You may have been following my adventures at Rendezvous with G-d, from covering a website for religious Jews seeking extramarital affairs, to interviewing Muslim women and their views on wearing veils. You might remember stories about my personal life, some of which were so personal I chose to later take it down. And today, I close a small chapter of this blog, and open a new one as I move out again. This time I am moving to Brooklyn with a (non-practicing) Catholic and (semi) observant Jew. And more difficult than finding the apartment, might be how to live in the apartment with such varying religious traditions.
So meet the girls who have decided to take this interreligious journey with me. They too will now be contributing to Rendezvous with G-d, as the three of us use our day-to-day living as material for this blog. What will happen if one of us forgets and breaks an important law during Shabbat? Will we get scared of the religious man torching our kitchen in order to make it Kosher? Will one of us become more, or less, religious during this experience? These are all the questions we ourselves are curious to find out, and hope you’ll laugh at our religious ignorance, and give us some of your advice when a situation becomes too holy to handle.
So now, meet the roommates…
Annie
Annie is your lovely girl next door, never bothers anyone, is super ambitious and focused on her dreams. She is a music journalist who has freelanced all over from MTV, Rolling Stone, AOL, and has her own super cool music blog called You Sing, I Write (www.YouSingIWrite.com) where she has something like 400 interviews. Annie is most excited to move because there are local music venues just blocks away, and she can catch a show anytime she wants. Oh right, and she is Catholic (non-church going). But has a new fascination for all the churches in the neighborhood. She is also very respectful of other people’s traditions, so let’s see if anything will weird her out too much.
Farrah
Farrah is a super confident, knows what she wants, kind of girl who has started up her own publicity company (call her if you need PR!). She works with media companies and small businesses to help them promote their brand and attract new clients. Farrah is a (Semi-)observant Jew, who is Shomer Shabbat (fully keeps Shabbat), Kosher, and observes all holidays. Farrah does not, however, follow strict modesty rules of dress and dating (and will not be offended by us having boyfriends stay over). She is most excited to move because of the environment of Brooklyn for her freelance career, and more so the relaxed Jewish community in the neighborhood that she is eager to be a part of. She is grossed out by the smell of bacon, and is already planning our first Shabbat at the apartment.
And then there’s me…
You already know me. But in case you would like an update, I am moving out to Brooklyn, starting an International Journalism Masters degree in just a few weeks (eek, sounds scarier when I actually type it out), and still writing as much as possible on the side. I am most excited to move out because, well one, I’m 25 and need to. Second, it’s Brooklyn! And I love Brooklyn. But I’m actually most excited to move out because I am living with two really cool girls who each reflect a different side of me, and as you know if you followed my blog, I am always trying to find my balance on how religious, how spiritual, how ambitious I feel is right for me. I think if no one else, these two girls will definitely teach me a lot about myself in the coming year. You will find me every Friday deciding between a local concert or Shabbat dinner.
So thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my previous posts, and please continue to read on as I, and my two new roommates, begin the next episode.
If you also live with roommates or others who differ in cultural or religious traditions, tell us about it! We will use it for inspiration in our posts.
