Last night when I finished the post that I wrote, the Early Start group went out together for a last night together kind of a thing. First we went to this place called Kosher Cafe Cafe for dessert. Definitely the only thing on the menu that I could eat (due to dairy restrictions) was the apple pie, but luckily enough for me apple pie is undoubtedly one of my favorites. It worked out well. A lot of my friends got cheesecakes, milkshakes, waffles, smoothies, etc, and it all looked wonderful. Truthfully I was beyond happy with my scrumptious slice of heaven. I ate in great company at the end of the table, and the four of us had a number of good conversations in addition to the game that was played with the salt and pepper shakers. After dessert we made our way, by foot, up the block and to the left towards the pool hall. Already for a number of hours my friend Aimee and I had decided that we would be partners for pool. But on our walk from dessert to the place, I was approached by Noam because he wanted to know if I'd be his partner. After I shut him down because of my allegiance with Aimee, his true motives were revealed: he wanted an easy way to be mentioned on the blog. Oy.
For punishment, we agreed that Aimee and I would play him and his partner for our first game. We racked the balls, and Noam himself was set to break. I'm going to go ahead and take this moment to mention a crucial, but rarely relevant, rule of pool... If the cue ball is scratched on the break, the break-er loses. So back to the story. Noam sets up to hit a perfect break, and you'll never guess what happened! The cue ball hit off of the front ball and flew right back and into the corner pocket on Noam's right. Ha-- it was beautiful. Within less than five seconds of playing, Aimee and I had already won. Out of the goodness of our hearts (and Noam's embarrassment) we let him continue the game as was. We played for a while, and at some point he and my other friend Zachary (Noam's teammate) were beating us two balls left to six balls left... Not lookin' good, right? Wrong. Aimee and I got our game faces on, filled ourselves with energy and confidence, and did work. Basically we got it down to a point when we each only had one ball left. What. Will. Happen. Well, to put it quite simply the true powerhouses of the group- a.k.a. the women- took over and kicked serious butt. So, yes: Noam lost twice. Ha.
Overall, pool was super fun and I played a lot better than I did the last time we were at that place.. I got my groove back a little bit, and it felt good. So I'm definitely going to get back in there at some point so I can continue improving. When we were all finished we left, and it was a little past midnight. We got back and all crowded around Meir's laptop to watch his Early Start slideshow, which will hopefully be posted online at some point for all of those who are interested. Afterwards I went straight back to my apartment because I was super tired. Despite the tired I decided to talk on the phone for a little bit, and I was laying in my bed as I did so. I opened my eyes for a second and saw a nasty tan/yellow, long-legged, super-antenna'ed bug sitting about two inches away from my face. And it was ON my bed. Say 'ew' fifteen times over and maybe you'll get what I felt like. I literally jumped out of bed, through my phone on my desk, and started full-on girly jumping up and down screaming. My roommate Miriam was brushing her teeth in the bathroom and thought I was only screaming about something on the phone, until she realized that my screams weren't normal. She came out and, similarly, screamed like a girl.
Though were screaming ridiculously loudly we really managed to get the job done.. First the bug was JUMPING on my bed. EW. Then it started to walk up the wall, and I didn't really know what to do because it was to back to just smash it. So I asked Miriam if she had a cup, and indeed she did... I grabbed it quickly, trapped the nasty bug underneath it, then we didn't know what to do. Never fear, though, because Miriam's index cards came to the rescue and we I used them to transport the bug outside and into the huge garbage can. Even when we were outside we were screaming, and everyone in our building came outside to see what in the world was going on with us. We were a little to frazzled to explain, so we just came inside to come down. I resumed my phone call, but ended it quickly to go to sleep. Before bed, however, Miriam had a little bit of a massacre whereby she smashed an additional three bugs which were invading her space. Yucky.
This morning I tried to wake up for minyan at Rabbi Menaged's house, but most definitely didn't get there until the very last prayer... Rude/lame. I had a beautiful breakfast of a toasted sesame bagel with matbucha on top, and enjoyed the sun outside while I was eating it. All of the new students came today, which was nice, and it was good to hang out with them and get everyone set up and as comfortable as possible. I was super tired and had a bit of a headache, so I spent some time in my bed watching tv shows. But I also had the best meeting of my life. Rabbi Bryks called together the five girls from Early Start and invited us to be the first ones to use the new laundry room. I wish I could attach here a sound component which was the sound that is played when angels appear... It's like a high-pitched "haaaaaaaaaaaaa." Well, imagine that because that's what it felt like. Beauty at its finest. Amen.
What else... We had a great dinner after a long orientation, which I have most definitely been through already, and a bonfire after that. All good stuff.
I can't believe that yesterday I forgot to mention that I registered for classes! Basically we start school on Thursday, and for the first two weeks of classes we can switch in and out of whatever we want so that we can try whichever classes we want. But, I signed up for approximately double the number of secular courses that most people sign up for so many people the I am destined to drop a few. Here are my classes as of now:
Judaics- Survey of Biblical Literature, Jewish Literacy, Literary Approach to the Bible, Aggada, Talmud-Midrash-The Wold of the Sages, Topics in Rambam and Maharal, From Barren to Baron: Biblical Women, and Fundamentals of Judaism- Ramchal.
Secular- Ulpan, Marketing, Love and War in Ancient Greece, Trends and Ideology in Jewish History, Biology, Jewish Identity- Leaders and Leadership Throughout the ages, English Literature, Psychology, and Statistics.
I'll likely end up taking a lot less classes than that because, especially when I type it out like that, it's a crazy course load, but we'll see.. I definitely want to be busy, focused, and making things happen this year so ya never know.
I wish you all a beautiful week! Tomorrow to Yerushalaim :)
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