Pitor and Pastries

The program is DONE! I am a bit in denial right now, I can't believe that this year is over. Where did all the time go? I feel like just yesterday, I showed up on campus a few days before school to meet Josh, Yonatan and Josh's Mom for a campus tour. How did we get here? How did we finally get to the last day of this program? The program that I uprooted my life for, moved 6,000 miles across the globe for and ended up meeting my soulmate because of? (wow, that sentence is super awkward, but you get the point, right?)

Surreal how time flies. If only the next 59 days will go as fast, I'll be a happy and P"G married lady.

I don't know where to begin, it's overwhelming. First, the amount of work that I still need to do before the wedding and second, the fact that now I have to write my thesis (and finish up a bunch of other stuff like papers and finals).

OK, Monday I spent the day trying to get organized! I wanted to put all of my Aliyah papers, bills and school stuff in one place. I hate when I feel that I'm all cluttered. So, I walked to the Mall and went to Kravitz and Happenings to buy some supplies. I also got some masking tape and pens for the boxes that I will inevitably pack for the move. Granted, I still need to hire movers, but that's another story. Anyway, after loading up on some supplies, I headed back to the apartment to get myself organized. I was also thrilled to get the letter from Bar Ilan that says I'm patur from one of the Jewish Class requirements. As part of the University requirements for a Masters, you must have at least 2 of these courses. Since I'm taking Professor Harvey's course this year, and with my new pitur based on my transcript from my days at Seminary, I'm done with the requirement! (Woohoo, provided of course that I pass Professor Harvey's final That will leave 2 courses and my thesis until I get my Masters!) Anyway, the day went by pretty quickly, I read some stuff for the last class, made my lunch, bought some Peppridge Farm cookies for the party and went to bed.

Tuesday was hot, I mean, it's getting steamy hot in this Country. When I got into the elevator I almost threw up, the stench of bad milk and body odor was overwhelming. As usual, I got to class too early so I set up the room, took out the cookies and just waited. I was a little nervous about workshopping my final story, but I was hoping people would give me really helpful criticism. Fortunately, majority of the comments were very on point and I think I have a lot to go on for the rewrite. Sometimes, I know in my head what I want to come out at the end of the story, it just takes a while until I can get there. I hope to get there sooner rather than later. After we workshopped, the food came out and I was in awe at the selection. How did everyone know just what I like to eat and just what I can't eat on the diet? I mentioned to Michael Kramer how much I wanted to graze through the box of pastries but because of my wedding lent it was offlimits. Michael chuckled at the phrase and said that I keep teaching him some new terms. I laughed cause he hasn't read any of my new stories; he's in for quite an education.

Let me discribe the contents of the party table for y'all, and especially for the benefit of Cousin Neil who is pretty much the only other person I can think of who would appreciate the spread, and you can understand why this pepper/protein muncher was in awe: 1 large bag of potato chips, air popped popcorn, 2 tins of brownies, a bunt cake, a container of pastires that included my favorite cinnamon buns and rugalach, the 2 boxes of Pepperidge Farm cookies I brought, some English eight mints (I think that's what they were called) that Lisa pulled out of her pantry and loads of drinks. I was okay as long as I stayed in my seat with my red pepper in hand. Man, I just wanted to pull the bag of potato chips into my lap and go to town. There is nothing I miss more than mindless crunching of the potato chip. I wouldn't have been so frustrated if I was starting to see some results on the scale but I'm still stuck at the same weight! Its been 2 weeks now and I'm getting pretty nervous that the numbers ain't budging. I started added more exercise, mixing up my eating habits, switching from my watermellon to low-sugar content fruit and I'm praying that my plateu will end soon. Buggy told me to stop stressing, that I'll still look great at the wedding, but I'm not doing this for the gown. I'm doing this for the honeymoon! If I'm supposed to be in a bathing suit for an entire week, I sure as heck don't want not cellulite or a beer belly hanging out over my bikini bottom. That just ain't attractive!

