Yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, thus no blog, but it was a really interesting experience singing in a synagogue. However, not as different from a church as I would've thought. I mean, there was no talk of hell, so that was good, and no fire and brimstone, so that was good too. Basically, in feeling, it was a lot like the church we go to (when we go), although there were some obvious theological differences.

However, there were, of course, some shenanigans, which I will now share with you.

First, let me just say that the services are LONG. We haven't even gotten to Yom Kippur yet, so I'm sure after that I will really complain. The evening one wasn't too bad, but the one in the morning was over three hours long. I mean, people did get to hear some pretty super singing, haha, but still. I had to pee, one of my neighbors had breath that smelled like onions and kitty litter, and someone was cutting the cheese for the last hour, so I thought I might die. I did not, just in case you were wondering.

At the evening service, a lady passed out in the middle of my big solo. From where I was standing, I couldn't really see the action, but I have been in services where they do praying and laying-on-of-hands (which is fine and I'm not mocking it, but it makes me very uncomfortable...probably because of the germ transmission but I don't really know why), so I thought that's what was going on and just continued with my singing. Only afterward did I find out that the lady's heart had stopped or something like that and she was all pale and passed out and all the guys standing up and talking were just arguing about what to do with her, because she refused an ambulance. She was back in the morning, though, and she was fine, so I guess it ended up okay. Oh, and I learned that there's no hands-laying-on in this particular temple. Phew.

Also, as I left my seat to go up, I knocked over my prayer book and almost knocked over my stand. Yep...clumsy. So now every time I have to move, the conductor lady either comes over and shifts my stand or has the lady next to me do it. I told her, I can sing, but I stink at anything that involves movement. I'm surprised I haven't tripped and fallen on my face, but I guess I'll try to save that for Yom Kippur.

So that's what I was doing yesterday. It still makes me giggle inside to get paid to sing. Coolest job ever, and maybe someday I'll be able to just do that, although it's highly unlikely, given the instability and no regular paychecks and whatnot, but I got to do it yesterday, and that's what counts. Plus, the conductor took us out to lunch and bought us wine, so it was pretty much my dream lunch. Wine and bread and dessert and coffee. So, yeah, great day.