Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Happy (End of) Channukah

Nothing reminds you that you're Down Under more than celebrating The Festival of Lights in the middle of the summer. We're not even getting sunset until 9 o'clock, much less the first three stars. And when you're lighting candles that late, it becomes particularly necessary to have ones that will only last an hour or two.

But where do you find Channukah candles in the lovely Christian city of Christchurch? Unfortunately, the one local synagogue never called me back. Luckily, there's a listing for candles in the yellow pages. Unluckily, it led us to a warehouse.

"Do you sell to the public?"

We were greeted by a stare and a hesitation.

"Not normally, but what are you looking for?"

Hurrah for New Zealand, the land of small towns and friendly people. The lady sold us two boxes of excellent non-Channukah, Channukah candles. That only left us with the question of where to find a menorah.
Luckily, there's construction on our road. This means that there's a nice pile of rocks a few houses down. No one noticed us pillage the pile in the twilight hours. That, a bit of fossicking at the beach, and some colored wax from the birthday candles I bought just in case we couldn't find Channukah candles, and we had a menorah!

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