I can't believe how fast the time has gone! It's already Rosh Hashana again. (For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the Jewish new year.) How did it get here so quickly?? I was going to try and do something about services, but it kind of just sneaked up on me. But as it turns out, I did some unintentional things for Rosh Hashana!
I am loving my Thursdays. Really the only day of the week I'm not fond of at the moment is Wednesdays. But Thursdays I am really enjoying. Thursdays is my Art History class, where we walk around the morning and then go over everything again in our afternoon session. I get my exercise, learn some stuff and get a chance to talk with my friends Rebecca and Moriko. But this week, we got to go to the Sinagoga del Tránsito. We got to go to a Synagogue!! I was really excited because I was able to actually teach the professor something! I like being able to do that... It helps me form a relationship with the professor. So I got to explain a bit about what Rosh Hashana is, what a Yad is (the pointer people use to read from the Torah), the fact that the Torah wears clothes... It was really fun! Just before we left the synagogue, she was talking to the whole group and said, "We have a special helper today! She's going to help me explain some things." Clearly she was referring to me. Whatttttt?!?! No pressure or anything... Anyhow, we finished our tour/explanation of the synagogue and we were free to do as we wished.
I headed back to the Fundación and sat on the computer for an hour while I waited for lunch to be open. Normally I would wait until 2:10pm when Kami and Elle get out of class, but my Art History professor had sprung the fact that we had a 3rd class at 2:40pm on us, so I had to eat early. I ate instead with Rebecca, Moriko, Laura, Grace and Christina. They are silly.
After lunch, I headed up to class at 2:40pm. We spent the next 50 minutes talking about "arte Judío". At the end of the 50 minutes she told the class that if they had any questions to go ahead and ask me. "Uh oh..." I thought. "Here we go." Fortunately they asked questions I could answer. One kid asked what the function of a Rabbi is. I told him that the Rabbi basically leads the services... the same thing that would happen at Mass. He (or she) leads the prayers, gives a sermon and tells people when to stand up and sit down. That was the best I was going to be able to explain it in Spanish. Another girl asked me if I'd seen any other synagogues and if they looked alike. I said that all synagogues have similar features: an arc for the Torah, a bima, etc, but that in structure each can look different. A second girl asked me if it would be appropriate for a non-Jew to attend Friday night services. In my experience, I told her, that that is fine. People have to learn about other religions somehow... I had one girl ask me after class if I keep Kosher. I was really shocked that people actually asked questions. Usually when teachers do that no one wants to ask anything. I hope this gets me extra credit or something. Or at least a few extra points on my essay. I doubt it, but it would be nice!
From 3:30pm until 4:45pm we had our normal class. We spent the 1hr 15mins talking about the architecture of the cathedral. It was less words this time and more pictures. Normally I don't like that, but this time I think it actually helped. I spent the class drawing! :) I'm a doodler anyway, so this worked well for me! This part of the class felt like it took longer though. It wasn't probably as bad as it felt, but given that we'd been sitting there for 50 extra minutes. Finally 4:45pm rolled around and we were free to go.
I was supposed to hang around and figure out hotels for Rome and Paris, but Kami and Elle didn't get out of class until 6 something and I didn't want to wait. So instead, we did it all via Facebook. It was harder than it should have been, but in the end, we have everything booked. Yaaaaaaaaaaay!!! We are officially all set for Rome and Paris!! I am SOOOOOO excited!!!
We got everything booked and then I settled down with my "parents" and my "sister" to watch the new episode of "El Barco". This one dealt with killer mosquitoes. Ewwwww... I already don't like mosquitoes and this definitely didn't help. This one wasn't as intense as other ones, but it does manage to make me wanting to know what's going to happen! After the show ended, we all were exhausted and headed to bed.
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