How time has flown! A shameful 7 weeks have passed since my last blog entry - unacceptable! There is a lot to catch you up on…

I was lucky enough to have gone home over Pesach. It was wonderful to see my family and friends and to enjoy the unseasonably hot weather that Ottawa was having. It was 29 degrees one weekend!

Once I got back to England, I hit the ground running (as per usual, actually) and went straight to NUS Conference in Newcastle. Kol ha’kavod to Carly, Ben, Mark and the amazing students who make our jobs so fun and rewarding.

After NUS, I headed down to London for work, followed by a great visit to Hull J-Soc where we made sushi! It’s one of my favourite meals to make and so easy - let me know if you or your J-Soc want a how-to session and dinner :).

After Hull, I embarked on a great trip to the North with Richard. I have been spoiled this year with all the great J-Socs and cities that I get to visit and I wanted to share the wealth. It was also a really good opportunity for us to see what we could do for Scottish J-Socs and how we can continue to support them. We spent Shabbat in Durham, with special guest Gerry Lucas who opened their kosher kitchen last year, followed by a Northern Region bbq in St. Andrews, stayed over in Glasgow, went to Stirling to meet the new J-Soc, Edinburgh for a meeting with the committee and finally back to Glasgow for a meeting with Northern Region Chaplaincy. All in all an enlightening and fun trip.

After Scotland and the Northeast, I headed to Manchester for an evening of J-Soc committee training, complete with dinner from Pagoda (kosher Chinese food). Manchester J-Soc committee is comprised of 17 wonderfully opinionated and funny students who give so much to the society! It was great to see some new faces and to get some discussion generated about their focus and direction.

After Manchester, I spent Shabbat in Newcastle. It’s always great to see some familiar faces as well as to be introduced to new ones. Newcastle J-Soc has a lot of support from the community and is lucky to have some very dedicated students.

Finally, I was just in London for a couple of days for some meetings. We are beginning to craft our team training, which begins in August. As a second year member of staff and soon-to-be line manager, I am really excited to have a say in how we train as a team! We have some really exciting stuff planned…

I am enjoying my last few weeks as a Development Officer, but also looking forward to my transition into the role of Director of Development. I am so excited to be working with my new team as of July and cannot wait to see the amazing work that they will do on their campuses.

I have hopefully found a flat and will be settling into London life in June. I am looking forward to another trip home at the end of the month, with one of the highlights being a weekend in California for my cousin’s wedding.

I just want to give a shout-out to my sister Alexa, who is currently in Israel on Birthright! She is having a great time and it's so exciting that she gets to experience this amaaaaaazing trip.

My only slight gripe is the fact that it’s way too cold! Come on, it’s mid-May. I don’t care that I live in England - the temperature should at least be in the double digits.

Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you - sushi-making, a Pirkei Avot picnic or just a chat and catch up. As always, you can reach me at elana@ujs.org.uk.

NDO love,
Elana xx