unintended hiatus

Wow so I didn't mean for such a hiatus to happen but well I got engaged exactly a month ago now. It is so exciting, but it is a bit time consuming! People are right when they say planning a wedding is a full time job. All I do all day long is fill out forms, run errands, and make phone calls that have to do with the wedding. It is fun and we are enjoying the process with all its ups and downs.


Ian is adorable and I am soo happy! I knew he was going to propose when he did but I was trying to act like I didn't know. I was so anxious and nervous and I couldn't really eat when we went out to dinner. Ian seemed fine and calm. After having dinner we walked to the Old City and he took me to his favorite spot, this old ampitheatre and that was when he asked me if I would marry him and I ofcourse said "YES!"

It is truly amazing, he gave me a beautiful ring that I love so much that was his Great Aunt's and it fts me perfectly and is so much ;like the style of rings that I like, it's not yelow gold and not white gold but a more rose gold and it is old and has an antique style and is unique, and even better it has a story because it belonged to someone whom he loved. And I feel so honored to have this ring now and to be marrying Ian.

After leaving the Old City Ian said that his Rabbi wanted us to go over to his house which was fine with me because I am very very close with this family, because oif this family is how we met! But little did I know Ian had planned a surprise L'Chayim there with my close friends and his close friends and the Rabbi's family and Ian's family, his parents and sister were visiting for a family wedding. I was soo surprised I couldn't believe it. It was really amazing.

Now ever since we got engaged we have been planning our wedding. We are so excited that we are God willing getting married on Tu B'Shvat, the birthday of the trees! This is just such a great day for us and we are so excited that it is all working out. Mazal Tov!

Check out my Picasa Web Album if you want to see more pictures from our engagement!

Mazel Tovsssssssssssss

On Tuesday was Nadiva Rose's Bat Mitzvah. It was so much fun two of my friends and I were the only "adults" invited the rest were a bunch of 12 year old girls. The other too are my friends Aliza and Hillel, who just got engaged, yay mazel tov!!

The Bat Mitzvah was so much fun and I am so glad and honored that I was there. I love the Rose family they are amazing. Yesterday there was a crazy rain storm that was not expected. I was not prepared for this rain I was wearing converse a hoodie and a light jean jacket. I got drenched. Yafo street had turned into a raging river, it was insane. On my way home I was going by Michael Rose's store, JBC (Judaica Book Center) and I decided to go in to seek a little refuge. Michael saw me running towards the door and was laughing, I just walked in side and said "Help!" he just laughed at me. I hung out talking with Michael for a while then went home when the rain stopped.

Thank God for the rain, we sure need it and it gave me such an adventure.

simchat torah

yesterday was simchat torah, the Jewish holiday where we rejoice and dance with the torah as we complete the "book" and reroll it to teh beginning and begin again with breishit. it is a great holiday with so much happiness (simchah) and dancing and singing! there were hours and hours of dancing and kissing teh torah scroll and fun festive meals.
simchat torah is also a holidya that simulates a wedding and not just the dancing at a wedding it is a wedding between God and the Jewish people, where we commit ourselves to eachother and rejoice in this holy communion! God is the bride and we are the groom, this is such an interesting custom and i am not exactly sure why we are the groom and God is the bride,, maybe it is because the bride usually knows and choises the groom, but he is the one that accepts teh committment by proposing and comittimg himself to hos wife during the wedding. God has already chosen us but we need to be the ones to make the outward committment!
L'simcha!

fragile

last friday morning my mom had her second surgery to remove a brain tumor. the first one was 10 years ago, and well since that surgery the bit of tumor that was left has slowly slowly been growing and grew back to the size it was before, maybe about the size of a fist. it's hard to be away from my mommy but i know that she will be ok and heal BE"H, she is so strong.
after the surgery she was having some speech problems but i just got a message from her and it was so nice to hear her voice and it sounds like she is doing better B"H!!!
i feel so blessed to have such amazing people around me that have been so supportive. among new things going on in my life there is a boy, who is very supportive and caring and sweet. Thank God for people like him in the world! other news is a will be starting anew job very soon working for a center for at-risk teens. i will be teaching an art class and will be doing an art project on teh streets witha social worker one night a week. this is going to be very challenging and hard work but i know it will be so rewarding. i start in a few weeks and i am sure it will give me what to write about and share.
send blessings and positive energy in the direction of my mom Masa Sima bat Hudel!

Apple Honey Cookies

I woke up 2 days before Rosh Hashanah wanting to make apple cookies. I didn't really know what this meant so i searched on line for recipes and didn't really find anything too exciting so I decided to make something up based upon what I saw and with a little help from my mom here ya go...

