a hop, skip and a jump

So...a little secret: On Thursday, May 7th (3 days after my last post) I took a bit of a trip. With my sisters wedding on the coming Tuesday, I went all the way across the Atlantic, landed in Newark and proceeded with Tziona (who picked me up) to a wonderful little town I call home. When I got home I was greeted not by either of my brothers or my sisters, but by my grandmother, uncle Michel, cousin Serach and great uncle and aunt Jerry and Rosa who had made the same trip but with a different airline a few hours before me. I arrived home late in the evening, so by the time I got home I ate a bit and then went to bed. Getting up early in the morning I started what was to be a hectic week. don't remember it all exactly so I'm going to break it down as best I can:
Friday: Early morning davening, driving people shopping all over town (Israelis love Old Navy and Macys)...getting ready for shabbos.
Shabbos: was pretty interesting. Ben from Bing was visiting for the weekend so I swore him to secrecy about my visit. My father was down in Baltimore for Yossi's (the groom who, at this point, I had not yet met) Auf Ruf (traditional religious bachelor party thing). The rest of the relatives who were at my house had an amazing weekend filled with music and long embraces. Every time my sister (Hodaya, the bride) walked into the room or simply whenever we felt like it we would break into song. Saturday I also went to small gathering to honor the birth Rabbi Robinsons, who works up in Bing but lives in Scranton, daughter a few weeks before. That afternoon there was a small religous bachelorette party (Shabbat Kallah-Bridal Sabbath).
Sunday: I took another trip. Uh-oh. Yeah, about 5 people know but I secretly drove up to Bing, took a trip to the park, Friendlies, Starbucks as well as the Cooper Admin Lot. Don't tell anyone. I didn't let people know because there wasn't enough time to see everyone so I only saw those who already kenw about the wedding etc. THat same day Serach and Myriam (my sisters friend who had flown in from England for the wedding) went to NYC and saw more of it then I ever have. Ha. I picked them up from the bus station at like 11.30pm. LOOONG day.
Monday: I'm assuming I drove people to different shopping locations as well as set up parts of the JCC for the wedding. The day before the wedding, it was in the evening when I returned from karate (yup, went there too) that the grooms family all arrived for a giant dinner and I finally got to meet Yossi, my now brother-in-law.
Tuesday: Wedding day! More driving people (hair, mall, make up, hair, JCC, setting up the wedding canopy) and finally it was time for...pictures! I had bought a new suit and tie t(o match the bridal colours of brown and blue) and had a blast taking photos with every family member you could imagine. A few hours later was the actual wedding. It started with a small reception and then moved on to the actual wedding ceremony! Housed on a lawn between two mansions, it was a gorgeus ceremony. My brothers and I sang, blessings were said, wine was drunk, ring passed, glasses smashed and the bride and groom were wed!
THen it was time for more pictures, except the B&G didn't come out of the room they were in, so we snapped like two and then headed towards the dinner and dancing. Barely tasting the food, everyone in the wedding party danced like madmen. Circles within circles of dancers, it didn't take long until nearly everyone was all sweaty. Side note: There was a cold soup with an edible flower on top. Wicked cool!
aaah...too much to write. Ill update more later.