Did I mention I was carded?

I forgot to mention in the last entry that I was carded. At the movie theater. Max and I went to see "Zack and Miri" which, yes, Rated R. Yes, you have to be 16 to see a Rated R movie in Israel. No, I am not 15! I probably didn't do a great job convincing the ticket box chick of this fact, considering all the eye-rolling and sighing I did while retrieving by driver's license from my wallet. But she did let me into the movie.

Yesterday was a thoroughly unproductive day. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. I had a whole day to be really productive but nope. Shoom d'var! (Nothing!) Well, I guess that's not 100% true. I did a little research on Paris. I made a few archaeology-related phone calls. I played with my neighbor's dog. And then I went to Aviva Zorenberg's weekly Parshat HaShavuah class at Pardes with Navah. And, surprise surprise, watched an episode of The Wire. I am finding Season 3 a little slow.

This morning my wake-up call was none other than my lovely little sister. We caught up about college (favorite anecdote: her boyfriend's runaway gerbil) and my adventure here. I then set up camp in front of the computer to write a little midrash/commentary thing on the story of Avraham, Sarah, and Hagar for my lesson with Noam. I'm actually happy with it. I wrote about how ... hmm this requires some explanation.

Sarah can't get pregnant. That's a pretty big problem considering that her husband Avraham is supposed to be the father of this huge nation. She borrows her slave/handmaid Hagar's womb, in the hopes that she will be "built up through her." When Hagar gets pregnant, Sarah feels really crappy about it. (This is probably the least scholarly or religious retelling of this story ever.) She abuses Hagar, Hagar runs away, but God tells her to go back and suffer under the hand of Sarah because Hagar's son Yishmael will have a great nation too. Ok, so then lots of stuff happens. And Sarah finally gives birth to a son (Yitzhak). The story tells that Yitzhak was weaned and Avraham throws a huge drunken party for his son. And then very next line is a little anecdote about Yishmael laughing, and Sarah flipping out and exiling Hagar and Yishmael. There are a lot of midrashim and commentaries about this story, especially about the laugh that causes Sarah to go ballistic. I wrote about how I think it all has to do with the fact that Yitzhak is weaned. You know, she had this little baby that grew in her womb and who she nursed. Then all of a sudden he's weaned and dancing around with the big boys at this big party of his independence. And like a mother sending her kid off to kindergarten, Sarah gets a little panicky about protecting her baby from the world of men. She sees Hagar and especially Yishmael, Avraham's first born, as a major threat. And so they have to go.

That's the short (and less articulate) version of the essay anyway. I rushed off to my 2-hour lesson with Noam which was great as usual. And then to my 1-hour Hebrew lesson with Sharon which was also awesome. Then my brain was fried, so I went to Navah's apartment for a bit before heading back home.

Accomplishments of the night: researching modes of transportation from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the center of Paris, having a lot chat with AT&T about international roaming charges, talking to my mommy, and convincing Max to pick up a pizza on his way home from Ulpan

I have to be up at an absurd pre-6 am time tomorrow morning to be at the Old City at 7:30 am for "Islam through the Land" - the topic for tomorrow's seminar.