33rd Day (Fifth Friday)

Last Sunday, also known as Valentine's Day or Chinese New Year was the marker of me being in Copenhagen for one month (28 days to be more specific). Now, at the just over one month mark, it is my fifth Shabat in this country. For two of them I observed with Chabad, one of them I was in a different city in Denmark far from any Shul, and last Shabat I attempted to find the Reform Shul of Copenhagenm, but had no luck in that search. I eventually decided to celebrate with these folks as part of their online congregation. As much as the experience was enjoyable, there is something in celebrating the Shabat with a more physical community that an online congregation, no matter how wonderful the individuals may be, cannot give.

So in the hours that are left to me before Shabat arrives, I am faced with trying to decide how I want to observe. The commute to and from Chabad is relatively speaking easy. While I still feel an outsider because I am still unfamiliar with many Orthodox practices and rituals, at least there are some people I have begun to know there. I would like to try to find the reform congregation again, but as I have most likely stated before, my Danish is far from good enough to ask for directions, and my attempts at finding them on the internet have (so far) been unsuccessful. While I may yet find the correct key terms to search for in the hours that remain to me before the Shabat arrives, I won't hold my breath (as the old expression goes).

Besides my concerns regarding the day of rest, I have the usual things I am trying to juggle. I am trying to get to know my roommate better, take care of class work, keep in contact with my friends in the United States and elsewhere in the world, and plan where I will be going over the comming spring break. The weather has been shifting between relatively cool (somewhere around forty degrees Fahrenheit) and freezing wih frequent snow flurries for the last couple of days. All in all, it has been a fairly quiet week, which is one thing that I am grateful for. The moments of quiet are sometimes the best ones.