america update take 2 -- details and all...

and i say take 2 because i previously wrote this really long extensive blog about everything I've done since I arrived in America, but then when i went to plug in the port that my dad brought me that will charge my computer since the connection to the power cord broke, apparently my computer didn't like this and decided it was going to shut down. unfortunately blogspot is not yet like gmail where if you write for a while it automatically saves after a couple minutes so that you don't lose everything should there be technical difficulties or whatever.... so to make a rambling non-interesting story short, all my writing went bye bye.

(note: pictures will come in a separate post or a link to an online album of sorts)

anyway...so here we go, from the beginning. my apologies that it took a while :-(
arrival on Wednesday: the original plan was to take a shuttle from JFK airport to Hartford and my parents would pick me up there. but then my flight was delayed almost two hours getting out of Tel Aviv and that would mean I would arrive in Hartford around 2am. Instead, my brother sent me an sms that I received when I got to JFK that my dad was picking me up, and not to take the shuttle. Well, as you can imagine, this made the ride home much more enjoyable, and... since I wasn't letting myself pay attention to the speedometer, much faster. Kitzur, I was home by about 1am and in bed by 2am.

Unfortunately even being really tired and going to sleep late didn't mean that my body was going to let me sleep past 6am. and by 6:15 I was out of bed and trying to fall asleep for at least a little longer in the living room in front of the TV.... didn't work. most of Thursday was sort of like that, just unpacking, taking it easy, and trying to nap. I went and spent some time with my aunt and uncle which was really nice, and then came back home to try to take a nap. still didn't work even though at this point I was pretty tired. Only around 5:30pm when it was late enough for the time zone that I was used to being in (12:30am Israel time) did I finally fall asleep. But then I of course did the whole wake-up-where-am-i disoriented thing around 7:30pm when my dad got home and we had dinner. Ravit, Ishay and Avi all arrived around 10 and we hung out a little bit Ravit and Ishay crashed soon after, leaving my brother and I to have our "date" watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. My mom actually joined us for the Colbert report which was fitting considering half of it was Jewish jokes about people apologizing to him for whatever on his big rotary phone with a Star of David on it. Classic. My brother also told me a little bit about his college life, which is of course pretty classic in terms of the college experience, but in a good way. I'm so happy he likes it at Lehigh and he seems to be finding his niche in the social scene without so much as a blink of an eye. Not that anyone in my family would find this fact at ALL surprising. It can't hurt that he's also probably the cutest TALL Jewish boy on campus :-P

Friday: Ravit, Ishay and I woke up early to drive to Boston. Ishay had an interview and Ravit and I were going to visit various friends and such around Boston until he was done in the afternoon. After dropping Ishay off we went to hang out with my sister's friend Jess who now has a cute little baby boy, Aidan. He's adorable and we played with him and caught up with Jess while taking a really nice walk. Despite it being a little chilly for my liking, it was really nice and in general fun to see Jess...as a mom. (insert AHHH, sister's friends are old enough to have little babies??)

We then stopped at Children's for a bit for me to visit some of my old co-workers and bosses. It was nice to see them and see that things are pretty much the same as usual. I didn't have to catch up with everyone so i might stop there again sometime this week, but in general it was nice to say hi and everyone was excited to see me. Although people were all asking about career goals and where i see myself in a few years, etc, and I'm just like...umm, I'm happy now, does that count? oh America and their planning...i shouldn't talk. i am such a planner. but trying to be a little more "go with the flow" since so far that seems to be working out well :-)

anyway, after that we went to lunch with Lauren, a friend of my sister's and in general a family friend that i've known for years and years, and another friend of Ravit's, Amy, who i've also known for quite a while. We went to this cute place Carberry's, near Central Square, that has good sandwiches. I used to go there when I had my internship at this place called Cultural Survival (http://www.cs.org/) my senior year of college. they also have one in Somerville but that one I only went to a couple times to interview people for my project on Language Acquisition among immigrants from El Salvador. It has a good vibe for stuff like that I felt....that is, if it wasn't going to work out to interview the people at their house. Anyway -- enough sidebar comments. So yeah, lunch was great. filled with amazing stories about 4 thousand dollar wedding dresses bought for 250 bucks (more details will be provided to those who inquire) and lots of non-Jewish boyfriends attending Rosh Hashanah dinner :-P Plus the inevitable and interesting updates on what people are doing and how my sister and Ishay are planning their move back to Boston (at this point the job wasn't for sure, now it is... YAY).

After that we picked up Ishay and drove back to CT in time for a little nap and getting ready for dinner at my aunt Ada's house. Dinner was crazy/awesome/entertaining/lovely. So much good food, and all my cousin's there, and all their not so little kids (somehow they were all still about 5 years old in my head, which is totally not the case... and not only that they all talk like they are at least 25 of course). It was really great to see everyone even if it was a little overwhelming at times. but like i always say... in a good way :-) There was many glasses of wine accidentally knocked over, per tradition, and everyone ending the night full and satisfied, also per tradition.

