Crazy Week!!

This was, to say the least, a CRAZY week.  Not only was there an eight-day war, but I also had the flu. Yuck.  It was obviously nuts-o to be in this country for rockets flying over-head, sirens, and a war with our neighbors, but it was also an experience to be with ninety other Americans throughout it all.  The beginning was definitely... New.  New is a good word because it's really how I felt most of the time.  I wasn't necessarily scared, but more just getting used to the unknown of it all.  I wasn't scared because at all times, throughout every day, I was no more than a six second sprint from a bomb shelter, which is the safest place to be.  It got a little crazier when a siren went off in the middle of Hebrew class and as I ran to the bomb shelter I saw the two rockets right above me... But I still wasn't scared, so I will again use the word 'New.'  With the recent ceasefire, though, the war has ended, and we can all get back to focusing on school and whatnot. 

Now I'm going to talk about the sickness part of my crazy week... It was super not fun.  On Thursday night before last Shabbat, I kept waking up throughout the night with a fever.  And so it began.  Between then and this past Thursday I had an off-and-on fever, and basically continuous stomach pain.  Lucky for me, I spent the week eating apple juice and bagels, with some soup here and there (thanks to two awesome Eim Bayits), and that's just how it went.  I slept a ton, which was wonderful- of course, and that was my week.  Thank goodness, I am finally on the full up-swing from it... My fever has definitely gone away, and my stomach is getting used to foods other than bagels and apple juice.  Hurray!

This Shabbat was super nice! I spent it with all of the girls on my program in a place called Nof Ayalon.  It's a beautiful community between where I live and Yerushaliam.  One of my Judaic teachers, Dr. Tannenbaum, lives there, so we all stayed at different families' houses throughout the neighborhood and met up for parts of Shabbat.  We had a lot of quality bonding time, good speakers, and good food, and today I took a nice walk with a couple of the other girls and we really saw how beautiful the community it is.  Surrounding it is stunning scenery- mountains, valleys, and greenery- and the community itself seems super well-established and comfortable.  Since no cars are allowed to drive in the streets on Shabbat and all of the families and kids know each other, all the kids play in the streets and roam freely throughout Shabbat.  That is definitely a cool and unique-to-Israel aspect of the community.


A couple of random things to share:

1) A while ago I posted about how well I travel with a backpack and a little roller carry-on suitcase... I wanted to update you all, and say that I have recently made an advancement in that I can now travel with only a backpack and I totally rock it. It's good stuff.

2) I have been missing boxing SO much lately.  I wish Cappy's would open up a branch in Israel, because I would be allllll over that.  Additionally, this week I had a little bit of a realization about how long it's actually going to be until I get to get back in my gym and it was such a sad thought!

3) This is VERY exciting news:  On Thursday I had the most wonderful opportunity to buy my very own, brand new crockpot!!!!!! That is definitely the best purchase of Israel so far, and I cannot wait to use it! Because I barely ate this week I had plenty of extra cash, so I used it for the crockpot and even had some left.  Here's a picture of the beauty herself:

For those of you who have experience cooking in a crockpot, I would be than appreciative of crockpot recipes for anything and everything! Soups, stews, chulents... anything! You name it, and I'm interested because it is for sure my new best friend.  Feel free to email me the recipes to juliarowen@gmail.com.  Thanks!

In other news, this coming Shabbat is actually my birthday Shabbat (which I totally forgot about until super recently) and I'm excited because a bunch of my friends are going to stay with me and we're all going to have a cute birthday Shabbat together! Other than that, this seems like a pretty normally busy week.  I have Magen David Adom (E.M.T. training) and Hebrew Language class tomorrow, and all of my classes during the days as well as tons of programs for the nights.  I'm excited for the week to start since I'm finally feeling better and there war is over, so things can just get back to normal.

Wishing you all a Shavua Tov (good week)!

A Great Start to the Week

After I finished my post on Saturday night it started to rain.  Let's discuss rain.  Rain is wonderful thing that comes out of the sky, and I realized that I have taken advantage of it throughout my living-in-Seattle life.  Honestly, I think I've done a pretty good job of appreciating it.  But I didn't quite realize how special it is that Seattle gets a whole lot more rain than many other places around the world. 

