The End of Break

 As much as I absolutely despise the sport of football - most particularly watching it - I loved the superbowl.  I usually watch it on the couch with my family, but I enjoyed the change of pace.  We had a whole tailgate bbq before it started and a bunch of people stayed up to watch despite its 1:15 am start time.  By half time most of the people found their way into their beds, but a solid twenty of us stuck around.  Though by the power outage and end of the game I'm pretty sure there were only ten of us.  Regardless, it was great! I'm going to go ahead and give my two cents about the power outage... Some people probably think it was a 49'ers conspiracy, and I can definitely see where that comes from.  The whole doing horribly then have an expected break and do much better thing is completely legitimate.  My sophomore year in high school we had a basketball game which decided whether or not we'd go to State.  About half way into the 4th quarter we were down 39-32.  A really unfortunate injury was sustained by one of our own, and it took about ten minutes for everything to calm down before we could start the game back up again.  Those ten minutes were as good as it gets.  We proceeded to win the game 42-41, beating Highland Prep Christian, and moving on to the State Championship.  What a game.  All I'm saying is that I support the break thing, and I'm kinda angry that the 49'ers couldn't pull it together to win.  I mean honestly I couldn't care less that they lost because quite frankly I didn't even know which two teams were in the superbowl until I got there, but regardless I always root for the comeback story so I wish it would have worked out.  Anyways though, by the time the game was over it was about 6:15 in the morning and my-oh-my was it was weird seeing the sun start to rise when the superbowl was over.

I didn't end up going to sleep until about 7, so I slept until 3:30.  Totally unexpected, and yet totally amazing. I got so much sleep this break-it was beautiful and much needed.  When I finally woke up I went to the grocery store, and spent the rest of the evening cooking.  I planned to work out, but I was quite honestly too successful with all of the cooking to make it to the gym in time before closing.  I made quinoa salad, broccoli, sweet potatoes, anddddd a dish which is brand new to the Israel kitchen of Julia Owen... Spaghetti with MEAT sauce!!!  I know you are all asking how on earth I made spaghetti when I'm not eating grains this month.  So, I will tell you that my lovely mother sent me a box of quinoa noodles for my birthday and I decided to put them to good use.  I am totally serious when I say that I couldn't even make that at home, and that I am beyond proud of myself for coming up with that.  I was too afraid that I'd under-cook the meat, but I decided that meat is an absolute necessity for me and that I had to learn to do it at some point.

I know that looks like Hamburger Helper or Kraft or whatever that commercial that's always on is for, but it's not! I promise!! I made every ounce of that, and I will be eating quite well this week because of it.  Hurray!

Today, we had a hike planned. By we I mean my roommate Miriam, Adina, and Emma.. We were going to hike with this most wonderful woman named Mrs. Seigal.  And it was going to be great.  But then, the bus was delayed by an hour and by the time we'd get there it would be too late to go hiking.  Lame!  Especially since this is the second or third time that we had to reschedule already.  But what can you do.  We decided that since it wasn't worth it to pay money to bus back home that we'd just make the best of it and "hike" it.  First, we stopped at the gas station so that a couple of us could get ice cream.  I must mention that I made one of the best purchases of my year so far at this very gas station. Any guesses?  A $10 barbecue! Whattup?!  Not a big one, and by no means a Weber but it will definitely do the trick.  So after I picked up a bbq, and some others purchased some other treats, we headed out.  We basically hiked along the freeway.  And by hiked along the freeway, I really mean on the freeway.  As safe as that doesn't sound, if we were actually jeopardizing our safety we wouldn't have done it.  It was really fun though.  It was a great way to turn a lame cancellation into a fun "hike."

When we got back, I showered and headed out towards Yerushaliam.  Ilana Greenberg just got back from her week-long trip to Poland this morning, so we went out to dinner.  Additionally, I stood in a very very long line at the Israeli version of a D.O.L. Why?  In order to get this beautiful thing called a Rav Kav.  It basically gives me a student discount on buses and other public transportation, and it's awesome.  I'm not totally sure why it took me this long to get it, because I am infinitely happy that I have it now, but I was finally able to get this special piece of paper which validates my studentness so I did it today.  Yay!

After dinner I stopped at the shuk and bought some super cheap dried fruit which I love and am excited to have to snack on.

It's crazy that school is starting up again, because I have really enjoyed being able to relax, sleep, and roam freely.  But, it's always good to get back into a real routine and the truth is that I enjoy school.  So as annoying as it will be to wake up in the morning, I'm looking forward to the first day back.  It's been a little too long since I've walked the streets of the Bar Ilan campus.

Anyways, I hope that this week progresses positively for you all!

