May was a fanstastic month for Moishe House Dallas! We started the month with a free sushi happy hour at a great sushi place called Steel. As long as you make a reservation in advance, you can enjoy free sushi every Wednesday during happy hour. It was a great place to meet up for some cheap drinks and good food.
Our second event was the best one! We went rock climbing, and most of us had never been or had not been in a very long time. It was a chance for all of us to act like kids, and we all had a really great time. We had a really great turnout, and we tried to step out of the normal ideas that we usually have, and it definitely paid off.
Our last event happened today. We all met at a new Jewish deli that opened recently. It was sooo good!! After that we caravanned to the Holocaust Museum. It was nice when we were able to sit and chat at brunch before going to the museum. Some people just came to brunch, some just came to the museum, and most of us went to both. Overall, it was a great place to come together as Jews and look at back at the past. The museum had just moved to the downtown area, so most of us had never been nbefore. It was a good time for all.
That concudes the month of May. We are looking forward to doing some more exciting events in the future. We are trying to get feedback from everyone to make sure we keep planning events that people really want to come to.
Until next time, peace and love from Dallas!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
MAY
Last weekend there was my birthday party in Moishe house Warsaw it was really nice! I good a beautiful cake with a lot of decorations. There where balloons on the walls and some good food ( I made moistly ;). I good some cool gifts and there was a lot of fun.
Last days where windy and rainy and it is a bit weird because usually last days of may are really hot in this part of Poland. Yesterday it was raining all they and I got completely wet.
The summer examination session almost started and the end of academic year is very soon so I have to go and write something for social psychology class for monday.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Does anybody really know what time it is?
First thing that came to mind; seems to sum up the feeling pretty accurately. (Been feeling about a day ahead and several hours sideways.....) [I also find it fascinating that people will ask me questions about MH events even still to this day -- like, "what time is the thing at your house tonight?" -- even though I am not the main info. person listed in the e-mails and can search my e-mail just as inconveniently as they can. Then there are those times when the question reveals information to me I didn't even know....]
Shabbat continues to be my favorite MHSS event. We just consistently keep getting awesome people who contribute to -- create -- an atmosphere charged with positivity; I love it. I've also noticed that I really like cooking for a bunch of people and hosting a lot of friendly folks in the space where I live! Of course I knew that second part already -- that's what brought me to MH in the first place -- but I never would have suspected that I'd enjoy cooking for a bunch of folks like I do! It's very fun for me -- and very cool for me to realize this about myself!
Just completed a week-long teambuilding / leadership / group facilitation / ropes course training this past week. It was very, very cool. :) I love this kind of stuff; I'm quite grateful to have learned of the training and been able to attend. Fabulous learning-doing environment, excellent fellow participants and facilitators, and really quite amazingly cool to build upon and expand some of the skills and knowledge I have, and to acquire completely new skills and experiences I never bothered to imagine would be integrated into my life. -- Care to dangle from a cliff edge / rock / tree, anyone?
Been wondering quite a lot lately: if I were to leave MHSS tomorrow, what lasting impact would I have had? If all the residents were to magically cease to be residents: what would happen with the MHSS community? Would a community continue?; or is it like iron filings to a magnet: when we have events, a community comes into existance for that moment, then disperses.....some lingering, some now attached that weren't before, but for the most part a single-shot entity that leaves an impression but isn't its own solid unit, independent and self-surviving? We do a lot of giving at MHSS; but have we enabled? (Is that something anyone even wants from us? Maybe it's a moot point..........)
Shabbat continues to be my favorite MHSS event. We just consistently keep getting awesome people who contribute to -- create -- an atmosphere charged with positivity; I love it. I've also noticed that I really like cooking for a bunch of people and hosting a lot of friendly folks in the space where I live! Of course I knew that second part already -- that's what brought me to MH in the first place -- but I never would have suspected that I'd enjoy cooking for a bunch of folks like I do! It's very fun for me -- and very cool for me to realize this about myself!