Cream together:
1 cup of suagr
1 cup of honey
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick of margarine

Add:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1-2 diced apples

Drop by spoonful on to foil covered cookie sheet, do not grease.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

They came out pretty good and are kind of a mix between a cookie and a muffin, yummy!
Enjoy!
L'Shanah Tova U'Metukah!

Life

Wow so life has been crazy since my Aliyah. I have started ulpan which is a pretty intense experience. I am learning Hebrew from 8:30am till 1pm. Then from 4pm-6:30pm I am helping this amazing family. I also just got offered a job working for a center for at risk teens in Jerusalem. I will be teaching an art chug (class) and going out on teh streets witha social worker one night a week to reach out to these english speaking teens. This is going to be a very challenging job but I am excited for the challenge and I know that it will make me grow.

I can't belive that it is Rosh Hashanah again! I feel like it was just Rosh Hashannah, the years pas so fast. I decided that I am going to try and make oatmeal apple honey cookies for Rosh Hashannah. I found a couple recipes for appleish cookies that looked kind of good so I am going to combine and well kind make up my own. I'm not sure how they are going to come out but hopefully yummy.
L'Shannah Tovah U'Metukah!!!

weddings upon weddings

I have been pretty busy taking care of all the details of moving to an other country. I finally got my kupat cholim (health insurance and provider) yesterday. This was a difficult process. So things in Israel seem to never been open when you need and always seems to be closed at weird times. Those of us coming from the west are used to places being upon in semi-convenient hours and being able to take care of things online or by a phone call. Well not here in Israel. So to get my kupat cholim I first needed to go to the post office to pay a few dollars for I don't even know what and then take the receipt and this paper form the post office to the health provider of my choice. So after two days of trying to go to the post office to find it to be closed for who knows what reason. It then took me a few more days to get to teh health provider because many businesses here in Israel close at 1pm and sometimes open again at 4pm or don't open again till the next day. This is very convenient for the people working there since there is no Sunday here, the weekend is Shabbat and for those of us who celebrate this holy day it doesn't leave another day to run errands like Sunday in America.
So basically it took me a few days to find the time to get back to get health coverage but now I have it.

Activating my bank card was also a long process. I received it in the mail a few weeks ago but wasn't able to activate it. i tried to call the number and use the English section and then tried it in Hebrew. I even had my friend's husband call and try to do it for me, we just couldn't figure out what number's it was asking for so finally on a day I was able to get to the bank before it closed, the bank is open from 9-3pm Sunday-Thursday, I was able to activate it in the bank over 3 weeks later.

Besides these little odds and ends I have had a few simchas yay!! Mazal Tov!

Last night my friend Marna got married. It was such a beautiful high energy wedding. Marna looked beautiful and I loved her dress! Above is me, Aliza, and Rachael looking oh so beautiful and pregnant with the Rose girls minus Shiran.

So the day before Marna's wedding I became a shomeret. The bride and the groom have a few close friends serve as Shomrim (guards) for them. This is kind of the equivalent to Bride's Maids because we run around taking care of weddings details and entertaining the family member's and making sure the bride and groom don't see each other. Some couples don't see each other for the week before the wedding so the first time they see each other is when the groom is escorted in by all the men singing and dancing while the women surround the bride. This is a beautiful and powerful that always brings tears to my eyes.


In little over a week Shalva is getting married so we had a tichiel (scarf) party for her. Here I am showing Shalva how to tie her tichiel after she gets married. I don't know how I became the tichiel tying teacher but I did and I showed her a few different ways to do it.

This is the last tichiel of the night and it happened to be form me! If I do say so myself I tied it on her pretty nicely!

So many simchas...Mazal Tov yoyeh lanu v'lachol Yisrael!

taking care of business

So the last week or so has flown by. I have just been trying to take care fo all of the little details on making aliyah. I am almost done with all the little things I need to do. And it seems that things are beginning to settle down a bit. my next big tasks are starting ulpan (intensive hebrew language classes) which is everyday from like 9-1 and then getting a job.

As part of all the little things I needed to do, I got a new cell phone and plan. my new phone is pretty fancy and has a great camera on it. i took this picture of my bedroom with it.

I don't have much to say especially that now I am in the 9 days leading up to Tisha B'Av. This is a period of mourning commemorating the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

some other people's pics

On Tuesday morning, July 22, I landed at Ben-Gurion airport and there were about 200 people that came to greet the new olim that made aliyah from North America to Israel.

There were 217 olim on the flight including 50 singles (including 23 people joining the IDF through the Garin Tzabar program) 28 families with 98 children (98 - wow!).

The youngest oleh in the group is 3 months old and the oldest oleh is 88 years old. The flight also included 4 dogs and 1 cat.

A man named Jacob that came to greet the new olim posted pictures that he took
www.jr.co.il/pictures/israel/history/2008/a322.htm

Here are some pics he took. I am in the background of a couple, that's me in the green shirt.




