potluck /Ranana

A couple minutes ago, I just got back from an all girls potluck dinner. Every apartment dressed up in a theme( we dressed as ninjas- some others dressed as pregnant mothers, superheros, garbage bags, farm girls, etc.) One of the girls' apartment planned a dinner and everyone brought one dish- there was pastas, salads, chicken, vegtables, etc. My apartment brought green beans. I made them with garlic, olive oil, salt, and grain mustard! I have been experimenting a lot and am definitely become a good cook. This last weekend I spent Shabbat in Ranana at Dena's house. I traveled all by myself!! I'm not scared of getting lost anymore because I know that eventually I will end up finding my way, and sometimes getting lost is an adventure and you experience new things and places. For instance, many times at home I would get lost driving around, but end up stumbling upon a garage sale! What luck! Next time you make fun of me for getting lost to Benihana I will reply to you that, "Not all who wonder are lost.." Every turn or road I take here will take me somewhere, so why does it matter if I don't end up where I originally planned? Life is about the journey, not the destination. :) Anyways, I ended up at Dena's place successfully. It was the first time I ever kept shabbat fully- no electricity, kaddish, davaning, havdallah, etc. It was really amazing. On Friday night, Dena's synagogue  had their service outside and invited the whole town to come. Ranana is dominantly Americans who made Aliya, so everyone I met spoke perfect English(which was nice for a change). On the walk back, it started drizzling (which is very rare here) and hundreds of people were walking back to their sukkahs for dinner - there was an amazing spirit and energy in the air. We ate lasagna, salad, and chalah in Dena's tye dye sukkah. The next day we did Kaddish with their whole family (she has 2 other sisters, and her parents are from Canada) and the neighbors came by too to have lunch. Her parents are really amazing- they are both really into the Grateful Dead and love kayaking, and the mom is an artist and their house is decorated with her art and bead work. The rest of the day we read books and played cards, and then did Havdallah in the Sukkah. I really love how relaxed and low stress Shabbat is there. Without the chaos of television, computers, phones, etc, the family really becomes close and appreciates each others company more. Shabbat is really a wonderful holiday.