Our drive home from Niagara-on-the-Lake to meet my aunts and uncle was graced by a rainbow. I don’t remember the last time I saw one, to be honest, but I can never look at a rainbow without a sense of sorrow. Judaism teaches that a rainbow is G-d’s sign to humanity that He or She wants to destroy us, as during the biblical flood, but won’t because of the treaty with Noah in the book of Genesis.
I don’t know if I believe that’s true, but it’s always something I remember from my years of Jewish education. Do other religions place religious significance on rainbows? I’d love your thoughts!
The following conversation took place between my mum and my zaidy (grandfather in Yiddish) when Mum, Mitch, and I took a trip to Montreal to visit Mum’s side of the family this weekend.
Context: Bubbie (grandmother in Yiddish) and Zaidy are going to Florida for a couple weeks in December, and my Bubbie is not a small woman. She bought a very flattering bathing suit that covers as much as can be covered.
Mum: Dad, do you like Mummy’s new bathing suit? Zaidy: Meh, it’s for old ladies. Mum: What, you think she should wear something sexy? Zaidy: Well yeah. It’s for old ladies. Why should she cover everything up?
Two weeks since my last post – yikes, sorry about that!
In the last two weeks I’ve finished the school year with a wonderful group of students and said goodbyes to my colleagues and friends from the past three years. I left my school with my desk empty, my arms full of boxes, and my heart a jumble of emotions.
Now that my exams are graded, sealed, and stored, I’ve been spending most of my time figuring out everything I need to do because leaving for Malaysia on August 20. The ever-growing to-do list includes the following:
Figure out bank account
Figure out cell phone
Get rid of old clothes
Store winter clothes
Buy new summer work clothes
Get rid of “stuff”
Sell car
Pack things to save here
Move out of apartment
Store furniture
Visit relatives
Make money at summer job
Pack things to go to Malaysia
Go over teaching resources for my new school
Learn new curriculum
Try not to panic
Etc.
Confession: I like to make lists and systematically go through them and check off tasks. I do not like waiting until the last minute. There’s a lot of waiting until the last minute going on here, and it’s driving me up a wall. I can’t get rid of my cell phone until I sell my car, and I can’t sell my car until I leave my apartment, which I can’t do until I pack all my things into boxes that either go to Goodwill or into my car to move to storage (at my parents’ house and Mitch’s mum’s house), which I can’t do until the beginning of August because there’s so much more to do between now and then!
By Rebecca Michelle 