In Which I Take Care of Social Needs
October 15, 2014
My Sunday was largely composed of travel time, with a quick farewell in the morning to Jeannine and Rocky. I got a little lost on the way to the airport but soon enough made it and had just enough time to grab a quick drink and a few bananas from the United Business lounge before hopping on for a jaunt back to Philly. When I landed I was fairly exhausted and had some pressing work, so I unfortunately did not make the regular glee rehearsal. However, for what seemed like the first time at Penn, I went to bed at a reasonable hour.
The following week was right back to it, with intense work required to catch up on missing the past few days of class. Additionally, I had two exams to prepare for, one in Machine Learning and one in Algorithms. Thus, most of my week went by without major event other than many intense hours working and studying, often with the other PhD students.
Two notable points were my short breaks with Steph Li (of previous blog fame) and, Amy Miller. I hadn’t had the opportunity to catch up with Steph since returning to Penn as both of us had been neck deep in work and other commitments, however as with most of my close friends, it didn’t matter that there had a been a time delay, we were still as close as ever. Thursday I caught coffee with Amy Miller, a wonderful woman working for Wharton who had previously helped me remain at Penn for a second semester after I had run into troubles arranging it. We went to a relatively new coffee shop around campus ‘HubBub’, where I had a delicious iced-tea.
Other than that, much of my week was in preparation for Yom Kippur and the further holiday to come ahead.
In Which I Go Out On the Town
October 13, 2014
The next day was another long sleep in. More board games and relaxing and then a walk back to Chabad fourty-five minutes away. The Friday night service was pleasant but not nearly as wonderful as the Rosh Hashana ones. Dinner however, was even better than the time before. More new friends and a few more exciting occurrences.
The first amusing moment was when the Rebbetzin moved me from my seat to ensure that I wasn’t sitting amongst women other than the one that was ‘mine’, ie; Rocky. This was already a little amusing however, it escalated far more when the Rabbi started to give a speech about welcoming ‘the new couple in town’ and Rocky yelled out “we’re not dating!”. Her face turned bright red as the Rabbi addressed her and informed her that he was in fact speaking of a couple on the other side of the room.
The other great moment of the night was the sing-off, initiated by the Rabbi when he discovered that a number of people in the room were semi-professional musicians. First off we heard a little upbeat pop music, followed by a rap about a guy’s movement towards Judaism. I then sung ‘Fly Me To the Moon’, that was very well received. Following me, the Rabbi’s son sung a song by Jewish RnB artist Matisyahu and Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim, which almost brought Rocky to tears. However, the highlight of the night was the performance by a man into his eighties singing “How Lucky Am I” to his wife, crooning beautifully with the voice left to him at his age.
After many hours hanging out, we helped reset the room for services in the house the next day and then walked back to the apartment, tired again, but happy.
The next day we continued our track record of sleeping in, Rocky missing her Yoga class yet again. When we woke up, we madly prepared for lunch as guests were to be arriving at 1PM. I was excited to meet some of Rocky’s friends and she told me about them as we prepared. Just after the o’clock, there was a knock on the door and a average height, blonde girl walked in the door with a smile. I soon learnt here name was Jeannine and from her accent guessed she was Dutch. I asked her and she seemed pleased that I was able to figure out where she was from correctly without any more guessing.
Next walked in two Norwegians, Erik Ericsson and his girlfriend whose name escapes me. She was a little worried about the lack of meat at our meal but they had both brought beer along so that at least we’d be ‘doing something right’.
The final guests to arrive was an apartments worth of guys with whom Rocky had stayed before she was able to find a room. They were all relatively chilled, though didn’t stay for too long after lunch.
Following the meal, everyone left sat around to play Settlers again, with Rocky narrowly missing out on the victory, which instead passed to Jeannine. I had originally assumed that she was around Rocky’s age, but learned soon after the game that she was in fact only a few months from my age and not yet a PhD student.
After the game, Jeannine was the only one who hang around, and we chatted for a few hours until Shabbat ended. When it did, Rocky suddenly went into overdrive getting dressed up fancily and arranging plans for the evening. We weren’t told exactly where we were going but she pulled Jeannine and I into an Uber and we were off. After a somewhat meandering route, we arrived at a fancy apartment at the party of one of Rocky’s friends. I won’t spill all the details publicly but it was quite exciting and again, we met many new people.
The View from the Apartment
Next destination was a fancy restaurant with a few celebrities on the loose around us. We stayed a while, having drinks of various varieties while I chatted mostly to Jeannine (Rocky was off at the center of attention). From that location we were whisked off again by Rocky, this time to a club with a line that wasn’t moving anywhere fast. After a little maneuver pulled by Rocky and her friends, we were soon inside. Clubs definitely aren’t my normal destination, but I had a fairly good time despite that. After we danced away a few more hours, it was back in a cab home and given the time Jeannine came back too.
From Left: Jeannine, Me, Rocky
Back at the apartment we chilled for a little while and Rocky brought out her guitar. We sang a number of songs to Jeannine, ranging from Missy Higgins to a really nice mashup of ‘Radioactive’ and ‘Pumped Up Kicks’. Finally, after about an hour of music we were all ready to drop our heads and fall fast asleep.
In Which I Am Treated By An Old Friend
October 7, 2014
The next day both Rocky and I woke up fairly late, around 10AM, which left just enough time to rush to shul to hear the shofar and to stay for the Mussaf festival service. The synagogue we went to was unfortunately not nearly as warm and welcoming as Chabad so we resolved to return there for any following services. Lunch was quiet and at home. Rocky made me tea with coconut oil because apparently it was good for all my ailments. Rocky was great in taking care of me and kind of nursed me back to health slowly from the state I was in upon arrival. Meals were simple but delicious, beans, bread, veggies. Everything I needed.
That evening we both stayed in, too tired to really do much else. However we broke open the copy of portable settlers that I had bought for the purpose and played around five games in a row, with me mincing Rocky a few times over until she got the hang of it. She resolved that we wouldn’t stop playing until she had won, so the games went on for quite a well. When it got too late to play anymore, she had to throw the towel in and we left the rematch till the next day.