The end - #1

Yesterday was the last day of summer ulpan at Hebrew University. It's hard to believe I have three whole weeks off already before the regular university semester starts. It went so fast! I expected it to be torture because I'm really bad at languages, but it really wasn't. It was boring at times because I knew the grammar already, but my teachers--especially אירה--did a really good job of keeping it interesting. I feel a lot more comfortable with Hebrew now, and as much as I wish I could have moved up to Gimmel, it's probably a good thing I didn't. HU ulpan is "learning Hebrew in Hebrew," and I think I was in the perfect level for adjusting to this. It was overwhelming at Brandeis, for all of the couple weeks that I was in 40 level Hebrew, and I think I would have had the same problem here if I was in a higher level.

It's amazing how much I've improved. It's still hard for me to speak, but if people are talking slowly enough I can definitely comprehend conversations with words I know. There was also a rather amusing incident in the Old City last week in which someone asked me in English if I was looking for a hostel and I answered "לא"--"no"--in Hebrew without even thinking. It's a small phrase--just one word--but the man's reaction ("Oh, you speak Hebrew!") was priceless. No, I'm not an American tourist who can be taken advantage of. Yes, I'm an American, but I'm here for the year and I'm learning. This is after two months; where will I be after a year?

Yesterday was also my last day of feeding cats before class. This week I realized that there's no predicting my audience. I'm pleased to say that they recognize me now and come running when they see me--even before I sit down if the law librarians haven't fed them already--but other than that, it varies. On Tuesday I had 14 at once, and there was enough turnover that I don't know how many I fed. On Wednesday there were only 8, but a grey cat curled up in my lap. I ended up being late to class, but I didn't care. The only thing that would have made me move would have been if someone had yelled "Fire!" and then I would have taken the kitty with me. Usually the cats get along, but there was a day this week when they started howling at each other. Not hissing, howling. What in the world does that mean? I've never seen it before.

I can't say goodbye to my cats now. I know we're on break, but I'm going to continue to go up and feed the cats on weekdays, at least until I see that the librarians are getting there first. They know me. They want my food. Who am I to withhold it? Estie pointed out that I won't always be here, but I don't want to think about that. January--and my winter break in the States--is a long time away.

Update on Naftali

When I got to Hebrew University today, I found that someone had already fed the cats—as it turns out, the librarian that my law librarian was filling in for that time. I asked her about Naftali; apparently he was his regular self today. He’s not healthy and they know that—he has his good days and his bad days. Yesterday happened to be one of his bad days. The librarians have know him for years; I’ll have to trust them.

There’s another cat here, a small black kitten, who’s also rather affectionate. She purred for me this morning, and the librarian told me that she is sick (though, I couldn’t tell) and has been taken to the vet and given some antibiotics. She’s going to be adopted by someone because she’s not suited to life as a stray. Lesson learned: the law librarians really take care of these cats. I don’t need to worry about them. Right?

Naftali

I'm really worried about Naftali. He wasn't right when I saw him this afternoon. He'd sniff the water bowl and the food I put in front of him, but he wouldn't eat anything. These cats never refuse food. I had to shield Naftali's food from the other cats because they all wanted it.

He doesn't sound right, either. That's the first thing I noticed (though this video was the last I saw of him--of course as soon as I take out the camera and put in new batteries all he does is climb into my lap and shut up.):

shut up.): That is not Naftali's voice. I know his voice; I've known this cat since my first week here. I knew he wasn't healthy to begin with, but this is different. This is new.

What do I do? I wish I could take him to the vet, but I have neither the money nor the knowledge of the Israeli society to do so. Should I try to locate the law library and search for the librarian who told me Naftali's name? She was only substituting for her friend when I saw her.

I wish I could take Naftali home with me, but even if we were allowed to have cats in the apartment, my roommates aren't cat people. No way they'd let me sneak a cat into the apartment, even if maintenance wasn't doing monthly inspections.

What should I do? What can I do?

Kitty update

Last week was rocky when it came to my cats. On Saturday night I discovered that Mister Zol, the grocery store, doesn't open up after Shabbat, so I had no food for the kitties on Sunday. Sunday night, I discovered that they close at 21:00, and I went at 21:15. On Tuesday I finally had cat food, but my roommate and I got to campus too late for me to do my feeding. On Wednesday someone fed them before I got there, from the looks of it real white meat. I think I finally got to feed them on Thursday.

This week has been better; I haven't posted only because I was waiting to have video. I still haven't figured out how to feed and tape at the same time--the video's sorta awful. The cats were also really spread out this morning, but I think if you count you'll find all twelve.

The cats know me by now. Twice in a row now they've come running, and this morning I didn't even have to sit down first. The kitten's also becoming more trusting; it took a while for him to come out of his bush, and then he would run back into it whenever anyone walked down the path. Now he'll stay there and eat, as long as there's a bigger cat between him and the people. ("Mommy, hide me!")

I haven't named any of them yet, and I doubt that I will. There are some consistent kitties, but otherwise the cats in the humanitiies block change day by day. They also don't trust me enough to let them touch them--with the exception of Naftali, who has been affectionate since way before the feedings. I wonder if they'll ever trust me that much?