Obviously an aspect of my excitement for Israel was the change in climate- more specifically: the sun.  Throughout Early Start and the beginning of the school year, I have definitely loved the soaring temperatures at all hours of the day.  I've loved the ever-improving tan, and consistent beach weather.  But, over the past couple of weeks I've noticed a change in the weather.  First it started to get a little cooler at night, then it wasn't a billion degrees at 7:00 in the morning... A shift began to occur.  All of the sudden, last week it started to rain.  Not a whole lot of rain, but rain nonetheless.  On Saturday night, at some time around 12:30 AM, I heard that oh-so-familiar sound of rain pattering on the ground outside.  The only way I can explain my reaction is by saying that I jumped.  Because I really did.  I started in a sitting position on my bed, and ended in a standing position on the floor.  Haha.  Despite the fact that I was wearing shorts and t-shirt, with no socks, I ran outside and just stood.  I soaked up the rain.  I can't even really describe the feeling that I was having, other than by saying that it really gave me a "breath of fresh air."  The external wetness and fresh smell of the wet greenery around me somehow converted itself, through my body, into internal satisfaction, appreciation, and happiness.  What a wonderful feeling.  I guess I really do have some Seattle blood in me.

Not only did it rain on Saturday night, but it also rained on Sunday morning.  What a great feeling it was to be able to wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt to my Ulpan class.  That was a joy in and of itself.  After Ulpan I had Magen David Adom.  But instead of the usual six hours, it was shortened to four hours.  I'm not so sure which one I like better... It's definitely easier to only have four hours, but in the long run it could be far more worth it to punch it out in less classes.  I'm not so sure.  On Sunday night I just hung around on campus and got some work done.

Yesterday school was great- as always.  Mondays are short, so it's a whole different ballgame.  I kind of forgot what it's like to get back at 4:00 instead of 6:00.  I got some work done and decided to work out afterwards.  I went to the gym place on campus, and started my normal workout routine with some Cappy's-style jump roping.  Good stuff.  After a couple of minutes it started to..... POUR.  And when I say pour, I really mean pour.  Seattle doesn't even get that kind of rain very often.  Within like four minutes the ground was covered in an inch or so of water, which was surprisingly great.  I totally could have decided to call it a night and run for cover, but that is very much the opposite of what I did.  Like Saturday night, I soaked up the rain.  But even more this time because it was raining SO much harder.  I loved it.  My clothes were as absolutely wet that they couldn't have been any more wet.  They were just completely and totally soaked through. Haha.  I wish I could convey my tone of voice while saying that a little better, but I hope you get the point.  The workout was amazing, the rain was perfection, and it put me in a totally awesome, Seattle loving mood. 

Today was great.  On Tuesdays I only have my two morning Judaic classes and we're done at noon.  What's there to complain about that? Answer: nothing.  Afterwards I went to Yerushaliam with the Israel Advocacy Internship program, and we went to the Menachem Begin Center.  It was definitely an interesting museum, and I learned a lot, but it wasn't my favorite.  It was all video, and I wish there would have been more interaction/movement because it definitely emphasized the tiredness within me. 


Random Fact:  My new goal is to buy a crock pot.  I realized that there really can't possibly be a better thing for me to buy, because I can just stick things in it and food will be cooked.  I don't know why I haven't thought of that before, but that is on my agenda for this week for sure. Yay!

Wishing you all a good night or good day, depending on where you are in the world, and I would advise you to look up The Piano Guys on youtube.com (thank you to my madricha Ronit for telling me about them)!!

A Wonderful Shabbat!