Just completed a week-long teambuilding / leadership / group facilitation / ropes course training this past week. It was very, very cool. :) I love this kind of stuff; I'm quite grateful to have learned of the training and been able to attend. Fabulous learning-doing environment, excellent fellow participants and facilitators, and really quite amazingly cool to build upon and expand some of the skills and knowledge I have, and to acquire completely new skills and experiences I never bothered to imagine would be integrated into my life. -- Care to dangle from a cliff edge / rock / tree, anyone?
Been wondering quite a lot lately: if I were to leave MHSS tomorrow, what lasting impact would I have had? If all the residents were to magically cease to be residents: what would happen with the MHSS community? Would a community continue?; or is it like iron filings to a magnet: when we have events, a community comes into existance for that moment, then disperses.....some lingering, some now attached that weren't before, but for the most part a single-shot entity that leaves an impression but isn't its own solid unit, independent and self-surviving? We do a lot of giving at MHSS; but have we enabled? (Is that something anyone even wants from us? Maybe it's a moot point..........)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
my heart is broken
Our little pigeon is gone. He was so sweet. I did everything to keep him with us, but I am afraid our house is to noisy for little pigeons and their moms or dads I really don't know who was raising him.
Beside pigeons we have another new moishe mate now - Tomek. He is staying at our house for two weeks and he is helping us with events and everything. You probably know him from our pictures because we were having his 27th birthday at our house.
Examination session is here, and this time is really important to me because i am choosing my speciality this year, I hope to study clinical psychology and i'm dreaming about work in hospital. If i fail my statistic they will send me to second year so it's really stressing!!!
In May we did many exctiting things: like attending polish jewish film festiwal or cowboy party. We are planning to do a lot in June also. Another big picnic(last one was really spectacular!) and prepare to Krakow Jewish Festiwal the biggest jewish festiwal in Poland.
Beside pigeons we have another new moishe mate now - Tomek. He is staying at our house for two weeks and he is helping us with events and everything. You probably know him from our pictures because we were having his 27th birthday at our house.
Examination session is here, and this time is really important to me because i am choosing my speciality this year, I hope to study clinical psychology and i'm dreaming about work in hospital. If i fail my statistic they will send me to second year so it's really stressing!!!
In May we did many exctiting things: like attending polish jewish film festiwal or cowboy party. We are planning to do a lot in June also. Another big picnic(last one was really spectacular!) and prepare to Krakow Jewish Festiwal the biggest jewish festiwal in Poland.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
MH Warsaw
I have an examination session now, so I really have to learn a lot. Tomorrow - ecology, Saturday - genetics, Monday - Microbiology in use, Thursday - Immunology....... But soon (in two weeks) it will be over and I'm starting my summer vacation.
We have lots of plans for our Moishe House for the vacation. We are planning to do more events on fresh air ( i hope it won't be raining during all of the summer) , and because we will be having more free time we are planning to make our events more fun and interesting. We have lots of new ideas and I hope that we will put them into effect. MH Warsaw has almost half a year and I think that we did a great job and I hope that we will be making even better for the next half year.
For two weeks we had two new mates on the balcony in our moishe house - a small pigeon and his mom. But we don't know why - they moved out.
I bought tickets to Greece - I will spend there two weeks on August. I'm very happy about that. We are also going to Hungary with Polish Jewish Youth Organization.
We have lots of plans for our Moishe House for the vacation. We are planning to do more events on fresh air ( i hope it won't be raining during all of the summer) , and because we will be having more free time we are planning to make our events more fun and interesting. We have lots of new ideas and I hope that we will put them into effect. MH Warsaw has almost half a year and I think that we did a great job and I hope that we will be making even better for the next half year.
For two weeks we had two new mates on the balcony in our moishe house - a small pigeon and his mom. But we don't know why - they moved out.
I bought tickets to Greece - I will spend there two weeks on August. I'm very happy about that. We are also going to Hungary with Polish Jewish Youth Organization.
dairy in the land of noodles
Shavuot is almost here- that's great news for me, because that means that I will have the opportunity to eat lots of dairy (mainly at a Chabad event). China isn't so big on dairy, so I count any day when I get to eat a cheese sandwich or a slice of a cheesecake as a good day. Cheese blintzes would be amazing, but I'm not going to push my luck. MH Beijing is doing a shavuos sundae event, where you can create your own sundae and then feast upon it.
