Arye's Journal

Circle of Life
Everything alive eventually dies. My grandmother is no exception. Though I suppose that nobody truly dies. They live in our memories and in our hearts (cliche, but true). It throws a lot of things into perspective. She lived over 97 years. Almost an entire century! She spoke 7 languages, and saw more than most of us will ever even attempt to see. She survived the Holocaust, a DP camp in Germany, the boat across the Atlantic ocean with an infant, starting a business without knowing English, and breast cancer TWICE!!

She was the strongest woman I have ever known. She never wanted to be a burden on anybody to the extent that she tried to get my brother and I to leave while she was still in the hospital last week. She had a clear mind until the end, and before she went to sleep yesterday she said good bye to us. She fell asleep yesterday around 4:00 and simply never woke up this morning. To say that I will miss her is an understatement. Good bye Bubbie. I love you very much. Le'chiam!

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Our family planning the funeral

Hospitals aren't so bad
I never really liked hospitals before, but now that I have been at Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh for almost 20hrs over the last 4 days, I'm realizing that they're not so bad.

"Why have you been in a hospital for so long?" you might ask.

Well... to put it simply, my grandmother. When my brother and I arrived around 11:30pm Monday night, she came to let us into her apartment. She was extremely short of breath and didn't look well at all. We called her doctor, and my brother rushed her to the hospital (there are only 2 available seats in the car, so I couldn't go with them). He came back to pick me up and we went to see her. She immediately kicked us out and told us to go sleep. When we saw that she was doing better, we went back and got to sleep around 3:30am.

The next day we found out that it was a minor heart attack, and exacerbated heart failure (or something like that). She looked better but our decided to come up the following day. She arrived Wednesday afternoon, Ari and I only left after we had been here for 10hrs.

Yesterday we got the bad news. Her condition is not improving. She refuses to try the procedure that might only possibly give her a little more time. Basically, she doesn't have long. Our family is flying/driving out, and we're all going to be here for a little while.

This is not going to affect the wedding I hope, but we'll play it by ear. This was only supposed to be the first stop on our trip across the country. Some stop.

Current Mood: sad

Safe Delivery
I made it safely to Washington. Tired and jet lagged, but excited about the road trip with my brother. What's more is I get to see him after 9 months!! That's really exciting.

Oh yeah... and getting married 4 weeks from today... I almost forgot about that. LIKE I COULD!!! Man is that one first and foremost on my mind. It makes me smile every time I think about it.

Current Mood: but happy!!

The flight was successful
After a 12hr flight, I'm in Toronto. Sunday I go to Washington DC to meet my brother, then we're on the road for almost 2 weeks. When I get to California, it will be 2 weeks before the wedding. In that time I have to meet with just about everybody that is part of putting the wedding together... This is going to be intense, but it should be really fun at the same time. I'm so excited!! But for now, it's time for a nap.

Current Mood: tired

getting close
less than 3 weeks until my flight to North America. 2 weeks on the road with my brother. 2 weeks planning/relaxing (if that's possible while planning a wedding). Then the big day! Is anybody else getting excited?

Current Mood: excited

There's no place like home
I have to admit that I have been a little home sick recently. I try to call my parents once per week, but I haven't really heard from anybody else. Email me or something! I have friends here, but I really miss you all. Let me know how things are going. Tell me about recent events, or about Estrella (which I never heard about). Tell me about school or jobs. I don't really care. I just want to hear from people.

Kind of whiny, but I want to hear from people. I hope to hear from you all soon, besides short responses to this post (which are also good). I look forward to coming home in a month.

Current Mood: but Homesick

Most recent update
It's our time off of classes, so I get to put a little more attention into the wedding plans. We have our hall booked, our band is still up in the air, we are looking into photographers, and our parents have talked us into getting a wedding cake. I could use some suggestions as to what flavors might be good on the cake. Our caterer is basically booked, but we need to talk to her about different ideas for the menu and finalize the pricing. We still need to look at flowers, but that can be done much closer to the actual date since flowers don't last that long anyway. Over all... It's coming together quite well.

And now for something completely different...

I am so sad that I missed Estrella. I haven't missed one since I joined the SCA, and now I don't know if I will be going to any more of them. I also feel like some people promised me stories, and I never got any! I wanna hear stories. I wanna see pictures! Out here, I can only fence vicariously through stories, so help me out here. Y'all can email me stuff any time. In fact, please do. I look forward to hearing from people.

Current Mood: happy

Change of Plans
The wedding is going to be in Palo Alto, CA. We decided to have it close to our families. It is going to be on the 28th instead of the 25th because we figured that Sunday would be better for everybody. Unfortunately there is the issue of paying for all the people that come. Juliette and I don't have the funds to pay for upwards of 150 ppl, and our families alone come out to around 60 ppl. I think that we can't invite everybody, but I am going to try to make it up to you all by coming down to hang out for a few days. Maybe get in some fencing. Let you all kill me for a few hours. We'll see what happens.

Current Mood: happy

Wedding
We're having the wedding in Toronto, Canada on June 25. I know it's out there, but it's probably best. We might be having one or 2 of our Sheva Brachos (post wedding feasts for 7 days hosted by friends and family) in LA, so keep and eye out for us. I also hope to be in LA for a few days around the 14th of June, and in SB sometime in July. We'll see what I can do to see everybody. Much love.