With plans to be in Beit Shemesh at the Smilowitz's for Shabbat, I of course scheduled my Friday with plenty of time to get there, via bus, before Shabbat.  I woke up at 9:30ish, went to the bank, worked out for a little over an hour, showered, and was on my merry way.  I took a bus from the main bus stop near where I live, called Aluf Sadeh, to the Coca Cola Factory bus stop.  I switched sides of the freeway by walking up and over, on a little bridge/overpass, then walked down and to the bus stop.  I got there at about 1:30- maybe a little before. I was waiting for the 497 bus, and in my experience with that bus I knew that it was often either too full or off-schedule.  But it's supposed to come every twenty minutes, so I was expecting it to come on the soon-ish side.  Of course it wasn't until 1:50 that I looked at the clock and realized how long I had been standing there with no 497, at which point I was kinda just curious about where it could possibly be.  At 2, I was overjoyed to see a 497 come around the corner.  And about fifteen seconds later I was super sad to see it drive right by me with a full bus-load of people.  So I started to get a little nervous, because in Israel the buses stop running at a certain time before Shabbat and Beit Shemesh is kinda far away.  I wasn't too nervous, though, so I only kind of started to think of a Plan B.  2:20 rolled around and no other 497 had appeared.  By this time I was getting progressively more nervous because technically a bus should have come, based on the twenty minute thing, and Shabbat was definitely approaching.  It was time for a real Plan B to arise, so I thought about taking a taxi.  The problem I had, though, was that I definitely did not have enough money in my wallet for a taxi ride to Beit Shemesh, so I would have had to do some serious bargaining/begging.  I looked at my watch at 2:34 and started to plan the words out of what I would say to the taxi driver.  Now I was nervous.  Not only was there no 497, but a taxi hadn't driven by in a really long time.  I kinda just felt stuck.  But, thank goodness, at 2:38 a shimmering, half-empty 497 came rolling around the corner and I was totally saved.  I don't think I've ever been so happy to pay a bus driver. 

I got to Beit Shemesh after a forty-five minute bus ride, called Michelle Smilowitz, and she kindly came to pick me up.  Crazy to see her after it's been so long!! Their house is about five minutes away from where I got off the bus, so we got there super quickly.  I walked in the house to see their awesome five kids, and a totally beautiful home! It's so colorful, bright, and welcoming-- I loved it.  I put my stuff down and set up my stuff for Shabbat, and we hung out for a little bit until Shabbat was about to start.  I went to synagogue with Rabbi Smilowitz and three of the kids, and despite the Ashkenazik nature of the minyan I enjoyed the tefilah.  There, I saw one of my madrichot because she was coincidentally staying up the street from where the Smilowitz's live.  So funny!  I had dinner at the Smilowitz's, which was so so nice.  Such great food, and awesome to be with them.  We definitely talked some Seattle, which is always a good thing.  After dinner I played a good game of Perpetual Commotion with Michelle and the two oldest kids, and afterwards I read for a little bit.  Before Shabbat I had made plans with my friend Devon, from NYHS, for him to come over, because his Yeshiva is super close to the Smilowitz's house.  A little bit after Perpetual Commotion I heard a Devonly knock on the door, and sure enough it was him.  I felt so badly because it had started pouring half-way through his walk, so he didn't have a jacket or anything.  I gave him a towel to dry off, and he came in.  It was good to see him because I hadn't yet seen him since I got to Israel, and we just hung out and talked for a couple of hours.  He left a little before 11:30, and I went straight to bed right after. 

This morning I went to synagogue nice and early.  Similar to most minyanim I've been to in Israel, they finished super early-- at 10:30ish!  Since my lunch plans weren't until 12, I just hung around at the synagogue and read for a while.  I headed towards my lunch destination at 11:25ish, and was surprised when I got there all of three minutes later.  I ate lunch at my Em Bayit's parents' house (Em Bayit literally means "house mother" but her and her husband are the family on the girls' campus for my program).  My Av and Em Bayit have been staying there for a little over a week because they just had their second child and obviously needed some time off.  I had met her family before, so I was excited to be at their house because I really liked them.  I knocked on the door, and was immediately welcomed with warmth by my Em Bayit's father. I knew it was going to be a great meal.  I came in and the whole family was just hanging around...  My Av and Em Bayit, her three sisters, her parents, and her Bubbe.  They really made me feel instantly welcome and comfortable, which is totally something I appreciate.  I think it's a unique quality that some families have, which is to be so genuine in hospitality that guests really feel immediately at home.  And I definitely felt that today.  SO nice.  We hung around for a while before lunch, then two other people who were eating there came and we started.  Obviously the food was totally delicious, but that was relatively unimportant compared to the company.  I really was able to "let my guard down" and enjoy myself, and I felt totally comfortable being there with the family and their other two guests.  Great. Meal.  After lunch and a great dessert we played a couple games, and before I knew it it was time for me to go back to the Smilowitz's for Seudah Shelishit (third Shabbat meal). 

