Classes

You know how when things get busy, all you want to do when you have a spare moment is lie down and do nothing? That's been me lately. Classes started three weeks ago already, and I haven't written a thing. I've been so busy with schoolwork and dealing with idiot banks and phone companies... well, that's another story. Right now I just want to write about The Big Thing, my classes.

The first class I'm taking, of course, is Hebrew. I'm in Ramat Gimel intensive, which means we have an extra half an hour of class each day so that we can get through the entire level and enter Daled next semester. That is, of course, in theory; my teacher is adding in additional classes so we actually finish everything. Read: Instead of having class 8:15-10:15 Monday/Tuesday and 8:30-10:15 and 10:30-12:15 Wednesday, I will soon have an extra 10:30-12:15 class on (some) Mondays. Sound like Ulpan, anyone?

I'm learning how wise the Ulpan program was. We had class from 8:30 until 1:15 (I think--I can't even remember anymore!), which was a lot, but we always had a break after an hour and a half. Now we have two hours straight, and it's really hard to concentrate that long without a break. I also think that my Ulpan teachers are better than my current teachers, even though one of my current teachers is a PhD and the other one wrote our textbook. During Ulpan, our teachers couldn't rely on translating words into English to convey their meaning to us because not everyone spoke English; now it seems like it's all they do. I miss the pictures and the wild gestures and understanding the words for what they are rather than what they mean in English.

Long story short, I'm not enjoying Hebrew, nor do I really feel like I'm learning much. I don't know how we're going to get through the level, nor do I know how I'm going to learn enough to take a class in Hebrew next semester. In theory I'm working my way through Daled on my own; not in theory, I don't have time and will have to see how much cramming I can do during break / whether I can convince the teacher I can work really hard and puppy-dog my advisor into letting me take it even though technically Daled is required. Israel is supposed to be full of loopholes.

My other class on Mondays and Wednesdays is Talmud, which I don't really understand. I was supposed to be in the lower level Talmud class because I've only ever studied Talmud in high school (and that was my first trimester!), but the lower level class was full of Nativ kids who joked throughout the whole first class without the teacher saying anything. I left half-way through; I can't learn anything in an environment like that, let alone Talmud.

Now I'm in the more advanced Talmud class, Critical Readings in the Talmud: The Talmud as a Path to Tikkun. Technically I have the prerequisites--Hebrew level Gimel and a class in classical Jewish literature (Kimelman's Liturgy class), but I feel like everyone else in the class has studied some Talmud before, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be getting out of it. What's the point of Talmud study? What are we supposed to be learning? My tri-chevruta (the product of an odd number of students in the class) is working off of the original Talmud page, which means we're reading and translating the Aramaic and... not much else. We're not really questioning it. Should we be? And even if we do, of what value will our answers be, when there are no real answers to be found?

My internship class, In the Community I: Israel Case Studies - Academic Internship, is also a mixed bag. The main thing that I'm learning from the class itself is that I really don't like psychology; sociology is much more interesting to me. It's mostly a waste of time, a lot of people sharing what's going on with their internships mixed with a bit of organizational psychology from the teacher. The good thing about knowing that I have to write a paper connecting the readings to my internship is that I'm connecting things as I go along; I guess I'm learning something there, but it doesn't merit an hour and a half every week.

My internship itself, however, is wonderful. I'm doing a whole bunch of things for JOH: running the English Speakers Group, helping to write and edit articles for the newsletter, helping to put the donor database in some sort of order, and helping to catalog and order the library. All in eight hours a week. I really like it, though, because it means hanging out at JOH a lot, whether I'm there for my internship or not. It means spending time out of my American study-abroad bubble and with Israelis in an Israeli setting, not just Israelis that were brought in like, "Oh, look, kids--it's Israelis!" I really like being able to meet people and work with people by myself and not just spend time with people the university presents to us. It's not helping my Hebrew much because everyone speaks at least some English, but I get to overhear some stuff in Hebrew, and there's more to a culture than just the language. I'm also beginning to get used to things here, and I'm starting to see how I'm going to get some degree of culture shock when I go back to the States in January.

