This week was awesome. Mainly, because it started with Purim, but there were other highlights as well. I spent Shabbat with my brother-in-law's mother's best friend who lives right outside Jerusalem proper. I went with my roommate and friend and had a really nice (though very wet and hail-y) shabbat. We then had to hurry back to Jerusalem Saturday night so we wouldnt have to keep two Purims. The way Purim works is that there is Purim proper, which is celebrated by most of the world, and then the next day is Shushan Purim, which is only celebrated by those who live within a walled city (like Jerusalem). If I had wanted to, I could have kept two Purims, all you have to do is sleep outside of Jerusalem the first night and then inside Jerusalem the second night. But that also means you have to do everything twice and I didnt have the strength for that. Also, when I tried to keep two days last year I got a little bit too drunk and didnt make it back to Jerusalem for Shushan Purim. So Sunday I sat at home and prepared Mishloach Manot (food packages for friends- one of the awesomer parts of Purim) and hid in my house all day as it was hailing again. It felt weird to not be keeping Purim at the same time as everyone else, but that night our Jerusalem festivities began. I went to hear Megillah (the story of Esther- which we must hear twice on Purim) at a neighbors with some friends, and then entertained a train of friends that came by my apartment allowing me to socialize without dealing with the weather :) I even got serenaded by some Fine-Skverskys.
Monday morning, my roommate Mia hosted a women's Megillah reading in our apartment. We had about 15 women over and four different readers. My friend Shira even did voices! It was a big success and it was really nice to get to hear my friends read. I really want to learn how to do it myself, so heres to hoping I get around to learning how by next year! Anyways, we then kicked everyone out of our apartment and started cleaning and cooking for the Seudah (festive meal) we were hosting that afternoon. We were expecting about 25 people, and in typical Jewish-mother fashion, I was terrified we wouldnt have enough food and made everyone double everything. We are still trying to finish the leftovers. The meal was awesome, lots of food, lots of wine, and lots of friends :) I marbimed b'simcha (was really happy) all evening and fell asleep with a smile on my face.
Tuesday morning I reported back to the army (a little late as I misplaced my ID in the wreck of our post-seudah apartment) and was immediately put to work, which for me, is especially exciting. We have an inspection this coming Monday, and spent the entire week tearing apart our building and cleaning EVERYTHING. I mean we took the windows out and cleaned the runners, we emptied every closet, desk and drawer, I uncovered piles and piles of dust, vacuumed every chair in the building, removed and cleaned four rooms worth of windows and painted two hallways and a storage closet. I thought our apartment was a mess when I came home Tuesday night and saw how much we had to clean up, but by Thursday our entire building looked like it had been turned inside out and covered with dust and dirt. We all stayed late Thursday night trying to put everything back in its (now clean) place. In typical Israeli mopping fashion, there was a giant lake of dirt and trash in the hallway we then had to shovel and squeegee out the back. When I finally got home at about 8pm my hands were red and filthy, my back was sore, and my feet were killing me. But at least I was busy all week. And, since we were all doing it together, and I work with a bunch of five-year olds, our hard worked was interspersed with alot of water fights and fake poop pranks. (Thank god I have years of dog-pooping-on-floor experience and can spot a fake poop from a mile away).
Friday I headed up north with my adopted family for their son Shlomo's army ceremony. He is a paratrooper and has just finished his like, 9 months of training. (I swear that kid is in a whole different army then the one I serve in). Anyway, it was great to see him, we all beamed at his new pin, and I ended up going back to Efrat with them for Shabbat. As always, it was fun and comfortable and filled with delicious food.
Anyway, its back to work early tomorrow morning, so until next week, (feel free to respond in the interim)
Shavua Tov!!
Love, Kfi
No comments:
Post a Comment