 June 2011

Time runs out in Tel Aviv


If we could only stop time.  That’s the strapline for Mayumana’s show Momentum.  And oh, by heck, how I wish we could.  On this trip there simply isn’t enough time. 
I’m overwhelmed. I have sensory overload; mental overstimulation and smile fatigue.  I went to bed at 2.30am last night yet am wide awake at 6am because my head is buzzing and my brain is fizzing (are those two separate things?  I dunno but they certainly feel like it right now).  This trip is unbelievably full-on – we are meeting so many people, getting so much information; it’s becoming hard to remember what I did two hours ago, let alone two days.

Don’t get me wrong – I love it.  It’s just I feel like I need to lie somewhere quiet and assimilate it for a little while.  Like two years. 

Haj Kahil Arabic restaurant
I’d hoped to blog my experiences and thoughts as I went along but it’s simply not possible.  I want to tell you more about Jerusalem, about the strangest things that happened there. I want to try to make sense of the stories I’m hearing about how it is to live in a country that is at odds with all its neighbours – and how not everyone sings from the same song-sheet on questions of politics.  And at some point I’ll try to go foodie on you all and show you some of the incredible food we’ve been eating.
 
But not now.

When I think back to yesterday there’s this kind of crazy incoherent swirling kaleidoscope in my head.  So for now I’ll throw up some pictures and a few random thoughts.  
 Everywhere we go we get photographed - or even, as in this case - filmed.  My jaw literally aches from smiling so much.  We have signed away every right known to humankind so have strong suspicions that we will end up as advertising fodder for all kinds of unfortunate enterprises.  As Sally said - 'We'll probably see ourselves ten foot high as poster girls for some kind of cystitis cream.'  Great. 
The view from our bus for Tel Aviv's 'White Night' - where the city simply parties the night away... Our bus driver is great but it's hard to forget the fact that we'd been in the country for all of half an hour when we ended up colliding with another car, maiming countless helpless kittens (joke).
 It's wild. The shops are open at 2am, the bars overflow into the streets, the malls host art shows and gigs and parties. It's crammed and crazy yet so easygoing and friendly.  Mind you, Monica made the mistake of getting too close to this guy and he decided he wanted to get very friendly with her!  

This woman felt I was under made-up and wanted to go nuclear on my eyelashes...
This guy - Pini Siluk - had an exhibition in Neve Tsedek, a shopping mall, with the most amazing images.  My pictures are crap so check out his website...
And this is Ruth Aharoni, one of the dancers/singers/musicians in Mayumana - simply stunning.  The show is all about Time, our perceptions of it.  
"Movement creates sound and once it's synchronised in time it becomes music."

Or, in the lyrics to one of the songs:

"Time went by and here I am again
Never thought I'd be standing on my head.
I had a dream last night I was standing on a cliff
I had a dream last  night, I was flying off that cliff
For time has caught me, and I'm floating in air
And there's that safety net I'm trying to repair
And there's those wings I'm trying to grow
So I can land on the ground now
Land on the ground
Time went by and here I am again."

So, it ain't the greatest poetry but you know, it's where I'm at.  Time.  Standing on my head seeing the world upside down.  

10 comments:

barb said...

Enjoying your updates a lot!
love bx

Rachel Selby said...

Sounds crazy! The motto of your tour should be 'do now, think later'. I love your updates too but I'm really looking forward to your impressions after a week or so, when you're back home. It will be interesting to see what remains after this whirlwind and sensory overload. And I agree - the food is good.

Exmoorjane said...

Yup, I need to assimilate it all....just too much right now. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna go all Wordsworthian on you and warble on about emotions recollected in tranquillity.
You can't do more than post the briefest and most shallow of stuff when so much is going on. Many of my work trips are full of things I never actually write about because they are too deep and too complex to just do a Lonely Planet on them. I always have trouble sleeping for the same reasons.
Enjoy and come home and crash before you process it. YOu can't observe and comment or analyse at the same time.
xx
Viv

Isobel Morrell said...

Like everyone seems to be saying: relax (if you can!) and let the brain collect everything: get home, relax again (if family etc. will let you!) and then a few days down the line, start telling us all. The brain will help you - and we'll all sit back and enjoy. Thanks anyway

Milla said...

so Dulverton it ain't .. and you're a filmstar to boot. :))

Greta said...

I know how you feel. I thought I'd bee blogging our around-the-world-in-28-days as we went. But it hardly happened at all. I'm catching up now, worried I'll forget stuff. Hey ho. Have a blast, Jane.

Frances said...

Jane, have a safe journey home.

Have a rest, and when you want to, please do some more posts.

I guess that I did not realize just how fast a track this trip required. Sounds exhausting, and I know that might be affecting your perceptions.

xo

Rob-bear said...

"Overwhelmed" you say? Sounds like life (or visiting) in urban Israel, where the city never sleeps.
You will have a chance to recover once you've hit Exmoor. The pub in Dulverton may not be like its counterpart in Tel Aviv, but it will be nice. And restful.

Anonymous said...

Simply wonderful!! We all need the same: time. Time to sleep properly, to have a rest, to be in silence and to think about the whole world we have seen and experienced.
I'm also overwhelmed.
And I miss you all.