Israel Update and Year-End-Review
So, last week I went to Israel, for my cousin's wedding. I was kind of freaked out flying over the ocean, but it turned out to be fine. Of course, I had a screaming baby next to me. This has happened on EVERY flight I've taken that's over 5 hours. I think it's karma coming around, since I also screamed my head off on planes as a baby. Anyway, the 10ish hours went by pretty quickly. Each seat had a tv with tons of shows and radio stations, which was fabulous.
It was amazing finally being there after having wanted to go my whole life. The fact that I was there didn't actually hit me the entire time I was there. Even though we were only there for 4 full days, we packed a lot into them. I got to see the Western Wall and the remnants of the ancient Temple, went to Ben Yehudah Street-- (a main street with lots of cool stores and very good falafel)--, got to FINALLY meet my mom's imaginary friend whom I had been hearing about my entire life but had never met. Well, actually I had met him when I was 2, but of course I didn't remember anything, but I finally got to meet him and his wife, who live near Jerusalem, and they are such great people. They're so fun to be around and genuinely nice people. I told them I'm planning on going to Israel this summer again, and they said I could stay with them if I had chofesh (also known as free time/monkey time.)
Rachael's wedding was really beautiful. I can't believe she AND her sister, Amy, (who is also a whorelaure lj fan) are both married. Rachael married a British man, Johnny, who is so nice and fun to be with. I approve of him. I think the highlight of the evening was when Johnny's grandpa, an 80-year-old British man, was talking to my cousin, and then randomly turned to me and said, "Well, I don't know this one. But I'll give you a kiss anyway!" And he kissed me on the cheek. Awww.
It was nice finally being able to speak Hebrew, the language I've been learning since I was basically in utero. Of course, I can basically only say nouns, but I can also apparently order a half pita of falafel and a water in Hebrew. My mom bought me a personalized necklace with my Hebrew name on it, and we paid for it and I had to run in the next day to get it. We kept the cab driver waiting because I told him it would take me 2 minutes. Well, this wasn't exactly the case. I ran in, and they tried to give me another necklace that had my name misspelled. I told them this, and they tried to sell me another misspelled one. I also said no, and that I told them exactly how to spell it and I had made sure they wrote it down correctly. This part is only funny if you know Hebrew: So, I told the dude my name was spelled shin, yud, nun, hey, but the necklace he gave me had 2 yuds. He told me I had to accept this necklace, because the extra yud counted as the long A vowel, and otherwise it wouldn't say Shana. I told him that with that logic, it would say Shay-yay-na. He then said I was right and he'd send me a new one free of shipping charge. Booya. I'm probably the only person in the world who has one an argument with an Israeli. haha So, if he doesn't send it within a few weeks or so I'm going to get my cousin and cousin-in-law to kick his ass. Anyway, I ended up arguing for quite a while, so I felt really badly that the cabbie had to wait, and he only spoke Hebrew, so I didn't know how to apologize and explain the situation. Maybe I should start learning Hebrew verbs along with the nouns.
My aunt and uncle bought our tickets, and on the flight back we flew first class for some reason. It was... incredible. First of all, before the flight, we waited in a lounge that had the internet, free food, free newspapers, and comfortable chairs. Then, we got to board first, and were treated to very comfortable, reclining chairs that went almost as far back as a bed. They even had lumbar support, a foot rest, and lots of personal storage areas. We had to choose our meal, which involved appetizers (including salmon loins-- since when do salmons have loins?!), nuts, fruit, a main meal, ice cream sundaes, followed by a snack and another pre-arrival resfreshment. They had shrimp, chicken, beef, and lasagna for entrees, and I chose lasagna, which was mad good. The flight attendants constantly came by to make sure everything was okay, and once again we got our own little televisions. I finally got to watch "Superbad," which was stupid but really funny. I could actually predict a lot of the lines, since my friends quote them all the time.
After 23.5 hours of travel, we finally arrived back home. I then slept 14 hours and was very jeglagged for a few days. I realized that jetlag realllly affects me and makes me nauseaus and crazy for days. It sucks, but it's worth it.
