Midnight Baseball

I cannot give up baseball. Maybe wearing a Red Sox shirt here blatantly advertises me as an American, but it will always be one of those things I never leave behind in America.

So last night at 10:30 I arrived at the home of a family from my community, and after a brief nap I woke up at 2am to watch game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

At 5:50am, as the Jerusalem sky lit up in beautiful shades of purple, the Coco Crisp snagged the final out. It was nothing like game 7 of the ALCS in 2004 when I was sitting in my sophomore dorm surrounded by a mix of baseball fans. I had to do my little dances silently and after jumping up and down remember that there were three children sleeping in the house.

When I finally started making my way to Nishmat (gotta at least fit in a little Torah) a random kid on a bus banged on the window and yelled something (sounded positive) to me. At Nishmat one of the rebbeim who I don't think even knows my name congratulated me on the win.

Klitah is such an interesting word. It doesn't mean one day we'll speak Hebrew fluently, shove old ladies in line like a pro, and think we know everything there is to know about politics. Only real sabras can do that. There is no "absorption" in klitah for Americans. We'll be lucky if we understand how to control our bank accounts and not get scammed by cellphone companies, and if we learn how to give directions without stuttering like a loser.

I've been told that my klitah will only truly be complete when I stop calling Boston home and decide that baseball isn't the be all and end all of existence. But holding my breath at 6am when I wake up and rush to check the latest game results will never lose it's excitement. Last night when I watched the celebration at Fenway Park and in the streets of Boston it felt as much my home as any other time.

Even with the purplish blue rays bouncing off the stone rooftops of Jerusalem.

Harriet the Spayed

Harriet has just returned from her much anticipated trip to the vet to get spayed. Turns out she wasn't pregnant. Please share your theories on how she hooked up with a tomcat and didn't get pregnant when cats are as fertile as mammals can get. Though, you know, it was her first time and all that (Alissa's idea).

Poor kitty... walking around slowly poking at the bandage on her belly. I almost miss her bouncing off the walls and attacking us. Almost.

The Cat Lady

On Simchat Torah, besides Harriet the Spy getting knocked up (she has an appointment to be spayed on Thursday), Harriet led us to an interesting discovery. She was staring out the kitchen window... staring, not trying to jump, which was a sign that the night before she got what she wanted and no longer cared to escape. We followed her gaze to the ground below and noticed a woman with bags of food and a dozen cats surrounding her. We do not know how often this takes place. The area is right next to our walkway but blocked by a hedge. Maybe sex wasn't Harriet's only reason to get out.

A background story: On Erev Yom Tov our landlady was in our building for whatever reason. This lady saw her in the entrance and said she had heard a cat crying and wanted to bring it food. She wanted to know if there was some way our landlady could help her get into the apartment with this cat. Our landlady assured her that Harriet is well taken care of. That was of course when Harriet spent most of her days and nights crying at the top of her lungs because she wanted to go outside and make babies.

Just because you're all probably desperate to hear that part of the story... on Simchat Torah we had various guests walking in and out of the apartment, and someone forgot to close the door. Alissa and her friend were eating dinner and Alissa suddenly wondered why Harriet hadn't come to eat their chicken. She searched for Harriet and noticed the open door. To make things worse, someone had propped open the front door (maybe thought our poor cat was really a stray trapped somewhere). Harriet was right outside the door standing with a tomcat. Yeah that's right- she went for the first guy she saw. We've been making many comments about that. Needless to say, Harriet has been in excellent spirits since then. The good news is we get to sleep at night. After a 1200 shekel appointment at the vet cardiologist in Rishon L'Tzion Harriet has been cleared for being spayed/ kitten abortion. Please do not bomb our apartment.

Back to the cat lady... yesterday when I was walking I saw the cat lady surrounded by cats and digging through a dumpster. Once again she had plastic bags which I now suspect were full of random pieces of trash and the cats were eagerly eating-- some from her hand. Some guy drove up in a car and presumably was yelling at her for being so gross. She responded by screaming at him that if it bothered him he should just drive away. I continued walking and when my back as to the cat lady and the cats I heard a cat scream followed by more screaming by the cat lady. I think another car almost hit a cat, and she went ballistic. Much was yelled including a slew of bad names.

Lets just say the cat lady is not to be reckoned with.

Exciting news!

I now have my ATM and credit cards. Only took them seven weeks. Now I just have to figure out how to activate them...

In other news, the job search continues, though I have a couple new leads on babysitting jobs and am starting to get in touch with the division of the Jerusalem Municipality that works with at-risk and special needs youth. I wouldn't be paid for this work, but could be an excellent opportunity.

Why Succot in Israel is so cool

Can't say this was the most exciting chag for me between not having money to spend and doing hectic things like job searching and cellphone fixing, but there are some great things I've been thinking about.

