You Say 'Potato', I Say, "Whaaat?!"

 Just a few funny linguistic moments to share:

In ulpan this week, we had to share a recipe. I chose to talk about chocolate chip cookies (specifically this fabulous no-bowl recipe that has literally changed my chesed abilities as I never was a big baker). To recap, I'm the only American in the class. The teacher (formerly from Moscow) asked if I thought it was true that Americans only like sweet food (which struck me as a gross generalization, yet also likely true). Another former Russian in the class was stymied about the concept of chocolate chips. This puzzled me because they are sold in every grocery store and the Hebrew is literally "chocolate chips" transliterated. 

So I showed a photo on my phone and we had a chuckle because she was thinking of *these* kind of chips (which is kind of amusing to think of them made out of chocolate and served with ketchup):

We then spoke about the chivito sandwich of Uruguay (oh eek--not to my taste.....a variety of meats [including some biggie non-kosher ones, like both bacon AND ham], cheese and egg. Should be served with a side of Lipitor, in my opinion) and Russian salad (cubed potatoes and carrots slathered in mayo). Let's just say I wasn't rushing out to prepare anything we spoke about in class that night :).

But the episode reminded me of something funny that happened during the race. At around 18 km in, after running on that really soft salty sand (sandy salt?!) I had rocks in my shoe. Hmm....What to do? I was pretty tired by that point and no way could I stand on one foot to take my shoe off. If I sat on the ground, I wasn't totally sure I would be able to get back up.....There were only three more km to go until the end of the race and I wasn't sure there would even be another first aid/refreshment station when: hooray! There wasn't an official station, but standing along the side up ahead was a guy with a Hatzala vest on. He was standing talking to two other men and next to his first aid bag was.....a chair! A super low plastic lounge chair, but better than nothing. He saw me eyeing the situation as I trotted up (speedy running having been left behind a few kilometers back):

"At b'seder? (Are you okay)?"

"Ken. Ani b'seder. Yesh li.....(Yes, I'm fine. I have...."

Hmmm. My brain wasn't working so well in Hebrew at that moment (all energies, as you may well imagine, being concentrated in the lower self). How to say "rocks" in Hebrew???

I thought the word was "avanim" but couldn't quite remember. Especially because that word always seems messed up to me, and I think it should be "anavim". 

Oh shoot--"anavim" are grapes. A picture popped into my head of "anavim" being in my shoe.

Hmmmm.....Maybe I had the word ending wrong and it ends in "ot" not "im"....Yeah, that might be it! Maybe I should tell him I have "arnavot" in my shoe. ARGH. No, that's not right. Arnavot are bunnies. A picture popped into my head of pulling my shoe off and THESE falling out:

By that time, I really needed to finish my sentence, I gave up and said in English, "I have rocks in my shoe". He clearly did not speak English but got the idea when I emptied my shoe, got up and left.

Welcome to the inner workings of my brain in Hebrew. As I said to one of my ulpan teachers a few years back after a similar episode, "I'm almost always in the right neighborhood but rarely at the right house" (at least I said THAT correctly in Hebrew).

Marathon Update

 WOOHOO! I did it!

On Friday, 2/2, I completed the Dead Sea Half Marathon. Wow, what a "chavaya" (experience) *that* was! I left with my running partner Libi, her 11 year-old daughter and two young friends at 4 in the morning and returned home at 2 pm. 

What kind of things does one see at a marathon in Israel? First off, a parking lot minyan ("yeah, we're right by the Lamborghini. Look for the guys davening--you can't miss us")

Then, upon entering the race area there's, of course, Chabad of the Dead Sea busy with a tefiillin stand 

Some things seemed to be different this year due to the war:

Umm, REALLY? In previous years could you just check your gun?!

