Chanukah

Okay, here it goes.
My Chanukah in Edmonton. The one and only. ;)

So I had a few chanukah miracles which I will mention in the stories below and a bunch of cool and funny things happening but mostly it was a really really crazy week. I'm sure you'll understand when you read all about it. Just brace yourselves for story overload and dig in!

So Friday before chanukah I realized that I still didn't have a menorah. After a bit of investigation I found you could buy one from Bed Bath and Beyond for thirty dollars or put tea lights in a row and light them. So i decided that if I couldn't find a cheaper Menorah I would go buy a pack of tea lights from the dollar store and call it a day, despite that I wanted to have a really beautiful menorah and do it the right way with olive oil and whatever. For shabbos I made a split second decision to sleep at the Barak's house [a family here that i'm really close to] and went. Right after shabbos they asked me how i'm lighting the Menorah and I said I wasn't sure yet and they said they had a second menorah that they don't use. I figured its a dinky old one but it turns out to be a beautiful tall silver one that is sitting on a mantel b/c only the father lights and one of the children won this in a raffle once. So that's how I found my beautiful Menorah. I realized though that it was an oil menorah and I hadn't bought oil or wicks or anything. So i came home and started rummaging through the cabinets of this big old house which has been in and out of use for about 100 years. There are hundreds of random things in the cabinets so it took a bit of digging but in the end I had my own miracle of the oil when I found an unopened olive oil [still with the kosher seal on it :) i'm not sure if it was the Kohen Gadols seal but it was good enough for me] and wicks and holders. And that is how I began my chanukah. With the miracle of light.
That night I sat watching the lights and listened to a chanukah shiur by Chevy Garfinkle which was amazing and just sang chanukah songs and prepared for hebrew school the next day.

Sunday I got up early in the morning [since I've been getting up at 6:00] showered and was getting ready when I totally burnt my whole face. It was red and swollen and puffy... basically not a sight most people want to see in the morning. Luckily I was in a good mood and I put on some eye makeup to detract from the redness and finished getting ready for Hebrew school. I teach a class of 7 or 8 kindergarten age kids. We learn the hebrew Alef-Beis, about Mitzvos and Jewish holidays. The agenda for the day was to teach in Hebrew School, and then Devorah Pinson [the head of the chabad hebrew school] had asked me to be a driver for the bat mitzvah club to their performance at the legislature that day and then later to babysit her kids while she ran the program. I didn't really know what the whole thing was about but I said yes either way. She also invited me to eat lunch at her house so I wouldn't have to drive the 20 minute drive home and back again during the 2 hour break  I would have in between. That day in Hebrew school was a whirlwind of fun activities. We didn't stop moving for a second while we made our own latkas from peeling the potatoes to frying them on a hot plate, to playing dreidel, to lighting our own menorahs, to eating doughnuts, to doing chanukah projects, to participating in a chanukah game show.

When 12:45 came I was wiped. But I had eaten 3 doughnuts and 10 latkas that morning so I decided to skip lunch at Devorah's house and go ice skating next door for a bit. While I was on the the ice Devorah texted me saying that one of the girls in the bat mitzvah club performance was throwing up with the stomach flu and couldn't come- could I fill in for her. I said yes because I'm not shy and I don't mind performing. =D So she texted me the lines I needed to memorize and I skated around the rink memorizing them until I had to leave. 4 lines of a poem. "I am the 6th candle for those who were lost...." something like that. Then I ran off the ice, got lost on the way out of the mall, then took a wrong turn getting back to her house and finally got there in time to load up the girls and the kids and the food into the car. Devorah threw me a tuna sandwich and we were off. Well I was officially off babysitting duty because now I was the designated back up performer. Now I was the bat mitzvah club supervisor. We drive to this huge building downtown that is all white pillars, huge stone staircases, and sprawling lawns. We get inside and the bell boys are wearing white gloves the giant marble staircase is bedecked in a red carpet and many Xmas decorations cascading down it as well as all over the pillars and trees. I still didn't really have any idea what we would be doing that day when the news cameras showed up and the teeny bopper 12 year olds started dancing around "we're gonna be on TV!" lol.... Then Devorah joined us and started to hand out the costumes.

