Sunday – Day 251
April 14, 2013
Sunday morning was another treat. We woke up at a decent hour, despite the antics of the night before. Kirk and Dan Carsello decided they would head off to Dim Sum with the Glee Club, despite having little idea what ‘Dim Sum’ was. I told them they’d likely enjoy it, despite Dan’s many allergies.
This left me in the house with Dan Pincus and Ilja Sichrovsky, a close friend and house guest of his, visiting from Austria. Ilja was somewhat opposed to Dan’s busy lifestyle, and was constantly urging him to take a proper break, like a proper European!
Dan opened the blinds, the sun streamed in and shortly after that, so too through his door streamed a flock of people. With that, Dan and Kirk decided that it was time for them to leave and that was the last of them I saw that weekend.
The two latest guests to the house were Mustafa Qureshi of Pakistan and another international student friend of Dan’s; Stephanie. Together we prepared a delicious brunch, comprised of a wide range of both European and American foods. Ilja was not impressed at Dan’s coffee making skills however, and made it clear with a look of sheer disgust on his face after trying it.
Ilja and Mustafa
What was most exciting about this brunch however, was the conversation. The attendees were clearly of high intellect and vigorously debated issues of international importance, ranging from US foreign policy, to the merits of various political philosophies.
Following the lovely drawn out lunch, I was due to see the production of Jersey boys on Broadway. Dan said he was heading down to see a show right next door at 3PM when the two of them started, and as such said he’d accompany me down. From my impressions of Dan thus far, I felt it probably wouldn’t be the wisest idea to accept, however might be the more adventurous option. I decided to go with it and waited around working on a few little things until 2:40 when Dan finally decided the was ready.
I was already a little nervous about making it in time but Dan was very reassuring. As we stepped outside he took one look at the traffic and decided that a cab would be too slow, so he started off towards the subway. Remembering that the closest line was under construction, his pace suddenly quickened. We arrived at the subway just in time to see our train depart. This threw Dan just a little but he was soon back in his stride letting me know that by his current calculations, I would make it there at about 2:59.
The subway moved achingly slow, and Dan was visibly frustrated. It was edging close to 3PM. As the doors opened at our station, Dan raced out in front of me, madly dashing towards the exit turnstiles. I lagged a little behind him and then rudely dashed in front of a New Yorker who yelled about tourists as I overtook her, to avoid getting lost without my guide.
We sprinted down the street and at 2:59 exactly, I made it to the theatre waving goodbye to Dan as he dashed in the opposite direction.
I managed to get to my seat just as the lights were dimming and found myself in a theatre full of Glee Clubbers. Scott Ventre, though he had seen the show a few times before was rocking out like crazy in the row below me and some rowdy grandmothers were doing the same just over to my left.
Following the show we speed walked to the Megabus bay to catch our bus back to Philly. Upon arrival we were informed that the bus was going to be over an hour late. Coupled with this news were a few raindrops that were followed by more of a torrent. We huddled cold and hungry under our coats, waiting to get back to Penn.
Finally, we arrived back, too late to do anything productive, so I unpacked my bags and made sure to get some sleep.
Shabbat/Sunday – Day 243/244
April 4, 2013
I am pleased to mention the inclusion of yet another wonderful person in my life. The delightful Tova Reiter of U Chicago fame. Chol Hamoed (intermediate festival days) brought her to Penn, to spend time with her close friend Ariella. Surprisingly enough, despite our numerate difference we hit it off almost straight away. My only regret is that I will unlikely be seeing a lot of her in the near future due to geographical concerns. My life in a nutshell.
Shabbat was Glee Elections, and boy did they take forever. Most of the day was spent cooped up in a little room discussing the various merits of all the candidates. And we didn’t even finish. That said, I did take significant breaks to try and hunt down food that was Kasher l’Pesach, and ended up eating bananas, macaroons and matza sandwiches. Not the best of lunches.
Sunday was dedicated to a lot of hard work, just getting coding done before chag came in again. There didn’t seem to be enough time though to really do anything between meals and Hillel and getting ready. Additionally, I had office hours in the evening so I had to prepare offline any cards and info etc I needed.
Another highlight of the weekend was the PGC trip to sing at the Philadelphia Philly’s Baseball Game! I saw a few real baseball players and was screened on the jumbotron! So exciting!
Finally, late Sunday night, after shule and dinner, I read my new Douglas Hofstader book while my students coded and occasionally asked me questions. Ended up staying till around 1AM as some people decided to hand in their work past the midnight deadline.
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday – Day 239/240/241
March 31, 2013
Tuesday with the Koloski’s was great again! The goers to synagogue in the morning at the local Chabad institution had their interest aroused by the presence of a new unknown individual in their midst and an Australian at that. An elderly Hungarian cohen was also interested in how such a small boy had a decent sized voice to sing with, and told me that I should come more regularly.
Following that, lunch was back at Aviva’s grandparent’s, and was comprised of some excellent Moroccan fish, alongside some excellent spreads and salads. Absolutely delicious.
The rest of the afternoon was spent both napping and play bananagrams, an old favourite of mine that involves creating crossword like structures from scrabble letters. I didn’t rest until I had won a game against Josh and Jeremy, Aviva’s identical twin brothers, one of whom shared my name as his middle name. Quite exciting.
Seder that night was pretty similar to the one the night before, but was equally as enjoyable. I got even more into it this time as the tunes were now familiar and the people too. We finished even later this night, at around 1:30AM and I was glad to get into bed, waking up a little late for synagogue the next day.
Lunch on Wednesday was Moroccan lamb, something that brought me back to my own grandmother’s cooking and made me feel a little sad I wasn’t back at home with everyone, regardless of the fact that Aviva’s family had made me feel incredibly welcome. Following lunch, Aviva, her mum and I walked over to her friend Michelle’s house and on the way gave me a modern history of Philadelphia. I was quite shocked by some of the neighbourhoods we walked through and the stories of gangs and crime that we told to me. It made me realize quite how lucky I am to live in a place such as Melbourne and in the country of Australia. We really are blessed the way things are at home. Low crime, strong education, healthcare, a sense of enduring mateship that even though it may not seem apparent at home, is definitely put in perspective once overseas. Spending time in Philadelphia reminded me of why I want to live in Melbourne.
A large portion of the conversation at Michelle’s centered around couples marrying and moving off. Very few decided to stay in Philly, understandably, and many were moving to Israel. It was a little sad to hear of a community being so depleted!
After chag ended, I rang home to tell them of my news from Monday, and they were considerably excited. Possibly even more so than me. I’ve decided to hold off publishing here exactly what it was for another week or so, but needless to say, it was a dream come true. We then drove back to Penn and life resumed as normal.
Wednesday night I was frantically trying to catch up on everything I had missed and the one hundred and forty odd emails I had received in the two days I had missed. Thursday was much the same, albeit the morning contained a physics lecture that I really enjoyed and managed to grasp sufficiently.
The afternoon was work work work, a quick interview, and then office hours from six until midnight. At least I’m slowly building up some savings, despite the various costs associated with Glee Club, my rent and of course, tuition.