Looking Forward

I’m now two weeks into second semester, and I think I’m ready for another vacation. Happily, the upcoming visitors should help me get through the almost-spring stretch more happily. I was outside this morning, enjoying the beautiful weather: today it’s sunny and cloudless, and somewhere around or above 60 degrees. I noticed that at the same time, it’s about 14 degrees at home. Granted, it’s the middle of the day here already and it was still earlier than anyone should be out-and-about at home, but still…that’s farther apart than our weather has been this year that I can remember. (Yes, Dad, I know you were at work already. I don’t really count your waking hours as normal though.)

My Google countdown tells me I go home in 109 days. As I was sort of hoping would happen, I’m having mixed feelings about those 109 days. I really, really am looking forward to going home and seeing everyone and being back in the US. But 109 days doesn’t seem very long, and there’s also still a lot more I want to do here. I guess I should get down to enjoying my next 109 days and getting everything out of this year that I want to.

That said, I’m also already looking forward to heading to Cincinnati at the end of the summer. The HUC deans of each of the campuses just visited us here in Jerusalem. We had more time divided by campus than we have yet this year, and I really enjoyed it. The dean of the Cincinnati program is great; he’s friendly, helpful, and easy to talk to. The group of us heading to Cincy is an amazing group; I like all of them, and I’m really excited that I’ll be spending the next four years with such a great portion of my classmates. There are also frequent discussions about visiting NYC and LA, to see my friends on those campuses, of course. When I met with the Cincinnati dean, he pulled out a goody bag that he had brought for each of us. I am now the proud owner of an HUC Cincinnati t-shirt, at least until I find someone who might fit into it more effectively; a Cincinnati Reds bumper sticker, which I would be really excited about if I liked baseball…or had a car…; a packet of chili mix, which I will definitely be making use of; a Procter and Gamble stress ball; and a piece of Grater’s chocolate. Which reminds me that I’ve been meaning to eat that chocolate. In a visit of a few days, we got excited about where we’re headed in the fall and got more information on the city that will be my home for four years. I’ll be leading Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at a congregation somewhere in the middle of the country. I’ll have a student pulpit, where one weekend a month, I’ll visit and be The Rabbi. I’ll be teaching Religious School again. I’ll also be taking lots more classes, which I have heard are much more intense than the Year-in-Israel program, but also in English. Not to wish away the rest of my time in Israel or the summer, but I’m also excited for everything that awaits me in Cincinnati. I guess it’s good to have lots of things to look forward to.

I also have one more thing to get excited about, that’s also in the future but not quite as far away. I’ve mentioned my Passover trip to the Former Soviet Union, at least once or twice. I got my group assignment and location assignment! My immediate group is my friends Josh and Hayley. Josh was in the Barcelona group in August and headed to Cincy with me, and Hayley is another fun friend who will be a great travel buddy. We are psyched to have been grouped together. They’re the people I will be leading seders and programs with, but we also get a couple of touring days at the end of the program with the other people in our country. There are about 12 of us going to the same country, and they’re all great! I know that sounds silly, but I’m looking forward to touring around with people who I don’t often spend tons of time with, but who I really like from the little time we have spent together. Where am I going? I am in the Polotzk-Vitebsk group, traveling in Belarus. Our free days at the end will be in Minsk. Feel free to start passing on suggestions of things to visit, and any information you may have on Minsk family history, PLEASE share!! There will be lots of pictures and probably lots of stories.

Now that I have about an hour before I have to get ready for Shabbat, I’m considering attacking some homework. Or responding to some of the zillion emails I have been neglecting. Or one of the other things on the page long to-do list. Shabbat shalom!