Then we all had a simultaneous realization- I was wearing a navy shirt and black skirt... all the girls were wearing white shirts and black skirts. Oops. Devorah started to brainstorm about who could bring me a shirt until we realized that she was wearing a white undershirt. So that is how I ended up wearing a short sleeve white undershirt over my navy blue ralf lauren Tshirt. Needless to say it was a bit awkward looking- especially with the Pretty 'Sparkly' silver tinsel [must read with gay voice imitation] around my waste... so one of the girls gave me her white scarf. I felt like a stuffed chicken. We got torches (dollar store flashlights with tissue paper on top which we weren't allowed to turn on during practices b/c they would only last about 2 minutes before burning out). We stood in a line and went to practice. Up the marble staricase, stand on the steps, everyone pass the mike and say your lines as it comes to you. Now i was beginning to get it.

We were all candles in a menorah and we were all reciting verses of a poem. At the end the shamash girl 'lit' all our torches. We had to turn them on when she came to us and we all walked off stage. We were in the legislature building of Edmonton. The Meyer of the city was there and so were all the state Judicial representatives... as well as the entire Jewish community- frum and not frum. My whole class was going to be there as well as their parents and the rest of the school with the principal and everything. That was about the point I started freaking out. My hair had been in a knotty braid and my face was tomato red. All i had was a little lipstick and a few bobby pins. I used the bobby pins and thank G-d my hair went up nicely and then i had to deal with my face but unfortunately none of the 12 year old kids had face makeup... b/c all they were carrying was scary colored eye shadows as 12-year-olds tend to be obsessed with. Finally right before we went on an older girl who i knew came and she had some cover up which i used to effectively fix my face. As we waited the professional band was playing on the side on the baby grande piano, flute, trombone, saxophone... all kinds of cool instruments. They were playing Jewish songs we knew and so we started a line dance in the hallway and had some fun. Then suddenly we heard the booming deep voice on he loudspeaker "and Now- introducing- the Bat Mitzvah Club!" and we all walked out onto the steps. Up 2 3 4, stop, turn turn turn. smile :) I said my lines fine and everything went well until my flashlight didn't light. I told the girl out of the corner of my mouth to move on and fiddled with it quietely. When it finally went on a few seconds later I gave the audience a very dramatic smile and a wink and everyone laughed. I could see a lot of people I knew looking up at me very puzzled and amused as to why i was standing there in the first place. Luckily I didn't have time to explain after coming off stage because I started running the "keep the children quiet" program in the back which basically entailed miming funny things and giving out lolly pops to the kids who weren't talking. The reason we had to do this is so that it would not be a chillul Hashem for there to be a performance for Chanukah honoring Jews in Edmonton and little kids running around hefker and not behaving  themselves. After that I took back my babysitting job and went to the carnival and watched the giant 30 foot menorah being lit while standing in line for cotton candy with basically my whole hebrew school class who seemed to find me.

After that I was so tired I just wanted to get home so I didn't wait for directions home I just went. and you know me... I totally got lost in down town edmonton. At some point I figured out though that if I could only get to Jasper Avenue I could figure out my way home. So I asked Hashem to please help me find Jasper Avenue and I turned a random corner and the light I came up to was... lo and behold- Jasper Avenue. Chanukah Miracle number 2. I got home and lit my menorah.

The next day someone came up to me in the hallway and said "I saw you on TV last night" lol. So she told me which news station had it on and I found the clip online. I was shown for just a few seconds but i was laughing like crazy when I saw it. The whole situation is just pretty comical I think. lol

Day 2 was Monday and we had a full day of school. In fact, all week we had full days of school. The staff had a parent counsel appreciation lunch which I unfortunetly missed because I was asked to go pick up balloons and decorations for it and got totally lost on the way back, over an hour out of the way. lol [the store was around the block from the school...]. Then when I did get back I had to run right into a choir practice. But I did manage to grab a doughnut! Dreidels were given out upon leaving school. That night I babysat because there was a wedding happening and everyone needed babysitters. I was out till about midnight and we had left before it was allowed to light candles. I wasn't sure If I could still light with a bracha but a Rav told me it was fine. So that's is what I did. and I almost fell asleep on a dining room chair waiting the half hour next to the lights.

