more on toby

michael and toby begin bonding





















really - who is cuter? karen and tobs take a shabbas nap together...












toby decided to join michael at the end of his nap - and michael was NOT a happy shabbas napper...




toby with his mama again...at havdallah

adventures with toby

toby spent shabbat in 3b Sokolov. He liked it a lot. We have big crushes on each other. here are pictures from the excitement

this is toby:


ok network moving slowly...not in the mood to wait. toby and i are going to sleep. ill put more on tomorrow...

i need to get off this fucked up sleep schedule.
why do i get up at 645. blah. im an old lady.
but i have a cute puppy sleeping with me tonight

SCORE

yay papa!

today my dad is doing the Swim Across the long island Sound to raise money for cancer research. we lost count somewhere along the way how many times he's done it -- it's been going on for over a decade now.

and in honor of his swim, i swam too! i guess it was in honor of shabbat too...the ba'al looked adorable going to shul as i strutted out of the house in my bathing suit and went to ymca and did laps for a half hour. i was pretty impressed with myself, as after 5 minutes i wanted to pass out. but my body feels good now. sweet.

im puppy sitting for mel for shabbat- a bunch of them went to ein gedi --- so toby is laying around the casa with me today til i go over to shabbat lunch. i kinda dig this life....

ill post some pictures later, perhaps.

and fizzy dont worry, toby isnt taking your place in my heart :-*

so that's what it feels like to exercise...i forgot!

went to the gym after class today -- a little sketchy but im spoiled by a mixture of my basement and the dickinson gym early morning -- israelis smell. and i think every guy that walked in checked me out which made me REALLY uncomfortable, esp bc (a) they were old (b) i was the only female there (c) ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

and then, more exciting, is that i took the computer into the toilet room with me bc michael was sending me an adorable video of us - - - and i got to give him a commentary of what was going on in there. emily really enjoyed that as well.

i have a test tomorrow -- i think my "weekends" are busier than the week -- so im going to get a good nights sleep and then get tested and then go into auto drive and wake up again on sunday!

my dad's older brother and his fam are arriving today so hopefully ill get to see them soon - especially because they have various things for me from the states! and the michele is cominnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng. to visit me. not to visit tomer. clearly.

today i told my teacher that she is stuck reversing and fixing the teaching of my previous teachers -- at least she's good at it. but DAMN i wish it was easier for me to learn some of this shit

any food suggestions for me and michael to make? he needs more carbs, i need less. we had a great lasagna and he ate the leftovers for days. im thinking about getting my mom's mac & cheese recipe to make him happy.

he's a cutie. i like him.

...

for 3020 NIS I joined YMCA for unlimited fitness room time and access to their pool --- it lasts the year.

i hate gyms.

Dear Emily

Yesterday we learned the word for dwarf in hebrew and i got really excited, and it's all your fault:
gah-mahd is one
gah-mah-dim is multiple.

Michael

I'm not quite sure if I'm expressed enough how amazing it is to live with Michael. So fine, few people have experienced such a unique time - - i can count them on my two hands. But he gets it even worse because we're in a strange place and I'm quick to let him take control.

In jest, on our way to pizza tonight, i mentioned how we should keep a list of his macho accomplishments. i mean, everytime he does something amazing i sing macho man or what a man . . .

SO
instead of studying like i could have, i pulled a juliann and created.

the first picture is what i made, the second picture is it prominently affixed to the wall in our living room.

lila tov.

bite me

why do these bugs like me? apparently im tasty. i should start doing something about these bites covering my body. but i think i enjoy scratching the shit out of myself?

we've started our second week of classes. it would be really cool if i could understand grammar before i leave this country, but really, i never learned it in america for english so why would i be able to learn it in another language? we'll see what happens. my teacher is amaaaaaaaazing. i wanna make babies with her in a non sexual way. my class is small which is definitely a luxury to which i am accustomed courtesy of dickinson.

i keep running into random ass people who i know through other people. this city is ridiculous.

my dad's older brother will be here in a few days so i'll get to hang out him and his family which should be nice -- it'll be a whole other perspective on this city considering he's done extensive research on the ancient stuff, not the modern stuff that i am usually more likely to pay attention to....

michael went on a crazy cleaning binge today -- there's this great bleach stuff that he used on the floor to find the actual color of the floor and wash away years of grime from the tiles. we cleaned out old stuff that previous people had left here that we really didnt need -- and cleaned out the bathrooms. it's starting to look like a somewhat respective place -- anyone need a shit load of tampons or dayquil?
of course I had come home to rearrange my own room and try to finally move into the space and make it mine. but that'll have to wait til another day -- bc i dont feel like that's happening today.

i dont have a desk in my room so i seem to keep bringing my laptop into the kitchen or the living room to sit and putz around and get work done. i kinda like not having to think i need to be at a desk. i never used a desk anyway -- at home it was always a place to put stuff and at school i always had my beast of a desktop computer. i like the changing environment....

i passed by the CUTEST kitten tonight after i took michael out to a post cleaning the apartment pizza. i want it. it's tiny and adorable and scrumptous. but my heart belongs to fizzy for the time being and other people have pets here that i get to play with, right?

i love that fizzer.

ouch

something bit my arm and now it's swollen.
yuck.

ok. my week.
it was fun.

ended up going to wine tasting and it was AMAZING. of course we all just dranked and didnt pay attention, but i can now say that i like white wine. as i was heavily intoxicated by the end of the evening. my ulpan teacher was very entertained by it the next morning.

