We walked in, and immediate we were comfortable. Though we were around the world (is it considered half-way around the world or actually around the world when you're this far away from home?) these totally random people made food that we are used to, sang prayers/songs that we know (though Matt may not like them), and talked about issues and topics that we're used to/comfortable with. Though I have realized this before, and I suppose I probably felt a similar way in 1998 when I spent Shabbat with the Chabad rabbi and his wife in Venice, this was alarmingly comfortable. The experience could have been intensified since I didn't talk to anyone else all day...
Anyways, the couple was so super nice and smart, and we really enjoyed the evening - they invited us without even knowing anything about us! I had just emailed a bunch of people to get hooked into the Jewish community, and I heard that he had an Ashkenazi minyan that he held once a month, and I emailed to get details. He then invited us for dinner. Unfortunately they and their two kids are moving back to England in two months...They were telling us about some of the challenges they dealt with at the beginning of their stay here, and it was so comforting to hear that other people go through the same adjustments.
There was also a wonderful man that reminded us a lot of Josh Lichtman. He's a volunteer in Thailand at an NGO that works with organic farming. He's funded by American Jewish World Service. He said that his position is up in 2 months (he will have been there for 6 months total), so if anyone's interested, let me know, and I'll get in touch with him. Josh - this is for you, I swear!!
This morning Matt and I woke up and appreciated the clouds by playing tennis. I won 6-4 coming back from 40 love or 40-15 in at least three games!! WHOO HOOOO!!! It was a challenge, for us however, since our tennis court is on the fifth floor of a building, and we ended up losing two balls over the side. The cleaning up in our complex is so intense that the balls were gone by the time we got downstairs after our game!
For all of you Matt lovers out there - I am trying to get him to write in the blog, but he's not so excited by the idea of writing, but he enjoys its existence, so I apologize that none of it is in his voice...
Matt has had a crazy week at work. His direct boss had a baby girl this week, his less-direct boss is away in England/America, and one of the other guys he works with closely is in India. Matt is picking up a lot of slack in the office, so he has worked some long hours and learned a lot. Last night, after a crazy long week of work for him (up at or before 6 everyday! and home at 8:30 at the earliest, and even 11:30 a few nights...) he said that he doesn't mind going to work - he likes what he's doing there, he likes what he's thinking about and enjoys writing what he writes, so that was GREAT news. Oy for him if we move to fricken Singapore and he doesn't even like his job!!!
Happy weekend!!
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