Episode 23: "The Gifts" (+)

Come November, I started thinking about what I wanted to do for Thanksgiving without the help of a national holiday. Regrettably, Israel doesn’t have the story of eating with the natives before slaughtering them; the Israelites kind of cut to the chase in the Bible. So for a hot minute Thanksgiving was looking to be pretty run-of-the-mill, a big meal with my flat-mates at most. Fortunately, the campus Hillel saved the day and organized a huge Thanksgiving dinner at a hotel. The man in charge of the operation was Oded, the guy who bailed me out of a botched Rosh Hashanah earlier in the semester:

Dude has a thing for rescuing my holidays.

With a proper holiday meal that night, any sense of "Turkey Got Served" was now a non-issue. Unless we’re talking about what was on my dinner plate. In that case, turkey and other Thanksgiving All Stars were most definitely served. And you can bet I was thankful for it.

At dinner with my friends Dani and Ashley.

Eric and I, 2/3 of the Egypt crew.

Oded opened up the night onstage with a personal thank you to everyone who had worked with him this year. Throughout the semester, students had volunteered to help him with several educational events. And as a founder of the new Student Action Committee, Oded had collaborated with students to bring different social/community projects into fruition. My involvement in either aspect of Oded’s work had been minimal. But for one reason or other he decided to include me in his gesture of thanks. When he invited me to the stage to receive a CD he bought in gratitude, I felt truly honored.

Honestly, Oded is one of my biggest inspirations here. Since first meeting him, I’ve been consistently impressed by his warmth and positivity. One of his earliest programs on the Darfur crisis showed me how much he cared about others. And his invitation to spend time with his family during Rosh Hashanah was only the epitome of what a welcoming person he is in general. The genuine kindness behind his actions, the generosity of his spirit…it’s all something to aspire to. The guy’s only 27, but somehow I can see him as a real mentor, worth paying attention to and learning from. If I can be like him in five years, I’ll be set.

Cross your fingers for me.

The rest of the night turned out to be a lot of fun. Surrounded by friends in their dressiest best, eating good food and sipping nice wine, I was having a great time overall. For minor entertainment there were a couple of performers doing goofy tricks on stilts (what?), and apparently my friend Maya conducted a trivia competition between dinner tables. I wasn’t in on that one, because my family called from South Carolina to wish me a happy Thanksgiving. I was really touched to hear from them. All in all they’ve done such an amazing job of keeping in contact and reminding me that home is close, even an ocean away. It really put a smile on my face to hear their voices. They caught me up a little with their Thanksgiving adventures in South Carolina and gave me their best.

One of the above-mentioned stilt performers.

As the night continued, a band named Coolooloosh performed for us. They were a mix of jazz and hip-hop, delivering a really slick show. The band got a group of dancers going up front, and I would have joined were it not for the promise of a dance contest later on. My flat-mate Corina, who is an excellent dancer herself, agreed that we should save energy before the contest began. And when the band stepped down to let the DJ scratch, the two of us took to the dance floor.

To broaden the scope a little bit, Corina and I have some history when it comes to dancing. We’ve gone night clubbing together, and she and I are usually the first among a group to get some boogie going whenever there’s music playing. With that pattern comes certain expectations: people usually look to the two of us to deliver some entertainment when there’s bass pumping. While flattering, it can make a man a little nervous.

Pre-contest, none of that mattered. The DJ was playing good music, I was feeling the groove, and I went all out making the dance moves happen. Our friend Ashley, who is just as exceptional as Corina in her own right, joined us in getting the party started right. By the end of our little pre-game, I had exhausted myself. Unfortunately, that was only minutes before the dance contest actually began.

Me between Becca and Netta. See that sweat?

Rachel, a friend of ours in charge of the contest, got on the mic and broke down what she wanted from the crowd: Form a circle. Dancers enter center, show what’s up. Get big, get crazy. The ring of people that formed was huge, bigger than any circle I had ever danced for. I let Corina know how nervous I was, and she reciprocated. But before long it was time for both of us to tear it up, fears aside. And the crowd watched the whole shebang.

I opened up with a Harlem shake (YouTube that one if it sounds new), and I got some real juice from the onlookers. The applause was exactly what I needed. Dancing to impress is no joke. The amount of pressure, even when there’s positive reinforcement, is just ridiculous. But the adrenaline made it so much fun, too. I danced by myself in the center once, and at different times I danced with Corina (who the crowd loved), Ashley (who the crowd freaked over too), and a stranger I grabbed from the sidelines. At one crazy point there was this guy who came out of the ring and kind of shocked me into stillness by ripping it up in my personal space. Straight out of left field. Chalk it up to how wild the night got, I guess. People took pictures and videos while the dancing exploded.

Later on, Rachel announced that Corina, Ashley and I had made the top cut, winning the dance contest together. Everyone cheered. The three of us took a group picture, sweating, tired and smiling. All over the place, people had nothing but nice things to say afterward. Being congratulated like that from my friends felt really good. And the prizes Rachel gave us (a gift certificate to a falafel place and a Coolooloosh CD) didn’t hurt.

The night was just an all around good time. It was sponsored in honor of a Jewish man who had recently passed away, in the hopes that the Americans at Hebrew U could have a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner. It’s really something else that we could experience such a fun time out of the generosity of perfect strangers. And looking back at all the gifts I received that night, whether it was the amazing dinner itself, the praise and the present from Oded, the call from my family, or the compliments and prizes I received for the dance contest, I am truly thankful for the good people, environment and blessings that allowed it all.

Not to mention that this was just the beginning of my weekend. The next couple days had even more in store worth remembering.

Shalom,
Eric