michael and i went to the shuk on wednesday afternoon to get lots of food -- and to the supermarket thursday to then spend 360 NIS... but we made dinner last night and our friend Karen came over. the lasagna (made by michael with some assistance by rena) was SO beautifully delicious. it was great. ill get a pic up onto the pic page soon. michael and i keep taking pictures of our first meals. and i need to get the pictures up from when michael was hanging his boxers on the clothes line and they fell down to the line below us. instead of asking for them he fished them up.

annnnnnnnnnnnnnd yesterday was our first learning type day thing. we had some great sessions: jewish texts, the jewish calendar, jewish peoples in history. yes, i made up the name of the last one. but it was a great opportunity to just hear stuff. and i even contributed to some convo....great line from the talmud: shy people don't learn. crazy shit.

i really think shabbat is busier than the rest of the week and truly question what kind of "rest" we get during shabbat. buuuuuuuut michael and i were invited to dina and rachel's for dinner so we'll drop off whatever creation we make of food and then go over to Har El with a whole bunch of other people.

perhaps in the morning ill drag my ass to services bc i havent been to the synagogue they are going to - - and i want to see/experience it. and then we're all hanging out in the park for the afternoon - until nap time of course. and then havdallah wine and cheese at micol and jordan's....sweet.

wait, im in school, right? sorry i couldnt tell.

a deep deep thought

this blog thing is kind of nice. because then i never have to talk to anyone - you all can just read this shit.

yesterday i ordered a copy of the runaway bunny in hebrew...i decided i only needed one copy ?

michael and i went to the shuk today. living with a boy is SO annoying. they eat SO much. we got a frozen pizza last night and he ate 3/4 of it and i had 1/4 and we were both full. and ive easily got 20 lbs on the boy. insane shit. but right, shuk. so we got fruits and veggies and some nuts and shtuff so that i can make sure he keeps his weight on - as his mother is concerned. we had funnnnnnnn. being his wife isnt THAT bad. i talked about my ba'al, husband, in class today. my teacher was very entertained - esp when i said he has a girlfriend back in the states.

lol.
eh, country music. i miss it. and what the FUCK is with my indigo girls obsession going on right now? i mean, ill be honest, meat has been getting a lot of airtime also. so maybe im just into the music i always like.

fine.

trying to decide if im going to a wine tasting at the israel museum - 10 bucks for a bottomless wine glass and 2 hours of access to the galleries. sounds like fun i think. i gotta find out if people are going. the one weird thing about michael is that we have very different social desires...so i dont have a roommate to depend on to be my wing man at anxiety ridden type events.

i guess ill call people ... blech.

i love fizzerbeth

sharon is my biggest fan

once upon a time i had a big sister who called herself sharon
she was swell and worked in the tv business and was a producer
just babysat for my fizzerbeth for me so that i could frolic to the holy land to learn.
she was the only person who loved me enough to write messages to me.
i love her a lot.
she sings pretty songs for me on voice mail.

and she will get to see my room as soon as i clean it enough to take pictures.
i could post some drunken pics from last night though if you want?

school is cool.
so are rabbis.
and educators.
cantors are alright.

i love being vague
i love being sketchy.

WAH HA HA AHA H

i love vonage. it's the best thing since... the garden of eden.

tomorrow we pray at 8:15 am - i reminded god that i like to sleep - she said tough shit.

and then to the shuk with mikey - as we need food. as we finally cook. ill post the pics of our first meal tomorrow. we cooked. we're adorable.
he's adorable.

k, enough procrastinating from hw.

beeeeer

in good news, i never broke into hives last night.

in other good news, i drank a lot of beer.

now, they say beer is cheap here. which it is in theory. but a good ol' case of natty light is still cheapest in my book.

waking up then heading to class wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

class was fine yesterday. not working too hard -- but let's be honest -- am i here to work hard? or to play hard?
things for you to consider while i go play student.

raccoon eyes

i came home from a long day of pretending to learn and michael laughed at me. so i had to take a picture of what i look like -- apparently i finally got some sun -- and of course i had my sunglasses on...

a thought

the best part of being in school with so many rabbis? i get to help them train to be good therapists.

first day of ulpan tomorrow.

eh, nervous. exciting. we'll see how it goes. but regardless. we learn hebrew. and i want to learn hebrew. and become fluent.


and tomorrow i head over to ymca (yumcah) to check out their facilities and most likely drop 600 bucks to join for the year. but dude, they have a pool.

had a wonderful day with the grushkas today. great people. great time. good to have family like people around. and we ate well.

and i think i may learn to drink wine while im here.

important stuff, eh?

shabbbbbbbat shalom

I've realized that Friday night services ROCK and Saturday mornings SUCK
SO michael went to pray for both of us this morning and i slept in. perfect marriage. and then i cleaned up the apartment -- it's finally starting to look like home. people are telling me that some of my uncomfortable-ness with this place is that I haven't made it my home yet. so i'm working on that.

im gonna grab a quick shower (showers are never quick here - either the water has pressure and is too hot or it is cold and there is a trinkle coming out) and then michael and i are getting picked up to go hang out with donna and eli and their fam. eli's bday was the day before barbara's -- i guess it made it easier for donna to remember everyone's bdays -eh?

and then havdallah tonight - - which of course i love.

yeah yeah yeah i know i am avoiding revealing any emotions or feelings. get over it.

... great pic of a few of the ed students -- and yes, im still allergic to beer



blah blah

A photo by Seanathon of me and Emily on July 4th . . . the night before I left

Damn the man

I'm supposed to keep a journal
I'm supposed to email people to let them know what's going on with me.

Clearly there is no chance that I will manage to do either.

So Ms. Emily was kind enough to tell me where to go and what name to use, and I have a blog. Most likely for her personal entertainment.

11 months in Israel.
3 years in grad school.

Wish me luck.