Blog Envy

When my friends and I would take trips to the Berkshires during college, the lack of cell phone reception led us to develop the term "bar envy" -- jealousy over whoever had the most cell phone bars at a given time. I've since coined the term "blog envy." My faithful readers (if any still remain) may have noticed my lack of posting over the past few weeks. I have some pretty good excuses for that -- but first, let me introduce you to my new favorite blog, Failure to Thrive, my fabulous friend Rachel's account of her med school rotation in Haifa. Despite the fact that she makes fun of my ditziness, Rachel's witty observations have inspired me to rekindle my own long-lost blog. I'm writing to you from backstage at a rehearsal for Israel Musicals' production of "1776" that opens next week; I play Martha Jefferson.

Yes indeed, my involvement in "1776" is one of the many reason why I haven't blogged in forever; another, of course, is the fact that Rachel is actually on this side of the Atlantic! Last Friday I woke up at the crack of dawn, hopped on a sherut (shared taxi) to Tel Aviv, and miraculously made it in just enough time to catch a train up to Binyamina, a town situated roughly halfway between Jerusalem and Haifa. The choice to meet in Binyamina was not made by mere convenience -- the town happens to be known for its proximity to several wineries. Rachel and I began our wine tasting tour bright and early at 9:30 am, hitting up Binyamina, Tishbi, and a failed attempt at visiting the biggest one of all, Carmel. We think that Carmel might have closed for Shabbat by the time we arrived. No matter -- we still had fun climbing up and down hills in search of a nonexistent shopping mall and finding wireless internet on random street corners.

Working backwards, I suppose I should share the biggest news of all -- I transferred cantorial programs and I'm now officially a student at Hebrew Union College. I flew home to NY for a week in January for my audition and I found out I was accepted just two hours before I was scheduled to fly back to the Holy Land. It was the perfect ending to a great week of catching up with friends and family. However, the week as a whole was also ridden with much anxiety about what would lay in store for me upon my return to Israel for the spring semester. Thankfully, everything worked out. I'm busier than I've ever been in my life, but I couldn't be happier with my decision to transfer.

It's fitting, then -- thanks to the lyrics of Billy Joel -- that I had a stopover in Vienna on my way back to begin the second half of my year in Israel:

"But you know that when the truth is told

That you can get what you want or you get old.
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through.
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"

Truth be told, my first semester in Israel wasn't exactly easy, but it did help me figure out a great deal about myself. I realized what I wanted to get out of Judaism and the cantorate, and worked my tail off to switch over to a program that so far seems like a much better fit for me.

In Vienna, I proved that I am indeed my father's daughter -- I definitely inherited his manic ability to pack in as much touring as possible in just a short period of time. I bought a guidebook of the "25 Best Things to Do in Vienna" and managed to check off a good portion of the list in just a day in a half. Highlights included eating lots of pastries and Mozartkugel (aka Mozart Balls); Kabbalat Shabbat services at the Vienna Stadttempel; visits to houses once occupied by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Freud; and a backstage tour of the Vienna Staatsoper, where I also saw an amazing production of Verdi's "La Forza Del Destino." The fact that I left such an incredible opera at intermission will give you an idea of just how jetlagged I was -- I think I slept a grand total of about four hours in two days. My exhaustion also led me to miss out on the ice skating trails outside of Vienna's City Hall. The paths winding through the gardens outside were coated with ice, creating a beautiful (and slippery) network of ice trails. I was very tempted relive my figure skating days and try out the ice for myself, but ultimately decided not to due to lack of time, lack of sleep, and the fact that it was a bit pricey. Oh well, next time!


I did, however, manage to save money on some of my museum admissions -- apparently the day I chose to visit happened to be the Viennese equivalent of the Museum Mile Festival in NYC, where all the Fifth Avenue Museums are free. I visited five different museums -- including the famed Kunsthistorisches Art Museum -- without paying a cent! (Or, should I say, a Euro...)

Some cultural observations: I stopped at a cafe for lunch and ordered some sort of Viennese version of gnocchi. The portion was huge, so I figured I'd save half of it for dinner for the flight back to Israel. Unfortunately, the waitress didn't understand the concept of a doggy bag, even when I attempted to explain it to her in my fledgling singer's German. Once she figured out what I was talking about, she told me that I couldn't take my food to go because they didn't actually have a disposable container to put it in! I know that Europeans don't take coffee to go, but I didn't realize that it applied to food as well! I'll also admit that I've gotten so used to the fact that everyone speaks English in Jerusalem to the point where it was actually a welcome challenge to communicate amidst a language barrier!

It turned out to be a good thing that I didn't bring dinner with me to the airport. The Vienna airport is set up so that you can't sit in the lounge until the gate for your flight is open. Since I got to the airport early, my choices were to either sit on the floor or sit in a cafe. I chose the later option (mostly because the cafe was named after waltz-master Johann Strauss), but of course I had to order something to pay "rent" at my table. I tried yet another Viennese veggie and noodle dish that was perhaps even better than the one at lunch. It was only afterwards that I discovered that there was indeed a place for passengers to sit just a few gates away -- go figure. At least the food was good!

Next up on the travel agenda: Rachel and I are headed way up north to Akko and Rosh Hanikra on Thursday, and next weekend we're flying to Budapest for a few days. Coupled with classes, hell week for "1776" and rehearsals for my other show, "Oklahoma!" (I'm playing Ado Annie), it's going to be a busy couple of months. Hopefully I'll find at least a little bit of time to blog about it all -- that is, if any of you are still out there! :)