Well, tomorrow's Yom HaShoah. And for me, it's Yom Passport Application.
I listed 10 things, mailed 4 or 5, had a couple slices of pizza at Whole Foods and got down to the JCC, where I was about an hour early. So I was able to sit and study at this little table near the entryway that's perfect for this.
Coming in, that same security guard was checking IDs and I asked him where he was from because he has an accent. It turns out, Yugoslavia, and he said he got a scholarship from Tito himself. We talked about places like that, how cheap they are to live in, and how Americans are leaving for all kinds of places in Asia as well as Eastern / Balkan Europe. Nice guy.
Class went well, we sang the alef-bet song and did more reading, and some grammar rules I'm not sure will stick or not. After the class, I want to get the book used in the ulpanim in Israel and work out of that so at least it will be familiar when I'm actually in an ulpan.
The discussion was about modern streams of Judaism and also the current situation; one of increasing anti-Semitism. And also tons about how the local Jewish communities are organized and how to find resources.
The ride home was nice and uneventful. Riding on the light rail is a good way, I guess, to acquaint oneself with the underclass, and tonight's treat was seeing an otherworldly zombie with a dislocated shoulder, or was the whole arm missing? Just this angular shoulder sticking out bare from its rags and I didn't dare look too closely.
I got off at the Metro/Airport stop and went into Bay 101 and ordered a Guinness at the little bar/cafe. It turns out a Guinness isn't any more than a Bud Light. Well OK then! And I got "shaking beef" which is just about the ideal meal. The waitress was really nice too, and said she'd not had "shaking beef" herself for too long, and was going to have it too. The place wasn't even full of faux-friendly "Bros" yelling and being all buddy-buddy so I didn't have to pal around or any of that noise. When I was done the bill was only $22 and I paid the waitress $30 and left happy.
Tomorrow it looks like I can just get on Oakland Road and head North, take the right fork and keep going, and I'll be right where I need to be. I'm going to start out plenty early because I can always kill an hour or two or three once I've found the place, and there are restaurants nearby.
I think I'm in pretty good shape. I've got originals and two copies of everything. If they don't like the passport photos I have, they can take some there that might look better.
After that, I plan to catch my neighbors when they're setting up one of their frequent cookouts and dash out and get them a nice cold case or two of beer, and apologize for being rude the other day. I saw a guy parking his stupid van in front of my place, but honestly he was parking with a big gap so I wasn't blocked in, and the guy was eating his lunch in the van so to him I was bothering him while he ate his damn lunch, and I think an apology is really in order.
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