Karen Goes Biking- Day 1

Many of you know that I'm begining to train for a five day bike ride here in Israel that will raise money for Progressive (Reform) Congregations, Camps and Schools. It's called the Ride 4 Reform and this is the third year that HUC students from Israel and the states, Rabbis, Cantors and Educators from Israel and the states and others will come together for the ride.

Friday was my first "official" training ride with Neil, who has graciously offered to serve as my coach while I get my riding feet wet again ("It's just like riding a bike!"). Though I am in pretty good shape, I hadn't been on a bike since I was in high school. Maybe a couple times at camp, but not since then.

So Friday morning Neil and I suited up (Yes, those are SPANDEX bike shorts I'm wearing...Rena really wanted to take pictures and I couldn't get on the bike and grab the camera from her hand at the same time!) and went for a ride around our neighborhood and the Israel museum. Some parts were hard, some were easy, all were fun. All made me realize that I need to be doing A LOT more biking to get my body in the right kind of shape for this ride.

Here's the plan: 1. Buy a bike that is the right size for me. 2. Buy some riding gloves. 3. Buy a camelback (a water pouch you wear on your back). 4. Start riding a couple days a week. 5. Bike at the gym instead of running or using the eliptical machine. 6. Start doing weights to strengthen my back so I don't hurt so much after my next ride.

You'll be hearing much more about the ride in the months to come (like how you can sponsor me!) But for now, check out the Ride 4 Reform Website.

A new post on my various-selichot experiences and pre-High Holy Days thoughts to come! Hope all are enjoying their weekends and love to all who are reading!

A New Love

Yes folks, you heard it here first. I am in love. Again.

A few weeks ago I heard the rumor that a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf would be opening in Jerusalem. Having spent most of my life on the east coast, I didn't know that on the west coast and especially for my friends in L.A., the Coffee Bean is where it's at. Starbucks is for wimps. And to seal the deal, my great friends Julia and David bragged about to me over dinner last week about Jerusalem's newest coffee establishment.

Rachel, Rena, Deb, Edie and I studied there on Monday night. I did my chevruta learning with David there today. I may be there again before Shabbat. And I definitly plan to visit the second Shabbat ends. Yes, I'm in love.

For those who visit me regularly in the Promised Land, you may be confused as I just recently confessed my love for Cafe Hillel. But the Coffee Bean has more than just great atmosphere. Their ice blendeds make Starbucks Frapachinos look like mediocre ice and powder.

I may need to add an extra gym day to make up for the ice blendeds that I see myself consuming in the coming months.

Things I love about Jerusalem: The Ultimate Mocha Ice Blended from The Coffee Bean. A little slice of the states (and heaven).

Other things I love about Jerusalem: The weekend starts at 4:00 on Thursday.

One last thing I love about Jerusalem: Finally understanding the difference between a shva na and a shva nach. Figuring out where the taam goes. And almost making my Biblical Grammer spit out her coffee after demonstrating the proper way to say the letter "ayin."

An early Shabbat Shalom from all of us here in the Promised Land. My sof hashavua (weekend) is calling! Love to all who are reading!

Homesickness and Bedwetting

At camp we used to have an orientation session for the counselors that would be working with the youngest campers. We called it "homesickness and bedwetting." Don't worry, I'm not wetting the bed. Not yet, at least.

I've been homesick for the last few days. Today someone asked me how I was and I responded, "lifesick- i miss the life I used to have." Not to be too introspective on a public site, but I've been thinking- a lot- about home and life- my life in the states and my various homes throughout my life and now my new life and home here in Jerusalem.

Andrew: You know that point in your life when you realize that
the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden
even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home
is gone.

Sam: I still feel at home in my
house.

Andrew: You'll see when you move out it
just sort of happens one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back.
It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this
rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a
new idea of home for yourself, you know, for you kids, for the family you start,
it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all
family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.

-Garden State.

Thats where I'm at right now. Missing home, but constantly learning new things about my new home. Missing my family and friends all over the world, but feeling so lucky to have people that I can call family here.

My life is calling- I need to go answer. Love to all who are reading...

Happy Quarter Century Rachel!

Yesterday was Rachel Emma's 25th birthday. We had a great time planning 25 hours of fun- and I think she had as much fun as we did. From the wild night at TOGO, to the lunchtime scavenger hunt to the surprise oneg and final surprise birthday gift...I think we made her day.

To read more about Rachel's birthday check out her blog. It has all the details.

