The Weepies

Shalom from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!

Another Shabbat has flown by. It was a great Shabbat, and I finally felt the kids come together as a group. When Shabbat ended, I discovered ten million things I have to do before I can go to Cornell and that took away my calm post-Shabbat feeling, but I am taking care of things.

I would like to share some lyrics by the Weepies that I feel are appropriate for this point in my life. The song is called "Can't Go Back Now" and it is a very beautiful melody that I don't believe is supposed to be depressing. I think it is a little wistful, but not sad. Listen and read for yourself:

Yesterday, when you were young,
Everything you needed done was done for you.
Now you do it on your own
But you find you're all alone,
What can you do?

You and me walk on
Cause you can't go back now.

You know there will be days when you're so tired that you can't take another step,
The night will have no stars and you'll think you've gone as far as you will ever get

But you and me walk on
Cause you can't go back now
And yeah, yeah, go where you want to go
Be what you want to be,
If you ever turn around, you'll see me.

I can't really say why everybody wishes they were somewhere else
But in the end, the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself

And you and me walk on
Yeah you and me walk on
Cause you can't go back now

Meet Me In New Mexico

Shalom from Albuquerque, New Mexico!

Where did I leave off? Yes, it was Tisha B'Av. We went to the Museum of Tolerance and learned about injustice in the world and heard a Holocaust survivor's story. She was incredible. At the end, she talked about her beautiful grand children and said AM YISRAEL CHAI! And I almost cried. It was beautiful. The people of Israel do live!!

Then we went to Beit Tshuva and heard from people who have had crazy lives who are currently undergoing rehab for various addictions. Their stories were inspirational also but in a scary, let's-learn-from-their-mistakes kind of way.

Then we went to Rodeo, Hollywood Blvd, and Olvera St, where the only thing to do is buy things. Tali and I had a great time with our Starbucks and we just chilled because let's be honest those places are just fake and full of fake people or people like us who just want to see it because it's famous.

The next day, we WENT TO DISNEYLAND! For a whole 12 hours. Meir came with us and the kids were nosey but it was still amazing. I loved everything about that magical day. It was the happiest place on earth, and I went on all the great rides and ate veggie gumbo and I loved every minute of it.

The next day, we went to Universal and went on the Mummy twice because it made my heart race in a fun way and the other staff members wanted to. Then we did the studio tour because it seemed cool but Tali fell asleep and then got woken up by dinosaur vomit. She describes it as "the worst experience of her entire life." It took about eight hours. I then fell asleep on her lap while she ate lunch.

Then we went to Pico Blvd and there were lots of Jewish places and I saw Meir's high school and his street! It was exciting to put a "face" to the place. We ate lunch at Eilat Burger and I heard HEBREW which I had MISSED!

Then we went to Santa Monica Pier and I just had a chill night with Aaron and some girls who came to visit him. It was really nice.

On Friday, I fell asleep on my stomach on a blanket on Huntington Beach for two and a half hours. The back of my legs could have heated a house in the Rochester winter for approximately a week.

Then we did grocery shopping and Shabbat prep in Irvine, CA. We had a great Israel Shabbat. I put fun facts about Israel on each room's door and we discussed them, I told them the story of Gilad Shalit (and I couldn't get them to stop asking questions or making comments!), I did my Torah study with them on Ve'etchanan which was also a big success, and in general it was just wonderful. Each kid decorated a piece of construction paper with his or her prayer for Israel and we put them up all together in the davening room to create a Bus C Kotel and I drew a mural of the skyline of Jerusalem, which was so accurate and colorful that it made me homesick.

Sad, but beautiful, that I feel homesick for Jerusalem.

On Sunday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. The staff and I went on a bus tour of the zoo because we wanted to see everything great and we did and we had a fun tour guide named Kelly and I saw so many kittens! I saw lion kittens and tiger kittens and leopard kittens and cheetah kittens and jaguar kittens and bear kittens and puma kittens and mountain lion kittens and apparently lemurs act like kittens so lemur kittens too!

After the zoo, we went to Seaport Village and did Havdalah there. It was really nice and I found a great spot to read The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible by Jonathan Kirsch, my new favorite favorite book.

