me and david on the beach on thursday afternoon, the left corner of the blue building behind us is where the bomber blew himself up the next evening. 

after thoughts, 3 days later

its monday now. its all calmed down. im back in jerusalem, a city that ironically hardly seems affected by the events just 40 minutes up the road in tel aviv on friday night.

theres lots to say and more will be added when i have more time.

but i just wanted to write that i have thank god calmed down to a large extent. last weekend was one of the definining periods of my life. i think it will always always be with me and created an unbreakable bond between myself and david and myself and this country.

i want to show u a quote from the guardian report from saturday and comment on it later this afternoon when i have time. all i am saying now is that i was at the scene of the bomb on saturday afternoon and this quote, which sums up the foreign view of israel, is simply not true.

"An air of palpable shock hung heavy over Israel's second city after the first suicide bombing in Israel for almost four months - and the first since the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, succeeded Yasser Arafat earlier this year. "

dont believe the hype
J xxx

suicide bomber kills 4 in tel aviv

its 10.15am on saturday morning and im finding it difficult to type. i keep on thinking to myself i have to be honest about how im feeling. then i realise what im about to write and how ive been feeling all nervous and confused since the bomb went off last night at 11.20pm and imscared to write all this. and then i realise this is it. this is what people want to know. whats it really like huh? u lot didnt come here to read about me going out on the piss or getting bored at ulpan classesw. this is real fucking israel. welcome to the country.

so, i think im going to take you through what happened over the last 11 hours, and also where i was the day bef0re, maybe it will be therapeutic for me, but i think this is what im here to do this morning.

on thursday there was no ulpan cos there was a tiyul to sde boker. i wasnt so interested in going so me and a friend david decided to go to tel aviv for thursday and thursday night and then go and stay at a friend of his parents friday night. the idea was that we could go out in tel aviv thursday night and friday night and spend friday and saturday on the beach. so we got there thursday at about 3pm (we left slightly later than planned!).

we had taken a sherut from rehov yafo in jerusalem to tachana mercazit in jerusalem and then the number 4 sherut to rehov alenby and walked down alenby to the beach. when we got the the beach we went straight to the bar on the sand opposite exactly where the bomb was. so we had a great time in tel aviv, stayed in a lovely hotel with a couple of girls (just friends!!!!!) and went out in tel aviv on thursday night.

we initally drank in another bar further down the beach outside the sheraton where we were staying, but after there were hassles we quickly left and at about 11.30 on thursday nightn me david, heather and limor were on allenby looking for a taxi to take us to another bar. we were about 1 minute from where the bomb went off, exactly the same time the night before. in the mornign on friday we went to the beach. when myslef and heather walked to get some beers we bought them from the supermarket next to where the bomb was. when i say next to i mean next to. then me and david travelled to davids parents friends in a moshav near modiin in the afternoon, of course we walked up allenby from the beach.

the fact is me nd david got quite drunk thursday night and so did the 23 year old son of the guy we were staying with. and even though they arent religious the family still have a shabbat meal of sorts. after dinner we all sat round the tv watching some crappy candid camera programme and all i could think was how muchy i wanted to get out and get back to tel aviv. we had had such fun the night before. i was a little pissed off cos it looked like we might not go out. we watched a movie till 11pm and we had decided in the end not to go to tel aviv but to a bar neaere by. i was a bit pissed off still cos i thought they wouldnt be fun bars, but it wasnt up to me to argue - i wasnt driving. so i thought fuck it, go with the flow.

at 11.20pm i was sitting in the computer room watching some tv while ofir, the son who we were going out with, said we would wait till about 12 and go out. at 11.35pm menachem, ofirs dad shouted downstairs - "ofir, haya pigua btel aviv". i froze, ofir sprang into action, put the tv on, and there it was. theres been a suicide bomb outside the opera house. i started shking , looked at the tv and it was true. i couldnt understand it. how could there be a bomb in tel aviv. the last real bomb was in beer sheva and what everyone had said was cs of the controversial security barrier it was too hard tog et to TA or jerusalem so they had to go south. the mor ei looked at the tv the more i couldnt believe it. we had been there thursday afternoon. and thursday night. and friday mornign. and friday afternoon. this was insane. ive been in israel when a bombs gone off but ive never been so close. and i always find it hard to imagine exactly whereit is. it took months befre i realised where cafe hillel is on emek refaim. but this wasnt heard. its the cente of the beach. its where we were, the whole of the last 2 days.