We had another guest writer join us for the last Jewish Arts Seminar and, well, I think I might have been a bit hard on him. I feel a little bad about my questions, but I am not an mystery genre enthusiast. In fact, I pretty much abhor the genre and find it tedious. It's like Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picault novels - they all follow the same successful formula that appeals to a certain demographic of readers which makes it a commercial success. When I asked Michael Wiley, whose novel The Last Striptease has a picture of a Vietnamese prostitute on the cover, why he thinks people like the genre I didn't really get such a satisfactory response. In fact, I don't even remember what he said, I just remember that it didn't really answer my question well. Pesonally, I would have preferred we not have Michael Wiley come as a guest speaker at our last class, and had more of a wrap up to the program. I felt very flat when I left the room, as if we just had this intense year and there was no completion. To borrow a term from the course - there was no narrative completion - and if this were a story I was writing, I would have to go back and tweak the ending. I'm meeting with Allen Hoffman on Sunday to discuss my stories and my thesis proposal, so I'm going to also ask him what they did in prior years at the end of the program.

So, I got home yesterday a bit dazed and then it dawned on me - 2 months until the wedding! And, I started to get really hyper. I called some friends in the States and talked like a mile a minute, I went online and did some more searches for bride hairdo's cause I have no CLUE what I'm doing with my hair for the wedding, and then I kept calling Buggy to scream excitedly at him that we're getting hitched in 60 days. I finally exhausted myself around Midnight, which was good, because I had to be up at 7:00 a.m. for Kramer's 10:00 a.m. class.

I woke up at 3:30 in the morning, drenched in sweat, mouth dry and dehydrated. My chest was covered in sweat, with trickles already started to pool and soak around the waistband of my shorts. My sheets, which has been twisted around me, were sticked to my body and stained. My pillow was soaked through and some of the purple thread of my new sheets had bled into the white. Oh, check out my new sheets! I got up and went into the bathroom to clean myself off and was shocked that I was covered since my AC was at 21C! That should have been cool enough to keep me comfortable all night. Well, when my alarm went off at 7:00, I was wiped. I really couldn't think about getting out of bed and going to school. I promised Buggy I would call to wake him, so I sent him an SMS and then tried to snooze. Guilt finally got me up and out of bed and I managed to shower and get dressed and leave the apartment in plenty of time. Class today was good, so it was well worth it to come. We're discussing Holocaust literature and compared two short stories by Cynthia Ozick and Melvin Jules Bukiet. I highly recommend both stories, if only for the contrast in characters and style.

We got to Professor Harvey's class and the attendance was really, really sparse. I sent around the attendance sheet and settled in for the lecture. Since he's going to be in Spain next week, we only have one more class of the year and so we had to really focus on the texts. The class wasn't as exciting as usual, but it was interesting nonetheless. I found myself listening to the material more for the test purposes and less because I was interested. I think the stress of the exam is really starting to get to me, especially since we have to now decide on a Moed Gimmel date. Part of me wants it over with before the wedding, but with the move coming up, I think I might have to suck it up and take the test in September. We'll have to see.

As for tonight, I'm hoping to meet up with Oren and Rachel to find out about their trip to Manhattan and pick up the extra invitations Mom sent through them. I also want to pack a suitcase with some shoes and clothing and move them into Buggy's apartment. I figure the less stuff I have to move in a few weeks, the less stressed out I'll be. As for tomorrow, I've got loads to do starting with a huge mound of laundry, packing, figuring out what I'm wearing for Shabbat and the wedding we have on Friday, meeting with Rachel and Oren (if we don't meet up tonight) and pull together stuff for my meeting with Professor Hoffman and the neurologist appointment I have on Monday. I'm staying in Jerusalem through Monday afternoon, so I have to make sure I have everything with me for such a long stay.

And, before I foget, I have got to start a wedding countdown and moving to Israel for good list. That includes last minute shopping excursions and asking Mom and Dad to start stocking up on Crystal Light for me. This new pink lemonade I've been drinking is fabulous!

Oh, and if anyone else but me is hooked on the new Rihana song Umbrella, I feel your pain. It's an annoyingly addictive song and I can't wait for it to not be on the radio playlists in this Country.

Crave of the Day is a hush puppy. I absolutely adore a hotdog, covered in mashed potatoes and then wrapped in a knish bun! Dipped in mustard, it's heaven! Unfortunately, it's definitely not part of the diet nor have I even seen one of these in this Country. If I were back on the Lower East Side, I would get myself a table at Noah's Ark and order these with a stack of their french fries and a plate of chocolate chip cookies for desert. Yummy!