We went back to Irvine to eat dinner and I stayed back from laundry to stay with a girl who wasn't feeling well, and Cathy and Arielle came over!! It was so nice to see them and talk about growing up and Judaism and Israel and Rochester and everything.

On Monday we headed out to the Grand Canyon. We had girls bonding and the girls loved it. We talked about the way we see ourselves, our dream men, our fears, regrets. Beautiful.

We woke up at 4:30 am to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. It wasn't incredible, but it was cool to daven Shacharit as the sun fought its way through the clouds. Then we went on a hike! I stood up for myself and said I wanted to go on the long hike so I did! JJ and I held down the fort for 2 and a half hours. I talked with the kids who walked with me about Israel and politics and they needed my guidance! I ate it up.

Then I would have gone back to the cabins for a nap like everyone else, but a girl was still not feeling well so I went to the Grand Canyon Clinic with her for two hours and didn't sleep and just watched her semi-pointless interactions with the semi-creepy doctors there.

Today, we drove from the Canyon to Albuquerque. It is a pretty drive. When we got here, there were torrential downpours. Everyone got off the bus at Old Town but I stayed on with two kids so we could go to the hospital. We were there for F. O. U. R. hours. We had an awesome time though, and nothing was too wrong with either of them, so we crocheted, played two truths and a lie, I told them a forbidden story of the Bible which they loved (check out Tamar and Judah! it's steamyyyy), and we talked about the new conversion bill in Israel.

When we got out of the hospital, we called a cab and walked a few blocks (thank goodness I am practically a GPS) to get fries, which were bad, but we were hella hungry. Then the taxi picked us up and he told us about New Mexico and we went to the Hinkle Family Fun Center which was pretty fun but like not that great because I felt dirty touching the bumper cars and go-karts. Fun times.

Now I have free internet and that is great! Laila tov!

Hundredth Post!!!!

Shalom from Los Angeles, California!

Let us celebrate this 100th blog post with some fun information about Crater Lake, OR, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Castroville, CA!

Crater Lake: soooo beautiful! Perfectly clear water, old dormant volcanoes, gorgeous sunrise, cloudless sky, ten million mosquitoes per square foot. We called it the Mosquito Massacre. After bed check, staff went star gazing and saw the whole Milky Way. Jake and I saw a shooting star and I wouldn't have believe it but we reacted the same way at the same time. It was biblical!

Sacramento: We did laundry at an air conditioned laundromat with several flat screen tvs playing bad movies, and I got a lot of work done. After the kids went to bed, my friend Shelby from Pilgrimage came to visit! She brought a bag of healthy snacks and we just talked for a few hours. It was great because I hate the feeling of saying good bye and thinking, I'll never see you again. So this was reassuring.

San Francisco: Beautiful Shabbat. The kids are getting the swing of things! I was impressed with the service leaders and Torah readers. The ruach songs almost moved me to tears again on Satuwrday night. Then we volunteered at the AIDS WALK!!! Most memorable day of the trip by far. I posed with pictures with drag queens and everyone was so inspired. I've never seen the kids so energized about anything! Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf and it was nice.

Now we are in LA! It is Tisha BAv so we are busy commemorating all the bad things that happened in Jewish history. Toodles!

The Story of Oregon

Shalom from Portland, Oregon!

The Story of Oregon begins in Seattle. We went to an underground tour and we were informed (by a strung-out grungy tour guide man who was clearly high at 8:30 am and also clearly brilliant) all about the inner workings of 19th century drunken loggers and their syphilis-infested interactions with suicidal crack whores. It was a lot.

From the bowels of Seattle, we were off to the beautiful mountains of Oregon. We stopped at an Alpaca farm on the way to Portland which was a big hit all around and everyone from home who knows I am "scared" of dogs would have never guessed because there was a big fluffy doggy named Maggie and I was playing with her and we were having so much fun. I fed Alpacas and all the kids love love loved it.

Then we had a yummy dinner at the hotel and headed off to my very own personal heaven: Powell's City of Books, one city block squared worth of new and used books. I was overwhelmed at first and then settled into the Judaism/Israel section and found two great books. So happy!

Now we are having a staff meeting and since I'm not in charge of any meals and we're doing restocking orders, I have time to write this on a hotel pad, even though I really just want to shower, read my books, call Meir, and go to sleep on my broken sleep number bed in my room that reeks of smoke.