There were the usual cast of characters one finds at a marathon (guy running in a dinosaur costume, a few people in tutus) and the Israeli legend himself: "The Pineapple Guy", 70 year-old Moshe Lederfien who has run marathons around the world while balancing a pineapple on his (very still) head. Which, given that pineapples here are CRAZY expensive (like $10 for a very small one), I don't quite understand. Because if your head bobbles and your pineapple falls, you are out a chunk of change AND a nice snack for after the race.....

The course was really interesting. The area is GORGEOUS (truly one of my top places in Israel) and we were running in an area that is off-limits to civilians 364 days a year. Since we ran straight out towards Jordan, I could see why....The area most of the race is run on is a breakwater and a natural sea border between Jordan and Israel. 

I had read that the course had "minimal asphalt" but hadn't really stopped to think what the alternative was: SALT. A lot of salt. Imagine running on the soft sand of a beach, except change that sand to salt--chunky, hard salt. At times the salt even got deep and started shifting around. Since the last time I ran on a beach I was a kid and running with my sister and cousin, I was not quite prepared for this:

But it sure was pretty:

The temperature was pleasant to run in (about 60F), but there was some drizzle and REALLY strong winds. As we were running out, I had hopes that it was an "out and back" race and we'd end up with a tailwind, but, nope, it's an "out, turn left, then back" race so once we were in the middle of the Dead Sea the wind was a side wind. Here's a picture I took on the drive home:

Friday was the secular date of my sister-in-law Hilary's death....

Lots of people ran with shirts, flags or other decorations for the hostages and/or the Israeli soldiers. I ran behind this guy, who ran while holding a sandwich board for Hersh Goldberg-Polin  

I carried an Israeli flag over the finish line with the names of the people I was running in memory of (darn that wind!)

It was all worth it for this photo (insider's hack: I am not, truth be told, leading all those runners. Note the difference in the color of our race numbers: I am in the back of the pack for the half marathoners and the full marathon guys are gaining on me. But it makes a great photo!!)

A HUGE thank-you to everyone who supported me in my fundraising for Lema'an Achai (it's not too late!). I loved each and every supportive note and thought of them when I was slogging along :)

And when you see my car, you'll know I worked darn hard for every meter of that run and every centimeter of this sticker:

Wedding, War, Walking and WHOA

 As the war wears on, here are a few experiences I've been thinking about:

Went to our first wedding since the war started. Actually, it was the first I've been to since Penina and Menashe's wedding in September. So all the nice memories of *their* wedding were mixed up with the at-times overwhelming emotions going through me for *this* wedding. Seeing the father of the bride emotionally lead us in tehilim (psalms) as the chuppah started while fighter jets roared overhead......I don't really have words to convey what that was like.....And again feeling SO much thanks to Eitan the wedding planner who convinced Penina and Menashe not to wait until the Holidays were over in October to get married (and a heartfelt 'thank you' to Eitan for his service to our country. He was called up almost immediately and spent 73 days defending our country before, now, going back to wedding planning. He's a very well-rounded guy ;)).

And then singing "Acheinu" while the couple was under the chuppah to use the incredible energy of this time to help our hostages......

Wishing Yoni and Racheli a heartfelt Mazal tov.

I'm still trying to do my bit to help soldiers and their families. I'm making dinner once a week for one or two local families where the father has been called up (last week I also made for friends who had their first baby and also made some parts of Shabbat dinner for someone who used to work for Shalom Shachne and was sitting shiva for his father. That's the crazy thing--all the "normal" chesed needs are still there). 

My 8 year-old friend Bella now comes to shul with me on Shabbat, since she misses going with her father. It's about a ten-minute walk from my house to hers, so not too bad. Ilana, who generally makes her extra money by working as a math tutor, has started to babysit for Bella's family, which definitely counts as a chesed since she doesn't usually accept babysitting jobs ;).

The Homefront Command is suggesting that people prepare for a "multiple day blackout due to the situation up north, which may escalate into war at any given moment" (according to the "Beit Shemesh News"). Please join me in praying for permanent peace and security for our beautiful, holy land.