Saturday: We had some quality time with G-d and went to the synagogue in the morning. It's interesting to see all the same people, but a little different...because that's generally true of me...generally the same, but a little different. Family friends, shmoozing and a little wardrobe disaster on Ravit's behalf later, we were all at home, hanging out and helping to set up for the second night of 25 people at dinner. My mom did her thing and went totally crazy with so much amazing food and so many different dishes. Everyone was probably wondering if she had to clone herself to get it all done, but nope, that's just my mom. Multi-tasking in the kitchen is just second nature. this is a skill i haven't quite mastered yet, but it's not like i lack a role model. Dinner was awesome and dessert was great -- although who had room? oh yes... we all used the "different compartment" excuse that seems to make sense when you're about 5 years old. Denial... just a river in Egypt.

I got to spend some time talking to my cousins and seeing what's going with them, and it was amazing to me to feel like we've really gotten to the point where the 15 years or so between us just isn't that noticeable. I guess it's funny that way. You grow up and suddenly you talk about your life in this adult way that make sense to all adults and I can give my opinions and advice about life without feeling like I lack the experience to do so. After all, there have been some quality life lessons learned through this whole pack up and move to Israel experience. Why not share? :-)

So that was Rosh Hashanah it all it's glory. The weekend ended with my Ravit, Ishay and Avi all heading back to NJ/PA and everyone sort of finding their way back to reality...except for me, because I'm on VACATION!!!! :-)

Monday: After a little bit of computer fussing in the morning, back up to beantown i went to visit my Raquelita! We spent the evening just chatting and being the "us" that we are so good at, Jon Stewart references, Law & Order and all. AND i got to see some of the amazing photography this girl has done. I even got my own framed picture of this incredibly cute baby goose. I LOVE it. i'll put it up on my wall in my room and then take a picture so you can all see how awesome it is. dos besos... YAY!!! (inside joke thing). enzywayz... it was so nice to go for a walk around brookline, stop it at good old Trader Joe's and just enjoy the fall air (that's my nice way of saying it was a little chilly but generally pleasant).

Tuesday: I got up early, did a couple errands (new sneakers from the New Balance outlet, etc) and then did some catching up with another friend Leann, followed by lunch in Chinatown at one of my favorite places, ShabuZen, with Danielle, a family friend I have known since birth.

Oh, this is a good time for this story. Sometimes things just happen that make you think the world is so incredibly small... (this happens a lot in Israel but it's less surprising since everyone knows everyone). Danielle, as I said, is someone I have known literally since birth and when we were little we were pretty inseparable. Throughout the years we've stayed in touch through our families even though we have been in different schools, cities, countries, etc. So, Dianna (who has been in Tanzania on Peace Corps for over two years now) and I have been communicating through text messaging for a good few months now -- once we realized this was possible and very entertaining -- and about almost a couple months ago she sms'd me asking if I knew someone named Danielle Brody (this previously mentioned friend). I said, only since birth but WHY? and as it turns out... her REPLACEMENT, as in the person that will be doing her job in Morogoro, Tanzania, AFRICA.. is Danielle's best friend from GW (college). Ok, what??? Our two best friends are now living together in freaking TANZANIA doing the same job for Peace Corps??? I'm sorry, but sometimes i think someone up there is just bored and pulls stuff like this to entertain us all... wow. this story i think tops all others in terms of coincidences. The best part is, Danielle's friend who is now in Peace Corps in Tanzania, was almost supposed to be in Mozambique or something. ohhh life.

anyway, back to the America update. So after lunch in Chinatown, I headed back to CT, renewed my licence, went with my mom to get my glasses fixed, bought new beech sheets (because their the BEST) at Bed, Bath & Beyond (i love that store) and went home to relax.

Wednesday: I went for a walk with my aunt in the "crisp" air (translation: it's a good thing the sun was out because otherwise it would have been really freaking cold) and then packed it up to go to visit Ravit in NJ (followed by some time in NYC and a visit to Lehigh to see Avi in his new college life). While I enjoy driving for the purpose of singing really loudly and pretty scenery, sometimes these drives are a little long...oh well. I got to Ravit's around 6 and we went out to dinner to celebrate Ishay's new job! We had a really great dinner with different kinds of fish, apple martinis and a top-notch creme brulee for dessert. mmmm. yummm. What can I say, when you find out you get to leave a job you pretty much can't stand, it's kind of expected that you should go all out :-)

