Shabbat Getaway
Random Happenings
Passover
Mimouna
Birthday
Shabbat Getaway
Dorot took us to a lovely kibbutz in the Judean Hills for a little bonding weekend. It was lovely! The kibbutz is famous for its brunch, and I ate about a bucket of different kinds of cheese, not going to lie.
The simultaneous highlight and lowlight of the trip was horseback riding. Highlight because it was gorgeous, and bonding with another living creature is cool. Lowlight because I don't know how to ride a horse, there was no instruction, and the course was difficult, so I woke up the next day in a lot of pain and Sam had to somewhat carry me around for the rest of the weekend.
My horse would only speed up if I made kissy noises at it.
We also made chocolate together, which was fun and delicious. And we played mafia many times... it turns out I'm terrible at that game. I treat it like Dungeons and Dragons, which is a fun but losing strategy, I now understand.
Random Happenings
Yahli finished the army! We celebrated!
Matat came to town!
Passover
Passover is my favorite holiday. I tend to get really emotional. I love it on so many levels. All Jewish holidays are story-based to some extent, but the story of passover is THE Jewish story. (If you don't know the story, just watch this.) It's the story of us being in a shitty situation and getting out of it over and over again. It's especially poignant to celebrate it in our new modern state on the same site to which we fled thousands of years ago.
Before Passover began, we gathered up all of our chametz (food that's forbidden during passover... basically anything that could rise in bread-like fashion) and "sold" it via an iphone app with Chabad. We weren't allowed to touch it during the week of Passover.
I kept Passover for all 7 days! I slipped up a few times with food products I didn't know counted as forbidden, and I apparently ended the prohibition too soon... but I tried!
HOTDOGS WRAPPED IN MATZAH AT THE SHUK. I ate one.
I went to a seder at Rivka's house in Karnei Shomron. I love the Magals! They are such warm and kind people, and they always make me feel like part of their family. Rivka's mom, Aviva, has Tunisian heritage, which makes her Mizrachi (eastern) but she, for some reason, adores Ashkenazi (like... European) food on passover so it was a very familiar spread of Eastern European deliciousness. I especially liked the matzoh ball soup and these crazily amazing carrots. I had no idea carrots could be so tasty but I ate at least an entire plateful of these things.
Adorable Rivka in her awesome kitchen
Rivka's baby niece, Rona, enjoying her first gefilte fish! I really like hanging out with Rona because it makes me feel really good at Hebrew.
The passover dishes. Rivka said "These are the most Jewish plates!!!" And indeed, I think we have the same ones in the US.
It was so much fun, but it was also a strange experience for me. The food was basically the same as in NH. The haggadah was basically the same. The songs, the same. The wine, the same. The frantic cleaning and then sitting around reading newspapers beforehand, the same. The siblings antics, the same. Except it wasn't my house, or my haggadah, or my dad leading the seder, or my sibling. It was the first time I felt homesick in Israel, even though I felt so at home and so welcome. It was a really nice night and also nostalgic. It was interesting to hold simultaneously the idea of a global and eternal Jewish family and the uniqueness of my own particular family.
During the Passover break, Batsheva, Ido and I went to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The impressionist exhibit was especially good, but Batsheva and Ido were not very impressed by the modern art.
"Look, they forgot to erase this line."
The girls and this dude.
Mimouna
After passover, Moroccan Jews have a big party called Mimouna, where they eat lots of chametz that they couldn't during passover, especially tons of sweets and a special pancake thing with butter and honey. And there's lots of drinking and music and dancing and wearing of fez caps. I didn't even know this existed until Roy told me about it, and invited me along to his friend's big Mimouna party.
So many sweeeeeets
It was so fun! There was a big tent and all this Moroccan furniture and soooooo many sweets, and I drank a lot of arak and met great people.
Roy is Libyan/Iraqi, but the tarboosh still suits him.
It reminded me of the Henna ceremony two summers ago! I looked different.
Ashkenazis are missing out.
Birthday
It's my birthday week! It's been amazing so far, and there's more to come.
Dorotniks celebrated it early with two cakes: one that says 28, and one with numbers that add up to 28 :)
I went to coffee with Louisa, who gave me another little cake! And we had a lovely time
And last night cocktails! And Mexican food!
Roy gave me a guitar for my birthday, because he is the king of amazingly thoughtful gifts. I LOVE it! I've been really wanting to play lately but I couldn't bring my guitar in from the states, and now I have my very own here :). It is so lovely. I've been playing all morning and now it stings a bit to type this. I kind of forgot about that whole callus thing. I have't decided what I'm going to name it yet, but maybe Levite, because they were all so great at singing according to the Tanakh.
Tonight I'm going to a restaurant I've been dying to go to with Sam, and seeing Robin, and Wednesday I'm going hiking with Rivka. I'm sure I'll write all about it next time.
Things I Did at 27
-Smashed sales goals at EF! My teams were amazing.
-Got the Dorot Fellowship and moved to Israel!
-I went to a bunch of new countries: Spain, Hungary, Austria, and Czech Republic
-I won my first poetry slam!
-A million new Israel places and things
-Got a lot more fit, from all the yoga
-Learned to cook more things
-Made many new friends
Things I Learned at 27
-My hebrew got a lot better
-A lot about dating and what works and doesn't work for me in relationships
-To accept people for who they are. Love avocados for being avocados instead of crying that they're not pineapples. And also accept that if it smells like durian, it is durian. You don't need to taste it to find out.
-To pace myself in sharing myself with others
-Improved at drawing
-That I can be lonely and disoriented in a new country and build a new life for myself and come out great
-And I relearned that things work out for me when I stay optimistic and take leaps of faith, and that the very best things come out of the very worst
Things I Want to Do at 28
-Go to some new countries... maybe Turkey? Cyprus? Maybe Canada road trip this summer?
-Check off all the other Israel places on my bucket list, especially the West Bank ones before I become Israeli
-Make aliyah
-Get a job in Israel
-Publish something short form somewhere, like an article or an essay
-Story board my graphic novel
-Finally run a 5k
-When I get on national healthcare, taking care of all of that health stuff I've been shrugging off for the last year.
-Write a song
Things I want to Learn at 28
-I want my Hebrew to get even better, to the point where I can understand normal conversation at a regular speed
-Get better at guitar... sing and transition chords without halting
-I really want to regain more leg flexibility. Get my split back??? Is that too ambitious to do in one year?
-Learn to cook MORE things
-Get BETTER at drawing
I guess it's cool that at this point I feel like I've honed in on skills I want and mostly want to get better at them.
And I'm sure the best things I learn and do will surprise me entirely :)
And now, I will share with you the song that basically embodies my philosophy about birthdays...
