Super Bowl Monday

Late January/Early February brings to mind one thing for many Americans…Super Bowl Sunday! Unfortunately due to the 7hr time difference, that meant that Israel would be broadcasting the game at 1:30am on Monday. The unusual time did scare away the fair weather Otzma fans; I hesitated at the thought of staying up until 5am to watch the game but then decided you only live once, so onward I went to Kiryat Gat for my first ever and probably only Israeli Superbowl Party.

( Max and I waiting for the game to begin at midnight)

Let me preface this by saying before the game, I had interviewed for an internship in Tel Aviv, which I successfully nabbed at the Israeli Opera Company. This was followed by meeting Robyn, a fellow Otzmanikim, at Rehovot for dinner and buying tailgating supplies. At 9:30pm, me along with the other Rehovoters got on a bus headed to Kiryat Gat to watch the ultimate American pastime, the Super Bowl.

15 dedicated Otzmanikim packed the Kiryat Gat house around 11pm. All of us brought along tailgating supplies to ease the wait until kick off. At 1:30am, the broadcasting began. Unfortunately, none of the popular Super Bowl commercials accompanied the game ( the commercials are the best party of the Super Bowl experience in my opinion, then again I was an advertising major in college). Some Otzmanikim were asleep minutes after kickoff. I stayed up for the first quarter and nodded on and off throughout the remaining quarters. The game was purely defense and kinda dull to watch. I did manage to stay awake for the last remaining minutes to watch the interception that clinched the win for the Saints. Throughout the night or should I say early morning, the football fans began to drop like flies with only the diehard fans still awake and conscious by the end of the fourth quarter.

( How many sleepy Otzmanikim can you spot? )

At a little before 5am, the Saints were named Super Bowl Champs and it was time for a quick power nap before nabbing the first bus back to Netivot. Sadly there is no direct bus to Netivot from K Gat. I had the times and bus numbers written down but of course nothing ever goes off without a hitch. We caught our first bus (the 25) with no problems. I stayed awake while Max and Derek fell asleep in the seats next to me. I woke them up in time to hop off at the Givati Junction. Our connecting bus (the 363) never came!! We waited 45 minutes on the side of the highway at 6:30am in the cold. One plus was seeing the sunrise…Anyway, we hopped back on the 25 and took it into Ashkelon, its final destination. In Ashkelon, we took a sheruit to Netivot.

(Derek at the bus stop in the middle of nowhere at 6am)

Unfortunately, the sheruit refused to drive us past the city’s center, so we walked 20 minutes from the stop to the apartment. At this point, the sun was up, it was warm, and all of us were feeling the effects of the night before. After what felt like hours(…because it actually was), I thankfully arrived at my apartment and curled into bed to powernap before volunteering later that morning.