Sukkot break and Simchat Torah

The first day began in Jerusalem with another great journey to the shuk to buy lulavs and etrogs, dates for me, in preparation for the holiday in the coming week. We then were bused to the central bus station in Jerusalem, where everyone went all over Israel to their different Sukkot locations, I headed on the bus to Rishon where I met with my cousins for lunch at an Italian restaurant for some beef carpaccio and other delicious food. Later that night, for the first night of Sukkot we went to my 2nd cousin's in-laws for dinner, where his mother made the most delicious molasses chicken. The next day was pretty chill, we pretty much just slept and hung out at home, that night my 2nd cousin had a birthday party to go to at a really cool pub, where the inside looks like a wooden ship and had a really delicious beer that tasted like cherries called Creek. Friday was spent relaxing at home again, and then Shabbat dinner was at my 1st cousin's house where I met her husband's family. Saturday was spent the way Shabbat should be spent, doing absolutely nothing. Sunday was a stressful but rewarding day, after trying to find my way to Tel Aviv after four buses and plenty of language barriers, let me explain something when most tourists go to a information booth in Israel, they usually expect the person in the booth to speak some English but just my luck the girl doesn't speak a word of English. On top of that, just my luck,I'm on the bus apparently lost and so I ask the bus driver where to go, no he doesn't speak English, I ask a person on the bus doesn't speak English, I ask the bus of 45 people if anyone speaks english. No. Just my luck, in a country where 8 out of 10 people speak English there's is only one person on the bus who does, just my luck. But after all of that, I found my way to sunshine at the beach, where the water was warm but refreshing, after washing the sand off and getting back into my clothes from my swimsuit. My boyfriend and I went to lunch at a kosher restaurant that had a sukkah for their patio seating, it was nice food, always so many options for food places in Israel. We continued walking around Tel Aviv until finding a comfy bench to chill out and people watch, always an entertaining hobby. When I had to go back to Rishon, I got lost yet again, because of the misunderstanding or confusing bus route, but thankfully my cousin came to my rescue and came to get me. I've decided I can't be left alone without someone who speaks Hebrew, trying to figure out the buses with a language barrier, doesn't end well. With a few more days of hanging out it became Wednesday pretty quickly, so I had to bid my cousins farewell and head back to Jerusalem for Simchat Torah. When everyone got back to Beit Yehuda, we were back on the road to an ultra-orthodox community where we stayed in midrasha and yeshiva high school, the festivities began Wednesday night with our exploration of different synagogues in this community and their different ways of celebrating the holiday. First to a synagogue where the girls aren't allowed to even dance with the Torah, so the girls spent a lot of time watching the boys dance, enviously. We then went to another synagogue that had the same routine, girls had to be separated as usual but even allowed in the courtyard of the synagogue. So I found what was more comfortable to me, the Chabad was down the street, so I went and had a great chat with the women at the Chabad synagogue in this Jerusalem, I didn't realize how much I missed the welcoming atmosphere of the Chabad until I had to go to other synagogues as a guest. I was so happy to be there and to talk to the women, they invited me for Shabbat so I plan on going back someday in the near future. The next day after more davening and dancing, without the Torah for the girls (I've realized that Simchat Torah is not the best holiday for women), we went to the hospital to sing and dance in the halls of a hospital, which I personally didn't participate for one reason. I don't believe that it's a good deed to deprive someone who is ill and recovering in the hospital, I wish they would have asked who specifically wanted to be sung to, as opposed to bursting into rooms and being loud and disturbing these patients. After we got back from the hospital early, we found my friend with something kind of interesting. They caught a kitten in Jerusalem, there is quite the stray cat problem in the city so it was crazy that they caught this little 9 week (approximately) kitten, we took care of it the whole day and there was a split in the group of people who were happy to have the kitten,named Yochanan, as our group mascot and others who didn't agree with taking a stray from the street and keeping. So the kitten got vetoed by popular vote, but he was the cutest little thing with blue eyes, black coat and white socks. The kitten definitely made me miss my cats at home, so my family at home its your task to make up for my absence and give my cats a extra kiss and snuggle for me.