Today was the chodshaim, tomorrow starts week #3 and we're only two weeks from the Chagim- the High Holy Days- lots to do, must sleep now. Love to all who are reading!

Happy Birthday Rosner!!

Today is the 23rd birthday of my college roommate and dear friend Rachel Anne Rosner.

If Rachel and I were together today here is what we would do:

Wake up late.
Eat breakfast in our PJs.
Go shopping.
Eat lunch at Chipotle.
Get our nails done.
Watch Oprah, TLC and 7th Heaven.
Eat Sushi.
Watch Love Actually.
Take Traffic Light shots at Cornerstone.
Go to sleep late.
Snuggle.

But we can't be together today. Nonetheless, Rach, I hope you're having a great day! I miss you!

A quick update on me: I actually attended ALL five days of school this week including the Bibllical Grammer and Cantillation classes that I missed last week. I made up my voice lesson, went to the gym and am generally back on schedule.

Tonight at Midnight begins the birthday of another Rachel, Rachel Emma Shafran, one of my newest and most wonderful friends here in the Promised Land. Rachel will be 25 tomorrow and in honor of this milestone, we have a whole day of fun planned...but I can't spill the beans yet. You'll have to wait until after Shabbat to see the pictures and read the stories from what will go down as the best 25th birthday of all time.

Tomorrow night is our first Reform Liturgy Workshop. The RLW is an opportunity for all Rabbinic and Cantorial students to lead services for the whole class. It should be a great service- mostly because my friends Joe and Rollin are leading. Afterwards we have a potluck dinner with the class followed by a birthday party for Toby, Mel's dog- he's 10! Shabbat day I'm going to a "superhero" lunch with my new 4th year friends Debra and Edie. We were requested to wear our underwear OVER our pants. Just kidding. The lunch is for "superheros," people who helped Deb and Edie out when they first arrived in Jerusalem. Should be a blast.

The birthday fun for Rachel begins tonight at TOGO (one of our favorite bars) at 9:30- lots to do before then. Love to all who are reading!

A Missing Piece

Along with moving to a foreign country comes the envitable adjustment peroid. And I've done pretty well, if I do say so myself. I shop at the shuk, the makolet (neighborhood mini-grocery store) and bakery. I know the name of the man who sells me my fruit. I eat foods whose labels I cannot read. Last week I took cold medicine and vitamins with only-Hebrew labels.
My American snobbishness is wearing off, I can feel it.

And though I'm only able to articulate it now, I knew that something was missing: my Coffee Place. For the last five years, a chunk of every week has been spent at various Coffee Establishments: College Perk in College Park, Small World Coffee in Princeton, West End Coffee in New Brunswick and the Run-of-the-mill Starbucks in Ellicott City. No matter where I've lived, I've had a coffee place to call my own. Until now.

Despite the pletora of coffee places in the Promised Land (including a new Coffee Bean!) I haven't found my place yet. Until today.

On Thursdays I have a break between 11:45 and 2:45. Today I spent my break at the Cafe Hillel on Emek Refaim. I didn't drink coffee, but I did get a sandwich and diet coke. And I sat.
I balanced my checkbook, made a to-do list, wrote Rosh HaShanah Cards, read for class and stared off into space. I people-watched the mostly English-speaking patrons. It was wonderful- the closest to perfect I can imagine in a country where I can't even read the whole menu. (Why do you think I always order the same thing?)

I had my favorite Mozerella, tomato and basil sandwich that comes with four olives in a little glass dish so you have something to spit the pits into. David Gray was playing and something just felt different- I had that "feeling"- a feeling I thought might be still be stuck at in the states somewhere. I have my place now.

It's the little victories here- like cupcake pans, unflavored dental floss and Vogue Magazine (it was 75 NIS!). And Cafe Hillel certainly was one of them today. It's the little things here that make the biggest impact.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Today is the 24th birthday of my wonderful, sweet roommate Lauren. We've known each other since we were 16 years old and on the same NFTY regional board. We live really well together and she makes my life here even better. Not to mention that her gingi Israeli boyfriend Alon is constantly fixing something in our apartment- I don't know how I would live without them and HER. Essentially, I adore her and am really happy that we live together.

Yom Huledet Sameach lashutafah sheli she'ani mamash ohevet!

Feel free to leave Lauren a birthday message on her blog.

A quick note about me: yes, I'm feeling much better thanks to the antibiotics and various vitamins. I'm almost back to my usual self and even made it to the gym today! I have Rabbinic Literature to finish, History to start, Bible to continue working on and Biblical Grammer and Cantilation to make up from last week. It's going to be a busy evening. Better get started. Love to all who are reading!

