Shabbat and Portobello market

 Last night while some kids in the dorm stayed in to cook Shabbat dinner (stereotypes of Brandeis kids are usually true I guess:) ), my friend Jacob and I decided we'd try to find a conservative temple to go to for Friday night services. After google-ing "conservative temples in London" I remembered that conservative Judaism is an American movement and the closest I could find was a temple called the New London Synagogue which is associated with Masorti Judaism (Europe's version of conservative Judaism which is a bit stricter than what I'm used to back home), so we decided to come to services last night to see what it's like. Plus, the temple is right on Abbey Road which never gets old. Anyways, the service was really nice and the community was so warm and welcoming. And guess what? The Rabbi there knows my Rabbi from home and is even very close friends with a Rabbi who used to work at my temple for a bit a while a few years ago. Small world! After services there was a congregation Shabbat dinner which the Rabbi invited us to and it was so great to get to know the people there (and to have a home cooked meal!). I'm sure we'll be back with a bigger group next week! As far as cultural differences go, even though it was more of a conservative temple, seating in the sanctuary was still separated by gender. Also, apparently here people usually use temple as a word for mosque, and only synagogue or shul for what we usually call a temple.

I didn't have my camera but I found pics on google. :)

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After services I slept over at the Notting Hill dorm and in the morning a friend and I went to the famous Portobello Market. I assumed it would just be another cute little market with antiques and some food and whatnot, but this market stretched down all of Portobello Road and it was a whole mix of small shops, fancier boutiques, booths selling antiques, farmers' markets, restaurants, and it must have gone on for miles. All the buildings/homes in the area are different colors and walking down the market you can smell everything from falafel to crepes  to really any food you can think of. And even though it was really crowded, everyone around seemed very happy and friendly - not anything like our experience with crowds of tourists at Buckingham Palace a few days ago. And posters of the movie "Notting Hill" were everywhere since it took place in that area. The sun was out and the vibe on Portobello Road was so happy and energetic...definitely one of my favorite places in London!

The colorful buildings of Portobello Road 

Lots of scarves :)

Vintage cameras 

More colorful buildings 

Fresh fruit :)

yum. 

pretty tea cups :)

Later in the evening my friends and I hung out at Soho and walked around. The area we were in really reminded me of Times Square. Everything was lit up and there were tons of people out. I absolutely love being in the city! 

Lisa, Alisha, Miriam, Alexandra, Emily, and I in Soho :)

As much as I do love living in a city for a change, I just have to point out that while I was writing this blogpost at 1:30 am here loud and probably intoxicated men were yelling outside, and there's a siren every fifteen minutes. I shouldn't have complained about how quiet it was in Sharon! This whole hearing-people-yell-in-the-middle-of-the-night situation is quite a change! It's probably my only complaint though, so it's okay.

xoxo,

Sarah