Chag Pesach Sameach!

I had the most interesting seder. I had planned to skip school (shhh) on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning to go to a seder at the chabbad (sorry, jabad) house in Quito. I ended up missing more than that, but we'll get to that part in a minute. The seder was wonderful. I met about 30 Israelis who were just passing through while traveling through South America. They didn't necessarily know each other and somehow all ended up there. The rabbi and his wife were also originally from Jerusalem. So I got to speak a lot of Hebrew. I felt so at home. I think at this point my Spanish is better than my Hebrew, but it's amazing how it comes right back to you. We read every word the Haggadah, which was only in Hebrew. The rabbi then translated into Spanish and in the beginning, someone else also translated into English. However, as the night went on, English slowly got eliminated. I was fine with this, but I think my friend Leah's family (who was visiting from the states) was not so pleased. I got to eat real matzah, and real chicken soup (with no chicken feet!!!) and haroset! yum. my favorite. They used potatoes for karpas which I had never seen before. We always use parsley. And they used lettuce for maror. I sat at a table with the Israelis and I really enjoyed getting to know them. The seder ended at about midnight which felt early to me. I'm used to my orthodox cousins' seders where everyone falls asleep on their dessert plates about 2am singing chad gadya. My friend Leah, on the other hand, said that was the longest seder I have ever been to. To me it was perfect. For one night, I felt at home, like I belonged. With customs and food that are familiar. It was so nice to talk about a religion in Spanish and not have Jesus come up once! Usually, when talking to Spanish speakers, I am the first Jew they have ever met and they ask me questions like, so if you don't believe that Jesus is the son of G-d, then what about Mary? It's amazing how mindblowing it is for Ecuadorians that I believe in a religion that does not believe that Jesus died for my sins. To them, such a religion is inconceivable. And I enjoy talking about Judaism and sharing it with Ecuadorians, but after a while stupid questions like that one get old, and it gets harder to answer without being disrespectful.

Anyway, the seder was fantastic. The problems started at about 10pm. Just after we ate, I came down with some kind of stomach bug. And then I was up with diarrhea all night. (sorry to be graphic, but this is sort of normal here in Ecuador) There was no way I could get on a bus to go home to Ambato (4 hours away) with no access to a bathroom. So I did some laboratory tests ($2.50 to tell me that I had an intestinal infection), and bought antibiotics ($2.25) and pedialyte ($2.75) And spent an extra day in Quito skipping two more classes (priceless). I finally made it back to Ambato for my afternoon class today only to find out that classes tomorrow have been canceled. We've always had Good Friday off, but they've decided to give us Good Thursday as well. Needless to say about half of my students were in class today. Anyway, the good thing is I feel fine now, and other than getting sick, I had a fantastic pesach experience. I hope this post finds all of you in good health and similarly enjoying this unleavened holiday.