Real Life

While my blog has mostly been the highlights of my wonderful life here, I think it's only fair to also share some of the not-so-amazing stuff, the stuff of a "real" life here.

Monday night I went to sleep with an ache in my throat.

Tuesday I woke up unable to breathe out of my nose. Tuesday during the day I kept wanting to go home, but made myself make it through the day. Tuesday night I cancelled my dinner plans, loaded up on DayQuill and made myself go to choir.

Wednesday I stayed in bed. Wednesday afternoon I went to the Wolfson Medical Center (as mentioned in a former post). Dr. Levitt thought I had strep. Ran a quick strep test. Came back negative. Ran an overnight strep test and sent me home to bed.

Thursday I stayed in bed except to pick up my antibiotics when I called the lab to get my strep results: positive for non-contageous, type B strep throat.

Friday: After three doses of antibiotics and more cold medicine, vitamin C, zinc, lysine, and cough drops than one can imagine putting into their body, I was able to leave my apartment this morning for two hours- yes folks, 120 minutes, to buy school supplies, pick up laundry and eat ice cream at Dr. Lek's- my favorite ice cream place.

With more medicine and another nap, I just may be able to go to Jen's Shabbat dinner. I missed two days of school, several classes and, well, I missed home. Being sick awakens the homesick child in me, but luckily, I'm getting better and that aformentioned child, is slowly going away.

No pics, sadly, as I'm not looking all that good right now. However, you CAN see my Eilat pictures in full by clicking here! If that doesn't work, send me your email and I'll be happy to forward the pictures onto you.

Lastly, I must thank my wonderful friends who have been taking care of me since Tuesday night, calling to check on me, bringing me soft foods, taking notes for me in class and making sure I had lots to do and read while I was here. Love you all.

Hopefully Shabbat will get me back on my feet and ready for week #2 of classes! Stay well everyone... and love to all who are reading...

Tough Life, Elaborated, Part 2

Where did I leave off? Monday morning we awoke late, ate our stomachs full from the impressive Israeli buffet breakfast including eggs, shakshuka (a traditional Israeli dish of eggs and tomato sauce), a dozen salads, fresh bread, fruit, cereal, hot coffee and chocolate babka. We also practiced being Jewish mothers by filling a few plastic baggies with vegetables, cereal and cheese sandwiches for lunch.

We sat on the beach for a few hours sticking to a strict schedule of reading, playing in the ocean, listening to our respective iPods and eating ice cream. We also toasted our divine life with Pina Colatas and Strawberry daiquiris.

We left the sun during the hottest hours of the day and went to check out one of Eilat's premiere malls. I bought some new school clothes from Zara, one of my favorite non-USA stores. Rena convinced me to buy a pair of cargo-ish pants which are quickly becoming my new favorite capris. I also bought some school supplies from the Office Depot down the street including a microphone that will allow me to G-Talk with friends all over the world. For those who are Gmail users, Gtalk is a great way to speak through the internet and it's FREE!

On our way to dinner we came across a strange sign. Take a look:

We soon figured out that we had accidentally left Israel proper and were on our way into Egypt. Oooopps again. We made a quick U-turn and were soon back in Israel. We ate good fish in a mediocre fish restaurant that could have been anywhere in the states and got to sleep in our beautiful, expensive suites before Midnight.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and hit the buffet before getting back in the car. We drove a few minutes south to the Southern Beach, home of the EILAT DOLPHIN REEF. Rena had arranged for us to snorkel and swim with real, live DOLPHINS while we were on vacation. Unfortunately I don't have any digital pics of our adventure, but as with most great things, the best pictures are in my mind and memory.

We met with our instructor, got our wetsuits, snorkles, flippers and made our way to the water where we snorkeled for a half hour seeing schools of fish, a dozen dolphins, coral and the beautiful blue crystal water. The last time I snorkeled was when I was 16, so it took me a few minutes to remember how to breathe through my mouth while swimming. It was fantastic and the half hour went by so fast, I couldn't even believe it was time to get out of the water. We didn't get to touch or play with the dolphins perse, but they did swim right by us which was just amazing.

After our little wetsuit adventure, we spent the afternoon on the beach doing what we did the day before, just on a different beach. We got back to the hotel in the afternoon, took the required post-beach nap and got dressed for dinner. For our last dinner in Eilat we ate at giraffe, an Asian restaurant suggested by Alon, my roommate Lauren's boyfriend. The food was excellent and actually tasted like Asian food in the states. I had a salmon and pasta dish that was fantastic AND not hummus or falafel.