When I got there I spent some time reading, talking to Michelle, and hanging around the kids, and after a little while we all sat down together for Seudah.  One of my favorite parts was that they had matbucha, but even better than that was that Michelle said she knew I liked it because she had read my blog. I loved that!! We had a really nice meal together, accompanied by some learning of the Navi Shmuel, and soon after Shabbat was over.  We made havdalah when Rabbi Smilowitz and Yitzy got home, and afterwards we cleaned up the kitchen/house a little bit.  After three of the kids were in bed, Michelle kindly drove me to the bus stop. We decided that I will definitely be staying there again, so I'm excited for that to happen! 

So I got to the bus stop at 7:15ish.  Guess what time the bus came... Anyone? 7:45.  Classic. Haha.  Of course the bus was packed.  And more-so of course the bus was all America back in the day; women-in-the-back, men-in-the-front.  I was totally ready to go all Rosa Parks on everyone until the only available seat on the entire bus was in the back.  I think it would have been a little too extreme to like sit on some man's lap, for example, in order to make a Rosa Parks statement.  I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have gone well for more reasons than one.  So I conformed to the ridiculous behavior and enjoyed by two-foot cubicle of jam-packed space in the very back corner of the bus.  Here's something about the bus that was a little confusing to me: it felt like Antarctica.  I mean, technically I don't know what Antarctica feels like.  But, let me just say that the temperature was not even normal.  I resolved that the last time I was that cold was during the snow storm in Seattle last February.  But I'm not even so sure that I was that cold at any point during the snow storm.  Point is, wow.  I was actually shivering, and I had real goosebumps all over.  Those are two things that never happen in the life of Julia Owen, so please recognize how serious I am when I say that it was Antarctica! And I had to deal with that for like forty-five minutes.  I tried to sleep, but I was too cold to sleep.  I totally just didn't know what to do with my freezing cold self, so I listened to music and blew hot air into my hands. 

When the bus finally approached the Coca Cola Factory, I was cold to my bonessss. Expecting a warmer temperature when I stepped off the bus, I was sorely disappointed when it was even colder because of the wind that was blowing.  Lame!  I walked to the other side of the freeway to the bus stop, and waited.  Of course no bus was coming, and I was freezing, so I decided to make the best of the situation.  There is a restaurant here called Burgeranch.  And there happens to be a branch right behind this bus stop, off of the freeway.  Why is this significant?  Because they have something there called Volcano Ice Cream, which is not only heaven but it is also totally dairy-free.  Here's what it looks like:

Guess what it is.  HOT brownie underneath amazing vanilla ice cream.  In other words, as I said, heaven.  I figured that it was a worthwhile investment and treat for having to wait for so stinkin' long for buses.  A bus didn't come for another half an hour, which was beyond obnoxious, but at least my taste buds and stomach were happy.  While I was standing at the bus stop, by the way, one of the craziest interaction I've ever had took place.  A very chassidish man, running while pushing a stroller to catch a bus came towards me.  He asked me if I would help him, and I obviously said yes.  Little did I know that helping him meant that he was going to basically throw his sleeping child into my arms while he put his stroller underneath the bus! So, yes.  I have officially held a completely random sleeping chassidish child at a bus stop.  Not going to lie, I actually laughed out loud when he turned around... I'm sorry but that was beyond unexpected.  At least the kid was cute. 

Thankfully the bus did come, and I got home safe and sound.  I'm about to go to sleep because I have Ulpan and Magen David Adom in the morning! 

Shavua Tov to all!

Good News!!!

I have great news to share, everybody!!!! 

The reason that I couldn't take Biology and Bio Lab was because Bio Lab conflicted with Psychology.  The good news is, a mistake was made in the printing of the time of Bio Lab and it has been changed to the Statistics time-slot, every other week, and on those days Stats will be pushed off to 6-7:30.  In other words, I can now take Biology and Bio Lab in addition to all the other classes I'm taking!! Hurray for no compromises or trade-offs! The only obstacle I have now is ensuring that I can still switch back into Biology, so we'll see how that goes.

