A few new things to report:

1. We're married.
Yup, we had a civil ceremony here in Cork on September 25th, 2009. Jon's brother came from Canada to be his witness, and Jon's cousin & her daughter came from England to join in the fun. My friend Lyne was my witness. The ceremony took about 5 minutes, and then we all went out for lunch afterwards. I posted some pictures on facebook, and someone I know from primary school commented that the shots are "very whimsical and jubilant". I think that sums up the whole feeling of the day excellently.










2. We almost burned the apartment down.
But at least some delicious Tart Tatin was somehow salvaged out of the billowing smoke. Another highly recommended recipe (we used both apples and strawberries).





3. Yay for cheap flights in Europe!
We are going to Amsterdam with some friends in early November for a long weekend and then to Malaga in mid-November for a little "mini-moon", as I'm told they're called these days. I have some guilt regarding how environmentally unfriendly our current lifestyle is (flying flying flying, spank spank spank) but... um.... well, yes, I have guilt. No buts about it. Note to self: try to be better about that. Seriously.
On the other hand, no denying my excitement about the upcoming vacations. And J is feeling run down, so he is counting the days.

OK, gotta run - Night out with a lovely lady awaits me.
Au revoir!

100 Things

I found reading this inspiring, and have decided to begin a list of my own. So, without further ado, here are some initial thoughts for my 100 Things To Do Before I Go:

Take pottery lessons again.

Have children (by birth or otherwise).

Exercise regularly for 6 months.

Bring people together to form communities.

Have a job I enjoy and feel proud of.

Create art on a regular basis for 6 months.

Stay in the ice hotel.

Make a significant contribution to the peace process in Palestine-Israel.

Consciously attempt to use creativity in many aspects of life.

Use my work to improve lives.

Form a workplace with people I love.

Get in the habit of grand loving gestures, especially when people I care about seem to need it.

As part of a trip to Poland, visit the Holocaust camps.

Take more walks.

Visit East Asia.

Take drama classes.

Adopt, or at least foster, a cat in need.

Create an extensive family tree.

Pay off my student loan.

Take lessons to improve my reading & writing in Hebrew.

Go to more art shows/events/galleries.

Do something that fear is stopping me from doing.

Take a first aid course.



To be continued...

The Quasi-Organized Chaos Inside My Head

Things On My Mind at 3am:

1. Why do I feel so heavenly and comfy when I fall asleep on the couch, but then when I get up to brush my teeth, wash my face, etc, I suddenly feel wide awake and energetic and *hungry*??

2. I am so lucky. Really lucky. One of the current "dilemmas" of my life is choosing which European city J & I should go to for our next holiday. It'll be about 5 days... Who could resist the cheap flights from Ireland to Paris or Amsterdam? But I've never been to Barcelona! On the other hand, Portugal is cheap & looks gorgeous. Ohhh, what a woooonderful exquisite decision to be making.

3. Weddings. Yes, we're having one. Well, more than one actually...we tend to do things on multiple continents. But on a more serious note, I've been thinking a lot about why people get married and why people don't get married. What is the significance of a wedding in our society? I'm not sure what the answers are to these questions. I'm not even sure how I changed from a person who didn't care about marriage to one who wanted to get married. I suspect it was partly to do with my relationship with Jon, which is so different than anything I experienced before. I suspect it also had to with societal pressure, especially once I reached my late 20s and early 30s. I donèt feel it explicitly, but how can I pretend that it is not there as so many of my friends get engaged, and then married, all around meÉ It is certainly an interesting phase of life. People - we - are building families. I am so curious and excited about the future!

4. On a lighter note, I cannot believe I ate so much goat cheese during my pre-dinner snack that I actually felt a bit sick. Wow. Just, wow.

5. In happier food news, Iève tried a few fancy-ish recipes lately from a cookbook and guess what... I can cook!! It takes time & energy for the fancier stuff, but it tastes GOOD. So deliciously good.
(Note: I do not recommend eating loads and loads of goat cheese with crackers as a pre-dinner snack while you cook. It can make your tummy hurt and it can make you too full to enjoy your dinner. Um, sometimes.)

6. Why am I doing this in the middle of the nightÉ! Goodbye, Ièm going to bed.

Linor

Highlights of Off-Blogging Times:

1. Our friend D came to visit us after his adventures on the Camino de Santiago. One day we took him to Fitzgerald Park, where we marvelled at the magical mirrored tree.



And played in the playground.


And then in the evening, went out dancing, leaving us in a sort of exhausted euphoria.