Frances Greenberg, the first to receive her Teudat Oleh. She was the oldest new olah and was a passenger on the famous Exodus, that was denied entry to Israel. She moved to the USA with her husband and now at 88 she says “It’s time to fulfill the dream of my youth.After 60 years, I am finally coming to Israel to stay!”

Frances on the plane shows a photograph of herself and other passengers on the Exodus on their way to Israel. Unlike with the Exodus this time she will make it to stay!


My friend Marna came to meet me and the other olim at the airport. Thanks everyone!

sleep

I am not sure if I even know what sleep is anymore. I flew to NY at midnight Saturday night meaning I arrived in NY at 8:30ish am. Spent the day with Deb and Sebastian in their new home in Port Washington, NY. I was able to sleep a bit on the plane and then took a two hour nap on Sunday. Then Sunday night I went to sleep fairly late and only slept another few hours before heading to the airport once again for my Aliyah flight. woo hoo!!!! Monday I spent the majority of the day in the airport at JFK or actually on the plane. It was pretty cool to be on a whole El Al plane where all the passenger were making Aliyah to Israel! Something very special! because the light was in the middle of the day I wasn't able to sleep, I would close my eyes and try, but nothing.
Now I am so exhausted that it is hard to keep me eyes open. I did fall asleep briefly a couple of times but I am realy trying to stay up as late as I can. It will start to get dark soon, so if I can just hold out till then it will be great! If this doesn't make sense, I blame it on the weather and the lack of sleep.
I'll write more later when I am a little more awake and can even maybe put up some pictures.

watch my Aliyah LIVE online

I recieved the following e-mail for anyone interested...


LIVE ALIYAH WEBCAST!

YOU can watch as your loved ones arrive in Israel and are greeted at an exciting and emotional welcome ceremony marking their Aliyah to Israel!

Live from Israel…Nefesh B'Nefesh introduces its new worldwide arrival ceremony webcast! Simply log on to www.nbn.org.il/2008arrival to watch your family and friends land in Israel as new Olim and witness the festive and exhilarating arrival ceremony where they will celebrate their Aliyah together with hundreds of flag-waving guests and dignitaries!

The flight is scheduled to land at 7:40 am, Israel time, which is 12:40 am, Eastern Standard Time. Tune in then to experience a truly thrilling event. Please keep in mind that in the event of a flight delay, the webcast's broadcast will be delayed, as well.

For all inquiries, please e-mail Abi at Abigail@nbn.org.il.

See you online!

2 Days Left

I can't believe only two days left before Aliyah! That is just crazy. I am going to really miss everyone here but I am very excited to begin my life in Israel. Also I am very excited to be done packing. Packing to move to another country is really just insane; fitting your whole life into 3 suitcases and a carry-on! Good luck to anyone who ever has is doing or will have to do this. I know it is all worth it. I am going home!

Jewish History

I went to visit with my grandmother yesterday to spend some time with her before I leave. Little did I know I would be leaving with some history. My Grandpa Joe z"l passed away about 3 years ago and my grandmother, now 88 is getting ready to move to a retirement community.

She gave me an old throw pillow that is used to love that they got in Thailand ages ago. It is Thai silk and is yellow with brown fishies on it.

She also gave me small hexagons that she crocheted from scraps of yarn. It is a work in progress and she just adds more as she makes them. I am really exited because because I was looking for a pattern for an afghan made out of yarn scraps and this is perfect and I am so excited to incorporate my grandma's pieces into my own afghan.

My grandmother also gave me these amazing old Jewish books. The small brown one was an army issued Bible for Jews that was my grandpa's when he was in the army.

The blue and red is a Rosh Hashanah Machzor that was my grandma's mother's. It was printed in Vilna and all of the commentary and extras are Yiddish.

The Beautiful white one is a Siddur from Budapest and is over 100 years old. It has amazing metal detail on the cover and...

...0n the inside my great grandfather signed it and wrote a note when he gave it to my grandpa in 1981. This siddur is absolutely beautiful and delicate. It is in Hebrew and Hungarian, something that I have never seen before but I will treasure this and the other books my grandma gave me. I hope to even use them on very very special occasions.

Iam so blessed to have all 3 of these books that each have so much history. May the merit of my ancestors help me to be the best that I can be!

H & E does not spell HE

In the process of cleaning out all my things I cam across and old Polaroid camera that still had film in it, so I decided to bring it over to Hayley's a couple weeks ago when I went to hang out. What better excuse to take pictures of adorable babies and amazing friends then finding an old camera with film in it.

The camera sadly is now at a Goodwill somewhere.

Wow, I love these two gals! I will miss you and watching this little dumpling grow.
Thank you for our long conversation today and your friendship!

No matter how many years go by and how many miles may be in between it is amazing to see how some friendships never fade.