Current Mood: despite being sick
Current Music: Wells Fargo hold music

She said Yes!!!
Picture this. Nice night, the two of us alone in the old city overlooking the Kotel (western wall of the temple mount). We looked into each others eyes for a minute, and I know she knew it was coming. When I asked her, she couldn't answer because she was smiling so big. But we are now officially engaged!!! She was glowing and incredibly beautiful. I couldn't be more excited. I figured you all would want to know.

Current Mood: ecstatic

I'm down to 2

So... What do y'all think?

Current Mood: excited

Big news
I know that this wont come as a shock to most of you, but I am going to ask Juliette to marry me. I'm already in the market for rings, and have found a beautiful one that I am trying to figure out how to pay for (not that I don't have the money, but I don't have a way to get that much cash to the guy since he doesn't take checks, and I don't have enough credit). I hope to be able to chat with all of you live at some point. Skype at S&B would be the best probably. Just but Kirsten. ;) Later all!

Current Mood: excited

COLD!!!
Thanks all,
I love hearing from each of you. I think keeping warm will be much
harder this time of year from keeping safe. I feel totally safe here
in Jerusalem, but the weather is literally freezing right now. It's
around 34˚F at the moment, and my fingers are freezing. If I cant find
my gloves tonight, I'm going to buy a pair.

Current Mood: cold

Hey all,
I'm sure that you all heard about the goings on here in Israel. I just wanted to assure everybody that I am safe and sound in Jerusalem. We are well away from the trouble area, so baring something stupid on my own part, I will be fine. If you are unaware of the situation, I can fill you in on what I know some other time.

The new quarter starts today, and I am very excited. New classes, and higher levels of some of the same (like Hebrew class). I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and for most of you, time off school. Class time!

Current Mood: happy

Happy Chanukkah!!
I figured the timing would be just right since it is the first night for everybody in the U.S. The old city is rather nice to see when everybody has lit their candles. There are little glass boxes just outside of some of the houses for the menorah that really make the street glow a little. It is pretty. Chanukkah always was my favorite Jewish holiday. I hope that everybody gets a chance to light the menorah to light up the shortest days of the year, even just a little bit. I miss you all.

Current Mood: happy

Time killers and priorities
I guess my priorities have changed since I got here. I just deleted World of Warcraft from my computer, but I found something else to kill time. There are 2 guys here that have huge external hard drives and lots of spare time, so they have tons of movies and TV shows that they have downloaded. I got about 20 movies Saturday night, and I've watched 2 since then. I am still studying about 9-10 hrs/day instead of 12, but that allows for a lot of extra stuff to be beamed into my brain via my laptop screen. Just another habit that I'll have to break eventually. Meh, at least it's fun while it lasts.

Current Mood: sleepy

Latest update
Hey all, I know that it has been a while since my last update, so here we go. I have been doing a lot of studying since classes started up again, and really not all that much else. I have been hanging out with friends, but nothing all that special outside of the ordinary. Chanukkah is coming up in a few weeks (3 or 4), and I'm learning about the proper way to light candles. It is the same as I learned back in Hebrew school years ago. Basically, place them from right to left, but light them from left to right. Since our break, I have been sick for about 2 weeks, but I am finally over it. Just the last dregs of it are holding on, so I'm doing my best to get lots of rest.

Anyway, Much love to all. I miss everyone from home, and I hope to find people online from time to time. My AIM is DevilRabbi, and my skype is davidahoffman. Feel free to look me up and/or email me at devilrabbi@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from everybody.

P.S. if anybody wants to see pictures, you can see them here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/DevilRabbi

Current Mood: calm

Another Update
Well... the holidays are over. Classes start again on Wednesday, and I couldn't be more excited. The holidays were crazy here in Jerusalem with people partying till the wee hours of the morning. There were HUGE meals every few days (we were not without a holiday for more than 3 days in the last month), and everything was delicious. I met a bunch of new families that hosted me for these meals, and during Succot, there was a succa every ten yards on the street plus one on almost every balcony. It was quite the site to see. On Simchas Torah I got to dance for 2 days straight (only broken up for more feasting), and I was given a few chances to dance with one of the Torah scrolls. It was amazing. I guess it's back to normal study again in 2 days. It almost feels like a break from all the partying.

Juliette and I took a nice trip up to Svat during the intermediate days of Succot. We had a great time outside of each of us getting sick. However, on our last day we still go to go hiking. We found a great trail at the bottom of the hill (it feels like a mountain, it's so steep) that leads down into the valley. We're hoping to go again sometime.

I'll be posting pictures soon hopefully. I miss everybody, much love to all!

Current Mood: happy

Crazy Hagim
This holiday season is just a little bit crazy. I have not gone 4 days without some holiday since Sep. 29. It is so much fun, but also so draining. In another week the season will be over, and it will just be once a week instead of 2 or 3. The regular schedule will be nice to have again. Even with classes starting up soon after that. On the other hand, I am having a blast! Just imagine 3 holidays/week. So much food that you could explode at every meal. It's almost enough to make you want to fast for Yom Kippur.

I am also very excited about today. There will be about 1000 Kohanim (I'll spare you all the history lesson, but they're basically the priests for the Jewish people) for the Birkas Kohanim (blessing of the Priests). I'll see if I can take a picture.

Current Mood: excited

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