2. Our next highlight was a visit to Tel Aviv. We got a chance to hang out at the beach, walk around the downtown shops and markets, and still do plenty of family stuff. My youngest cousin got married, his older sister had her first baby, and we had a celebratory lunch for my father's 60th birthday. On top of all that, everyone was congratulating us on our engagement and wanted all the info & details. Of course, we didn't have the info to offer up, but we just developed a generic narrative for people. Funny how these things go!










3. Jon came home to Cork before me because of work, so I ended up coming back just a few days before my 32nd birthday. Before I left Jon bought me surprise tickets to a Tracy Chapman concert that I'd been dying to go and see. However, the concert was on the night of the day that I arrived back in Cork. Things should have still gone smoothly, but of course they did not. My Tel Aviv-Heathrow flight left late, so I missed my connection to the Heathrow-Cork flight. Luckily I got one 2 hours later, but I nearly had a heart attack when I thought I might miss the concert!







4. The day after the concert, we had an appointment with the Cork wedding registrar at an ungodly hour of the morning. I was tired, but excited & nervous.
A very friendly woman met with us and went through some fairly simple questions and instructions. Then she told us to pick a date for our civil ceremony...!
So, we are getting married on Friday Sept 25th in Cork! Yay!
We are also planning a post-wedding party in Toronto and one in Tel Aviv, but for now we will have a wee little ceremony in September.




5. Next, my brother and his partner Emily came to visit us in Cork for a bit. We had a great time checking out St. Finnbarre's Cathedral, ringing the Shandon Bells, heading out to Blarney Castle, and other shenanigans.









OK, this post has taken me much longer than I expected. Enjoy this last little video, and I hope to be back soon.
Shalom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9NgXIkyiwk

Awaiting Ima & Aba's arrival!

Some random thoughts:

1. I listen to RTE radio a lot, and I noticed that at 6pm they always say "... and here are the angelus", followed by what sounds like church bells and then the news. I actually thought they were saying "...and here are the angels" at first.
I used google to educate myself:

The Irish national broadcaster RTE broadcasts the angelus bells at 12pm and 6pm every day on the national radio station RTE Radio 1 and at 6pm on the national television station RTE One. The television version of the Angelus at 6pm consists of a bell ringing for the duration of one minute and is accompanied by images of people pausing in contemplation.
Source

2. Sheep are one of my new favourite animals, especially when there are lambs involved.



3. Orange juice here comes with JUICY BITS or NO JUICY BITS. Doesn't that sound like some part of a dirty joke?



4. Jon & I were interviewed over lunch today by a newspaper journalist doing an article on the Jewish community in Cork. Crazy, no?

5. Tomorrow night Ima (my mom) & Aba (my dad) & Jon & I are going to a community seder. A seder is a Passover meal. I'm eager to meet the Jewish community of Cork and to celebrate Passover with them. The whole thing sounds very quirky.



6. Everything that mentions a mother here in Ireland says "Mum". Not Mom, Mother, etc - but Mum, spelled with a U.



7. The head of government for the Republic of Ireland is the Taoiseach. This position is the equivalent of a prime minister, and the word itself is an old Irish word that means Chieftan or Leader. Taoiseach is pronounced "Tee-shock". (source) .

Lazy Sunday

My random thoughts in list form:

1. Our place came furnished (as rentals do here), and I'm so glad the couch is comfy for napping.

2. We have no TV and no internet yet. Interesting how much it changed a lazy Sunday for me.

3. You need a license to own a television in Ireland.

3. In Cork, houses & buildings generally do not have front lawns. The doors open onto the sidewalk. Gardens (as lawns are called) are in the back. It makes the streets have a very different look and feel to them.

4. There are a lot of people from Poland in Cork. This surprised me, but I suppose during the Celtic Tiger boom Poles must have come to take advantage of the booming economy when theirs was not doing as well...? Does anyone know if I'm right? What's the story behind this?

5. The Lee River that we see from our window rises and lowers every day. It has a daily tide.... who knew?

6. When people say "your man" here, they mean "that guy". Example: Your man, the grocer, gave me too much change for my groceries today. = That guy, the grocer, gave me too much change for my groceries today.

7. They say Happy Christmas here. I have barely heard anyone say Merry Christmas.

8. There are a few goth teenagers around. I find them cute and ugly. I know this is not the reaction they are going for, and it makes me feel old.

9. We are leaving for Snitterfield, England tomorrow. We'll be spending Hannukkah & Christmas with Jon's cousin and her family there. They celebrate both holidays, so it should be fun. Then we may head to London for a few days to visit some friends, and we may be there for New Year's. Ooooh, New Year's Eve in London!