I don't know why but this picture just reminds me of these other picture of H and me in the summer of 1993 when we were in middle school that was from a photo booth at the Balboa Fun Zone. I can't believe I was able to find these pictures.

I love old pictures!


"I get by with a little help from my friends"
- The Beatles, With A Little Help From My Friends

Yiddish & Hebrew Survey

I got this e-mail today:

This won't take long and you might find it interesting (I did). You do not have to be Jewish.

You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language. Essentially, we're asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America. We're turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like "shmooze" and "daven" and phrases like "Money, shmoney"? Why do some people say "temple" while others say "shul"? Who prefers biblical names for their babies? Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process. Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9eQwWyblG_2b8ixLqbt6QFhg_3d_3d
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor <sbenor@huc.edu> or Prof. Steven M. Cohen <Steve34nyc@aol.com>.

Sincerely,
Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor
Prof. Steven M. Cohen
Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion

swap meet sunday

On Sunday me, my mom and Marty woke up at 5:45 am and took almost everything I own to the OCC Swap Meet. It was such a strange feeling selling things, some that I have had since I was in 5th grade and others only a few years old that are more new, for $1.

We sold a lot but still ended up taking so much to Goodwill. This whole process of getting rid of all my stuff has been cleansing and sad and frustrating all at the same time.

There is less than a week now till my Aliyah and I have done so much yet still feel like I have so much to do. I know it will all get done, I just hope it gets done sooner than later.

the bicycle vs. the train track

The second night in Oakland Mark and I decided to go to see a movie at the Parkway Speakeasy. We decided to see You Don't Mess With The Zohan, it was a ridiculous movie but it was funny. I am sure the beer we had at the Parkway helped.
I borrowed a bike from one of Mark's roommates and we set out to ride to the Parkway. Maybe about 2 minutes after we set out I fell. There are tons of train tracks around LoBot and in case you have never had to ride across rail road tracks, well, it isn't the easiest thing to do and well that round the train tracks won. My tire got caught in the tracks and I fell over and got a little banged up. The cool night air on the rest of the bike ride made up for the bumps and bruises. These pictures don't do justice to what these boob boos looked like when they were new, but they really just look worse than they are.

LoBot

My brother lives at a place called LoBot. Lobot is this very cool live/work space warehouse in West Oakland. They have a gallery and sometimes have shows. I had been there a few times before my brother even lived in the bay area and some a some bands play. It seemed like a cool place in a not so nice industrial area of Oakland, California. Each person that lives there has their own room, I spent most of the time in my brother's room...

...or in the kitchen. The kitchen ins a big space a with a couple refrigerators and lots of cabinets and a nice big table with lots of fun chairs. Through the doors where it says "enchanted forest" is a fully equipped screen printing studio. I wanted to use it but never got around to it. To the left of the studio is the "hang room" a large space with sofas and games and to the left of that is the "music room" a sound-proofed room full of instruments and equipment where anyone can go in and jam or record or practice or whatever they want to do.

Some of the instruments look like they haven't been touched in a while. There was one guitar covered in dust and had no strings, but don't worry there were plenty of functional instruments. Recently my brother and a couple of his roommates have been playing reggae and one night we stayed up late in the kitchen discussing reggae and ska and if they should be a cover band playing reggae songs or covering songs and turning them into reggae.

When you go past the kitchen you walk back into a long curvy hallway covered in art and posters with various looking doors off to the sides. Sometimes a door is open and you get a peek into one of these doors and get a small glimpse into the life of the person that lives on the other side.

This is my brother's door, I love that it's pink. Above his door to the right is a huge pink painting of Willie Nelson. I'm a sure someone who once lived there made it. All of the people that live there are artists. There are 13 people that live there give or take a few because there are always sub-letters and guests.

A few weeks ago there were so many people staying there that they put up pictures with each persons name, so that everyone knew who was living/staying there. I think this was while this group of Germans part of a German art collective were there. It is not uncommon for them to have visiting artists stay with them, there is even a "visting artist's studio" for them to work and live in that is right of the gallery. While I was there there were two guys from Seattle visiting.

Hanging In San Francisco

My second day in the Bay Area I spent the day in San Francisco just hanging out. I walked around tons and then spend the majority of my time sitting, relaxing, reading, and people watching in Dolores Park. The park was full of interesting people just enjoying the sun and the beautiful day. On my way back to the East Bay I stopped at Bi-Rite Creamery and had a cup of homemade ice cream, I had Orange Cardamom and Honey Lavender, such unique flavors!

my bro and my new cousin

where my brother lives


new cousin, 7 months

Walking In Berkley

The walk began...

a window display in a bike repair shop

Then I met up with my baby bro and we went to Berkley Bowl!

i loved living in the east bay
i miss living in the east bay