Barbeques, Bonfires, and...Karaoke?

Monday night we celebrated Lag B'Omer! [insert meaning of holiday here]
I couldn't tell you what this holiday is all about even after celebrating it, but what I do know is that some people can't cut their hair until this day...and everyone has big bbq's and bonfires! Meat and fire?? I'm in!
While the rest of my Tel Aviv group had a beach bbq with hot dogs and roasted marshmallows, I was invited to spend the holiday in Kiryat Ekron, small city of about 10,000 people where other Oranim participants have been volunteering since January. Mike (here's your debut into the blog, as promised) told me I'd be eating food from the best cook in Ekron, possibly even all of Israel....so how could I not attend? The participants in Ekron have host families that take really good care of them, i.e. feeding them, and now I'd get to have that experience, also. We don't have host families in Tel Aviv because...well, there's really not a lot of families or houses. But, if having a host family means having someone who feeds you, I'd say Adir from my local pizza stand and Omry from the schwarma place are members of my host family. No wonder I've gained about 10 pounds since arriving in Israel!
Anyway, Ekron is about a 45-60 minute journey for those like me, without a car. In order to get there, I had to take public transportation, which YES is safe...bigger problem is my lack of directional sense, right Dad? I picked up the sherut (big van taxi that follows the same paths as the buses) to the central bus station in Tel Aviv. This was my first time to the central bus station, and it's a little bit daunting to go alone having no idea what you're doing. The inside looks like a big Valley mall, but there are tons of buses going every which direction of Israel. After having to ask a couple different people, I found the 301 Egged bus platform on the 6th floor, tucked away in a corner, just in time to catch one that had just arrived. Success! (Or as the t-shirt I saw at a store on Allenby said, "Seccess!") I put my headphones on, and made my way past Rehovot to Bilu Junction, looking for my cue to get off, a restaurant with ducks on it (the only real restaurant in Ekron). Once I arrived, Mike met me and we walked back to the Ekron house, getting a "tour" of the town for the second time. Probably the only thing worth mentioning is a place that has 1 shekel (about 25 cents) falafel between 9:30 and 10am each morning!
We made our way over to one of the boys' host families house for dinner. I got to meet a few different families, including Mike's host family, and we ate some seriously amazing and huge amounts of food. All the usual Israeli salads, yummy pita, barbeque chicken, and meat. I was definitely impressed...and full. It was great to be surrounded by family again. Listening to the teenage girls giggle as they tried to pronounce difficult english words like "disestablishmentarianism" was hilarious considering I can barely form a simple Hebrew sentence! Everyone was very welcoming, and they made sure I got anything I needed/wanted.
Afterward, we went to go see the big bonfire the Ekron group had made. On the way there, you could see every house having their own little bonfire; the town was full of smoke! What I learned from this holiday is that Israelis LOVE karaoke! It seemed like every house we passed was singing along with microphone in hand! Another reason I love this place.
Even though I didn't celebrate the holiday with my usual group of friends, I'm really happy I went to Ekron. I felt honored to be invited, and it was very comforting to be in a small town with a real neighborhood and families who all know each other again!

Hebrew phrases for today's post:
Esh: Fire
Al ha esh: Barbeque
Ze-oo: that's it
Oolai: maybe
Ani ohevet levalot eem chaverim b'Ekron: I like to hang out with friends in Ekron