Speaking of Naftali, yesterday I found a girl pouring water into a rock for him. She said he was dehydrated; he'd drunk half her bottle already. I'm really glad I saw that; somehow, I've never stopped to think about how these cats get there water. It doesn't rain during the summer in Israel, ever. How do they find water to drink? Anyway, I've started giving them water, too. A container that had held creme cheese is now a kitty water bowl, assuming the people who clean the university don't find it in the bush and throw it away. I think I'll make the same thing out of my butter container when it expires, and the rocks have little grooves which can hold water. It's so simple; why hadn't I thought of it before?

When I got back to Kfar HaStudentim after class, I found Lynley with a couple of kittens, whose names seem to be either Yossi and Charlie or Hariette and Gila depending on who you ask. Yossi's scared of people, but Charlie's the friendliest kitty I've ever seen. As soon as I sat down on the bench she was in my lap, climbing around on top of me and on top of my backpack. I don't have any footage of that--it was so unexpected--but I can show you Charlie/Gila with Lynley, and being otherwise generally friendly!

After Lynley left, a couple of people who work in the office came out with a container of what I think was tuna. It makes me feel cheap to be feeding them dry cat food, but... the cats seem to like it just the same, and it's probably better for them.

Though, I could give Charlie one kind of fish to play with!

Spirituality

I have taken on a new morning spiritual practice: the daily feeding of the strays. I've noticed people feeding the cats in the afternoon--Mrs. Law Librarian seemed pretty set up the other day--but I haven't seen anyone feeding them in the morning. Since I tend to get to campus about ten minutes early, I bought a small box of cat food and started feeding the cats who live in the Humanities Building courtyard. They seem to really appreciate it.

The reason I call this a spiritual practice is how calming the process is for me. It doesn't involve much, just throwing some handfuls of dry cat food on the ground. Cats come running; I put more food in front of the new cats, and then just sit down and watch. I don't do anything, just watch, and it's very calming. Of course, Naftali wants to do more than just eat and watch others eat; twice now he's climbed into my lap and tried to stick his head in the box of cat food. He's very disappointed when I have to force him off to go to class. The rest, though, just eat. I like it. I don't necessarily need to pet the cats; just having them around me, happy, is an amazing experience.

Cat food

Today I followed a string of meows and stumbled upon cat feeding ground. There I found a woman surrounded by what seemed like every cat on campus. The woman, I discovered, is a law librarian who took over the feeding while her friend was away. The cats are taken care of after all; my skinny cat even has a name already, Neftali (which is much better than calling her Bone(s)). Even with the food she brought, though, many of the cats didn't get to eat anything, and those who did eat did so by pushing each other out of the way. None of the cats ate much, but I could tell how glad they were to get what they did.

I think that I'm going to buy a box of cat food next time I go to the grocery store. It doesn't cost that much--10 NIS--and maybe it'll make some of these cats trust me a bit more.

Movement

The first question in a series of yes/no questions on the Hebrew University housing application is "Do you want to live in a shomer Shabbat apartment?" I left the question blank; I am not typically shomer Shabbat, but I wanted to live with other religious students. As a result, the school put me in non-religious housing. My first Shabbat came and went without even feeling like Shabbat. I slept in on Saturday morning and then spent the day on my computer. Friday night meant very little to me--we went to services, but with a minyan which mumbles everything. I know myself. If I'm not with other religious people, I'll ignore everything. There's no reason to do that while I'm living in Jerusalem. So I switched. My new roommates seem nice--a girl from CT named Esti and an Israel whose name I have yet to learn. I like the feeling of sleeping on sheets rather than having a sleeping bag spread over a bed as I had before I moved. The experience will be interesting, I think. Esti said she'd teach me enough about keeping a kosher kitchen that I won't mess up.

My room also has an excellent view. Take a look at this:

(It's even cooler if you click it.)

A move that happened, and another one that didn't. I have a love/hate relationship with ulpan right now. We're doing things that I learned freshman year at Brandeis and/or senior year at AHA--יהיו, תהיה לי, בואי! עליו etc. It's boring. I went to Eilat, the head of the ulpan, yesterday, and she told me that I couldn't move up because I don't have the vocabulary down. I went to her again today, and was told the same thing. I need to work on my speaking skills. I need to work on my reading comprehension. She can't move me; I just need to concentrate on understanding what I hear, and I'm to listen to the CDs of the textbook to learn to understand what I hear. And that's it.

I know that I have this problem. I had it in high school, and I never worked to fix it. I remember, senior year, we had an oral test in Hebrew class on a day that I missed, and Ms. Livnat never made me make it up because she liked me and she knew I'd fail. We didn't have oral quizzes and tests at Brandeis. I passed the classes, but every time it seems like I do it knowing less and less of what I should. Now I get to pay for that, I guess. I'm stuck in bet.

Then, of course, there are the things that are always moving: the cats. I have three whom I've named so far.