Yesterday morning I woke up and realized that I was super lamely coming down with a cold.  Rudeness.  So what did I do between my two Judaic classes, you ask? I went on an adventure to seek out and acquire soup.  Luckily I almost immediately found a non-dairy soup, so I purchased it.  What kind of soup was it? Split pea soup.  For those of you who have read, at some point in your life, any George and Martha books know what I'm talking about when I say that my soup purchase made me think of George and Martha.  For those of you who don't know, here's how the story goes... George and Martha are married hippopotami.  Martha's favorite thing to cook is split pea soup, so she obviously likes to make it for her loving husband George.  Unfortunately, George's least favorite food to eat is split pea soup.  Being the wonderful husband that he is, he doesn't tell Martha about his hatred for her so-beloved soup and he manages to choke it down time and time again.  Until one day, she makes pots and pots and pots full of it and he doesn't know what to do.  So, George so smartly realizes that when Martha leaves the room he can put his soup in his loafers underneath the table.  Thinking that he was in the clear and that he totally avoided having to eat any split pea soup, he quickly shows his empty bowl to Martha upon her return into the kitchen.  Unbeknownst to George, though, Martha had made plenty more split pea soup and had much more to give him.  Sadly, this is the part of the story where my brain kinda forgot the path to the resolution but I will happily share the conclusion itself.  Basically, in some way or another Martha discovered that George's loafers were full of split pea soup and she approached him about it.  She said that it didn't matter to her that he didn't like her soup, and that he should have just told her long ago.  In the end, George and Martha live happily ever after and go on to explore great heights, in a hot air balloon, in the next story.

The point of all of that was to share with you that upon my purchase of split pea soup in attempt to heal my leaking nasal passages and soar throat (sorry if that was too yucky for some of you), I totally boarded the George and Martha train. 

Not many exciting things have really happened this week, unfortunately.  School is a whole lot of normal, which is actually great for me- but lame for you- and that's basically my life.  I spent a solid amount of time working out last night at the gym, and went to bed pretty early on a NyQuil.  For Shabbat I will be in Beit Shemesh with the Smilowitz's! For those of you who don't know, the Smilowitz's used to live in Seattle and made aliyah to Israel a number of years ago.  I'm super excited to get a good dose of ex-Seattle. 

Important:

Below I will post a Youtube link.  Anyone who has not seen this video, must watch it immediately!  I've seen it probably hundreds of times, and I fall more in love with it with each and every viewing.  So do yourself a favor and dedicate 5 minutes and 51 seconds to greatness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsSC2vx7zFQ


Shabbat Shalom!

Welcome to November!

I’m not going to start this post with an apology for the length of time that it’s been since I have written a post, because I really feel that true apologies can only be shown through action.  So, I’m going work harder to find a couple minutes a night to sit down and get a type up a blog post.  I honestly find it quite weird that I recently haven’t made it such a priority, because quite frankly I don’t view blogging as any sort of burden or anything like that.  I really enjoy the whole experience, and even more than that I take pleasure from it because any time that I spend writing is time that I’m taking for myself.  Regardless, the point is that I’m going to put more effort into spitting out a blog post more often. 

For today’s post, instead of recapping day by day I’m just going to give a little bit of a summary.  In ESPN/sports terms, I’m going to give the Top 10 Plays as opposed to the Game Replay.  So here we go.

For the past week or two, my Av and Em Bayit (the Mernicks) have been expecting the birth of their second child.  On Tuesday morning, in the middle of one of my Judaic classes, Michal Bayla was born! So, I just want to say Mazal Tov and that I’m excited to play with her and watch her grow as the year goes on.