Day 3 Me and my class spent most of the day in school making and decorating 200 giant chanukah cookies for all the kids, staff, and parents of Menorah academy to give out on Thursday. Chanukah Gelt were given out on the way out of school that day. I came home and tutored for an hour and half by the light of the menorah and then was invited to go to sheva brachos but I fell asleep at 7:00 and slept through until the next day.

Day 4 was wednesday. Doughnuts were given out as school was ending. As soon as school was over we went to a special dinner we had been invited to at a friends house. shortly after we got there though we had to leave to the fantasyland hotel to set up for Neis Cafe` which is an event they do every chanukah. I was helping set up and also in 2 choirs. We had been practicing all month for it. I barely had time to change and I ran out of the house forgetting half the girls costume belts. luckily we had half the costumes there and so it was okay. We got there with barely time to spare and flew around setting up the raffle table, the desert buffet, the centerpieces, and making the signs for the front door and cafe` prices. There was no entrance fee but there was a charge for all food and drinks and raffle tickets and all proceeds would go to terror victims in Israel. It started with me at the doorway taking names and email addresses and selling tickets. Then we did the choirs which i think came out really pretty. Then we had 3 speakers telling their stories of modern day miracles that happened to them. And one speech about chanukah and the reason we celebrate it. It was really nice.
As soon as I got back I lit the menorah and again sat falling asleep in front of the lights.

Day 5 we had a crazy fun chagiga in school. There was an assembly, then the girls and boys split, the boys for a giant game of soccer and the girls for cake decorating in the shape of menorahs with coating pretzels in white icing and then covering the tips with red sprinkles and sticking them into the cake. One of the high schoolers and me paired up and made a double decker cake with white frosting in the center, chocolate frosting on top and realistic looking candles. I even drew a menorah onto the cake leading into the candles with icing writers. Then we had a super cool game of bingo with giant prizes like monopoly games, bop its and other cool things. We also did a ton of circle and line dancing to loud blaring music. :)
After the assembly the principal asked me to decorate the stage for the preschool chanukah performance which would be the next day. Apparently the person who had been in charge did not have time. I knew i had a longer prep time but I wasn't going to be able to do it in an hour without paints so I ran around the school collecting paint until I had all the colors and then I worked through lunch and half the afternoon making a mural of chanukah. I put up pictures that the preschoolers made on the sides and on top. Afterward the roll paper i had been working on needed to be moved but i was teaching my class so i told them they could do whatever needed to be done. I wasn't sure what would be done but i looked at it afterward and it looked great. I only found out later that 4 high school girls and 2 teachers sat there doing surgery on it until it was perfect for a few hours that day. The Chanukah cookies we had made were given out at the end of school.
That night, I think was the only night I got to peacefully sit in front of my candles and just think and daven.

Day 6 was friday and we had a giant preschool assembly. All the preschool classes presented 2 songs from 2 year olds to 6 year olds all in cute costumes. The 2 year olds were supposed to bang tamberines to the music and in their costumes they just looked so cute. Unfortunately they were dropping like flies as each saw their parents and started hysterically crying and needed to be taken off the stage by their parents. lol
The 3 year olds twirled hoolahoops and tried to sing along to a CD. All the classes were really cute.
Afterward they gave out doughnuts to everyone and we all got to go home. :)

Day 7 was shabbos and I stayed home and ate out meals. It was quite and relaxing so I was happy. :)

Day 8 was sunday and I believe I spent the day between hebrew school and preparing to teach that week.

This past week has really been a blur. I gave my final chumush test in Parshas VaEira and we had a major siyum where I took the girls out to lunch in the mall in Cafe Levi and then to their old teachers house to have a cumzitz which was really exciting. On friday I gave out prizes to wrap up the last semester with a happy feeling. and Now its Sunday and it was my first day of vacation. B"H! lol not that i got much of a break today but i'm sure tomorrow will be a good day. At least I don't have to go anywhere or see anyone. :)

I think that is most of everything that happened. Being on TV, 2 performances, menorah cakes, dancing, painted murals, miracles.......Now that I think of it I never wrote about the funny school pictures but if anyone is interested, they can email me for the story. Good night from snowy edmonton all!
love,
shayne