We're Off On an Adventure! ... Once We're Done with Ulpan and If Its Not Shabbat

Theres so much to see in Jerusalem, that it would be impossible to see it all in one day. I went with friends to explore that Old City, which has a labyrinth of small streets with vendors yelling at you. Never look at one of them or look into their stores. They will never leave you alone until you walk so far that you can’t hear them calling. However, bargaining is really easy. For the most part all you have to do is walk about four steps away and they lower the price about 30 shekels. Everything is usually pretty expensive initially, since a lot of the stores are meant for tourists, especially near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Church is a very uninteresting from the outside, and without the sign and the tourists, It would be really easy to pass by. The Wailing Wall was much more impressive, and there, and there is something that says you’re in an important place by having your bag searched and being required to go through a metal detector.  We actually got to see the paratroopers practicing for their initiation, which was really cool, before going on to actually seeing the Wall. The women’s section is about a quarter the size of the men’s , which is interesting, but to be expected. I was able to get rather close to the wall, but as I was kinda underdressed in jeans, and as I didn’t exactly know what to do, it seemed like the best thing to stay a few yards away. It was a fascinating experience, but I barely scratched the surface of the Old City. 

How to Get Free Food

So, the basic rule of thumb for getting free food in Israel is to pretend that you’re interested in becoming a better Jew. I’ve discovered a plethora of seminars that offer free food after ulpan during that 1-2 time block that is perfect for an afternoon sanck. Nothing much, mostly pita and humus, but whatever free food I can get, for minimal effort. Last Wednesday, I went to a lecture on Talmudic Jewish Dream interpretation from a campus from Visa: Your Passport.  It was a fascinating lecture and a really entertaining speaker. The basic premise at the end was that your dreams are calling you to be a better Jew, but if you take the Jewish part out, your dreams are basically telling you to step above settling for life substitutes, such as food, and focusing on bettering yourself, like in the pursuit of knowledge. Basically your dreams are a mixture of earthly senses, and our imaginations. Jewish writings offer a confusing mix of the preposition that dreams are the “thoughts of our hearts” stating that we dream about what we think about, that “a dream is a sixtieth part of prophecy” so that a dream is a minor prophecy, and that a dream is a mix of prophecy and nonsense. And an interesting part of this is that the Talmud states that someone that doesn’t dream over a period of seven days is evil.  Luckily I dreamed yesterday, so I pretty sure that I’m not possessed by the devil.

All My Apologies

Because I’ve been so bad about posting, I’m going to break this up in a few posts. So if at first it doesn’t look like a lot, read on. Basic rule of journalism is that if something looks way too long, people won’t read it. And since that’s how I feel, it’s probably a good rule to follow J This week has been so crazy, hectic,  painful and amazing that there’s so much to say but no time to say it.  So I hope I covered everything I wanted to mention.

Adventures of a Non- Hebrew Speaker in an Outdoor Market

After our first day of classes, I went with friends to the shuk, which is a huge outdoor market that actually covers an entire neighborhood of Jerusalem. Fruit and vegetable vendors, meat, fish, candy and sweet all in one little area and everything is much cheaper and fresher than what I can get in the grocery store. Oh, and most of the shopkeepers don't really speak English, so we had a lot of miscommunication, gestures and hand signals. We found a place where we can get bulk grains and on Thursday I made my first meal all by myself. Nothing great, but it was the first real meal I had had since Monday and it was fantastic. It might be bad that I’m already making a mental list of things I want when I get home, and one is a good home cooked meal. A cup of good American coffee would also be pretty sweet, not gonna lie. But the shuk was definitely a unique experience to say the least. We walked one entire alley before turning around and actually buying stuff. There’s so much going on and its overwhelming.  

Ulpan: Learn Hebrew or Die Trying

I have Ulpan every week from Sunday to Thursday. Since this was a short week we had class on Friday, but that is an anomaly. Essentially I have an intensive Hebrew language class for five hours every day, where both my teachers will refuse to speak English unless there is a   question that they cannot answer in Hebrew and still have us kind of understand. We still haven’t learned the entire alphabet, but now I can kinda read the street signs if you give me a minute. My favorite part is that Hebrew has two alphabets and we have to learn them both at the same time. Cursive we’re learning how to write and read, but print we can pretty much only read. Cursive is faster to write, which is awesome, but  most of what we do in class is cursive and most signs are in print.  As long as eventually I handle being in the market and ask how much something costs without getting swindled I’ll be happy. 

