Coming up for air

What a whirlwind last few days I've had! Is it really the 7th of July already?? Since my last post I've been on the go with Yun assisting her with her film and experiencing lots of new things. Here is what the last few days has been like:
Long bus ride, quick shower, go out and shoot, brief nap, hit the gay clubs, crash at 4 a.m. and repeat several times! It's been intense and I will try to encapsulate the highlights.

Gay clubs always have the best music!
Amman is tres tres different from Cairo. Much less crowded but also there is not much happening there in terms of sights, nightlife, things to do in general. Interestingly, the downtown area of Amman is the less modern section of Amman. We stayed outside of the downtown area, where there are big hotels, Burger Kings, and the gay bar RGB is located. Yun's friend and one of the subjects of her film, Boody, took us there on Friday and it was so much fun! They played Arabic tunes as well as American dance tunes and I danced my little heart out for hours! I represented California on the floor and made quite a splash. RGB proved to me that the gay clubs always have the best music and are the most fun! Yun and I were the last ones on the dance floor when it finally closed at 4:30 a.m. I felt like shouting "California in the hizzouse!" We loved RGB so much that we went back there the next day. However, because it was Friday it was pretty dead. That didn't stop us from staying there until it closed anyway.

After two nights in Jordan we had to take the most direct bus route to Tel Aviv to catch a Butch/Femme party there. The most direct route by bus entails a long stop at the Israel/Jordan boreder and a pit stop in Jerusalem! The whole ride should only take 2 1/2-3 hours but the delays at the Jordanian/Israeli border stretch the journey several hours more! Entering Israel at the area which is part of the Palestinian territory is a hassle. Even more of a hassle for Palestinians! We ended up waiting and waiting hours to get through each little check. But if you are a male with an Arabic sounding name, even if you have a passport from another country, you are pulled aside and questioned and may be strip searched. This happened to a young man we met, incidentally from San Francisco, who is American born but has an Arabic name. Even though he was pulled aside and interrogated and had to wait for his baggage, we all ended up outside the border at the same time! Once we were finally out of the customs area, we had to wait in the blistering heat for a shuttle to Jerusalem. I hosed myself off in my hotel, then hopped on the sherute to Tel Aviv.

Ooh ee ooh ah ah ching chang walla walla bing bang
Tel Aviv is the most gay friendly city in the Middle East. It's gay scene is much more lively and open than Cairo, Jerusalem, and Amman. It's much easier to be out in Tel Aviv! We met up with Samira, another character of Yun's film, who took us to the butch/femme party. "Did you go as a butch or a femme?" you may ask. Hmmm... a femme as a half-assed butch? I just wore my cute jeans and a cute top and called it a day. This club did not have good music! It started with a show which left me thoroughly unimpressed, then opened the dance floor with Elvis, and ended with some bizarre American doo wop. There were a few good tunes in between but if it weren't for the yummy cherry beer they served, I may not have stayed. I'm sure I was the only heterosexual woman there, as I was the only one with any fashion sense and grooming. I felt like a sore thumb...a stylish sore thumb among a handful of frumpy fingers. The after party, however, was off the hook! We went to a ginormous club called FansionCafe which was located right on the beach! That's were the more fashionable lesbians were. The music was much better, as was the dancing, but I mainly enjoyed sitting on the roof patio and gazing at the Mediterranean Sea. Yun and I tried absinthe for the first time, but I didn't notice any special effects. For the third night in a row, we stayed out past 4:00 a.m. Do we know how to have a good time or what?

The next day I got to spend a little bit of time on the beach in Tel Aviv. The waters are so clean and blue and warm! It was very very hot and humid so the brief dip in the Mediterranean was a very refreshing treat. Then it was back to Jerusalem to climb the ramparts of the Old City's wall to film the sunset! Walking around the perimeter of the Old City from up on the wall is not to be missed if you are ever in Jerusalem! Got some amazing pictures from up there! Yun and I shared a dinner on the wall over looking Mount Olive and Al Aqsa, then she set up the camera while I shot production stills. Even though we were working, it was a nice peaceful break after all of the busing and clubbing we had been doing.

Gotta go now and meet Yun for some night shots of Jerusalem! Then later we're checking out a drag show after dinner. Inshaallah I'll upload some photos and write about Ramallah when I get back. That is, unless we end up dancing until 4 a.m.!