Portland IV

[Revised post]

Portland has been wonderful. Well, I should say Dominica has been wonderful, because she's the one who brought me to all these events, to meet all these people, to eat vegan food, to feel the vibe here and to get the feeling that Portland is my kind of place. If only it were a tad closer to Israel...

This morning we were photographed for a magazine called "Driftwood". It's a vegan travel magazine created here in Portland, and the founder and editor of it met us this morning to photograph us for either the facebook page or the magazine, for the section with photos and info on vegans from around the world.

I got to go to an extravagant drag show, a lovely dance performance, a vegan bar, vegan bakery, farmer's market, a really wonderful store called "New Renaissance". I got to meet Dominica's three bunnies, her ecovillage and her friends. I had the privilege of meeting Shalom, who is warm-hearted and attentive, who reminds me of Tehilla S., and who's into new age spirituality and Jewish Renewal. The three of us sat on the grass to watch the swifts, and later in the evening Dominica performed a meditative tea ceremony for the three of us. In my short time here in Portland I got to be present, to be truly serene and truly happy. I got to be inspired to the notion that once I'm back home I should be more active and more involved, and that I should uncover and release more of my spiritual tendencies and passions. I wanted to buy all the books in "New Renaissance" on new age religions and spirituality, on meditation and on how to appreciate life. I knew I couldn't afford any of them, and I want to believe that I will be able to find peace of mind on the trail even without the guidance of books; that somewhere inside of me is the resourcefulness and the ambition to be able to find it all by myself out there in the wilderness, and then also once I get back home.

I'm leaving for the trail in 2.5 days.

Vegan bar- Sweet Hereafter

 Pizza (self-explanatory)

 Drag show

 Brunch at "Harvest" - French toast with coconut cream and strawberry sauce

Rosh Hashana

On Rosh Hashana evening I went to the Chabad house here in southeast Portland for the services and the meal. The next evening my third cousin Ari made a nice meal for us, and two of his housemates joined us and got to hear him and I doing some traditional Jewish rituals. (This photo is from erev Rosh Hashana, right before I left for the Chabad house.)

"Ten Tiny Dances"

Herbivore. They sell online too. So I'll remember this place.

"New Renaissance". A store which epitomizes hippiness and beauty. My heart fluttered at the sight of all the beautiful things, none of which I could afford. I did end up getting that "Peace" bumper sticker. I don't know why, I just felt like I had to have something from this store. And that's how I found out that "mir" means Peace in Russian.

Mir means Peace (in Russian) 
Mir also means drop of water (in Hebrew) - so Miriam is a drop of water in the sea
(the second part of my name - Yam - means sea)