I'm trying harder on this 'update' thing

Saturday, November 25, 2006 3:39 pm
Well, I’ve had a Thanksgiving-filled weekend, which I find humourous for several reasons – mainly that it’s my first Thanksgiving, and I’m in Israel.
On Thursday night there was a dinner sponsored by UJC and hosted by Hillel (yes, there’s a Hillel at Hebrew U) at a hotel. It was very classy and lovely. Apparently, it was not traditional, food-wise and other, but I still greatly enjoyed myself. There was some creepy mime-like act, where they walked around silently and dramatically for a while, juggling and handing out roses, and then performed something which was about a nest and a carrot – the point of which I truly couldn’t tell you. There were some speeches and a pretty impressive d’var Torah. A band called Boom Pam performed as well – they began, and it was some kind of traditional Mizrachi-type music. People immediately got up and started dancing, which was a ton of fun. At first it was folk dancing, and the Frenchies in the group started doing some Fiddler on the Roof/19th-century Russian dance. After dinner was a DJ, and nearly everyone was on the dance floor as DJ Tzachi led us progressively back in time with his remixes of some songs which we’re all embarrassed to admit that we know the words to – and indeed sing along with. I ended up dancing the night away, which was unexpected but a ton of fun. It was, as we began calling it, the Thanksgiving Bar Mitzvah.
The next morning, I went with 8 friends to an annual 8km race held in memory of my friend Meryl’s cousin who died in a freak accident 5 years ago when he was a teenager. Her parents were in for the occasion (as well as to visit her) and there were about 300 participants, plus the race staff (mostly family members and close friends). The race was around and up a mountain just outside of Jerusalem – gorgeous view. I had a ton of fun, and it was a really incredible community event – I could tell that there were people who do this every year, and a lot of people who clearly cared a great deal about Tani (the guy’s name).
After the race, we went home nice and sweaty to prepare for Shabbat. We and the boys across the hall were hosting a big potluck Thanksgiving/Shabbat dinner for about 30 people. It was fabulous – our apartments all day were cooking central, trying to ensure that everything would get done in time and be kosher too. The food was amazing, the company excellent, and there was some fantastic music afterward courtesy of some grad students who brought their guitars and harmonicas.

…Sunday, November 26, 2006 2:37 pm
Saturday was a lazy day, which was fabulous. I was going to go into Tel Aviv in the evening to see camp friends, but at the last minute it didn’t work out with them so we rescheduled for next week...again. I don’t care if they do this to me again next weekend- I’m going in and forcing them to see me. So instead I went out with Meryl and her parents and her boyfriend from last year, Adam (who I saw when I was in Greece with Meryl and Sarah – he’s doing a program there) and a bunch of friends – they took us to a great restaurant, Biet Ticho, which is delicious and has a really fascinating history too. Every friend’s parents that have come in to town have gone out with us and bought a meal or drinks – more than generous and really unnecessary, but it’s been excellent being able to meet and hang out with them, as adults.
After dinner a few of us went out for drinks at O’Connell’s, and I came back to help David with his paper, study a bit and get things together for the week.
All in all, a fantastic weekend.


Monday, November 27, 2006, 10:07 pm
I had the first part of my Hebrew midterm this morning – mostly ‘unseen’ passages and fill-in-the-blanks, and I think that I did pretty well on it. I used the internet labs after, since for some reason my computer hates the World Wide Web right now and I have to use every moment that I can find to catch up on e-mail and the news. Then it was work (UNHCR) where I mostly made protection letters for refugees awaiting word on their status, and a lot of filing – this internship is letting me miss one hour of gym a week since my arms are being worked more than ever as I climb on chairs and ladders to grab 10kg binders from top shelves a metre above my head. I got a few errands finished after, and came home to study for the second part of my Hebrew midterm tomorrow morning – it’s grammar and other such fun, so I need to prepare. This is my study break in between cause-and-effect words and present participles. Now back to it. Wish me luck!