On Gratitude

Hello friends,

On Wednesday afternoon I left work early and make my way accross the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey where my friend Naomi (AKA Gnomie) was picking me up. We used to live together in Jerusalem, she recently finished her degree and is now working for a Bio-Ethics think-tank. We then drove to pick up her brother and sister-in-law along with their two adorable dogs (small dogs). We then drove 4ish hours to her parents home in Colombia, Maryland. Her dad is a Mathematician and as a mentioned earlier her mother is a Conservative Rabbi. The family are all super smart. And VEGETARIAN! Yay! We got home quite late and went more-or-less straight to bed. Thursday was Thanksgiving. We went to family friends of theirs who are also mathematicians/computer scientists. The meal was delicious. Vegetarian, so no turkey. We had stuffing, sweet potato crumble, brussle sprouts etc.. and a million different types of pie! It was generally delicious and wonderful. We also played a pre-meal game of croquet, which I was sadly very bad at.

Friday Gnomie and I got up extra early and went to Washington DC for the day. It's only about 40 minutes from her house. We met up with her a friend of hers and went to the Library of Congress (they had a Hebraica exhibit on) and to the Supreme court. We also popped by the Capitol and went for a walk on the very sunny day past all the museums and the giant oblix/phallic. We got home just in time for shabbat. The whole family came together for a delicious dinner and then we played a board game called Dominion. It was a cool game, a bit like Settlers of Catan.

Shabbat morning we walked to the local Conservative shule. It was really like your standard shule fare. Shmoozing and kids running around. Saturday night we went over to family friends of theirs who live in a house from the 1700s and we made Pizza. Then we went to see the new James Bond Movie "Skyfall." It was 2.5 hours but it felt much shorter than that. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend it. It's just another Bond movie.

Today we drove back to NY, I'm slowly getting my life in order. I went to the supermarket, I did laundry, I got myself a gym membership. There seems to be a bit of drama with the apartment that I'm due to move into in a few weeks but I'm sure it will all sort itself out. This week I should get some actual work to do, probably compiling evidence and redrafting submissions.

Lastly, a few reflections on Thanksgiving. Perhaps it's the Jew in me that likes a national festival that's basically just about coming together and eating ritual foods. It's also very nice to have national (not religious) traditions. Further, it's lovely to have the opportunity to sit back and reflect on how lucky you are and to feel gratitude for your fortuitous life. I think it's a pretty good holiday even if it comes from very complicated and maybe unethical origins.

That's all for now folks!

The City That Never Sleeps?

Hi all!

Yup, I’m off gallivanting around the world again. This time I’m spending 3 months interning at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York via the Castan Centre of Monash University. I’m working in the gender and sexuality international human rights department. The big cases at the moment are against the Vatican for sexual abuse of children and one relating to discrimination of the LGBTI community in Uganda. I started work on Monday and so far not much has happened. I’ve been given a huge amount of cases, documents and academic articles to read so I’ll be briefed and ready to start working next week.

But since my arrival plenty of fun things have happened.

I arrived on Wednesday night and went to stay with my delightful friend Erica. We have a great chat that night, I met all of her housemates (they are awesome) and her apartment was equally impressive (well decorated).  Thursday was not particularly eventful. There were logistics to be sorted out, shopping to do and going to bed early so I could recovered from the jetlag.

Friday however was very special. I met up for cupcakes and cider at the Magnolia bakery (featured in SATC) with my friend Sarah. We met while we were both in a pluralist beit midrash (Havruta) in Jerusalem and she has since made aliya (yay!). She’s in town for such a short time so it was great to hear about her newly Israeli life and such. I then went to meet Erica at her office (the Gay Men’s Health Clinic – so cool!). We made our way to Crown Heights (the non-chabad side) in Brooklyn where we were spending Shabbat with our friend Dasi who has recently started studying at Yeshivat Maharat. We had a delightful dinner where the guests included a yiddishist, a YCT Rabbi and a singer/songwriter. Shabbat morning we went to a great minyan in a thrift store, really small and eclectic. Strangely I met another person that I knew from Jerusalem there, she is now studying at Hadar (more on that later..). Shabbat lunch was similarly delightful with a guest from Canada who had been living in Israel at the same time as me. Saturday night the singer/songwriter and my friend Dasi went to go busk at a subway station so Erica and I went along to support them. They sang really beautifully, great Bon Iver as well as Tegan & Sara covers. Conveniently I also ran into a few Mormon missionaries at the station and I had a brief chat with them, in which I asked them (what I think) were some great questions. They decided with check with the prophets’ writings and get back to me. After watching my friends sing Erica and I went to a fundraiser for victims of hurricane Sandy. It turned out to be a weird Mayan/Aztec event where the end of the world seemed to be pretty imminent. But all in all it was a great night.

Sunday was spent at the Global Day of Jewish learning atDrisha and Hadar. The speakers were generally average, except for the last one, a female rabbi/professor from JTS. During the lunch break however I met two great people, Naphtali and Yisroel whose day-jobs was to run a Yiddish farm in Up-State New York that facilitates Yiddish immersion programs. Sunday night was delightful. I had a pre-thanksgiving dinner with Erica and all of her Avodah colleagues as well as her friends Noam and Avital. Everybody was really friendly and interesting. I had my first taste of stuffing/applesauce and various other traditional foods.

As I already mentioned Monday was my first day of work and it involved a lot of reading. But Monday night involved a trip to The Moth story telling slam. It was awesome, I recommend that you listen to the podcast, there’s a great story about a holocaust necklace. As for tonight (Tuesday), it’s the last of Rabbi Shai Held’s classes on Heshel at Hadar. So I’ll be going to that and then maybe I’ll make it to Salsa dancing too (if I’m not totally exhausted).

As for the holiday, I’ll be in Maryland with my friend Naomi. We were housemates in Jerusalem and her Mum is an awesome conservative rabbi. Shabbat I think I’ll be at my friend Erica’s parents place in Connecticut, but really, anything could happen. Maybe I'll go to Washington DC and explore?

So far NYC has been treating me pretty well. I haven’t gotten lost once and the subway has been easy and punctual. Two complaints though: There are not enough post offices or supermarkets. Also things close. Particularly supermarkets at about 10pm. WHEN DO NEW YORKERS SHOP? Quite honestly after Caulfield I was surprised that supermarkets close at all let alone so early. In any case, due to these two inconveniences I have not yet posted things that I need to post (like in the mail) nor have I managed to make it to a supermarket which has left me a bit hungry but I’ve been managing.

I suppose that’s all for now. I intend to blog more regularly once my life settles down some more.

Thanks for checking in – Ms B