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!
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!
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