So long for now, friends. L'hitraot!

Middlebury welcomes students to the Language Schools!

Hello! Or should I say, Shalom! From Middlebury, Vermont. The trip up was fun, and I'll have a video of it at some point, maybe, or the video-shooting might have been all for naught. Either way, it was a beautiful drive up and Tuvia has left me in beautiful, but sweltering Middlebury for seven weeks.

Tonight is our first meal, Hebrew games, and getting to know everyone. It's also Shabbos, and I met at least one other girl who is Shomer Shabbos like myself (why couldn't she have been my roommate? although, my roommate hasn't actually shown up yet), so we'll see how seven Shabboses can go in Middlebury. I met the director of the program, had a conversation, and was declared an "Advanced Novice." Next, I take the plunge, and hopefully in the end, I'll be at "Advanced Intermediate." Until then, I go with the flow. Tomorrow is a tour of campus and after Shabbos ends, a big Hebrew movie night. Sunday we take some written tests and find out where we're placed. And then? Then we take the language pledge. Somewhere around 8 something or other Sunday night, I'm speaking the Hebrew.

At last, when I tell people my name is Chaviva I'll be able to follow it up with a big blabbery helping of Hebrew since the name itself is very early Zionist in its etymology. People expect me to be fluent. I know, I could have picked Rachel or Leah or Tzipporah or something. Oh well, I'm difficult.

So this will be my last blog post in English (I think, unless I get the hinkling for a post-Shabbos ditty, that is), and henceforth you'll likely just be getting photos out of me. I don't want to try and write b'ivrit until I'm wholly comfortable with what I'm attempting to say. Call me crazy, but I'm a hardcore perfectionist who likes to be, well, perfect, in all things. It's damaging most of the time, but it gives me the oomph to achieve life's greatest goals.

I hope you all stick around, pop in every now and again to see if maybe I've written something. Otherwise, well, I guess I'll see you in about seven weeks, post-Hebrew immersion, with what hopefully will be lots of interesting stories and a whole lot of Hebrew learnin'.

Be well, l'hitraot, and Shabbat Shalom!

BEGIN HIATUS!

I Left it in San Francisco.

Well, I made it to San Francisco and back in one piece. It was a quick trip, but it's about quality, not quantity, and we were definitely heavy on the quality end of things. I got to ride a trolley (scary), see the wharf, the sea lions on Pier 39, eat some fresh fish, eat some In-N-Out, see Sex and the City (on which a post will be written in full), spend some quality time with someone special, take lots of photos, get some delicious dried mangoes, to go the Lefty store, and experience the coolness of the tech side of the valley (we drove by Google! eeep!). There was a lot more in there, but I'm tired, and I can't offer much. I've posted a bunch of the photos to my Flickr Page, so be sure to check those out. Here's a sneak preview:



And until next time, check out this ridiculous Spelling Bee happening, pulled from the one, the only, Tamara!

Names. The meaning of names.

So here's a pickle.

Some of you know me as Amanda.
Others of you know me as Chaviva.

On this blog, and in most of the internet world, I am Chaviva, better known as Chavi.

Would I be insane to make this a permanent change? I mean, I'm moving in the fall and going off to school somewhere and I can become who I feel that I am quite easily, indeed. No offense intended to anyone or anything, and most assuredly those who have known me and my family will know me forever as Amanda. But names, in my mind, have such significance, such importance, such meaning. And as I grow, and as I become the person I was meant to be, I grow more and more into my Hebrew name, which in translation means precisely the same thing as the name that my parents issued to me at birth.

But, it's something I am thinking about.