Another very exciting thing I’d like to share is that we have entered the month of November.  For those of you who remember, I’m pretty sure I said that I couldn’t buy my membership to the on-campus workout gym until it was November.  Thankfully the clock struck November and I bought the membership as soon as possible!  I went to the gym before school, at 6, on November 1^st and had a beautiful boxing-style workout.  I should mention that throughout my life I have always had an issue with working out early in the morning. The issue being that I get at least super nauseated.  So, let’s talk about what happened… I had a great workout, which was my first in way too long, it was 6:45ish in the morning, and I was walking back to my apartment.  Anyone want to guess what happened? I’ll tell you.  I puked.  It was really yucky, and it came after a good five minutes of serious nausea.  Unfortunately I still had to shower and get to school so I tried to get everything done as quickly and with the least amount of nauseating movement as possible, but that was a little bit of a difficult task.  I made it happen, though, and I have got to the bus on time! Hurray! What’s the moral of the story? Some have said that it’s to not work out in the morning.  I’m not so sure that I’d jump straight to that because, after all, I did go to a 6:15 boxing class many mornings a week this summer without nausea.  So I know that it’s possible.  I think it’s about getting enough sleep the night before, eating appropriately between waking up and working out, and drinking enough water throughout the workout.  I’m definitely going to try the early morning workout thing again, I’m just not quite yet sure how soon that will be.  For now, I’m going to stick to the after school time slot.  

Continuing on the same topic of keeping myself healthy over here, let’s talk about what a successful weekend I had in terms of making food.  Right now I have so much good food in my fridge that it’s something along the lines of a miracle.  I made a fat Tupperware of quinoa, I made a foil pan of whole wheat pasta, I made challot for Shabbat with the help of Ayelet Yablok (we had a Thursday night challah-making program), and I took a couple pieces of leftover chicken from our on-campus Shabbaton this past Shabbat.  

I want to expand, for a second, on the fact that I took a couple pieces of leftover chicken.  Okay.  To put it simply, I’m pretty sure that in my childhood I promised myself I would never be that person who takes a plate of food home from a Kiddush table, buffet line, or public gathering with food.  As one of our Rabbis said that we had total permission to take home any un-eaten food I thought about this promise to myself and was totally not going to take any food.  But then I had another thought: Why would I deny myself the opportunity to eat real food for a meal in my near future?  For a couple of seconds I debated heavily between picking the desire to not be that person and my desire to partake in a healthier couple of meals.  Oh, the dilemma it was.  In the end I decided to take a couple pieces of chicken because I figured that saving money and eating more healthfully were more important.  I also wasn’t so clear that this specific instance fell under the exact definition of the terms of my promise to myself- but that might just be justification. Haha.  

Another thing I’d like to share is that since yesterday was Sunday I had my Magen David Adom (E.M.T.) training course from 1:00-7:00.  We spent the first two hours reviewing and practicing both CPR with two people working out of an ambulance and street CPR for one person.  I just want to mention that I did CPR with two people working out of an ambulance with my friend Mendy, and we totally kicked butt.  We saved our patient with little to no assistance from our instructor, and we did it much faster than most every other group.  Hurray for saving lives! It’s obviously going to be a whole different story when we are doing CPR on real people, but until then I’m happy with Mendy and my ability to rescue the dummy.  

Today is Monday.  Mondays are annoying because I have the least number of classes, and I don’t like that.  I would totally take more classes but there’s quite simply not options for me.  It’s quite lame.  On the positive side, I’ll be home today by 4ish, and I’ll have a good chunk of time to work out before it gets too late.  We also have some programming options tonight, which should be fun.

Let’s talk about how a piano was discovered in the building where all of my Judaic classes take place… What. A. Discovery.  I’ve been kind of on the tired out side of things lately (that’s not a cue for any of you worriers to worry about me, because I’m totally fine), but I took the liberty of partaking in the piano experience during my break today which cured me right up.  I sat at the piano for about five minutes, because that’s all the time that I had until a woman walked in with a super musically-inspired, excited look on her face wanting to play it herself.  So I gave it to her.  But I am about to go back there and enjoy the beauty of music.  It’s funny because it’s not like I ever learned how to play piano.  I just kinda figured some things about through trial-and-error on the piano at Yeshiva.  

Okay, it’s time to go enjoy the piano.  Have a wonderful night if you’re in America, and have a great afternoon and evening if you’re in Israel! Hopefully I’ll write another post really soon.  But until then, adios amigos!

Oh, wait. I feel that it is only appropriate to publicly wish my one and only Garci Warci Garcipoozle Garcel (Grace Almo) a very Happy 18th Birthday! If you see her today, give her a hug for me!!