1/17/12: Something Must Be In The Air + The New Sexy

I don't know what it is about this time of the year but in the last week I have had 4 different friends get engaged, 3 start new relationships, and 2 or 3 others express their desires to be in serious relationships... all in 1 week! A bit overwhelming if you ask me! I don't know what it is, but there must be something in the air! All of these occurrences got me thinking, naturally, about relationships, attractive qualities in potential partners, and so on, and though I am happily, or mostly happily, single, I won't deny that the "something" that is in the air has perhaps started to effect me as well.

Today, as I was sitting in the library researching for my paper due in two weeks, I had the pleasure of sitting across from an extremely attractive Israeli man. We exchanged a few looks, exchanged even fewer words, but there was just this "something" that was so attractive about him. Disregarding, for the moment, the shallow, superficial fact that he was simply a gorgeous Middle Eastern man, I found myself far more attracted to the fact that he was in the library studying over anything else. As I get older I am finding intelligence to be a far more attractive quality than mere looks, which is radically different than how I felt a mere few years ago. In fact, in my mind, the killer combination is a drive that can rival my own and someone who can formulate a coherent, intelligent thought, even if he might not know so much about the given topic. An educated, driven person is a powerful and wonderful thing!!

Drive and passion are two other crucial qualities that surpass mere physical looks in terms of attractiveness. I know how driven I am and to see people who are just as, or more so, driven holds an attractiveness in my mind that can't be rivaled. Passion is another thing that is extremely important for me. It doesn't matter what impassions someone, but the mere fact that there is something that exists that can motivate and move someone as much as, let's say, Arabic or the arts does for me, is so unbelievably necessary in terms of qualities I'm looking for a partner to possess. Now, of course, there MUST be some sort of physical attraction when it comes to forming romantic attachments to people, but that aspect can only be radically amplified when a person possesses the other qualities mentioned.

And lastly, as much as this shocks people to hear, especially with my Arab obsession, I really don't think, at this point, I could ever seriously date someone who wasn't Jewish; and not just any type of Jewish... Conservative or Conservative+ (someone between conservative and modern orthodox) is how I would like to define what I am referring to. I was raised in a very traditional Jewish home, and though we didn't keep Kosher (it isn't the easiest thing to do in Non-Jewish Palm Springs) we observed holidays, kept (most) Shabbats (in the conservative sense of lighting candles, going to synagogue, Shabbat dinner etc.), and were an extremely traditional family.  Maybe traditional is more the correct description for what I am hoping to find. Someone who can say Kiddush on Friday nights, lead a passover Seder, and someone who can be a partner in faith (forgive the cheesiness, but my best friend Stephanie would understand this).

So, in essence, whenever a handful of my friends decide to get engaged or into relationships I think about how I need a well educated, driven, passionate, traditionally Jewish, preferably non-American, Mizrahi (Jew of Arab origins, but I'd be fine with Sephardi as well!), darker skinned man who lives in Israel... And I really have to wonder why I'm still singe??? :-)

Other than that I have two more wonderful weeks in Israel before returning home to beautiful, sunny, warm Southern California for a month. I am well on my way to finishing my research paper, have 1.5 more weekends (and I say that because I am only allowing myself to go out one night this weekend in order to finish this paper) to enjoy crazy Tel Aviv, have a week to attempt to teach myself how to cook an actual dinner (not my type of dinner which usually consists of either scrambled eggs or turkey sandwiches) to reciprocate the kindness of a dear friend, and then have to find time to mentally prepare myself for a month away from the Middle East! It will be a busy 2 weeks but once they are behind me I will get to enjoy a whole month of time with the best family and friends, amazing food (especially mexican food, bacon, and my grandfather's tuna salad), hours in the sun, re-reading Harry Potter, and teaching myself a new, French song on the guitar (a task that I promised to have completed upon my return to the Holy Land)! It's going to be quite a month!

Well that is all for now! Updates soon
Tisba7 3ala kheir ya habibis <3,
Jordana Simone