My contract with the NRDC expired at the beginning of this month. It's the only job I've ever had that I have been sad to leave, but I'm excited about starting graduate school and I know that I'm making the right decision. The office threw a going away party for me and two other co-workers who are leaving. One is still an undergrad in college and was interning at the NRDC; the other one had been at the NRDC Beijing almost from the start. The former is returning to class at Northeastern, and the latter is starting grad school at Harvard. What this means is that we will all be in Boston, not too far from one another. That's kind of cool!
Blogspot (the site this blog is hosted on!) is blocked in China. Again. The only reason I'm able to post on this blog is because of my school's VPN.
I blame Lianna at MH London for provoking the Chinese authorities with her activist letter writing. I'm just kidding, but I think she makes a good point: Things that we take for granted in our home countries may not necessarily be so in where we wind up. For example, I like eating string cheese for breakfast, but I just can't do that in China without spending a lot of money at an import store. OK, maybe not such a powerful example, but maybe this will impress you more.
My contract with the NRDC expired at the beginning of this month. It's the only job I've ever had that I have been sad to leave, but I'm excited about starting graduate school and I know that I'm making the right decision. The office threw a going away party for me and two other co-workers who are leaving. One is still an undergrad in college and was interning at the NRDC; the other one had been at the NRDC Beijing almost from the start. The former is returning to class at Northeastern, and the latter is starting grad school at Harvard. What this means is that we will all be in Boston, not too far from one another. That's kind of cool!
Blogspot (the site this blog is hosted on!) is blocked in China. Again. The only reason I'm able to post on this blog is because of my school's VPN.
I blame Lianna at MH London for provoking the Chinese authorities with her activist letter writing. I'm just kidding, but I think she makes a good point: Things that we take for granted in our home countries may not necessarily be so in where we wind up. For example, I like eating string cheese for breakfast, but I just can't do that in China without spending a lot of money at an import store. OK, maybe not such a powerful example, but maybe this will impress you more.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Activist letter writing
Tonight, in a quiet way, Moishe House London has been a hub of international human rights advocacy. As I write this, there is a pile of twenty envelopes next to me, addressed to Presidents, Ministers, Governers and the odd MP. Tomorrow, I will take them to the post office and they will begin journeys to Indonesia, Nigeria, China, the Congo, Columbia, Turkey and elsewhere.
The letters are the outcome of an 'Activist Letter Writing and Cake' evening. A small band of houseniks sprawled on the floor surrounded by resources from Amnesty International, and scribbled away, fuelled by brownies. Reading the stories behind the letters we were sending off, I couldn't help but feel awed by the bravery of activists working in countries where they are daily faced with the threat of imprisonment, torture or death, for having the temerity to speak out against abuses.
To share just one story, the journalist and poet Shi Tao has been imprisoned in China since 2004. His crime? Emailing a pro-democracy website with information on how the Chinese authorities instructed journalists to cover the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Yahoo! admitted providing information to the Chinese authorities that led to his arrest, and a ten year sentence.
I feel so privileged to live in a country where criticising the government will not land you in prison. It's that hoary old Pesach-Shavuot dichtomy of freedom / responsibility.
Baruch atah adonai, matir asoorim. Blessed are you, Eternal One, who frees the bound.
The letters are the outcome of an 'Activist Letter Writing and Cake' evening. A small band of houseniks sprawled on the floor surrounded by resources from Amnesty International, and scribbled away, fuelled by brownies. Reading the stories behind the letters we were sending off, I couldn't help but feel awed by the bravery of activists working in countries where they are daily faced with the threat of imprisonment, torture or death, for having the temerity to speak out against abuses.
To share just one story, the journalist and poet Shi Tao has been imprisoned in China since 2004. His crime? Emailing a pro-democracy website with information on how the Chinese authorities instructed journalists to cover the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Yahoo! admitted providing information to the Chinese authorities that led to his arrest, and a ten year sentence.
I feel so privileged to live in a country where criticising the government will not land you in prison. It's that hoary old Pesach-Shavuot dichtomy of freedom / responsibility.
Baruch atah adonai, matir asoorim. Blessed are you, Eternal One, who frees the bound.
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