The Rhythm of the Seasons

It's baaaaack!

I've jumped the gun a few times and said that summer is here. Probably because I've just wanted it to happen so badly. But after a few days in a row, I'm pretty confidant that I can say we're done with the damp cold of winter, working our way through the last of the spring showers and on to early summer here in Jerusalem.

I said before that Spring here isn't the same as springtime back home, and I really miss parts of the Minnesota thaw. Being here, I've gained a much better understanding of the concept of Jewish time. The seasons are demonstrated in the Jewish calendar and we're about to get to Passover and celebrate the onset of Spring.

The last week has been warm during the day and pretty nice for most of the time. Then there is the evening, chilly and a little windy, yet nothing terrible. I finally broke out my summer uniform (thanks Allie), because the last three days have been absolutely amazing! The sandals have come out which means I'm really close to not wearing shoes anymore and that means it might be time to finally buy some Na'ot that I've been waiting for since it got cold.

Spring is here! I've been doing some cleaning and the windows are open.

Summer is close by and I think it's about time to put the heater away and take down the fans!

Summer Job

Well, it's official. I have my summer job. I was planning on going back to Minneapolis for the summer to work at Camp TEKO one last time. Before I tell you what my job is going to be, I will quickly recap what I've done there so far.

In four years, I have had more than four different positions. Counselor, Sports Specialist, Overnight Staff, Avodah Unit Head (this is the pre-Counselor-In-Training program for entering 9th and 10th graders), Overnight Unit Head. Additionally, I've been a Bus Captain, Yom Yafeh (Judaic Programming) Co-Programmer, Assistant Song Leader, Camp Photographer and I'm sure I left something out, somewhere. No, I'm not going back to run camp. Tracy does an amazing job and I'm excited to work for her one last time. I don't think Temple Israel would want me to do that. Plus, there's that little thing that I'm involved in for the next four and a half years.

Why am I so excited about this?

Because my job is going to be, Music Specialist! That's right. Monday through Friday for eight or so hours a day, I will get to play and teach music to campers. I'm so glad I've been compiling so many variations of different songs and different melodies this year. I'm excited to teach all of this great Jewish music to campers! It's going to be great! I mean, I can't imagine doing something else with my summer this year!

Summer On My Mind

It's not even December yet, but summer is already on my mind. I'm planning for getting back to the USA at the end of May and rushing into a summer job to make a little money before heading out to school.

I'm moving, finally. I'm both excited and not excited to be leaving Minneapolis. I love the area. I love the cities. I love the lakes. I love the shops. I love the people. My family is mostly in Minneapolis and the surrounding area. I will be heading to school in Cincinnati (or maybe New York, there is a chance I may appeal my placement and end up in the big city). The hard part is going to be finding a place to live from Minneapolis during the summer.

I won't announce anything, because I haven't been officially hired yet, but I will probably be doing a job that has pretty a standard 8:00 - 4:00, Monday through Friday hours. Probably not a whole lot of time that I can take off either. Immediately after the summer job ends, I need to be in Cincy for orientation (August 15th-ish). Back to Minneapolis the next weekend for my step-brother's wedding. And class starts on August 22nd, the next day. Pffffew!

It's busy enough to make my head spin, and I'm not even through my first semester here!

This is not complaining in any way, shape, or form. It's just starting to set in. This summer is going to be crazy busy, but at least I will be home for a little while. I will get a chance to see family and friends. I will have a chance to have a good time and then get back to the books.

But for now, back to the school work.

Shabbat Shalom,

Attack of the Chamsin

Hebrew has a special word, חמסין (Chamsin).
It describes the exact kind of heat wave we've been having here in Jerusalem. Before you say something like, come on Brian. You're in the desert in the summer. This is quite possibly one of the worst heat waves I have ever dealt with in the last three days. This comes on the heals of me telling Kaitlin on Skype that I was cilly walking home at night and it was in the low 70s.

To be fair, I haven't checked an official weather forecast in the last few days to see just how bad it has been getting, but the reports that I've been hearing from students that have checked are that we're getting near or over 100 fahrenheit. Back in Minnesota it gets that hot in the summer, but there is literally no relief the last few days from the heat AND we've been getting humidity too. There is no chance it will be raining any time soon to break the heat. There are basically no clouds to grant some shade and the heat is just oppressive.

Making matters worse, my walk to school is up hill both ways. No I'm not making that up. We're up hill on Derech Aza all the way to Karen HaYesod and from there it is downhill to David HaMelech. This means that on the way home, it is uphill up Lincoln (pronounced lin-ko-Lin, yes you say the second "L" in Hebrew) and Eliot to get back to Karen HaYesod. What I'm getting at here is that I've consumed almost a gallon of water as well as other liquids and I still feel dehydrated. It got to the point today that I took a very very long nap today and I'm not really a napper.

In the end, this heat wave will break and there's only one to two months left of this oppressive summer heat. Not that I'm complaining too much, because I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I guess this is just a welcome to Israel, surprise for us.