Thursday: the next morning Ishay brought me to the bus station where i took a bus into the city to visit Maya. She works near Soho so I took the subway downtown to drop of my backpack and her present (a cute pretty-portable nargila/hookah which she loooooooooooves) at her work. She works in this market research company and has a really sweet office with fun young co-workers. seems great. enzywayz, we had yummy Japanese food for lunch and then i took a leisurely 4hr walk around this city until she was done. We then proceeded to have quite an interesting evening. Apparently there was this show at a place called McCarren Pool -- an empty pool where they often have shows and such. It was a dance sort of show and involved "audience participation" and lots of random people that aren't really dancers or anything participating. We figured it sounded interesting enough and made our way over to Brooklyn. So I am pretty open-minded when it comes to modern art and such, but this was just too much for me. Maya and I spent most of the show being like..... I'm sorry..WHHAAT? and it was also freezing so that didn't help the enjoyment level. there were a couple moments of cool dancing and interesting hula-hoop moves... but other than that, it was just ridiculous. and Maya was all paranoid that audience participation would include her, so that didn't help matters. In short, we walked out of there freezing -- dying for some tea, hooka and then perhaps some beer. Maya is quite good at getting what she wants (especially in certain departments!!!) and so that is exactly what we did. She has some friends who i actually have met a couple times that lived right in the area, so we set up hooka and tea there and chatted for a while. Then we went down to the bar next door, had a beer and did one of the hottest versions of karaoke "Like a Prayer" that may have ever been done. Seriously. we rock. probably because this is one of our favorites for karaoke purposes and we have some quality experience in the field. Anyway, after a little Metro mix up, we finally got back to her apartment in Astoria, crashed onto her awesome/amazingly comfortable bed, and proceeded to talk for about two more hours (mostly about boys) despite it already being 2am. Needless to say, when the alarm went off at 8am, it was NOT well-received. Especially because, and I'm sorry Maya but i gotta say it, the alarm clock is SO OBNOXIOUS. it's this relatively high-pitched voice saying something like good morning in Japanese and frankly it made me want to chuck it across the room.

Parting in the morning was no fun since it's not exactly clear when I'll see her again soon, but general talk of coming to visit me in Israel is out there, which would be HOT, so fingers are crossed. although before that she has a trip scheduled to Brazil for Carnival. Can't WAIT to hear how that goes...I made my way back to Ravit's house in Annendale, NJ and relaxed for a few hours before going to visit Avi at Lehigh.

Well, people at Lehigh must have good thigh muscles since the campus is on a pretty steep hill. well, mountain, actually. but Avi maintains that it keeps him from getting the freshman 15, which is convenient. His roommate seems cool and they get along really well. You never know with roommates you don't pick, so it's nice when it works out like you need it to. We walked around for a while, I got to see their campus -- which, if one was not aware that it was a college campus, might be confused with an outdoor museum for modern art. seriously. but it was amusing that way -- especially because Avi along with everyone else doesn't seem to have any idea where half the sculptures come from or why they are there. Probably rich alum. :-P

We then met Ravit at a little Indian restaurant slightly off campus and had a fun dinner, just the three of us. not sure when the last time we did that was! Avi filled us in a little bit more about Greek life on campus and such. He's looking into frats, which sort of freaks me out since he's not at all the frat type, but i guess when over 60 percent of campus is Greek it's a little different. i try to remind myself that Dianna was in a sorority, and Jared and I were pretty sure that would somehow be against the law, but that was also because Northwestern was about two thirds greek, so it just made sense, and her sorority was all girls with a lot of the same values and anti-sorority in the conventional sense ideas. So hopefully Avi will find a place that's low key and fitting for him. There seem to be a quality amount of options so that's a good sign.

Friday night ended with Ravit and I lying in her bed watching TV and me being annoyed about somehow losing pictures in the process of moving them off my camera. but oh well. i guess that'll teach me that copying is generally better. you can always delete later I suppose. but anyway, I watched Numbers, a show i used to really like back in my Boston days, and went to bed.

Saturday was great. I began the day with talking to Riki and her telling me how Nir (Oren's younger brother) and his girlfriend Channi (who I know pretty well at this point) are engaged!!!! I'm so happy to hear it since they are such an awesome couple and it's so great to hear things like that! Ravit and I met up with my mom in the city and after a short wait in the TKTS line, we had tickets to a show that was supposedly supposed to be really cute, "Spelling Bee." We walked around a bit and called Nir and Channi to say Mazal Tov, and then had lunch at a placed called Vinyl (NOT Fuel, Ravit) before heading to the show.

It was one of the funniest cutest shows I've ever seen. It was all these adults playing kids in a county spelling bee and they are all a little odd and funny so the humor was right up my alley. It's also based on a children's book written by some Jewish author so there are a random jokes about Rosh Hashanah and Bat Mitzvahs. quality. for those who are interested in more details, i'll be happy to repeat my favorite parts involving the spelling/definition of cow, acouchy and other random words. My mom, sister and i all really enjoyed it and walked of there with a little bit of a stomach ache from laughing so hard.

After that we drove to my cousin Rosy's birthday party for her daughter, Elana, who turned 3 and is such a little doll. We hung out for a while and then headed back to CT since it was getting late and we were all pretty beat. on the way home i had my mom listen to Jim Garrigan, this comedian my brother introduced me to, who is hysterical. i highly recommend looking him up and hearing some of his stuff. we got home and went to bed and that pretty much brings me to now.

that may be the longest blog EVER. but i suppose those who have been wondering what I am doing here should be satisfied. I am planning on being mostly in CT for the remainder of this week. I'm seeing Jon Stewart doing a standup show live on Saturday, the night before I leave, which i find incredibly appropriate. Perhaps I'll be in boston one more time to have another visit at Children's, a little more time with Raquelita, and perhaps a couple more errands while I'm at it. anyone need anything? (tif, don't worry, you're decaf chai is in the bag ;-P)