the first thing i did was call my cousin yael. she told me she was going out in ta last night.
this was the conversation:
J - ru ok yael"
Y - ah, im on dizengoff. im fine.
J - did u hear it?
Y - sort of, it was quiet but we hard the ambulances
J- wherewere u
Y - we were outide mcdonalds about half an hour ago
J - ok bye

then i realised, mcdonalds is right near to the opera house, maybe 5 minutes walk to where the bomb was, and half an hour ago was exactly when it went off.

then i called home, spoke to my dad and andrew, and ze and marxc were there for supper. the more i talked the more shocked i became. first i spoke to dad and told him what had happend, then i spoke to andrew, by the time zoe came i could hardly speak. i felt bad cos dave needed c\to call his family in north carolina, so zoe called me back on the mobile and then i spoke to marc and then dad and then adnrew, all of them tried to calm me down, i tried to calm them down. it was fucked up.

then ofir said fuck it.olets go, and we went to this cool bar and forgot about it all till we got back at about 4.30am. then it hit us again. we checked the number of casualties - 4 killed 35 wounded, and sat and watched sky news smoking nargilla. we chatted till about 5.30am, ofir talking about the effect the bombss and terrorism has had on him and how we feel about. by the timewe were supposed to go to bed it had hit me again. i just couldnt believe that if we had gone to tel aviv as we had wanted to do and planned to in the first place we could have been there. we could have thought that looks like and alright club lets go there. before we went to bed me and dave spoke about going down to the scene tommorrow to place a candle.

this is it people. bit of a fucking culture shock huh. the point is that we felt aso comfortable there, on the beach, at the bar opposite the stage. this was our plce. all we spoke about was how we cant wait to get out of jerusalem and come and live in tel aviv.

so now its the mornign. i just got a little bit of fresh air and we are geting a taxi to yaels in half an hour and then were going to see her parents in herzaliya.

the wierd thing is that i suddenly realised half an hour ago, this is the first time for about 3 and a hlaf years that i had completely lost my journalistic instinct. i tried to go on msn just a few minutes before the bomb. id said hello to a friend of mine who is a freelance photographer. i met him when iwas in israel for my friend vigs wedding in august 2003.

id been staying at yaels in tel aviv when a bomb went off. in the morning daniella peled called me and asked me if i would go to jerusalem to hadassah and interview ppl who were on the bus, ppl whos family were on the bus and were waiting for news, doctors and zaka. i did it and my journalistic instinct took over. (i got a front page, im sure u lot remember). ben is the photographer guy who came with and took the pix.

so when i came back i checked the internet and he said to me - theres been a bomb, get down to the hospital. i just looked at it and thought he was crazy.how could i think about work at a time like this! this morning i realised what had happened. i couldnt believe i had done that. i mean its unlikely i would have gone there, but i thought, this was it. all the timei spoke about aliya i always said if theres ia bomb ill go and cover it. i still can. but if i went last night i would have got an exclusive and made lots and lots of money. how many reporters are working on friday night. i would have got hundreds of quotes and been able to sell stories all round the world. but it wsnt in me. i couldnt even think about it let alone do it.

so there u go people.
welcome to my world.
like yale said to me this morning when i said what did u do after i spoke to u.she said what could we do. were not letting a pigua ruin our evening. we went and found somewhere to sit and had a coffee. theres no point going home and just getting depressed watching it on tv.

sohere i am. ofirs just ordered the cab and in half an hour we are going to be driving back to tel aviv and then to herzaliya. tonight we have plans to go out in jerusalem. have i considered not going out in town? of course. but then i understood. if i come here then i come here.
i made aliya because of the connection between me and israel. anyone who knows me knows that im destined for thsi place. i love it here. i feel comfortable here. londons boring israels interesting.
well it definately proved thaty tonight.
love u all
J xxx

same counter!

