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!