1. Sunday Evening: Chaim, Jon and Annie stop by for what is intended to be a quick hello/picking up clothing for a wedding Annie is going to in Beer Sheva on Wednesday. But the night took an interesting turn (literally) when Jon used our bathroom sink. The knob on the sink broke and before we knew it our bathroom was flooding. Being 11pm at night and unable to find a shut off valve we opened up the phone book and located a 24 hour plumber. Trying to explain what was happening in my not wonderful Hebrew I mentioned we had a water problem with our sink. The plumber (Shravrav=plumber in Hebrew) said not to worry he would come tomorrow afternoon to which I exclaimed 'Lo! Yesh Lanu Mabul b'kiyor; Ha'Mayim lo Atzur!= No! we have a flood (biblical word used for Noah and the ark, later learned the modern day term is HaTzefah) in the sink the water isn't stopping!. So a half hour later, we are all wet from the knees down and still passing buckets and pots in a chain from the sink to the bathtub/toilet, the shravrav walks in carrying an address book. AN ADDRESS BOOK! He goes, ooohhh now I see and goes to get his tools. It takes him 3 minutes to remove the faucet and plug up the leak in the wall. It then takes me 3 minutes to turn over the 450 NIS I now owe him for the job.
2. Monday Evening: Darfur Rally. With a thoughtful and understanding Chavruta (learning buddy) from Night Seder I left early with many fellow students to attend the Darfur rally happening in Kikar Zion. Organized by many youth here in Israel it was a good showing of a couple hundred. Incredibly well done for a group that had a group of maybe 50 standing in a circle on a street corner only a few months ago. There were many speakers ranging from secular to religious, female and male, speaking in Hebrew and Engligh. What was very enlightening was the current situation in Israel with Sudaneese refugees. There are aprox. 250 Sudaneese refugees here in Israel. They crossed Africa on foot making their way across the desert to the border of Israel. When they tried to claim assylum they were thrown in prison. The reason is because Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Sudan and being mere citizens of Sudan they are percieved as a threat. On the other hand they cannot send them back either because of the terrible fates that would await them there. Since there is no other country that is opening their arms widely asking to help they are now residing in Israeli prison. There is an organization here called C.A.R.D. which is raising fund and education about the situation. They have begun an exchange program with Moshavim and Kibbutzim. They raise the money to get refugees out on bail and then place them in the exchange where they live and work on the Moshav or Kibbutz. 40 refugees have been released through such programs. The challenge at the moment is increasing the funding to allow integration into society for all of these refugees. I promise to get contact information about this group for a later post. In the meantime here is a photo of us at the rally taken by Mobius aka The Jewish Anarchist aka Dan. You can check his stuff out at www.jewschool.com
3. Tuesday Evening: Another night at Crossroads. I am finding each time I go I am connecting more with the kids. I am getting a lot out of my time there.
4. Wednesday Evening: I came home after making up my night seder chavruta and did some work. One of the challenges I have noticed is that although I love everything I am doing in my life I am still finding myself at times overwhelmed. Not a lot of downtime. As a result I think some of my interpersonal relationships with friends have suffered. So although it was already nearing the late side I decided to meet up with my friend Esty. We went to this very quaint cafe, sat and just chatted for a while. It was really nice.
5. Thursday Evening: THANKSGIVING! An incredibly nice evening full of good company and food. Although technically there was no turkey Annie made some delicious chicken that tasted just as good. Mark Nelson and friend also dropped in for a bit. A former student who made aliyah in June and will be entering the army in January, I had not seen him since my time last year in Seattle. He looks great, happy, and it was good to catch up. Here is a taste of Thanksgiving this year in my apartment:
I hope everyone's went well and took time out to mention or at least think of things you are thankful for. Above all I am thankful for the continual support of my friends and family both here and especially an ocean away. Thank you!
The entire evening was super fun and included my very first Thanksgiving sleepover party! Here are a few images from the night. Stay tuned for more photos!
6. Friday Evening: Friday day started bright and early with a meeting at Crossroads. I met with the other volunteers and the volunteer coordinator and we talked more about the center and our roles there. They do such important work. Already being downtown I went straight to the shuk and got all my shopping needs. In addition to my food supplies for the weekend I bought a microwavable pillow (to heat the muscles in my back--proving to be very theraputic already) and a couple of tunic blouses. They are the first 'uneccesary purchases' I have made here in Israel. I have really been trying to limit what I need and don't need in my consumer behavior. It has been somewhat of a process really ever since my experience in El Salvador. Actually buying the clothes gave me very mixed reactions. I am glad I am still consciously thinking about it although I also have to realize there is room for saying personal purchase is also okay. I was home by noon and my sleepover friends had cleaned up my apartment! what a great thank you present!! With all the dishes done and the beds put away all that was left was for me to climb into my own bed and grab a quick nap. I woke up with plenty of time to get ready for Shabbat. It's the first time I haven't felt frazzled in weeks! In fact I had so much time I was one of the very first people at Shira Chadasha! Bet that won't happen again! Dinner was nice, I ate with a crowd who I haven't spent a ton of time with yet this year. Good to mix things up.
7. Shabbat: I spent the morning sleeping in with a chapter shot from David Sedaris. Then the Sarahs and I went over to Grace and Irving Abramowitz's home for Shabbat lunch. I love going there, I need to do it more often. Tonight I hosted a very small get together full of interesting and thoughtful discussion. It was a nice way to cap of the week.
BUT THE NICEST THING OF ALL IS THE PHONE CALL I JUST RECIEVED. MY NIECE IS NOW IN THE WORLD!! AMARIT, SETH, and BABY G ROSINBLUM I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, MAZEL TOV! I miss you and am sad I cannot be there with you, but cannot wait to meet you!!
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