First time for everything

Several exciting things have happened in the past week.

#1 Had my first little gathering /party in my house.

#2 Attended "Lord of the Dance"

#3 Working on other foreign languages

#4 Emailed a member of Knesset


Let's begin with #1:  L'Chaim

This past shabbat was the 25th anniversary of the hubby's Bar Mitzvah.  It was also a few days after his birthday and we have yet to host a party,  so we decided this was the time.  Now,  I almost sent a WhatsApp to our neighborhood group,  but then I remembered that there are seriously a lot of people in that group.  Instead,  I decided to enlist the help of a friend,  who seems to have the role of neighborhood organizer.  I asked her if she could invite the usual people that we meet with every week on shabbat.  This was two fold.  First,  this way I wouldn't leave anyone out from the usual group.  I'm notorious for that,  so apologies to everyone I've done that to in the past.  Always unintentional.  The second reason was so that I wouldn't have to send a Hebrew text to a lot of people where they would all be seeing my grammar.  Instead I just sent those to one person and I let her sort it out.

Anyway,  all went well.  One neighbor made a few deserts and I made and purchased enough deserts and liquor for about thirty people,  even though only about ten were here,  plus kids.  We had a nice little l'chaim,  kids had fun playing with the neighbors,  and my ulpan class was pretty happy to receive the leftover cake.

#2 Lord of the Dance
I have always wanted to see Lord of the Dance.  I lived in NYC for a few years and then very close to the city.  But rarely went to see anything.  Apparently I needed to move to Israel in order to catch a performance of this show.  Well,  let me tell you.  It was amazing. My ulpan bestie ordered tickets for six of us,  and we had a fun adults night out.

And by adult  I mean that we acted like teenagers at the ice cream place.  Then we got to the show and acted basically the same.  This included the part where the men came out without their shirts on.  Let's just say that I was sitting on the second row and I got quite a view.  I'm very cultured now.  I'm just saying that I sat through a lot of scenes where the girls were barely wearing clothing.  So when the guys came out without shirts,  the woman two seats down from me started furiously clapping and whistling.

And they asked everyone to put their phones away.  Which is the opposite of what my friend behind me did.  Because all of a sudden after the show she had about twenty pictures. So now I'm stealing her photos to share with you.

#3  Working on my other languages
Okay,  I get it that it's winter.  And I'm probably next.  But my Ulpan class is seriously like the hot zone.  Everyone is always coughing and sneezing.  I've mastered how to say Bless You in English,  Hebrew and French.  And apparently saying it in Dutch is the same as Yiddish.  So now I've moved onto learning how to say it in Ukrainian and Portuguese.  Because don't you think I should bless everyone in my class in their native language?  Well,  let me tell you.  My family might have Ukrainian roots,  but apparently I don't have a knack for Ukrainian words.  But on the other hand,  the two girls teaching it to me had a few nice laughing fits.  Us dumb Americans! I did a bit better in Portuguese.  Good thing I have many opportunities to practice in class.  I can't say that ulpan teacher was that pleased to hear us doing this.  But we reminded her that we were speaking in Hebrew,  so yay us!

#4 Knesset
If you've been reading my blog,  you are well aware that I have an odd fascination with Sofa Landver,  minister of absorption and aliyah.  Or whatever her exact title is.  And you know that she was invited to a building dedication tomorrow in my town.  The building where I attend ulpan is a new building and they are  holding this whole ceremony tomorrow.  Anyway,  I was told that she was invited but that she is not coming.

I was not that pleased with that answer,  because I really like her.  So,  yesterday I decided to take matters into my own hands and send her an email.  I went onto Facebook and found her page and sent her a message.  We'll,  lo and behold, she messaged me back.  My first message from a member of government.  The following is our conversation.  Excuse the grammar.  I am in the red.


שלום!  אני סטודנטית באולפן במודיעין.  לפני חודש/חודשיים,  ראיתי אותה ושמעתי אותה ביום העולה.  אחרי הטקס הזה,  אני חושבת שאת החברה הכנסת הכי טובה.  אני יודעת שאת הזמנת לחנוכת הבית באולפן במודיעין.  אנו נהיה מאוד מאוד   שמחים אם את יכולה לבוא.  14  בדצמבר תודה לך

תודה רבה על מילים חמות. לצערי לא קיבלתי הזמנה. בהצלחה. הצלחתכם היא הצלחתי

חבל שלא הזמנת.  הם אמרו לי שאת הזמנת.  אנו מדברים כל הזמן על הדיבור שלך.  תודה רבה.

You can Google translate it if you want.  Basically,  I told her that I am a new immigrant studying in ulpan and that I heard her speak on Aliyah Day and that she is now my favorite member of parliament.  And that I know she was invited to this building dedication and that we would be so happy if she would attend.  She thanked me for my words and said that she was not invited to come.  I replied that that is a shame and that I talk about her speech all of the time.

Now,  getting back to me.  I know that it's 2016 and it isn't that unusual to get a tweet or a message or whatever from a member of the government.  But this was my first time (except for when George Bush the elder sent me a fake letter for passing the presidential fitness test in elementary school).  So yay me. Hopefully I'll get her to come to an event in the future.  מגיע כפיים!