By far, my favorite class this semester is one that got added on a whim: Nafez Nazzal's The Palestinians: Modern History and Society. Professor Nazzal's a wonderful lecturer. Everything he says is imbued with passion because he's speaking about his people and things that he can see but can't fix. Class is filled with tangents, stories of his life, but every tangent is relevent because his story is the story of the Palestinians. He knows leaders on both sides, has been threatened by leaders on both sides, teaches Palestinian students and Jewish students, gains perspectives from those he teaches... and tries his best to open everyone's eyes. Another student and I are recording his lectures because his wisdom is too important not to be recorded. It's amazing, and I can't believe I almost didn't take it. I know that I'll listen to the recordings again later, and share them with friends if I can, legally. Can I? I feel like everything Professor Nazzal is teaching us is too important not to spread.

Outside of this, I have a bunch of Jewish learning classes. I'm still doing Jeff Seidel, though I'm not really enjoying it and would definitely drop it if it wasn't my only way to earn money in Israel. My old chevruta partner gave birth over Sukkot break, and I don't know yet what to think about my new partner. My roommate Estie has also convinced me to go to the Hillel-Hecht Beit Midrash on Monday nights, which is where my tri-chevruta is going to do our Talmud homework. Wednesdays are the Masorti learning community (read: beit midrash, just not called that for who knows what reason) where Woty and I are learning bits of queer Talmud--see my original questions about Talmud study above.

With all of this, I feel like I have very little time. I'm beginning to miss Sundays, as Shabbat begins earlier than ever right now and my pre-Shabbat Fridays consist of sleeping in, cleaning the apartment, and going downtown to Ahuva's, where I've spent four out of the past six Shabbatot. I really need to learn to walk the 3.3 miles from the Kfar to Emek Refaim, or the 2.67 to Ahuva's. Those are the main places where Cool Shabbat Stuff happens...

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.

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.

Ulpan

Today ended my first week of ulpan, the two months of intensive Hebrew that come before a semester--or a year--at Hebrew University. I'm really bad at leanguages so I've been joking for a while about it being "two months of torture," but it really isn't bad. In a way, it feels more like CTY camp than actual school. We're in one class for four hours a day, and then we're free. The only difference is that here they give us homework, whereas homework wasn't allowed at CTY.

My class is small, hovering around fifteen people, but I'm amazed at the range of students we have. At least half of the students are older, in their thirties or higher. We have students from Holland, Spain, France, Germany, and a couples places that I don't remember. It's interesting because it means that Hebrew really is our common language; although most of us can speak English, at least one girl can't. It's also a nice break from being around some of my fellow students who are making good use of the fact that the drinking age here is 18. Julia, a 31-year-old German woman, is my first friend here.

Surprisingly, I'm not drowning in my Hebrew class. I have to wonder whether I should be in level gimel (3) instead of level bet (2)--where I placed after forgetting four years worth of barely-learned Hebrew last year--but I like not feeling lost all the time. I may know most of the grammatical concepts we're doing, but I don't think I have enough vocabulary to survive level gimel right now. I do think I'm learning something, though, even if this probably isn't the right level for me. There's a big difference between a Hebrew class where speaking English is allowed and one where there's only Hebrew. We're not memorizing vocabulary based on translation; we're learning it by concept. I think it may actually stick this way, so I'm reluctant to even put words on flash cards as I normally do.

The worst thing about being in level bet is knowing that I will never be able to take a class in Hebrew. You have to be in level hey (5) or vav (6) to do that, and even with ulpan and two semesters in Israel, I won't be able to get that far. There's a class on Israeli children's literature during the spring semester; maybe I can convince the teacher to make an exception. Children's literature's got to be in easy Hebrew, right?