A Loving Strawberry

A week ago today I was getting ready to leave for Israel with absolutely no clue what it would be like when I’d get here and what my future here would look like. One of those questions is not so ambiguous anymore, the other – still an unknown. As many of you know, after my first day at Neve I was already thinking about alternative options for the year. After reminding myself that so many of the greatest experiences of my life started off less than positively (i.e. Jewel), I did my best to start afresh in my mind and be ok with stepping out of my comfort zone. Some of you who know me well have already baffled by my comments cuz I’m always bouncing off the walls, making some ridiculous comments or coming home from a trip with a bunch of new friends. The truth is, that’s who I really am and who I feel more comfortable as it just takes me some time to get there sometimes. All of that is just say that everyday here I feel more at home and look forward to going to class and just walking around campus. I definitely feel a bit uneasy that I never know what the next day will bring but honestly its also an incredibly thrilling sensation.

The last two days have been pretty packed. Yesterday was one of the longest days of classes. After my 4 morning classes, lunch and an afternoon class that ended at 2:30 I met with Rabbi B. I’m not quite sure what his class is really about yet so I’ll keep you posted on that one. On Monday he had asked me to make a list things I would like to focus on improving in the month of Ellul: 3 things between me and myself, 3 between me and Hashem and 3 between me and another person. I have to say, meeting with him surpassed all of my expectations. I thought he would help me pick one thing out of the 9 and give me some words of Torah on how to actualize my goal. However, we spent an hour and a half discussing only the first thing on my list. He was genuinely interested in any issue that may have contributed to that item and took as much time as necessary and asked as many questions as he could to get the full picture. I had never had such a deep and open conversation with a Rabbi; also never had one who was so open and honest with me. In the end he asked me a question to ponder and send him by email, one so specific its confusing to me why it would be the one thing he’d pick up on. Anyways, so tonight I’ll have to get started on that.

I also met with Rabbi A, who suggested I think about switching into a new program at Neve that is more focused and gives girls who are here for a longer time the opportunity to establish close bonds with families and teachers. I feel that being in the general Neve program is best for me now but I’d like to think of it as an option for the January semester.

At 5 I went to the BEST Zumba class I’ve ever been to which was taught by my Panamanian (not Argentinian…woops) teacher, who has to be one of the funniest people I have ever seen “Laaadiiith, I don seeh you shakin dooos toosieees” (she’s saying this while doing the body role, wearing a long skirt and a tichel…love it!). Suffice is to say that I will be back in that gym on Friday morning for another workout J

Lucky us last night we had night classes from 7 to 9 which was absolutely awful! I literally had to walk out of a class because I kept falling asleep – my solution was to go sit on the stairs and fall asleep there instead: p

Earlier in the day there had been a sign posted in the hall about a girl named Tamara from Montreal who was getting married and only had her chatan’s family there. So, despite my exhaustion, 30 of us got all dressed up and took the bus to the Dan Panorama Hotel. You should have seen the scene we made! The ballroom at the hotel is really small so when 30 of us walked in during dinner we were the center of attention. It’s a really big mitzvah to dance at someone’s wedding and one I’d never tried so I figured this would be a great “out of comfort zone” things to do in my first few days here. Also, I felt some sort of obligation to her since she was from Montreal. Since I’d never showed up at the wedding of someone I had never met in my life, especially one this small, I had no idea how she would react. When she saw us walking down towards her, her face lit up as if all of her best friends just made the trip from Mtl. She thanked us profusely for coming and insisted we get drinks and sit down since they were having dinner. She introduced us to her Chatan’s family – a crowd that did not seem to be very similar to the couple themselves. The majority of people at the wedding were Chasidic – some wearing streimels and others had long gold coats with endless payot! I really didn’t know that it was possible but I think we really made her wedding, we dance with her for over 2 hours, lifted her on a chair, made a jump rope, gave her water and told her how happy we were to be there. We got down and danced with all the Chasidic ladies (who really know how to move!) and even got to indulge in the most amazing desserts! Last night was definitely one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I hope that they find everything and more in one another, live a life in Montreal with refuah, bitachon, simcha and parnasah (health, trust, happiness and livelihood).

Now, what would one of my posts be without me getting in an argument with an Israeli, getting injured, lost, and confused…? Today during our break I decided to tackle a whole bunch of errands. This included, trying and failing to get Internet, fixing my phone and most importantly, buying some groceries so I can eat a yummy breakfast. First of all, HOW IS ANYONE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF CHEESE TO BUY? 1%, 3%, 5%, 9%...what does it all mean?? I took a guess and grabbed a 5%...hopefully I wont be eating goopy cottage cheese in the morn.

After spending 10 minutes on the phone with my mom discussing the percentages on the cottage cheese, I had to find my last item – jam. One the things I have going for me here is that my Hebrew is pretty good. Although, once in a while I do forget words I should know, mix and match and use the wrong gender. Today was a good one! I decided (with some uneasiness) that the word for jam was chiba; strawberry jam = chibat tut. So, I went up to the man stalking shelves and asked him where I could find “Chiba, Chibat Tut”. He looked at me strangely and just nodded no. Tonight when I was waiting to use the internet (which is not working so I am currently sitting in a public park using someone’s internet…shhhhh) I asked an Israeli girl what chiba meant in Hebrew (I was sure it was wrong since I remembered that riba is the word for jam). She said it means “love” or “loving”. GREAT! That means I said something like the following to the religious man working at the grocery store “ Where can I find the love? The loving strawberry?” Dope.

Hebrew words of the day

Chiba - love

Riba - jam

Anyways, this was supposed to be a quick few words since I have the slight chance at getting to bed early tonight…guess not. Tomorrow I’m going to volunteer at the food charity I mentioned in my last post. I forgot my notebook again today so I’d like to make tomorrows post about the month of Ellul – the current Hebrew month – which is full of such deep meaning and important lessons before Rosh Hashanah.

I think the sign from my departure from this park has arrived with some sketch lad who keeps saying “chamuda, erev tov, good night…. goodnight (in Borat accent).”

Erev Tov to you all,

 xoxo

Dana