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Yael and Daniel Meet
We met at the Hadar Shabbaton, when Daniel had driven his very old and very broken car, and Yael had taken a train up with no plan on how to get down. Yael rode in the front with Daniel the whole way down, and we talked for basically all of it. Daniel remembers that Yael was passionate, inquisitive, and interesting. Yael then tricked Daniel into dropping her off at home instead of the Metro, which meant he was late for the Superbowl party he was hosting. The Seahawks won. -
Sermon Slam
The next time Yael and Daniel saw each other was at the 2014 Sermon Slam in DC. Yael came to see Daniel perform (as well as other people, probably). That year, Yael helped run the UMD sermon slam, which Daniel didn't go to. That was probably a mistake, but he didn't really know Yael, and wasn't going to creep on some college campus for no reason. -
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Yael Spends the Summer in DC
This summer, Yael spent the summer in DC. Daniel and Yael only saw each other very sparingly, but Daniel invites Yael to his house for a Hadar alumni meal. They sit next to each other, and probably have a lot of nice conversation, but Daniel can't really remember. -
Second Hadar Alumni Shabbaton
Daniel intentionally drives Yael to the Hadar Alumni shabbaton this time. Yael almost certainly rides in the front the whole time. She brought CDs of varying quality. Daniel, Ben, and Lindsay, all the other people in the car, had all just broken up with their significant others within the past few months. They stop in Philly, which Ben says is just a few minutes off the highway, and get Blackbird Pizza and talk about dating apps. Daniel needs to stop being a sucker about things being so close. -
Chevruta
Daniel and Yael start a skype chevruta. Yael asks for advice from Chip Manikin about who we should learn. He has no suggestions, so we learn RaShDaL. It goes well for a bit, and we learn a letter of his. Yael thinks this was a flirty chevruta. Daniel has no comment on the matter. After a month of learning, Yael asks Daniel to go to the movies with her. -
First Date
Yael invites Daniel to go see a movie with her at the Washington Jewish Film Festival. Yael loves foreign films. We went to see the Dove Flyer, which is about Jews leaving Iraq in '48. We were both running late, so we wound up sitting in the front row. The woman sitting next to us was crying the whole time because she had some deep emotional connection to it, and so we weren't able to talk at all during the movie. The movie wasn't that good, but it was clear that it was a date, and it went well. -
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Yael's Thesis Semester
We start dating, and it goes really well really quickly! Yael is living in CP, and Daniel is in DC, so they spend a lot of time driving back and forth, but that gives them alone time to think about everything. They go on a kite flying date, to concerts and poetry, have picnics, and all kinds of things. They start to meet each other's friends, and by the end of the semester Daniel has met Yael's parents. Yael is busy with her thesis this whole time, and they do a bad job of her focusing on that. -
Relationship around the world!
Yael spends 6 weeks in India for an internship, and Daniel spends 3 of those weeks in California. We are many time zones away, and Yael doesn't have much phone or internet. After spending a lot of time building their relationship near each other, we spend way more time writing to each other. We write each other emails nearly every night. Some of the emails are about really important things, some of them are extremely mundane. This is when we really start to cement our love for one another. -
Las Vegas
After being apart for 6 weeks, Daniel leaves for a week long work trip to Vegas right as Yael comes home from India. This is extremely tragic. Yael says that she is going to send Daniel a gift, so wants his hotel name and room number. The last night of his stay there, she shows up at his hotel! This is extremely romantic. Yael had coordinated with Daniel's family that he had never met, but was staying with over shabbat. This is a really amazing and considerate act that she did. -
Yael's last semester in college
A lot of things happened in Yael's last semester - we had our first thanksgiving together (which was when Yael met Daniel's parents), Daniel goes to his first Rak Shalom concert, notable for Daniela having many microphone issues, Yael learns kohelet then sleeps through it, we go to a chanukkah gala, we fail at listening to Serial v. 2 together, and Yael makes a lot of great smoothies. Throughout this semester, there is an undertone of the possibility that Yael might leave the DC area for a job. -
Yael in NY
Yael spends several months at Hadar while she applies for jobs. At this point, we have made a deal that Yael will spend her first year of working paying off the government for the fellowship she got in college. This is a great relief to Daniel. While at Hadar, we have our 1 year anniversary, which includes Yael taking Daniel on a food tour of the Lower East Side, and Daniel taking Yael to UCB. This is the beginning of a lot of comedy shows of varying quality that we go to. -
Yael moves to DC!
In a great turn of events, Yael gets a job a USADF, and moves to DC. This is the closest they have ever lived to one another, and it is really great! -
Montreal
In honor of our 1.5 year anniversary, we go on our first international trip. Daniel prepares for the trip by learning French, Yael prepares for the trip by making fun of Daniel's very bad French. In the end, Yael is better prepared. They get advice from someone on how to eat a montreal bagel (never slice), accidentally walk up a mountain, see a lot of cathedrals, and go to a farmers market that is all in French (Daniel's French still doesn't help). -
Spain!
For our 2 year anniversary, we go on our second international trip, to Spain! This is a real learning opportunity, because we really have to combine planning and going with the flow in a serious way. This sometimes works out, and sometimes doesn't. They try to get on wifi to find a vegan restaurant, and are using that restaurant's wifi. Daniel forgets to listen to Yael, and they wind up getting on the wrong train in Frankfurt. In the end it is okay, and they have falafel and chocolate milk. -
Moving in!
We move in together! This is very exciting, and leads to all new joys and challenges. In the joy column, we get to spend way more time together, and don't have to worry about imposing on roommates. In the challenges column, we spend 2 months picking out a couch. But then on the joy column again, we picked a great couch that we love. This is a really amazing time in our relationship, and nothing has made us have to grow and commit to each other more. -
Road Trip
We went to a wedding in Seattle, and then drove from Seattle down to San Francisco. This was our first ever long road trip, even though we had been dating for 2.5 years. -
Africa
Daniel and Yael go to Africa with most of Yael's immediate family. This is Daniel's first time in Africa, and is a really good opportunity for Yael to teach Daniel about things that are a huge part of her life. This is also their first international trip with family. Daniel spends a lot of time with Yael's oldest sister, Michele, who he hadn't had a lot of time with before. It is really important bonding time with the family, helping Daniel to feel more like part of the family. -
Engagement
On February 11, 2018, Daniel asks Yael to marry him, and Yael asks Daniel the same question! It is all very romantic, and is too long of a story to put in such a small box. We are so excited to continue to build our lives together. -
Wedding!
We are so excited to get married to each other! Now we just have to plan it.