Laila tov!

Nativ

Shalom from Seattle, Washington!

Today we saw a really pretty snowy mountain, forest and fog that looked like Forks from Twilight, went to the top of the Space Needle, made a music video and jammed at the Experience Music Project, walked around downtown Seattle and Pike Place public market, ate at a vegetarian/Kosher Chinese restaurant, pooped our brains out because of the food at the vegetarian/Kosher Chinese restaurant, had some free time, and davened.

Thennnnnn BECKY CAME TO VISIT ME! It was glorious. She smelled like Becky and she brought Bamba and she was wearing a shirt from Miri and she talked about all the girls we lived with in Yerucham and we reminisced for an hour and a half. I love her. It was so hard to say good bye. I miss Nativ/Yerucham/Rumps Ringa/Israel/Jerusalem/Beit Nativ/everyone so much.

Everything Happened

Shalom from Spokane, Washington, Capital of Bus C Catastrophes.

Today was Yom Superhero. We dressed in really cool outfits I made the night before and were all five Power Rangers. We drove through Idaho, picked cherries on a beautiful farm in Washington, went to Carr's One of A Kind in the World Museum where everything was one of a kind and you could touch it (we sat in the front seat of one of Elvis's cars and hugged a stuffed version of the largest black bear). Then we went to the Riverfront Park in Spokane where Tali and I got baby ice cream cones, someone yelled "GO GO" to us as we walked by in our Power Rangers outfits, and we played on a giant red wagon.

We got to the hotel. We unloaded the suitcases. An SUV pulled up to the suitcases, pulled one into the car, and drove off. Andrew remembered the license plate number, but when he called the po, it didn't match with the vehicle description. Then we found out that it happened to the best mannered kid on the bus, and he was super chill about it, thank God. Everyone else was so spun up you have no idea.

Then a girls' room flooded. I mean, it REALLY flooded. I don't know what they were trying to flush, I don't want to know, I just know it flooded.

The hotel didn't grasp the urgency of the situation. A clerk even admitted those words later, as we were all laughing deliriously about the bad luck.

Then the flood leaked into the boys' room directly below it. The dirty toilet water. Flooding from the ceiling. Dear lord.

Then we realized tomorrow begins the new Jewish month of Av, so services would have to be about an extra hour, give or take. I can't wait to wake up at 5:30 am.

Then we sent our kids to bed. Most of the girls were dealing with boy drama and some were crying. Most of the boys were in trouble for not wearing kippot or talking or other shenanigans I can't even believe I'm dealing with.

Now Tali and I are showering/ritually cleansing ourselves to prepare for the day to come. Can't wait for Seattle!

PS. Last night, I went to clean up our dining room and found a hotel worker modeling a yellow lacy bra (written on the cups in purple: LAKERS and KOBE, given as a Shabbat gift to someone mourning LeBron's move to Miami or something like that) over his shirt and wearing a red cowboy hat that we left on one of the tables. It was amazing.

Al Kol Eileh

Shabbat made me miss everything. I missed my Wheels bus, I missed Pilgrimage, I missed high school, I missed skating, I missed Rochester, I missed my car, I missed my family, I missed my pets, I missed Israel and Nativ more than I can describe.

Every song a memory. It killed me to sing the slow Shabbat songs, but it was so beautiful and the kids look so angelic when they sing them too.

It was a long, hard day. Except for those few moments when the kids were singing the slow and calm songs, they were little demons. Tali and I let loose by crashing a wedding at the hotel and then we made Power Rangers outfits for Yom Super which is happening tomorrow. Woohoo!

Laila tov.

Bless the sting and bless the honey
Bless the bitter and the sweet.

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

Shalom from Missoula, Montana!

This has to be a short post because I don't have much time to prepare for Shabbat, but here's the story:

After I last wrote, we went to the Corn Palace (it's hard to explain..), Badlands National Park to play for a bit, Wall Drug (a really funny town made up mainly of Western souvenir stores), and Mount Rushmore (cool and beautiful, smaller than you'd expect). We spent a night in Rapid City, South Dakota, which was nice, and I got some swim time in which was really important for my physical/mental health. We got up SO early because we were driving to Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, and on the way there we watched The Laramie Project, about a brutal hate crime in Laramie, Wyoming. It was an amazing movie, and the scenery in it was just like what was outside the bus windows, but it kind of made me hate Wyoming a little bit.

