The Big 2-5

Happy 25th to me! I think I began to experience my quarter life crisis this morning, on the very day of the anniversary of my birth. I had some drama in my ulpan this morning, which led to me being demoted to Kitah Aleph (the first level hebrew class), which I am NOT happy about. I won't bore you with the details, but basically I was pushed down a level so some other people could get into Kitah Bet, where all of us belong. It's a long story, which makes me too angry and sad to write about, but ask me sometime and I'll fill you in. It's definitely worth hearing about. I'm hoping to be switching back to the Bet class after a day or 2.

Then, after I had walked home crying (I cry when I'm really angry--I hate that) I learned that the cantorial students had music theory today, which began at 2:00. I found out about the class at 1:59, when Steph got home, so I wiped off my face and ran back out the door. For some reason, nobody told me we had class today. Luckily, the prof was very nice and understanding, and was only meeting with us privately to talk about our theory skills and listen to us sight-sing. I was also introduced to my first taste of sight-singing using Fixed Do, which is an incredibly frustrating system when you've spent the last 8 years learning Movable Do (let me know if you want to know the difference.) I'll be fine with it, but it's definitely going to take some getting used to.

I spent the rest of the day just hanging out by myself, which I needed to do to cool off and calm down a bit. A group of us then went out to dinner at Spaghettim, a great Italian restaurant near Ben Yehudah street, which was wonderful. I was finally able to let go of my anger and just have fun on my birthday, which is exactly what I wanted. The gang bought me dinner and dessert and I had a fantastic time with my HUC family. I had been wanting a new tallit (prayer shaw), and even though I have 2 at home that I rarely wear, I decided to buy myself a new one as a birthday present. This one is made from gorgeous pink organza, with purple and red stripes on the sides. I also bought a tikkun (a book with the whole Torah, with vowels on one side to learn from and no vowels on the other side to practice with before you actually read from the Torah), which I'm happy to own. The whole evening made my day so much better and put me in a much better state of mind. Thanks, friends!

Yesterday, we hosted a very fun birthday party for the 3 consecutive birthdays this month: Steph (July 15), Sara (July 16) and me (July 17). We had a happy hour-style party, with drinks and snacks and a lot of people in our tiny apartment. I'm so happy we celebrated together and that so many people could join us. Here are some of my favorite pics from the party, and some pics from dinner tonight.



The birthday girls! Sara, me, and Steph. I don't know where the hat came from, but I kind of love it.
Our delicious triple chocolate mousse birthday cake! It was delicious.
Making birthday wishes. Erin and Batya's 17-month-old daughter Carlie is helping us blow out the candles.My HUC family at my birthday dinner, minus Steph, who was taking the picture. I love these guys!

Thank Gd that I have these amazing people to make my day better. They helped to give me a very happy birthday, which I am thankful for. You guys are the best! There's been lots of other stuff going on that I am going to try to write about tomorrow. Until then, lots of love from J'lem!