And now, a quick look back on 2007:
I got to catsit/housesit/carsit at a beautiful house in the winter, and although I was freaked out staying there by myself for a month, it was so fun being able to play on a water bed, be able to use a sweet Saab whenever I wanted, and be able to take care of a kitty, who was good most of the time. It was the first time I've ever lived completely on my own *and* had to prepare all my meals and had chores and such. Yay.
This summer started out sucktastic, but got much better in mid-July when I moved in at a friend's house, where there was a cute kitty, and I somehow inherited gallons of his roommate's clothes. I think she belongs to the tribe of the Magical Pants, because we are such different heights, body types and tastes in clothes and everything but all of her clothes fit me perfectly and I loved them all. I wear about 1-3 of the times she gave me every day. I also had an absolutely amazing job which I want to go back to this summer. Even though it was again only for a month, I enjoyed being independant, but I liked it even better since there were people around.
I hitchhiked with Hungarian strangers.
I learned to make kugel.
I got lost for a while in the worst part of the Bronx, by myself, at night, and somehow didn't get mugged/raped/killed.
I became a Michael Jackson fan-- only 25 years too late.
This fall I started at Manhattanville, and I like it there a lot. I got acclamated there and I plan to have a lot more fun next semester-- i.e. eating borscht and peanut butter pie (but not necessarily together) with Miss Kovtunova, going to FREE comedy and yoga clubs with Amy and Yair, going ice skating with Kim, and going to NYC more often. Also, Megan is visiting me in the spring, and I was promised potential visits from a few others. Yay!
Even though the first part of this year was pretty shaky, the year as a whole was a thousand percent better than 2005 and 2006. Danke got.
This year I learned that there are unfortunately many douchebags among us, but I am officially not taking their crap anymore. I've learned to nicely (or, if necessary, more forcefully) but douches in their place. They suck and need to stop intimidating others just because they're insecure. I put bitches in their place many times this year and am amazed how well it usually works.
I learned that making myself physically sick due to stress is not worth it and I've gotten a lot better about this.
I also learned to not dwell on the past so much. I was ripshit pissed that I wasn't going to graduate with all my high school friends, but I've finally accepted that it doesn't matter and that the important thing is that I went back to school. Plus, I'm only graduating about 1.5 years after them, so it's really not that big a deal.
Basically, I knew all 3 of these things for years but was finally able to apply them this year, and like myself a lot better now. Okay, this sounds so cheesey. ha
I'm looking forward to 2008-- I predict it will involve Israel, Europe, and awesomeness.
Happy new year!
It was amazing finally being there after having wanted to go my whole life. The fact that I was there didn't actually hit me the entire time I was there. Even though we were only there for 4 full days, we packed a lot into them. I got to see the Western Wall and the remnants of the ancient Temple, went to Ben Yehudah Street-- (a main street with lots of cool stores and very good falafel)--, got to FINALLY meet my mom's imaginary friend whom I had been hearing about my entire life but had never met. Well, actually I had met him when I was 2, but of course I didn't remember anything, but I finally got to meet him and his wife, who live near Jerusalem, and they are such great people. They're so fun to be around and genuinely nice people. I told them I'm planning on going to Israel this summer again, and they said I could stay with them if I had chofesh (also known as free time/monkey time.)
Rachael's wedding was really beautiful. I can't believe she AND her sister, Amy, (who is also a whorelaure lj fan) are both married. Rachael married a British man, Johnny, who is so nice and fun to be with. I approve of him. I think the highlight of the evening was when Johnny's grandpa, an 80-year-old British man, was talking to my cousin, and then randomly turned to me and said, "Well, I don't know this one. But I'll give you a kiss anyway!" And he kissed me on the cheek. Awww.
It was nice finally being able to speak Hebrew, the language I've been learning since I was basically in utero. Of course, I can basically only say nouns, but I can also apparently order a half pita of falafel and a water in Hebrew. My mom bought me a personalized necklace with my Hebrew name on it, and we paid for it and I had to run in the next day to get it. We kept the cab driver waiting because I told him it would take me 2 minutes. Well, this wasn't exactly the case. I ran in, and they tried to give me another necklace that had my name misspelled. I told them this, and they tried to sell me another misspelled one. I also said no, and that I told them exactly how to spell it and I had made sure they wrote it down correctly. This part is only funny if you know Hebrew: So, I told the dude my name was spelled shin, yud, nun, hey, but the necklace he gave me had 2 yuds. He told me I had to accept this necklace, because the extra yud counted as the long A vowel, and otherwise it wouldn't say Shana. I told him that with that logic, it would say Shay-yay-na. He then said I was right and he'd send me a new one free of shipping charge. Booya. I'm probably the only person in the world who has one an argument with an Israeli. haha So, if he doesn't send it within a few weeks or so I'm going to get my cousin and cousin-in-law to kick his ass. Anyway, I ended up arguing for quite a while, so I felt really badly that the cabbie had to wait, and he only spoke Hebrew, so I didn't know how to apologize and explain the situation. Maybe I should start learning Hebrew verbs along with the nouns.
