Feel Awful and Falafel

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Today was not the best day. After two weeks, I can already feel my sense of adventure evaporating, leaving only traces of good old-fashioned homesickness in its place. Rather than kvetch in paragraph form, I’ve decided to make a cheesy, semi-poetic list of what I miss in America. *clears throat*

Things I miss
by Ahuva Z.

I really miss driers and fish without bones,
unlimited text messaging and my own cell’s ringtones.
I miss normal, noncarbonated bottled water.
I miss feeling like someone’s sister or daughter.

I miss microwaves and veggie faux meat.
I miss not stepping in dog poo when I walk down the street.
I miss authentic burritos and all of my friends.
I miss not longing for when the Czech politika class ends.

I miss professors whose English is intelligible and clear.
I miss where water is free, instead of more expensive than beer.
I miss easy internet access and food besides fried cheese,
But I miss you, yes you, more than all of these…

Things. The end.

I hope you enjoyed my little poem. Now on to more details of my day!

Around 7 o’clock, I met up with Joel and Kim (the program director) at CET to walk to the Jewish Community Center for the youth group’s falafel night. On the way, Joel was offered marijuana and hashish by some random guy on the street. That was the fifth time Joel has been offered drugs on the street here. I find it hilarious because he’s a pretty innocent guy, walking around with tzitzit and his head covered. I think it’s because he looks scruffy that he keeps getting drug offers. Maybe he shouldn’t be growing his beard out.

At the JCC, some other CET people were already standing outside of the building, finishing up some gelato they had bought nearby. We had to wait for them to finish because you can’t bring non-kosher food into the building. “Falafel night” was somewhat of a disappointment because, well, there was no falafel. The youth group ordered the falafel from someone other than the guy that the JCC typically endorses, so they weren’t allowed to have it in the building (Apparently it wasn’t kosher enough.) So, we just ate bread and salad. Half of the CET people left immediately after discovering that there would be no falafel. There was also supposed to be a movie screening, but that didn’t start until after their hour + of election speeches and voting. It was sort of interesting to see that process in Czech. David got re-elected as VP of the Jewish youth group (where youth means up to age 35). It was strange to be at a youth group meeting where many youth group members had their own babies. Anyway, after much ado, we finally watched the movie “Trembling before God.” I’ve seen it a couple of times before, but it was still good, just a little too long. After the movie, they had a relatively brief discussion of the movie’s topic—homosexuality in the orthodox community—in Czech. The guy who will replace the current chief rabbi of Prague led the discussion.

After the discussion, there was a “fire show.” I didn’t know what to expect, but it was somewhat amazing. One guy was playing the drums in the street while another guy and a girl were dancing with various flaming objects. I filmed some of it—so let me know if you want to see a guy jump roping with a flaming jump rope. In general, they did a lot of stuff you might see a hardcore raver do with giant glow sticks, except they did it with real fire. The show ended sometime after midnight, at which point Joel and I walked back to the apartment. Well, we stopped by a gyro stand where I bought some falafel, which was okay, but... well, let’s leave it at that. Then Joel was offered cocaine and marijuana, yet again, on our way back home. I feel kind of left out, ya know, because I have yet to be offered any drugs on the street. Am I doing something wrong?

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