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!