My aunt and uncle bought our tickets, and on the flight back we flew first class for some reason. It was... incredible. First of all, before the flight, we waited in a lounge that had the internet, free food, free newspapers, and comfortable chairs. Then, we got to board first, and were treated to very comfortable, reclining chairs that went almost as far back as a bed. They even had lumbar support, a foot rest, and lots of personal storage areas. We had to choose our meal, which involved appetizers (including salmon loins-- since when do salmons have loins?!), nuts, fruit, a main meal, ice cream sundaes, followed by a snack and another pre-arrival resfreshment. They had shrimp, chicken, beef, and lasagna for entrees, and I chose lasagna, which was mad good. The flight attendants constantly came by to make sure everything was okay, and once again we got our own little televisions. I finally got to watch "Superbad," which was stupid but really funny. I could actually predict a lot of the lines, since my friends quote them all the time.
After 23.5 hours of travel, we finally arrived back home. I then slept 14 hours and was very jeglagged for a few days. I realized that jetlag realllly affects me and makes me nauseaus and crazy for days. It sucks, but it's worth it.
And now, a quick look back on 2007:
I got to catsit/housesit/carsit at a beautiful house in the winter, and although I was freaked out staying there by myself for a month, it was so fun being able to play on a water bed, be able to use a sweet Saab whenever I wanted, and be able to take care of a kitty, who was good most of the time. It was the first time I've ever lived completely on my own *and* had to prepare all my meals and had chores and such. Yay.
This summer started out sucktastic, but got much better in mid-July when I moved in at a friend's house, where there was a cute kitty, and I somehow inherited gallons of his roommate's clothes. I think she belongs to the tribe of the Magical Pants, because we are such different heights, body types and tastes in clothes and everything but all of her clothes fit me perfectly and I loved them all. I wear about 1-3 of the times she gave me every day. I also had an absolutely amazing job which I want to go back to this summer. Even though it was again only for a month, I enjoyed being independant, but I liked it even better since there were people around.
I hitchhiked with Hungarian strangers.
I learned to make kugel.
I got lost for a while in the worst part of the Bronx, by myself, at night, and somehow didn't get mugged/raped/killed.
I became a Michael Jackson fan-- only 25 years too late.
This fall I started at Manhattanville, and I like it there a lot. I got acclamated there and I plan to have a lot more fun next semester-- i.e. eating borscht and peanut butter pie (but not necessarily together) with Miss Kovtunova, going to FREE comedy and yoga clubs with Amy and Yair, going ice skating with Kim, and going to NYC more often. Also, Megan is visiting me in the spring, and I was promised potential visits from a few others. Yay!
Even though the first part of this year was pretty shaky, the year as a whole was a thousand percent better than 2005 and 2006. Danke got.
This year I learned that there are unfortunately many douchebags among us, but I am officially not taking their crap anymore. I've learned to nicely (or, if necessary, more forcefully) but douches in their place. They suck and need to stop intimidating others just because they're insecure. I put bitches in their place many times this year and am amazed how well it usually works.
I learned that making myself physically sick due to stress is not worth it and I've gotten a lot better about this.
I also learned to not dwell on the past so much. I was ripshit pissed that I wasn't going to graduate with all my high school friends, but I've finally accepted that it doesn't matter and that the important thing is that I went back to school. Plus, I'm only graduating about 1.5 years after them, so it's really not that big a deal.
Basically, I knew all 3 of these things for years but was finally able to apply them this year, and like myself a lot better now. Okay, this sounds so cheesey. ha
I'm looking forward to 2008-- I predict it will involve Israel, Europe, and awesomeness.
Happy new year!