Let me preface this post by stating I have nothing against the Jewish community. I am Jewish. I am proud of being Jewish. It is part of who I am, my childhood, my life experiences and I wouldn’t change those for anything. I also would prefer my children (assuming I can find someone who would want to copulate with me) to have the same open minded upbringing my parents gave me. Also although their have been a few recent posts on this topic, I am not hung up on it, just have recently mixed with this community a little more than I normally have.
However being an ex-Saffer Jew, and going out with the ex-Saffer Jewish community on the occasions that I do leads to some anthropological observations. These are the same observations that have been made by other people too and the same observations that have led to some interesting debates over a pint or two.
I also think these observations applies quite markedly to the ex-Saffer Jewish community as opposed to the ex-Saffer to the Jewish communities in general. In fact this was substantiated by a Jewish friend at her birthday party last Monday. At 10:45 the only people left in the bar was myself and my mate Ari, her boyfriend and a friend from out of town who was staying over at her. At some point I remarked to her “Where has everyone gone, it’s your birthday?” she replied. They are South African Jew’s (leaving the implied “and hence gone home early” unsaid.) She is Australian.
So Saturday night was the double birthday party of two girls. Although I am friendly with both of them, I wouldn’t say we are close friends, and our nights out only mix occasionally. Both are very nice girls and I have nothing against them at all. And the party was nice. But that’s it, it was just nice. It wasn’t a party in italics. It wasn’t one of those nights that you get down and boogie and shake your money maker. In fact when I got home from the party at about 1am I coded a big chunk of my sites redevelopment till 4am. Ok granted I am a freak and have my own problems, but was I returning from any party party, I would have been drinking water and straight to passing out if I was lucky.
Like a friend of mine says, they talk big but that’s it. Also I was really the only person with a drink in my hand half the time. Although some of them had the odd drink or two, many of them didn’t have anything to drink at all. Nothing! Not even a soft drink. I am also not saying one needs to get drunk to have fun. Or even drink at all. But it is very unusual for me to be the only one drinking. In fact I normally am drinking less than everyone else.
And then people started leaving just shy of 12. Including the one of two very attractive girls who where there. Clearly attractive girls should be getting drunk and then throwing themselves at me. Really, what is the youth today coming to? So I left at about 1am when the opportunity of a lift half way home come up. That and the other rather attractive girl who was their was also going. So I figured to fold my cards, on the basis that the cute girls where leaving, I am broke, and the party wasn’t really going to rise to newer and greater heights.
Now I know it’s been said that the ex-Saffer Yid just doesn’t drink. But most of my saffer yid friends (Ari, Craig, Leora, Linky, Marl) know how to knock them back with the best of them. My ex used to give me lessons on drinking and the Jewish friends I have up here tend to drink more like the locals. However the rest of the crowd has remained very secular. They have stuck to the same community and friends they had back home. They don’t mix a heck of a lot with other communities and are still very isolated. Most of them have no idea where south of the river is and prefer Starbucks to a pub.
I certainly am not an alcoholic. I drink far less than many people I know, and get drunk far less than that too. Yes I go out and drink a fair bit, but I actually rarely am drunk. Besides what my parents think about my drinking (it’s a concern to them) I actually drink pretty normally and am in perfect control of how much I choose to drink. Again I say drinking isn’t a requirement to having fun, but nights out with this bunch tend to be, rather sedate. A bit like the bar we went too (The Loop Bar). Nice bar, but the music never quite got going (well not till I left at any rate). Can’t complain about the bar. Nor I can I find much to rave about it either. If I compare Saturday’s party to the fake birthday party I organised for Dewi back in May (See my photoalbum - set 64) they where completely different events. The fake party was really enjoyed by everyone. It was an incredibly fun night. Although much more alcohol flowed at the fake party that was not the reason it was good. I don’t know why it was more fun. Maybe it was because everyone had a few (quite a few) and was more relaxed. Maybe the crowd was just more of a party crowd. But as nights go it wasn’t a boring one whereas Saturday night wasn’t exactly an exciting one.
Anyway that’s just my humble opinion (anthropological study?) on the community I came from. It’s not a criticism, just an observation. I have my blind date tonight (was moved from yesterday) with a nice Jewish girl (number 2) so we shall see how that goes. I also am getting a big pimple under my nose for my sins. Maybe it’s cosmic vengeance for commenting as such. Anyway, it’s in a bar. No I am not telling you which bar either.