come on people, keep clicking, it gives me an ego boost. and email me -jeremylast@yahoo.com or post a message on here.

love u all
jeremy

friends and family

u know, the reason i made this blog in the first place was to let my friends and familly in the uk know im ok and tell them what ive been up to. i had said i was going to make aliya so many times over the last 4 years no one, including myself really thought i was going to do it. untill beverley at ujia made it clear that there was no job for me there after december 31 i hadnt really considered going in january. in the end i only decided at the beginning of december and didnt tell most ppl till a few weeks before i left.

and here i am. ive lived in israel as an israeli for 6 weeks now, and everything is basicaly going ok. but what i wanted to say this morning is that although i am relatively busy here as i work every afternoon and go to the ulpan in the morning, i still think about ppl in london. and as much as i have been lucky to meet some great ppl here, i was chatting to a mate about stuff yesterday and he was saying that the only thing he misses about the uk is his close mates, sometimes!!!

i never knew if ppl would read this website so i put a counter on it. its up to 250 odd now so ppl must be reading it. so today i wanted to say hi to ppl i hope are reading this and if not hopefullly they will some time soon.

my family - hi dad, cant wait for u to come. hope u have a good time in the canary islands. love to mavis.

andrew, alls cool. dont worry. the football will be great. i spoke to eitan the otherday and hes coming with to the ireland game. i have one spare for france so i might ask uri.

zoe - thanks for the messages. hope skiiing was good (i bet u did a little more apres ski!).

marc - how u doing? i heard about the latest ferrari rally from andrew. sounds like the 328gts is still going well.

i want to say hi to everyone in london, nev and garry, jamie in sweden - call me, ben in milan - how u been, gids and josh, charlie, elliot, vivienne, jus, al, peled and everyone at the paper (anyone at ujia!) jason and stef, crazy marxy - i still love the crystals, louise and issy - im still alive! adriana rodriguez - amorcito, no para sigisigi.

i know theres more, but u lot, get wr iting, i hardly hear from u (JCO). cant wait to see any of u in israel. and of course u can stay - mi bayit, su bayit.

look after urselves,
po
j

ivor and miriam have come round to the flat....at last!

today was a special day for me. after six weeks in israel my mums cousin ivor who has lived in the same flat up the road since 1962 finally came round for coffee with his wife miriam. dont they look cute with my becks and bournemouth mugs!

well, i know ive not written anything for a few days but i thought id wait for ppl to see the pic of me on the beach!

nothing overly excitings happened. ive got my camera back so ive been taking some pictures. today i moved things around in the lounge so it feels nicer. last night i went to d and d, again. oh, ive not explained d and d yet. its a great bar just near my friend davids flat. we go there all the time and the owner gives us free drinks alot. ill take some pics soon but heres the website so far (its not finished yet cos the bars only been open a few months) http://www.dndmb.com.

anyway, supper time. ive cooked tofu with rice and a stir fry for a friend ravit whos coming for dinner. should be nice.
till next time
po j

ivor and miriam came round for coffee! 

the best way to spend a friday, in my opinion

woke up knackered this morning after another crazy party (see below for picz and a little synopsis!).
then i realised this girl amanda i met last night wanted to go to the beach in tel aviv. i looked outside and it was properly sunny. so i gave her a bell, met up at about 11.15 nd we were at the beach by 1.
it was the best way to spend a friday, although we had meant to get there earlier. stayed till 4pm and came home cos i had to go to ronnie for dinner.
who could ever want to live in the uk!
j


me on the beach with amanda

oh what a night

so, thanks to everyone that came. it started off a little slow. even though me and dave went off to matts engagement party first and didnt get back till 10pm no one really turned up till about 10.45pm.

but by 11ish it was buzzing. at about 11.15pm the old woman came down from upstairs to complain about the noise and even threatedned to call the police. of course me and me and mike calmed her down (in hebrew!) and she went off to bedbut personally i thought it would have been quite a story to tell if the police had turned up.

heres to flatwarming part 3. po jxx





me evan candice alexis

me and danie from florida 

jade from SA, alexis and me 

me and jason rausman 

this is my crazy 1970s stereo - i bought it today for the party, check out the ipod connected with 1,600 songs on it! 

parteeeeeeeeeeee

I know most of u are in another country, but i thought id give u all the opportunity to come!

so, yup, incase u didnt know yet, FLATWARMING PART 2 is happening tommorrow night, right here (not on the web, in my flat!).

i made a promotional flyer a few weeks ago but i dont know how to save it as a picture so im pasting the text underneath; it doesnt have the same impact as the original (i put it in cool font with a crazy background!).

