Last night I went to the first installment of my Women’s Chabura Intensive in Nachlaot. The Chabura is basically a discussion forum in which the women work together to discover their own personal avodah (task or work) in the world. Our group is small, only 7 or 8 women, and all are wives of men studying at Sulaam Yaakov, Shuie’s yeshiva.

In the few years since I became frum (religious), I’ve developed a sense of ease around other religious women, even the ultra-orthodox. It ain’t no thing to shoot the breeze with a buttoned-up, wig-sporting Rebbetzin. That said, religious women like the ones in my Chabura–hippie earth-mama types who are freely spiritual yet grounded, creative, purposeful, strong and with full, dynamic lives outside of wife- and motherhood–intimidate the hell out of me. Mostly it’s because I aspire to be just like them. Not to mention that many of them give their kids sugar-free, wheat-free and/or vegetarian fare and have wardrobes I would kill for. So I was pretty nervous heading into the group last night, especially when I realized that all of them live in Nachlaot and socialize together, some going back quite a ways. I was the newbie, the stranger, and it threw me right back into third-grade when I would have given away a year’s worth of Ring Dings to have just one friend. Somehow, I mustered up the guts to tell them so when the session started and they actually didn’t eat me alive. In fact, they were all quite warm and welcoming, so here’s hoping I’ll eventually to find a place for myself among them.

Today was my favorite day of classes with Leah Golomb at Simchat Shlomo. In order to get there, I have to walk through the Shuk, where the sights are enough to keep you entertained for hours (however, the mingling smells of car exhaust, sticky pastries and fish are enough to urge you through pretty quickly). Aside from the usual spectacle of vendors calling out their wares to passersby, truck drivers in heated arguments with shop owners and the parade of hot Jewish mamas in fantastic tichels (head wraps), I happened to see something today that managed to make my mouth fall open. Literally. As I made my way through the market, I saw a craggy older gentleman holding an egg in his hand. It must have been fresh, probably plucked from one the cartons of eggs in a tower next to him. He tapped a hole into one end of the shell, tipped his head back and drank the yolk through it with the kind of relish you see in a Coca-Cola commercial. I didn’t know whether to applaud or puke.

For those of you who demand consistent Yonah updates, he is thank Gd feeling much better and is busy saying his new favorite word: “hat”, while pulling mine off my head and putting it on his. He looks just fabulous in my magenta crocheted beanie with a flower on the side. He has also taken to walking across the kitchen floor, but only when he thinks we’re not looking. The minute he feels our eyes on him he pops back down. Stinker. I am also pleased to say that he is graduating to more adult fare, including whole wheat pasta with cottage cheese, sauteed garlic and mushrooms (the noodles were a hit, mushrooms, not so much), and his new favorite, brown rice and lentil burgers (Mommy’s latest invention) which he sucked up like a vacuum.

Mommy is also feeling much better after her stomach bug, though I’m still struck with random bouts of nausea throughout the day. One thing I realized was how important it is to hydrate, especially when you’re pregnant, and especially when you’re living in a desert. Even when it’s chilly, Israel just sucks the moisture out of you. Today, my therapist Sara was doing some kinetic energy work with me (short version: using my body to get messages about my current state of being) and almost immediately said, “Have you had enough to drink today?”. I sheepishly admitted that I probably didn’t. So now you want me to juggle myself, a husband, a baby, learning, keeping a house together, managing some modicum of a social life, maintaining a creative outlet AND stay hydrated? How much does a woman have to handle already?

My father is coming to visit! He’s arriving December 7th and staying for a week, during which we will be celebrating my birthday AND the first day of Channukah, which just happen to fall on the same day (Can we say, PRESENTS?). So I’ll have a week with my sister, a week off and then a week with my father. My cup runneth over :).