Succot is a country-wide celebration. Seems like everyone gets into it, and everyone helps each other celebrate. My apartment doesn't have a porch for a succah, but some neighbors built a succah outside called "Succah Achvah" with a sign welcoming everyone to come eat and enjoy the holiday in the succah. I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow. An alternative is going to almost any restaurant-- the sidewalks on most main streets are covered in Succot extending out of restaurants. Some even have a breeze of air conditioning. Yesterday in town I bought a muffin and walked down the street to a succah set up by Chabad. You can always count on Chabad-- it wasn't on a truck, but supposedly there was one of those somewhere too. For your lulav and etrog, there are "shuk arba minim" set up all over town with many sellers to choose from. Some are small and at street corners while others are huge and had hundreds of people there at once. If you can't get your own lulav and etrog, once again there are Chabadniks standing all around town ready to help you fulfill the mitzvah. My sister-in-law also saw some women in the women's section of the Kotel walking around with lulavim to share. There are parties and events all over the place, but I could also hear music (and sometimes fireworks) every night from the living room of my apartment.
Simchat Torah was fun too. It's all about shul hopping. It's a social scene- there's no way to escape it. At every shul there is just as much shmoozing as dancing. The fun is wandering around town to different shuls seeing people and differences in how shuls do hakafot (Shir Chadash vs Shira Chadasha). Seems like everyone was going to huge potluck meals. It was a long. hot day, but totally worth all the walking and standing. And for us Israelis who aren't burnt out by Yom Tov yet-- there are hakafot shniyot in Gan Hapaamon, right down the street from me, later this evening.

Birkat Kohanim

It had been a long time since I actually went through security and down to the Kotel plaza. If I wanted to daven near the Kotel, I would go to this overlook that has a perfect view. The Kotel is supposed to be this holy place that's as close as we can get to the site of the Beit Hamikdash, but I never find it that conducive to prayer. The sun is always really harsh, people shove up against you, and beggers jab at you during shmonei esreh for money. But Sunday was different. It was one of the few times I felt the holiness of the site, and could even begin to imagine what it was like in the time of the Beit HaMikdash. Sunday was the big coordinated birkat kohanim. The Kotel was packed. The outside temperature definitely went up like ten degrees as more and more people packed into the Kotel plaza. I had never been packed up against so much sweat and black polyester (I guess shmirat negiah doesn't matter when you're trying to get where you want to go). I had the pleasure of explaining to some Christian tourists what was going on. They said they were told to come, knew something amazing was about to happen, just had no idea what.

I got to the Kotel way too early assuming that at least I would find people to talk to (isn't that the point of these big holiday celebrations?). Unfortunately I spent over an hour wandering around trying to stay out of the sun, but it was totally worth it. A painfully ashkenasic davenning was broadcasted over loudspeakers, and when they reached brikat kohanim everyone became silent. Well, almost everyone, we are in Israel after all. There were a dozen minyanim going on at the Kotel, but they all joined together so hundreds of kohanim could bless the thousands of people gathered at once. If you want a picture I'm sure you can google around for one. I was highly amused by how many people were covering their eyes while holding cellphones, cameras, and camcorders over their heads to try to capture the moment. I just stood there and enjoyed being blessed. It was perfectly synchronized and really special.

Then came the push to get out of the Kotel plaza. After years of doing this, maybe I'm not really surprised that the Jerusalem police haven't figured out how to coordinate this. Everyone was shoving each other up and down and the stairs and getting angry. It was classic Israeli-ness, though for once I would have been happy without it. It was a smelly and sweaty experience, and I reminded myself never to dress like a chareidi.

I finally made it through the Rova and met up with my sister-in-law's cousin and some of her shana bet cronies. "You're Sam's sister? We looooove Sam! And Michal! They are sooooo amazing!" I walked down Yafo and passed the Succah-ria which I have learned is not really made of candy, so I won't even bother going. After breakfast with Shlomo I met up with Lisa and headed home. I had no desire to go anywhere else that day!

Birkat Kohanim was amazing, but I think I'll let this bracha last me a year or two. I'll be remembering this chavayah for awhile.

Most Boring Day

The good news is last night I had another job interview. The bad news is on my way back up their street I dropped my phone and it stopped working. Oops.

So today any possible chol hamoed activities were put on hold so I could take a field trip to the Orange store in Talpiot. Before that I had to go to the bank to withdraw money, and I wanted to inquire on the whereabouts of my ATM and credit cards. After waiting for fifteen minutes they told me that unfortunately my account wasn't accessible- come back in two days. No information at all on my cards. They didn't even bother checking. Yeah, I hate banks in this country.

I took the bus from there to Talpiot. I finally found the store I thought I was looking forward, and after five minutes there I was redirected to the Orange factory store around the corner which I found twenty minutes later. The main Orange store is a classy little place with a nice waiting area and you can see into the repair area. After a ten minute wait there I finally described in broken Hebrew and wild hand motions what was wrong with my phone, and they told me to come back in three hours to pick it up. Oh yeah- at the first store I was informed that I should leave out the "I dropped it" part of the story.

I spent three hours wandering around Talpiot, which isn't exactly the prettiest place in Israel. First I had lunch at a fancy cafe and spent too much money on a dish that wasn't particularly good and the leftovers made a mess as I carried them around for the rest of the afternoon. Finally around four I picked up my phone and went home. Most boring day ever. Israel still feels like a long boring vacation. I really need things to pick up around here.

In other news because Harriet the Spy couldn't be spayed, she is now in heat and spends all day crying and trying to jump out of windows because she wants to mate. Basically she fits in perfectly with the Katamon crowd, except I don't know of anyone who tries to jump out of windows. Speaking of Katamon, I think tonight I'll join my cousin and her friends for a movie night. Yay Katamon scene.