The ultimate in feline stupidity

Simcha is an idiot. We love him, but he’s an idiot. At 1 in the morning we heard him meow. And he kept meowing and didn’t stop. At 1:30 I finally got out of bed, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. Guess where he was? *Inside* our washing machine. We have a top-loading drum-style washer, and he had apparently been inspecting it and fallen in. Unfortunately, he’s heavier than he used to be, and we think he tried to climb out by putting pressure on the side of the drum. Instead of climbing out, he turned the entire drum over, and managed to latch himself in! By the time I found him and called Jonathan over, Osher was running around in circles in front of the washer, and Simcha was uttering little plaintive mews. Jonathan and I were worried – we’d ruined a sweater before when the washer hadn’t been latched correctly and the sweater tore through the metal treads – what if he had a paw or tail stuck, how were we going to get him out without hurting him? We decided to rotate the washer inch by inch until the clasp came into view. At one point there was a huge THUMP and no meows – we panicked! Thankfully Simcha was fine – just disgruntled. The moment we opened the latch he leapt straight up and bolted from the kitchen. I think we were more worried than he was!

Becca had asked about the meeting with the Israeli soldiers – honestly, there really wasn’t that much there. It was an HUC program with the goal of getting to know "real Israelis." We sat with a girl and a guy, 20 and 22, who are officers and train new soldiers. They have another couple years in the military before they get out, but see this as a stopover because they don’t know what they’re going to do in the future. We chatted about us, school, their lives at home… nothing particularly fascinating. They remind me of my siblings and their friends, just with another stripe on the uniform shoulder. The food was decent though – and it was even catered by the army!

Tomorrow our history class is recreating the Russian Duma government of 1907. I’m in the Poalei Zion Party. Don’t ask me what it is – all I know is that we’re some odd hybrid between socialists and Zionists. But my sole job was to write a song, which I did, so my contribution is done! I also have one paper and one test this week. This is by far the easiest round of midterms I’ve ever experienced – and I LOVE it!