That was an awkwardly long silence

I have to say I am impressed. It has been almost two months since I sent an email and I have not had a single complaint! Well at least not directly- apparently my father is bearing the brunt of it because you all think I am too busy to write. Which is a little bit true. Okay, a lot true. 

I passed my three years in Israel marker and thought- "Wow, have I really been sending out an email for 3 years?" That's like a really long time. And then I thought that perhaps it was time to retire the email. I mean, if I go any further I will have to keep doing it forever (3 times is a permanent commitment in Jewish law). 

But the truth is, I like sending out the email, and I like hearing back from you. I don't think I need to do it as often as I did when I first got here, but it is not something I want to give up altogether. The truth is I have built a network of support here that I feel very comfortable with. But that does not devalue the support that I receive from you all, and so I will try to continue to send out emails when exciting things are happening to me. 

I have finished my first semester of grad school. Well almost. Today is my last day of class, and then I have three weeks for finals. Oh, and for make up classes. Because my teachers went on strike this semester and now I have to come in to make up for the classes we missed. This is so much less fun then a snow day. Anyway, I am having a hard time believing that the semester is already over, and I am a little bit terrified of my finals, but it has all made me realize how much I love what I am learning. It is like every little piece is coming together to create this infinitely larger picture of art therapy- expanding my understanding in such a way that it is affecting my whole life, not just my studies. 

I had a chavruta (one-on-one peer session where you learn something Jewish) last night with my friend Lorenzo, and I just felt like everything I was learning was directly relating to my life and to my art. I have been artistic for as long as I can remember, and seriously studied it in my undergraduate degree- but the things that I am making now, as part of my exploration of art therapy, are so fulfilling and enlightening that they are changing my life. Ill learn something with Lorenzo and the next day, I will see how it relates to art. I will make something with the student I work with as part of my internship and later in the day I will realize how it relates to my relationships. I will come home and paint something and look at it and realize it is all about Hashem (God). And I am learning to understand and verbalize the things that I have only been able to visually express before. 

So basically, my life is awesome and I love it.

Outside of my deep artistic and spiritual development- I'm also feeling growth as an Israeli. I have officially been dubbed the "Abba/Father" of my apartment because I have apparently become the adult of the apartment. Well, at least, I am the one that deals with the landlord, with the internet company, with the water taxes, with the mold on the ceiling, and the power outages, and I am the one that fixes our table and paints our walls. I'm also the one that says kiddush on Friday. Ophra and Elisheva are competing for the "Mom" position, which is awesome for me, because they bake a lot of cookies. They also give me this mom-look when I stay out too late that would make my own mother proud. 

Rafi came to visit over Channukah and we got to do all sorts of fun things together, most of which involved beer, but hey, we had a really good time and it was a nice preview of the fun to come when he moves here in August (!!!).