As the sign in my house that usually tells us what day of Hanukkah it is has alerted me, it is now day 9 of shelter in place, which means that I’ve officially run out of things to do so here I am writing for the blog again. I mean, I actually am enjoying being stuck in my house. I am very grateful to have an awesome family to be stuck with. Oh don’t worry we most definitely fight and annoy each other to no end. We were getting on each other’s nerves even before we made it home from the airport. But overall, we are learning how to give each other space and also have some family fun time.
Speaking of family fun time, my mom and I have started watching Love is Blind. I know, I know, I told you last blog post that I had to finish watching Nashville. Well, no matter how many times I beg her my mom will not watch with me. She’s not really on board with my whole country music thing and she says “I have many shows to watch before I would watch Nashville.” It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m over it. Well lucky for her, I convinced her to watch Love is Blind with me instead. I can officially say it is the dumbest show I have ever seen in my life, which trust me is saying a lot. For those of you who are culturally illiterate, Love Is Blind is a dating show in which men have to propose to women before ever seeing them in real life. They date behind a wall. It is especially appropriate for our current situation because it’s kind of like they’re dating in quarantine! Maybe I could find a husband during this whole shelter in place thing. That would be a very good use of my time. You know what’s not a good use of my time? Watching Love Is Blind. It’s frying my brain cells faster than my Zoom classes are restoring them. My mom and I (after about one episode) decided that whenever we watch the show we also have to be working on a puzzle just to keep that mind sharp.
The guilt I feel while watching Love Is Blind is equivalent to the guilt I feel while scrolling through a new Facebook group I have found called MeetJew University. The premise is that you (or a friend) posts a paragraph or two about you along with some pictures and other people on the page can message you to set up a zoom date. There is also a survey where you can get matched with someone and go on a blind zoom date. It is truly one of the weirdest things the Jews have ever done. But honestly, I’m not upset about it. The only thing I want to do after a long day of staring at my computer doing homework (which is what I call all of my work now) is scroll through a page of NJBs and NJGs trying to find husbands and wives. See, I actually could find a husband while sheltering in place. It’s like real life Love Is Blind only it’s not at all blind. I use this page for the sole purpose of finding out which of my old classmates have broken up with their significant others.
In case you are thinking “Wow is Shayna doing anything productive with her time?” Don’t worry the answer is yes. It’s just a lot less interesting than the incredibly unproductive things I have done with my time. Here’s something that will cancel out a few hours of brain cell loss watching Love Is Blind: Charlotte (you remember her, the second most rational one in the friend group) taught me that PST is different than PDT and that we are currently in PDT. Let me explain. I have been doing A LOT of scheduling of Zoom calls. This has been extremely challenging as pretty much all of my friends live on the East Coast and I am very bad at math. I know that all I have to do is subtract three hours but it’s hard for me okay? So I have been doing a lot of writing out PST and EST when making plans. Thank god for Charlotte who finally explained to me that since we are on daylights savings it is Eastern DAYLIGHT time, not Eastern standard time. Pretty crazy stuff. Get ready for me to get super annoyed if you mess this up. See? I told you I’m learning something.
Speaking of learning something, yes I am still in all of my classes. Three of them are being taught via Zoom and two of them are asynchronous as they say these days. My favorite thing about zoom is the thumbs up and raise hand feature. Now instead of actually raising my hand or actually giving a thumbs up I can press a button that will tell everyone on the call that I’m raising my hand or giving a thumbs up. Technology has come so far my friends.
I even taught my K-2 Hebrew School class over Zoom. It was actually amazing. That mute feature is a game changer. Scientists should invent something like that for real life. If a kid in class is talking too much you just press a button and mute them for awhile. That came out worse than it sounded in my head. Well, I taught them about Passover and made a pyramid out of q-tips. Yes, it has come to that. Next Sunday we’re going to talk about what it means to be free in times like these. I’m really looking forward to hearing what my students have to say. There, did that sound nicer?
(Get ready for me to casually slip a total brag into a paragraph that is literally not at all related to the thing I’m bragging about). Today I learned that I won an award for best paper in Jewish Studies from Wesleyan. The prize for this award is $250 so I started thinking about what I wanted to spend my money on. Also I start a new job working at my local market on Sunday (wow look I fit another brag in there) which means I’ll start having more money in my bank account. My first thought was buying an elliptical because I used to go on the elliptical at the school gym everyday before class (look at that another brag I’m amazing) and I’ve been really trying to bring my school routines home. But then I remembered that I live in California and not Connecticut. I know, it’s crazy. I can just walk out my door and start running. I don’t have to worry about slipping on black ice or getting frost bite. So I’ve been running a lot. That’s been really nice and a good way to escape my family when their chewing is getting a little bit too loud.
Also remember how last blog I said I was going to start using that moisturizer that the dermatologist told me to buy a million years ago? Well guess what? I have! And it works so well. My hands have returned to their previous level of softness. If only somebody would have told me about this years ago. Oh wait… And on the subject of using things I’m supposed to be using that I’ve never actually used, I’ve started wearing my glasses again! “Shayna, you don’t have glasses,” is probably what you’re saying to yourself right now. Good point reader. And thank you for paying attention to my face. Well, I do have reading glasses due to my far sidedness. When the eye doctor gave them to me he said I really only need to wear them if I am spending more than six hours looking at a computer screen. “That will never happen” I said to him. Well I also never thought there would be a global pandemic that shut down all major establishments including my university and made everyone stay inside for an extended period of time and yet here we are. So yes, I’m finally getting to put my glasses to use. I’ve been spending every minute from when I wake up for my 7:20 am class (thanks time difference) until I go to sleep staring at my computer screen. If you want to see how cute I look in my glasses, just find yourself the link to one of the million Zoom calls I am on everyday.
Another fun thing that I’ve got to spend a lot of time on is applying to study abroad. It’s crazy to imagine going abroad for a whole semester in just a few months but I decided to continue with my application and pray that the world will be healed by the Fall. I found out yesterday that I got into my program (yay!). It’s a multi-site program that goes to Chile, Nepal, and Jordan. In order for the university to approve my studying abroad, I have to read and sign forms, which include all of the risks of going abroad to these countries. I’ve decided that my new favorite pastime is reading about all the fun diseases I could contract in these countries. Nothing makes Corona Virus seem irrelevant like the thought of getting Japanese encephalitis and Dengue fever. Ima, if you’re reading this please still let me go abroad!!
Oh and I thought of something really funny that I forgot to put in my last blog post. The last day in Spain, we spent the morning at the Alhambra and then did a lot of shopping to try to use up some of our Euros. It was a crazy day of so many mixed emotions as we tried to enjoy our last day in Spain in such a beautiful place while also thinking about having to pack up our dorms and say goodbye to all our friends and the place that we love so much. And then a bird pooped on my head. And it got really in my hair. There is no world in which I deserved to have that happen to me at that moment. Like literally any other time would have been fine universe. And I couldn’t even take a shower because we had already checked out of our hostel. And we didn’t have towels but that’s a story for another day. Actually it’s a story in the vlog. Just watch the Vlog. The vlog explains everything.
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