Sunday, June 22, 2008

Mint Lemonade and Joy Division


I never thought I'd be the person to say that I'm happy Shabbos is over, but boy am I really happy that Shabbos is over. Our guests were great but extremely exhausting. It's hard to wash 20 plates (dessert, salad and main) twice in one weekend. Not to mention, the mountain of silverware and the cookware that I went through on only two meals! Fortunately, my last minute decision to bake snowdrop brownies were a big hit. They polished off the tin before Shabbos ended, and Pidgeon and I abstained so that our waistlines would get too big. I even surprised myself and went to Shul yesterday, in time for Torah reading too, and then came home and the lunch marathon began. We promised our guests we were take them for a walk around the neighborhood after our naps and at 6:30 p.m. we started on our way. Now, normally, I would take the walk a bit slower than the pace they set. But, they're all walkers so I huffed and puffed to keep up. By the time we made it through Baka, crossed the train tracks, and headed deep into the German Colony, I was hurting. I needed to get home! I'd been on my feet at that sink, and serving and clearing, and standing in shul, for way too long. And, we were about 25 minutes away from home. Well, that just made me cranky, so I told Pidgeon we must slow down and get me home before I just lost it. So, we took it a bit slower, and half of our guests went ahead so they could get to shul for Mincha. Myself, Pidgeon, and our female guest headed back to the apartment. Now, before we left for the walk, I'd mentioned that I would make mint lemonade when we got back. Granted, I didn't think I would be feeling so lousy when I made the offer. So, we finally get back to the apartment, and I collapse onto the sofa and Pidgeon brings me a drink. I hadn't been sitting there for more than 20 minutes before out female guest inquired about the mint lemonade I had promised her.

WTF? She was kidding, right? But nope, she wasn't.

So, I peeled myself up off the couch and asked Pidgeon for help and we set to work on squeezing 6 lemons for the lemonade. That's when our guest decided to "insist" on helping by washing the lemons or offering to squeeze. ALL jobs pidgeon was doing, as I was the one in charge of washing the mint, measuring out the sugar, filling the pitcher with ice cubes, etc. Pidgeon was the one doing all the hard work. So I very politely asked her to sit down and relax while we got her her lemonade.

And that's when I was officially ready for our Shabbos guests to go home. I've never felt that way before, but I was just done. Does that make me terrible? I felt guilty that I just wanted some quiet in the house. I wanted to take off my hair shmata, put on a pair of shorts, and sit like a pig in shit on the couch doing absolutely nothing. Speaking to absolutely no one. Just me and Pidgeon, in silence. Well, we rushed through Havdala as soon as we could, and insisted they not tidy up the rooms. Then they asked about food, and I very nicely offered to make them toasted cheese sandwiches if they were hungry. Fortunately, they decided to make other plans, so I was off the hook on preparing another meal for them. We said our goodbyes and Pidgeon walked them out to show them the way back home. And, as soon as I closed the door behind them, this great relief washed over me. It was almost tangible. I walked into our bedroom and did exactly what I had been dreaming about doing for most of the weekend. Put on a pair of shorts, took off my hair shmata, and then walked back into the kitchen to finish washing all the dishes and silverware. In complete silence. It was bliss.



After I finished tidying up the kitchen, I decided I was done for the night.  Even though our bedroom looks like a hurricane hit it, and I needed to put up a linen wash, I decided to just chill for the evening. Pidgeon left to do some work at the office, and since he didn't have to be home until 11:00 p.m. for my shot, I was left with a couple of hours to myself. I wish I could say that I did something interesting, but I didn't do a think. I ate some Shabbos salad leftovers and watched an online episode of MTV's The Real World. I was just in the mood for absolute mindless drivel, something that I could just zone out and really relax to, and that program was certainly perfect. Once Pidgeon got home, and we did my shot, we decided we were both so exhausted to do much else. We caught the episode of CSI: Miami and then I remembered the movie we took out on Thursday. I was hoping to watch it on Thursday night, but I spent the entire day and night cooking in the kitchen. Friday was more of the same, although it was mostly cleaning and setting up then cooking. So, there was practically no time for me to watch the movie.

But, I highly recommend it! It was a terrific film about the life and tragic death of Joy Division's lead singer Ian Curtis. It was haunting and the fact that it was shot completely in black and white just added to the starkness of the storyline. Brilliant.

Well, I am in serious final mode. I have my one and only final P"G this Thursday morning and it's a huge amount of material. It's not easy getting Rambam and Rabbi Saadia Gaon straight - especially when it comes to their opinions on Creation and Jewish Philosophy. But, I'm hoping by Thursday I'll know enough of the material to pass the exam!

Yom Tov from Baka!



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