Anyway, Yellowstone is AMAZING!!!! Bison are EVERYWHERE!!! The hot springs/geysers/Old Faithful are AWESOME! And the smell of sulfur doesn't bother me (in fact it kind of reminds me of Israel, which is great/sad) so it was really cool. We saw deer and elk too! I was in indigenous fauna heaven. I love that stuff. We stayed there for two nights in nice little cabins, did a really great bonding program with the group about obstacles, and prayed in nature. We also had discussion groups and I talked with my group about Theodicy, and it was a deep and intense discussion.

Today, we drove out of Yellowstone and here we are in Montana. It's so beautiful here. Every moment on Wheels makes me miss my group of friends from Bus D 2007, and I wish so badly they were with me on this Shabbat. I love you girls.

Shabbat Shalom!

Amurrica

Shalom from Sioux Falls, South Dakota!

Today, we rose early, davened at Camp Chi, ate a delicious breakfast there, slept soundly on the bus for several hours, went to the Spam Museum in Minnesota, and then finally arrived in Sioux Falls, where we did laundry and improv games.

It was a fun day, and I got a lot of much needed rest on the bus. The kids were loud, but it's always good when they're having fun. They are coupling off by this point and it's very interesting to see, like a social experiment. So far it's pretty light, which is nice for staff members.

Other than that, all I can say is that I'm enjoying myself a lot, trying to eat healthy and stay clean, hanging with my co counselors and starting to get very close with some of the kids. We have a good bunch!

Laila tov!

Wisconsin!

Shalom from Wisconsin!!

Today was a super fun and exhausting day, starting with an early wake up, a drive from Chicago, a fun time at a Water/Theme Park with an Ancient Greece Theme (Tali and I had the time of our lives on the underground Hades roller coaster), a barbecue at Camp Chi, and some bonding around a campfire.

After Pittsburgh last week, we were off to Cleveland where we played by a giant rubber stamp, hung out in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, visited a host synagogue, dropped our kids off with host families, and celebrated staff independence at a really nice hotel!

From Cleveland, we went straight to Chicago where we toured Navy Pier, ate at Ken's Diner, and had a Bus C Bar Mitzvah at our host synagogue. After the Wheelniks were dropped off with their hosts, staff had a party at Jake's house in Chicago and I read a book because I was tired and the book was good. Also we met Jake's two dogs, frog named Jules, turtle named Toady, and his whole family. Then we were very exhausted, especially me, and we went to our really nice hotel to sleep.

On Friday, we had one of the coolest days ever. We went to the bean in Millenium Park in Chicago for pictures, then we went to the Jewish Council for Urban Affairs to learn about worker injustice in the hotels in Chicago. Then the kids made signs and made up chants. We heard stories from hotel workers who have been on strike for SEVEN YEARS trying to get a fair living wage and health care. Their stories were incredibly powerful. The kids were really moved and got really into it. Finally, it was time to get in the picket line!!! They sang loud and proud about justice and it was AWESOME. Then everyone stood on corners and handed our fliers with information on them about the strike to passersby, and it was so amazing to see. I was so proud. Every person got into it in their own way, even those kids who don't usually participate in programs. I was soooo happy!

Then we prepared for Shabbat by grocery shopping (which is RIDIC when you're shopping for 51 people and making sure every single thing is certified kosher), washing, dressing, decorating, and finally it was time for services. Shabbat services were nice but we have a long way to go. I was proud of the people who stepped up to lead but at the same time, I was disappointed in the people who said they didn't know enough to lead and then did not even pay attention to try to learn more.

On Saturday, I led my first discussion with a group of 12 kids about God and Theology. They got so into it! We lost track of time and were 20 minutes late to lunch. I learned so much from them.

The most notable moment of Saturday, however, has to be the Girls' Bonding program on Saturday night. It's kind of a circle-of-trust thing, though, so I can't tell you what we did or what was said. I will just say this: everyone has a story, everyone has pain, and everyone has so much beauty inside them. The girls got so close in just one hour, and it was really moving. Tali did a beautiful job leading it with me as well, and I was so glad she was there. All the girls were truly inspiring.

This is what makes it worth it. I love bus C!