After dinner we walked around the downtown area of Eilat and finally found an outdoor cabana area/bar and spent the last of our shekels on mixed drinks and frozen daiquiris. Several drinks later we returned to the hotel to enjoy our last night of chofshi b'eilat (Vacation in Eilat).

Wednesday morning we checked out of the hotel, loaded the car and began our trip back to Jerusalem, which after four days away, actually felt like home. It's nice to feel like you're coming home after being away, even for a few days.

That was vacation. Today was the second day of classes. Eilat couldn't feel farther away. But I have a great tan, beautiful pictures and unbelievable stories- three things that still remind me of my *fabulous* chofshi kayitz in Eilat.

Jen, Rachel, Rena- I can't imagine any other people I would have wanted to spend 10 hours in a car with. Thanks for a great vacation- lets road trip it to LA when we're back in NY. That'll be fun.

That's all folks. Karen Perolman, vacation extrodinaire, signing off for now. More vacation pics to come soon, I promise- Love to all who are totally envious of my vacation.

Linkim for You

"Im" is the proper way to pluralize a hebrew masculine noun. Therefore, "link" becomes "linkim" as in many links. Hebrew grammer is fun! Next lesson: smichoot or efal verbs in the past tense. If you're lucky, we'll have you translating Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew into Modern Hebrew by the end of the year! Sorry for my Hebrew sarcasm, its been a long day mostly of, you guessed it, Hebrew.

If look to your right you will now see several links that my dear roommate added to my blog, Including her own adventures of life here in the Holy land. Several other of my classmates have given me permission to advertise their blogs including Rachel Shafran, one of my best friends here. Read away and enjoy!

A post on the second-half of vacation is in the works as you read and should be up tonight. In the mean time, I'll entertain you with this picture I found while cleaning out my "My Pictures" folder. Love to all who are reading...

Happy Birthday Joe!

Just wanted to send a quick birthday shoutout to my friend, Joseph Aaron Skloot on the occasion of his 22nd birthday. Although we were all on our different vacations on the actual day of his birth, we all had a chance to celebrate tonight with a yummy dinner (thanks to Neil and Jen for the lasagna!) and *amazing* La Cusine chcolate cake. All in all, a wonderful evening. Welcome to your 20s Joe, we're glad you made it.

In other news, today was the first day of "official" Rabbi classes. I had Hebrew, Bible and Liturgy. I also had a voice lesson. I'm completely exhausted and must finish my Hebrew homework before crashing. Will write more later/tomorrow. Love to all who are reading...

Tough Life, Elaborated

Vacation is hard work, let me tell you. Here is a recap of my *fabulous* Chofshi Kayitz (summer break) in Eilat. Depending if blogger will let me post all the pictures I want or not, I may have to post each day separately. We'll see.

Sunday: We got up early and walked to El Dan car rental where we rented our very cute teal automobile. This is Rena hugging the car- how cute. We got on the road about 9am and drove straight to Eilat, with just a few stops. We had a little trouble getting out of Jerusalem without taking a shortcut through the West Bank (don't worry Mom- we were in the "safe" part) We stopped at Kibbutz Lotan to drink some of their yummy chocolate milk and at a few other Kibbutzim looking for bathrooms and water. Finally around 3pm we arrived in beautiful and hot Eilat. We got to our hotel only to be informed that they were overbooked. Then the manager came out and asked if we would MIND being upgraded into their newly-renovated suites...we quickly said YES and walked upstairs to see our gorgeous suits complete with King sized beds, two balconies, an outdoor jacouzzi, two TVs and a glass shower. We later found out that these rooms usually got for $480 a night! We settled into our rooms and took a walk on the beach before heading out to Santa Fe, Eilat's premier Mexican resturant. After spending almost two months in Jerusalem, I was quickly reminded that all resturants are not kosher which some of us enjoyed greatly. We toasted the begining of our vacation with some frozen drinks- something I had been missing in J'lem! I had the closest thing to a bean burrito possible in this country and went to sleep well-fed and happy. I think it was the first time in weeks that I was in bed before midnight and didn't have to wake up at 6:45am.
It was heavenly. And Sex and the City was on as I went to sleep (with Hebrew subtitles of course!!) No one set an alarm. The hebrew word for perfect is mooshlam, a good way to describe our first day in Eilat. More to come...love to all who are wishing that they were on vacation with me. :)