Purim Down Under

Here in Melbourne, Purim is fund raising day and we decided to go fishing in the Melbourne coffers ourselves. Being that Adam and I had gotten jobs and were no longer interested in Asia, it was no big deal that we got a late start. We would be collecting for Yeshivabound.com.

We had a list of the addresses of Melbourne’s upper-class but no longer possessed it so we decided to just go out and look for big houses. Besides, our friends were also out there (a couple had rented golf carts) and we could ask them to point in the right direction. We got a bit of a late start since we had gone to the prison but it didn’t matter since we no longer needed to raise two grand for Asia. We were dropped off in yeshiva from the prison and had a bit of lunch or something. Then Adam and I prepared to go out and collect. I heard one of the guys was on Carlisle St w/ a sign reading “Free Hugs” so I made my own sign that read “Deluxe Hugs $2” to see if it’d work (never got the opportunity to test it so now the sign simply hangs on our wall). Adam donned a Captain Jack Sparrow pirate wig to go along w/ the suite he was already wearing to create some sort of “pirate-businessman” look. I just wore an argyle sweater-vest and the usual white shirt/black pants.

While we were making the Hugs sign we found a bottle of chocolate liqueur which I had gotten from a wedding a while back. We cracked it open and had a bit. It was delicious! It had a wonderful chocolately flavor but still seemed a bit off because of the taste of alcohol. However, I discovered this could be remedied by the addition of milk. So there I am, performing little odds and ends while drinking large amounts of potent chocolate milk. Needless to say I was pretty lit (and had really bad heartburn – for about ten minutes) by the time we went collecting.

And away we went. The first house we went to was to the father of one the kids in our bunk during camp. When we arrived the door was open and there were already others in his office dancing and singing in a circle. We joined in for a while and then everyone stopped and took turns giving him their “sales pitch.” He would then reach into his desk and give them cash. When we explained we were collecting for Yeshivabound.com, he immediately gave us $120 cash!

We decided to just go to every big house we could find. We went right to the next house. We weren’t sure if this next one was Jewish and were about to check it out when two girls informed us that it indeed it was Jewish – but no one was most likely home – oh and it’s a girl’s dormitory. Moving on to the next house.

We for the most part collected an average of $5 per home. One family we went to was someone we had met once before at a Shobbos table. The Mrs. gave us $40 American and then brought us inside and gave us a lunch consisting of schnitzel, chicken, cholent, soda, and mashka! We ate our hearty lunch there while watching Sesame Street.

We finished collecting after a couple of hours since people were beginning to start their Purim seudas. For such a short time we raised a good amount of cash which of course will be put toward yeshiva expenses. We headed back to the dorm to chill before heading to the Procel’s for a Purim seuda.

When we arrived it was mostly the YG shluchim, a few bochurim, and R. and Mrs. Procel and family. What ensued was a huge series of l”chaims. One after the other and in pretty good sized shot glasses at that. Every time I finished a l”chaim for one shliach, another would immediately pour me another. Despite the large amount of alcohol, I seemingly felt fine – until I stood up. Then it was more lke “ksdi’m prty wsted hmmm”, but that just meant I fit in with the crowd.

Adam, a friend Shia Karp, and I wobbled out of the Procel’s and went to a nearby fabrengen where I believe I just fell asleep at the table for an unknown amount of time. Next thing I know my buddies are waking me up to go to yet another fabrengen. However, we arrived to discover it was already over. We decided to walk to the beach and back in order to chill out. It worked. When we arrived back at YG I was pretty much sober. I drank like a liter of water (falling asleep in the middle and spilling it everywhere) and guess what? No hangover!