The Longest Day of My Life

Explanation: Since I didn't sleep on the plane this was  made even worse, but essentially I was awake from seven  a.m. on January 17th to 5:30 p.m. on the 18th. Thus it was the longest day of my life : p

The first day was hectic beyond belief. We moved in about 10 am, maybe a little earlier, then I went with some of my roommates to go get our cell phones and modems. Then one roommate’s stuff that she had ordered for pickup had arrived and we walked back to campus to help her carry all her bedding and linens. Also, I live in a bomb shelter, literally. My room, and every room 1, are built with extra thick walls and have a double door outside my room door. One would think there would be benefits to this, since it should be reasonably soundproof. Nope. I can hear everything. Then again, I’m probably the loudest in the apartment. The internet is awful in my room and even though we’ve only been here a few days it’s not uncommon to see me hunkered down in front of my computer in the living area. The first day we had a tour of the campus, which is beautiful, but confusing as hell. Our guide kept trying to point out different roads that intersected but I got so confused that I’m probably going to have to try and explore on my own one day when I’m not busy. After the tour they took us to a lecture hall for orientation and let us all sit in comfy chairs for an hour as someone talked to us. I’m pretty sure I was asleep for half of it and most everyone else fell asleep at least once. Finally after all this we had a trip to the mall, which is on the other side of town, in order for us to get a few essentials and I was finally able to get a pillow.

Totally random, but there are no squirrels in Jerusalem; only cats. There are cats everywhere. I mean everywhere. They are essentially like squirrels except bigger and I’ve been warned not to touch them. I’ve also never seen a pigeon, but there are crows everywhere. 

In Israel

Well, I’m in Israel. For better or worse, I’m here. Arriving in Newark was easy enough. Being selected for special security was also so much fun. I got the full body pat down, but the woman was very nice and apologetic about the whole matter.  Apparently I wasn’t the first person EL Al had been searched. Not to sound accusative, but it is true that everyone who I know was searched were not Jewish. My carry on was also selected for a special search, and I had to hand it over to security two hours before our flight so that they could hand search it.  Later I was called back and told that my duffle bag was not allowed to fly. Not my stuff, which they boxed up and put on the plane and safely arrived in Tel Aviv, just the bag itself. For some unknown reason the bag was not allowed to fly and is being/was shipped home. The flight itself was fine, except that I couldn’t sleep and I’m definitely bringing some kind of sleep aid for my trip home. I did a couple easy Sudoku, read a little of by book and watched a few movies. Nothing really exciting. However, the stars over the Atlantic were amazing. There is something truly fascinating about these tiny pinpoints of light in the dark sky when the rest of the world is completely pitch black.   Also, the lights of the cities in Europe were fantastic as we flew over. I’m so glad I had a window seat even though the guy next to me fell asleep and didn’t wake up for eight hours. Even arriving in Tel Aviv was really simple, except for the momentary panic when my cell wouldn’t work and I had to remember that I was half a world away and not in upstate New York anymore.  My suitcase was one of the first to come on the baggage carousel, but I watched my box go around three times before I realized that it was mine. When we got on the bus to get here, I got my first wave of homesickness as the exhaustion finally began to take its toll. Luckily when I got to campus and signed in, I found out that I actually have 3 American roommates and one Israeli. At first I thought it would be interesting to live with all Israeli roommates, but I probably would have gone completely nuts. We each have our own rooms in our apartment, which I hate. I can’t wait to have a roommate again no matter who it is. It just seems to distant, especially now that it’s the weekend and there isn’t much to do. I’d usually be talking and hanging out with people and we’re each in our own separate rooms on our computers. It’s still morning at home, so there’s no one online to talk to and talking to too many people just makes my homesickness worse. In the grand scheme of things, my roommates have been amazing and I guess I’m going to have to learn to exist in a less social environment. I will need to find an English bookstore, since I will run out of books soon and believe it or not there is a limit to how many times I can read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Prepature

The fact that I’m leaving in three days to go halfway around the world is kinda starting to freak me out. Also, I don’t know If my ADD will survive the 10 hour flight! I got the passport, and the visa.  However, I still need to print my tickets and the instructions on what to do once I get to the airport.  Minor detail. Hopefully some step in the instructions is to instantly reminisce about everything I’m going to miss from home and sob uncontrollably, then at least everyone else on the group flight will have to do it and not just me. : ) We leave for Newark tomorrow, in order to have one stress free night before I leave.  I’m supposed to be at the airport four hours early in order to go through security, which I suppose is a good thing and will hopefully be the start of an amazing semester abroad!!