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.....................

DUE TO PHENOMENAL DEMAND

FOLLOWING THE MASSIVE SUCCESS OF LAST MONTH’S EVENT

JEREMY AND MICHAEL PRESENT

FLATWARMING PART 2
(Cheaper and more fun than going to one of those

expensive clubs!)

VENUE: 22 REHOV HAPORTZIM, Jerusalem, Israel
(Next to Ben Zvi Estates. Off Kovshei Katamon, Right at the top near Ha Palmach. Off License 3 mins away!)

DATE: Thursday 17th February 2005
TIME: 9 Till Late
ENTRANCE: Free

Please bring some drinks along – beer or spirits welcomed (preferably not wine after the dodgy nature of some of the wine last time!)


ROADBLOCK BUSINESS GUARANTEED
BIGGER AND BETTER IN 2005

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

anyway, it looked better on the flyer. and theres is much excitement in jerusalem!

(a few explanations - the whole thing was inspired by rave flyers from when i used to go raving! the dodgy wine was brought by my mate jason - he knows!)

better go, chinese stir fry to cook.

dont worry, ill post pictures on friday!

j xx

u know uve settled in when.....

for the first few weeks my room was immaculate. life was neat and tidy. but now its getting that little bit messy.

anyway, i felt like i should write something cos its been a while but im not feeling well at all. i came home last night from watching palace get thrashed and just felt horrible. usually my rooms a little chilly but i felt boiling. i was sick and everything and hardly slept. but now its 12.30pm and i feel much better.

thank god for my friend jade. she calmed me down, told me to drink water and dab my face with a cold towel. otherwise i was in such a state. oh well. im just not used to getting ill. usually i pretend to be ill to take time off work but this time i really cant work.

ppl have been so nice though. loads of ppl calling me to see if im ok. i felt like ferris bueler!

anyway, thats it for now ppl. more when i feel better. nothing cooler than using the internet in bed when ur not well. i just love listening to one extra.

po
jeremy

MAZALTOV MATT AND ILANA

A BIG MAZALTOV TO MATTHEW LIPMAN AND ALL HIS FAMILY

matt called me about an hour ago to say he got engaged to his girlfriend Ilana (from america) last night.

if your not sure who he is theres a pic of him below.

im off to get changed. going to julian wood for shabbat dinner. its been a crazy week but the best thing has been finally having the internet in my room.

the other great thing is that my dad and brother have booked flights and are coming to visit me at the end of march. its going to be cool first cos it will be purim the first weekend and also cos they come with me to the israel v france and ireland games (well dads leaving earlier so he can only come to israel v ireland). im just happy im going to be able to show them real life in israel ie football.

im supposed to be going to see betar tommorrow night against nazareth. for some reason this country is obsessed with the fact that its going to snow tonight. they keep on going on about how it is going to snow and actually have been talking about it all week. personally i think its rubbish cos its not cold enough.

anyway better go.
guten shoibos.
jeremy

Who remembers my goodbye party at The Preston - hi to mudge, ed me, eilon and nev 

heres some pictures

hi everyone,

hope you are all well.

As you will see below ive started to work out how to upload pictures (thanks again zoe, marc and andrew for the camera, it is wonderful). its a little annoying cos i had to download another programme to upload images and at the moment im not sure how to do that within a posting so ive just put some random ones up to give ppl an idea of the place.

my room is much nicer now cos i bought a lovely bed so the couch bed is my sofa and i have moved the desk next to the bed. its not easy to get persepctive and u can take little movies with my camera so i will try and upload some.

thats all for now, but i do want to write something later about the israel v croatia game i went to last night. it was a great game but the monkey noises the crowd made at an arab-israeli playing for israel every time he touche the ball made me very upset.

look after urselves, and ben leon.
jeremy

me and matt lipman 

the "lounge" area. weve moved it about but i havent taken photos yet 

the kitchen - nice huh. its messier now! 

our flat 

me and vigdor 

Me and my flat mate mike at our flatwarming party in january 

PLEEEEEASE leave me a message

i meant to say when i wrote my first thing, u can leave me a message by just clicking on the message button at the bottom of my message.

(IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME HERE, SCROLL DOWN (or click on so,here we go)TO READ A RECAP OF MY FIRST 3 WEEKS HERE IN ISRAEL! its interesting, i promise!)

so if u wanna say hi, or make a comment for people to read, just write something. will be lovely to hear from anyone. and if you want to email me just write to jeremylast@yahoo.com.

by the way, its monday morning and im skipping (bunking off) ulpan today cos i stayed up till 5am watching the super bowl. its like the fa cup final of american football and my friend dave was watching it so i thought id go along to hjis party. its really not easy staying up late and i gave up 5 minutes before the end. apparently it was a classic but i dont really understand it all. i decided to support philapdelphia cos i dont like the idea of New England. americans are always stealing our places and making new ones.

something cool was that 3 of daves friends came over and one of them was an arab guy called mousa whos friends with daves mate levi. its just nice to see that the whole image of israelis and arabs not being mates is just crap. people make things up about israel, and its just a basic image that isnt true. moussas a lovely bloke from abu tor (village near here somewhere) and hes most excited about saving money for his 6 month trip to america with levi in may!

anyway, im off to town to buy tickets for israel v ireland and israel v france. im going on wednesday to a friendly israel v croatia. more about my views on israeli football later!

oh. so im assuming ur all upset with me for bunking ulpan. dont be! im doing my best to immerse myself into society and maybe ill miss a few classes and not do all my homework but i think im more likely to become a genuine israeli than lots of the ppl who come here. im not someone who wants to be an english person living in israel. i want to be an israeli. thats another topic for another time.

jeremy
ps thanks for the message raffi, love to B!

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Israeli Football (if you can call it that)

hi,

this is going to be my first installment of jeremy's views on football in this country.

FIRST, a recap for ppl who arent familiar with my love of the Beautiful Game. since i was 11 years old i have supported a team called AFC Bournemouth . they are a little known side who rarely attract any attention.

(BORING BUT ESSENTIAL EXPLANATION).....why bournemouth you (and everyone else who has ever met me)asks. well, and this is the stock answer i give everytime, and its actually true. untill i was about 8 i supported liverpool. in my day it was liverpool or no one cos they won everything. then came 1985 and the european cup final against juventus in the heysel stadium in belgium. i was watching the game with my brother in my grandparents house in bournemouth (aaaah). as most football fans well know that game was delayed by about 2 and a half hours cos of fighting between liverpool and juventus fans which resulted in a wall being knocked down and many fans being killed. not only did liverpool fans cause british teams to get knocked out of europe but i felt like it was just wrong to be associated with a team of hooligans (the rights and wrongs of this can be debated, but remember, i was 8 years-old)

a few years later i came out the wilderness - bournemouth began to play well and were promoted under the stewardship of harry redknap. since then ive been following them through thick and thin. i want to take this opportunity to thank all of my friends who have come to watch the mighty cherries with me over the years - gids especially, hes an honorary fan, justin, my brother, my dad, nev and anyone else.

ANYWAY, back to israeli football.
Asi am a bit of a footie fan, i feel an obligation to try and continue watching the local side here, which are the not very mighty betar jerusalem. i first went to a game when i was in my first year in yeshiva in 1998 when betar had won the league the year before. they drew 1-1 with glasgow rangers in a champions league qualifier. it was great and i was hooked.