The first is WinkieTwin, the first cat I met here. I named him that because he reminds me of my friend Nonny's cat, Winkie. I'm not quite sure where to put him on the friendly scale. He let me pet him the first time I met him, but he ran away the next time. He let me pet him and lay down in my lap, and then he scratched me the time after that. I don't quite understand him.

(Picture to come when I can figure out how to get it off my phone.)

The second cat I've named Malka because I met her on Friday, when one of our teachers likened Shabbat to a queen. She's a friendly one. When I first met her on Friday morning, she followed me halfway down the hill from Kfar HaStudentim (the student village). I saw her again on Friday night with LynleyShimat, an aquaintance from NUJLS. Yes, she is sitting on my skirt. She is also the cat who taught me that cats, even street cats, don't eat PB&J.

The last cat I've already mentioned here, the skinny tabby. It's so sad; he's just skin and bones, and I found a host of wounds on his head and neck today. He's a fighter, I guess, even without getting enough food. I just want to pick him up and take him to a vet and take care of him... out of all the cats around here, it seems like he's the one who takes to being a stray the least. Some of the others--like WinkieTwin and Malka--seem to be doing okay, but he's not. I'm not quite sure about his name yet, but I'm thinking something like Bone or Bones (after the show, not The Immortals Quartet). I'm just not sure how I feel about calling a cat that yet.

זה כל. More later.

Of travel and cats

I can't say that I was a fan of the MBTA bus system when I rode it last summer. Busses to Waltham run infrequently, they don't always stop, and passengers don't only need to know what stop they need to get off at, but also the stop before.

The MBTA bus system is perfect compared to the Egged busses in Israel. Stops are not announced on the busses, so you have to know not just the street address of where you're going, but what the area looks like. Bus stops are not clearly labeled with which busses stop where, and the Egged website is really unhelpful—especially when the Trip Planner seems to be broken, because there is no other way to get the bus schedules.

All this amounts to one lost Dev. A friend from Brandeis is finishing up his time at the Conservative Yeshiva, so I went to spend time with him at Ben Yehuda. Had it not been for a friendly Israeli who heard me asking Ari about landmarks, I would have missed my stop entirely. Then, on the way back, I got on the bus in the wrong direction—because Hadassah Hospital and Hadassah University Hospital are not one and the same. I left Ben Yehuda at 9:23; I got home around 11. It was not fun, and I'm not particularly inclined to take the bus again any time soon. Then again, I'm going to have to—taxis are expensive, and there's no other way to get downtown.

In other news, I saw my first indication of kitty hardship yesterday. I sat down on the grass with two cats after class; one a skinny tabby, one a normal-sized black & white. There was no mistaking the tabby's hardship: I could feel his ribs, there were bumps in his fur near his neck, and the fur on his back was oily. The black & white cat didn't come to me for attention as the tabby had; he lay down on the grass a few feet away. He looked like a normal, well-fed house cat at first. Yet, when he got up, I saw a big, furless red patch on his skin where he'd gotten into a fight. Neither of these cats had both full ears—come to think of it, I don't think I've seen many cats with both ears intact, period.

Ulpan has started. I'll write about that later.

Arrival

I arrived in Israel yesterday, safe and sound but exhausted. The first thing I learned about Israel is exactly how informal things are; as another student put it, they basically said to us, “Great! You’re here! Now go at it.” We arrived at Hebrew University a bit before 8am; the only thing they had scheduled for us after we went through the registration process was a campus tour at 4:30 (16:30), which I slept through. Today’s a bit better: campus tour at 16:30, orientation at 17:30, shopping trip at 19:00. I wonder, though, how they’re going to orient us in an hour and a half to a whole new country. Somehow, I have a feeling that they’re going to leave us to our own devices, to figure out what stores are nearby and what interesting and exciting things are on which bus route—or even how the busses work! That’s what the madrichim are for—our Israeli RAs—but sometimes “just down the street” isn’t literally just down the street, and “the best place to exchange your money is the postal bank” doesn’t necessarily mean the people at the post office will know what you’re talking about.

I seem to have beaten the jetlag. I’m not sure what my body feels like right now, but I think it’s closest to “I just woke up at 7am and am still tired” than anything else—which is exactly where I want it to be. Minus the whole awake-at-7am part, of course. Maybe I’ll take a nap later; there’s only so much time that unpacking can fill, and I’m hesitant to wander around on my own, even with a map.

People say the cats are like squirrels here, and they weren’t exaggerating; they’re everywhere. (Story is that when the Russian immigrants got here they brought cats into the city to get rid of the rats, and they brought just a few too many cats.) I can’t adopt one because we’re not allowed to have pets in the dorm, but maybe I’ll make friends with one or two. There’s one cat that was hanging around the Social Sciences building yesterday who looks like a long-haired version of my friend’s cat Winkie, and I sorta fell in love. So cute; so friendly! My first kitty friend.

I have yet to meet many (any) students other than those who were on my flight with me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m antisocial, because I was absolutely dead yesterday, or whether it’s because most students are arriving today. It’s probably a mix of all three, but I refuse to generalize about my classmates based on meeting only six of them.

More updates to come. This is just the beginning.