So, in no particular order:
- Ulpan finished on Wednesday. It's been a journey, from not being able to read in the fall to, well... I started the summer shocked to be placed in Kita Daled, feeling like I should probably move down. I wasn't understanding conversations, really missing huge chunks of what was going on. And at some point, le'at, le'at (slowly, slowly), I found myself understanding almost everything. My teacher called me the afternoon that we finished and said she'd like me to try moving up to Kita Hay -- level 5 of 5 -- for the first week of the semester, and level 4 of 4 for our Biblical grammar class. ::gulp::
Kita Hay also has one day of language study replaced with a class on Jewish Thought. In Hebrew, of course. I'm always game for a challenge, but we'll see... this may be just a bit too much with the rest of the classes on top of it. I AM actually really excited to try! It might be what forces my spoken Hebrew to catch up to reading and comprehension...
- I had a wisdom tooth out yesterday... my one wisdom tooth, which was NEVER supposed to come in. Well, it finally started coming in. Luckily, my friend's dad is a dentist, and an awesome one at that. I was in and out in 40 minutes, even went to a presentation at school (masochist? maybe) an hour later. Shockers for Americans: 1) the surgery was done without any sort of sedative, only local anesthetic; 2) the dentist called me later, from home, just to check in on me. (And I get the feeling that this is his standard practice, not friend-of-daughter practice.)
- SHIRA GOT MARRIED. The wedding was beautiful... so much joy and so much love. And so many of the Livnot chevre that I so cherish (including Ebin, all the way from NY!). Best moment of the night? Dressing as pirates and kidnapping the new bride...
Ok, ok, ok, maybe not the best moment. Second best. Best was the chuppah, of course, and the moment of the first touch... But it's a close second.
- Back to a parenthetical remark above, my dear friend Ebin was here for a week for Shira's wedding. It was beyond amazing to see him, to have him here, to get to discuss my experiences and my processing of said experiences with someone who has known me for awhile, and who comes (on many levels) from a very similar place. Or at least he knows my journey because he's been there for a lot of it...
- I've been really busy finding and preparing material for the High Holiday services that I'll be helping leading in Modi'in. It's a lot all at once, but I think it'll come together. I was asked to do two of the three repetitions of Kol Nidrei, once sung, and once... on violin. One guess as to which one I'm more nervous about... yeah. Playing my violin in public causes me great anxiety, but I promised myself I'd face it this year. So... here goes nothing. No pressure or anything... it's just Kol Nidrei. Erm... uh... right.
Hmmm... maybe I better get back to this practicing situation. Probably a good idea...
Sending love to all...
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