A Fantastic Weekend

With plans to go to Nof Ayalon (a Yishuv where one of my teachers lives) with Adina and my friend Emma for Shabbat, we looked up which bus to take and when.  Of course, there's only one bus that runs on Fridays and it's not until 2:59.  Since there was no chance we were going to miss it we left at 2:25, which would put us at the bus stop at 2:35 at the latest.  It obviously had to start raining on our way there, but we finally got there and to the right bus stop with about 20-25 minutes to spare.  All we had to do was wait for our 200 bus.  There are 3 other buses which go to the same general area as this bus, but the other ones are much more out of the way for our teacher to pick us up so the 200 was the winner.  About 10 of the other buses went past us as we waited, but we confidently waved them all off because we knew that it wasn't until 2:59 when our bus would arrive.  We waited, got a little wet from the rain, and waited some more.  2:55 rolled around with no bus-- no worries at all. Right? We still have 4 minutes.  3:00 comes around and still no bus-- no worries because it's running a little late with all of the rain.  3:10 comes around? A little nervous to say the least.  And, it's been about ten minutes since the last of those other three buses has come through.. What are we to do?  So I called our teacher, Dr. Tannenbaum, and I asked her what we should do.  "No problem," she said, "just take one of the other three!" We hung up.  The watch strikes 3:15 and we were kinda just like... uh oh.  I checked the bus times on my phone and it didn't exactly seem like one of the other three lines were going to show up either.  So I decided to call a taxi company to see how much it would theoretically cost for us to get to Nof Ayalon.  The price was definitely not what we were expecting to pay to get there, but it wasn't out of question.  I asked him to lower it, and of course he met me half way between my offer and his.  Adina, Emma, and I talked it over and decided that there was no way we could miss Shabbat at Dr. Tannenbaum's house and that the buses were for sure done running before Shabbat.  So I said yes to the taxi company man, and he came about five minutes later.  It was for sure a much more pleasant ride than a bus would have been, but it was lame because we had gotten there with so much time to spare.  It was likely just full so the bus driver didn't even stop at our stop, but what can you do?

We got to their house with plenty of time to help them get ready for Shabbat and meet everyone, which was nice.  We went to the Ashkenazic synagogue for Tefilah on Friday night, but we visited the Nusach Sefard synagogue right after because they were hosting some visitors.  Apparently, for one Shabbat each year Nof Ayalon pays for a choir to lead Shabbat tefilah services in a couple of their synagogues.  And we, so luckily, decided to come for that Shabbat!  For those of you who hail from within the four glorious walls of Ezra Bessaroth, do not imagine the choir we used to have.  Imagine about fifteen middle-aged men, sitting in the front of the synagogue around a conductor- all wearing matching purple ties.  And, a tall black-robed man with a two-tiered black hat with gold tassel things standing at the bimah.  I have absolutely no understanding for how someone could legitimately pray listening to all of that going on, because it was way too distracting if you ask me.  But basically, they sung out each and every note in every syllable for the whole tefilah on Friday night.  It probably took them two to three hours from start to finish-- if they're lucky.  It was of course nice-sounding at times, but it seemed a bit drawn out.  After listening for a while, we headed back to the Tannenbaum's house for dinner and had a wonderful meal.  After eating we played card games for a couple of hours, and then it was time for bed.

I woke up at 7:30ish, which is surprisingly early, but I accepted it and went to synagogue.  Since I went by myself, I went to the Sephardic synagogue which was of course a lovely treat.  It's so not often enough that I get to follow along in my siddur with the tefilah, and even got to hear a couple of familiar tunes.  What a joy.  After tefilah I went back to their house and we all had a beautiful lunch at 11.  At 1:00 I went with Dr. Tannenbaum to this parsha class that she goes to every week, which is about ten women who take turns preparing a class on the parsha and they go to each others' houses each week.  It's kinda the cutest thing I've ever seen, haha.  So I enjoyed that class, and getting a feel for the dynamic there, which was great.  Afterwards I took a little nap, played some card games, and read a little.  Before we knew it Shabbat was over.  Dr. Tannenbaum got us a ride back with her neighbor's parents, who live very close to us.  Buckets!!!!  It was unfortunately trafficey on the way back, but we made it home pretty quickly.  I went to bed relatively early last night, which is why I was more than surprised to look at the clock upon waking up and see that it was 2:00 pm.  No clue why on earth I was that tired, but that's what break is for.  Right?

I went to the grocery store with my program director this afternoon... We shopped for our big super bowl tailgate tonight, and I bought some meat for myself so that I will actually be able to eat this month! Hurray!!  I also bought some nuts and dried fruits in Bnei Brak, which look great and were quite cheap compared to most places.  I'm just hanging out for a little while as we all anxiously await our midnight super bowl tailgate, to be followed by the 1:00 am super bowl.  It will definitely be different than the usual hangout with my family, but I'm looking forward to being with all of my friends as we watch a game for which I have no care between teams that don't matter to me.  But that's always the case, so the only new thing is the location and the people I'm with.  That's how it goes, though, so I am excited.

Wherever you may be and whoever you are with for the super bowl this afternoon, whether you are watching it, feeding people who are watching it, or you have nothing to do with it... may you enjoy what you are doing and be safe while doing it!  I'm looking forward to watching the commercials, and you should be too!! Have a wonderful week.