Crazy Crazy fans at Betar Games

since ive been here ive already been to two betar games, both of which they have lost one-nil. the first as the maddest - away against maccabi tel aviv at bloomfield stadium last sunday night. luckily my friend ashley drove us to the ground but i just could not believe how many people were there. we got into the stadium about 45 minutes before kick off and there were already about 3,000 betar fans jumping up and down and singing. by the time the game started there were maybe 4,000 away fans and about the same amount of tel aviv fans.

unfortunately the game was a dissapointment. this guy avi nimni was supposed to be so good but we lost to a scrappy goal and never really looked like scoring. what really annoyed me was both the amount of fouling and the amount of faking. eg betars right winger barak yitzchaki falling over dramaticaly in front of the linesman after hardly being touched and causing play to be stopped.

on saturday night i had my first taste of a home game at "Teddy" stadium against hapoel petach tikva - a game we had to win. it was raining the whole time and the team were apalling (the opposition had a player sent off for 2 yellow cards just before half time but we just couldnt make the extra man count). but, even though there were only a few thousand people there, the atmosphere was nearly as good. israelis seem to love singing and shouting at games even though im not sure they understand football properly.

now im hooked. its so easy to get there - 50p bus ride, 1.50 in a taxi or a lift, and they keep on playing! easier than taking 2 hours to get to palace or bournemouth! so we have nazareth elite at home this weekend. we shall see. we must get a win!

theres also the national team - the nivcheret. they are playing a friendly on wednesday in jerusalem against croatia and then have 2 world cup qualifiers in tel aviv against ireland and france at the end of march. i bought my france and ireland tickets today and im going to pay on the gate on wednesday. i just cant imagine the national team are any good, even they have some foreign based players, cos betar are so bad. we shall see.

more soon people. keep the emails and comments coming. at the moment im using mikes computer cos i have to sort out web in my room. but once i do there will be loads of pics taken on the camera so kindly given to me as a gift by zoe, marc and andrew.

jeremy

So Here We Go

yup. im still alive and im still in israel.

i cant believe it but ive actually lived in israel as an israeli for 3 and a half weeks now. i wanted to do one of these blog things ages ago but ppl who know me know how bad i am at doing things now. as mum used to say, never put off till tommorrow what u can do today - i was never up for that. my phrase was if u can do it tommorrow then lets watch tv now and go to bed! i actually started a diary on the plane on my laptop but it only lasted one day!

although relatively alot has happened in the last 3 and a half weeks i will try and keep this brief (anyone who knows me knows that once i start talking, i really talk!).

i am living in a flat with an american guy called michael (he calls himself yitzchak sometimes) who i luckily found on a website called flathunting.com a week before i came. i wanted to live in the ulpan i am studying hebrew at but due to, errr, complications, i organised my aliya relatively late so had to find a flat. its all turned out wonderfully - place is nice, mikes cool (even likes football and supports crystal palace like my brother!)and the landlords ok. i wasnt sure about it when i arrived but i dont think ive seen anyone who lives in a nicer flat! the location is amazing - its like living in hampstead but u can walk everywhere - towns 20 minutes, ulpans 15, emek refaim 10. ill put some pics up on the site once i know how to! also i have a lovely room and bought the most enormous double bed second hand ofor about 35 quid the other day!

ulpans going okish. i was actually moved up a class after a week but the teacher in the knew class is so annoying that i am hopefuly moving back on sunday. the place is nice but im happy i dont live there - the rooms are tiny and the food sounds a bit crap really! ive even started cooking already here - made my dads best spaghetti blognese last week!

and those who dont know - i am working, really, i am getting paid (apparently, theres been no contract yet) to work as an editor for a new jewish news agency launching in a few weeks. it will be called the european jewish press (www.ejpress.org). cant really write much about it now, but once were up and running i will let u all know so u can read my excellent work!

otherwise things are cool. i like the place although i was in tel aviv last week and i prefer it there. im so much more chilled now ive sort of stopped being so frum. last week i went to family for dinner in ranana friday night (ros!) and then went out to a bar in tel aviv with a friend (morani!) and went out for lunch on saturday with my cousin eitan to a restaurant. and then tonight i went to ppl for dinner in jerusalem and then to some religious friends after and im going to shul and someone for shabbat lunch tommorrow. i like the religion so even if im not sure of its authenticity and therefore dont feel like i have an obligation to do it all i still like the whole culture (and food!) thing.

anyway. better go to bed, its 1am and i have shul in the mornng.
shabbat shalom people.
j