Shalom all! I’ve decided to open up a blog since it’s much easier for me to communicate with those who are interested in hearing about my adventures in Israel. I will do my best to update when I can.
After leaving Mom at Madrid (don’t worry, the security was just telling me “no toca fotographia por favor”- not interested in my camera), I flew to Tel Aviv. It was an interesting flight actually- I sat with a tour group filled with older people from Dominican Republic. They couldn’t read in English on their travel document to Israel so I had to translate some stuff for them. Fortunately for me, the airlines didn’t speak in Hebrew and Spanish as I feared. Just in English and Spanish.
When I saw Tel Aviv’s beaches through the heavy clouds, I felt a sudden emotional rush. It is hard to describe how I felt because I think those who have deep understanding of Israel’s place in their lives can only understand what I am talking about. As the plane made a wide circle (I guess El Al isn’t the only one who does this maneuver) around the city, I shed several tears. I just could not help myself but think how I was able to stay away from Israel for eighteen months. So in other words, I just cried.
Linda was right there with a big yellow sign welcoming me to Israel in both English and Hebrew. We drove to her kibbutz, which is much different than what people read about when learning about Israel’s history. The kibbutz had changed so much but the sense of the community was still there. When we walked around and Linda talked with several people, I could felt the connection. Everyone still help one and another like tribal groups all over the world. Kibbutz used to be agricultural and now most of the work is done in small factories. Children from the city come in for day care. Children used to have their own society in the “children’s house” and did not live with their families but now they live with their families. Cats and peacocks roamed around freely. The houses were very similar and small- about the size of the original space of the first floor in my house. I enjoyed it all- I am no-frills type of person.
I met the rest of the family except for the two older sisters who were away at school. That’s when I got my first taste of Israeli life that I did not see on my birthright trip. Two memorable moments were: how hot the water can seriously get in Israel and the constant subtitles in Hebrew on English speaking programs. It was really difficult for me to follow a romantic comedy that the son and I were watching because it was in English but the subtitles were in Hebrew. All I knew was that I’ll definitely pick up my Hebrew reading speed by watching television here! Additionally, I asked everyone tons of questions about Israeli culture, transportation, traveling, army, et cetera. I was beginning to understand the huge advantage of doing a home stay while abroad but unfortunately, my program does not offer it.
Linda dropped me off at the Hebrew University the following day. It took forever for me to be called for registration but I got everything done including moving in before the campus tour.
The campus, as I realized over the next few days, is huge. Even the student union, the Forum, cannot be compared to the Coop at Colgate. All the buildings are connected to one and another that other than the signs, you would not know that you are in the next building. It is about 20-25 minutes walk from my dorm to Boyar building, where my program is situated. There is a very old amphitheater behind Boyar that looks over the rest of East Jerusalem and the desert. Linda and my guide told me that on very clear days, you can see the Dead Sea, which is 45 minutes away through a heavily guarded road through the territories. The campus is very nice- a bit like Colgate with a mix of very old and new buildings. There is just a lot of Jerusalem stone that I feel like I can be blinded with all the sun reflection. I hope that I can eventually learn my way around, especially around the Forum. The Forum is a multi level that has an upper floor with three middle floors that it is sort of like a spiral shape. So the post office is not necessarily on the same floor as the travel agency. Down on the bottom floor is the bus station.
Allie told me that students have to pass an English exam in order to be admitted into Israeli universities. My impression thus far is that they probably just barely passed as many hesitated to use their English with me when I asked for directions. It is really hard to meet Israelis overall even though we live in the same buildings as they do. But the use of English in Israel so far is a lot higher than in Spain. I think some of them are afraid to use it because they could tell that I speak fluent English with no Israeli accent. So this means that I should jump in a few campus events in order to meet them where they might be asked to speak in English instead of Hebrew.
I had gotten to know a good number of people over the past few days through the tour, classes, activities, and a bagel brunch that my roommate, who was here last semester, threw. It is really exciting for me to meet people from so many different schools such as McGill, BU, Haverford, Washington University in St Louis, Emory, University of British Columbia, and so forth. In my ulpan class, there are several people who are not from the North America. One is from Turkey. Another is from South Korea. The third one is from Australia (who actually emigrated from the States and went to U of R for graduate school!). I also ran into someone from Argentina and I almost switched my language to Spanish before he deserted me. One of my friends, Allie, was right about the ulpan being the most exciting part in terms of meeting people from all over. One of my roommates said that someone came from Russia. I have enjoyed talking with them and learning a little bit about their cultural background.
The ulpan itself is going well. I am in Aleph 3, which is pretty good! I passed out of Aleph 1 and 2. The system is set up so there are mini-levels within levels. It starts with Aleph and ends at Heh. Aleph 1 is for people who have never seen Hebrew before. There are few in Dalet. The pace is going perfect for me- fast enough so I’m learning several new concepts in a session but we repeat often enough that it almost feels like I am studying in class too. Two instructors alternate days in which they teach. Their names are Shira and Michal and they are very sweet and outgoing. I am absolutely thrilled that I did not need to buy a book since I had checked in advance to see what text they would use. At the end of the day today, we are when it’d be mid-October when I took Hebrew at Colgate. I hope to graduate into Bet by the end of the semester.
My apartment is pretty nice. Maybe it is a little too white since we have light colored floors and bare white windows. We have a common room with a kitchenette (no oven or dishwasher). There are five single bedrooms, two toilet rooms, a shower room with a sink, and a hallway sink. So I have four other roommates. There is Dena, who is a freshman in the First Year Program and keeps kosher. Essentially, if we want to use her little grills, sponges, or utensils, we have to keep kosher. That does not bother me at all. She is from Ohio. The second roommate is Jessica, who is from Seattle and goes to UWashington at Seattle. The third roommate is Allison, who goes to Emory and is a sorority sister (I forgot which one). She told me that despite Emory’s high Jewish population (39%), she was one of the few to go to Israel. The fourth is Gina, who is from Boston and goes to BU. Also a sorority sister… and a business major (hint to Andrew). The third and fourth are alright- not really interactive with the rest of us. Jessica and I are trying to bond but it will take time. In all, they are tolerable to live with. The biggest challenge here is trying to keep the apartment clean between the five of us. Thus far, everyone has been doing a great job in keep the sink clean, which makes me really happy. Judging from their bedrooms, everyone’s fairly tidy. Believe me, you can tell a lot from how people keep their rooms. By the way, my room’s very tiny. I had to move one end of my bed to under my long desk to create a bigger floor space.
Next to the dorms is French Hill, which largely composes of Arabs. I have been told that is a very nice group otherwise the university would have not built their dorms at this spot. There is not very much in there- no real restaurants, cafes, or exciting stores. There is a supermarket along with several little mini-marts. It is just a small neighborhood. Basically, the campus is rather closed-off/isolated from all the action that occurs in downtown Jerusalem. I looked at the local and campus houses- everything generally shuts down by 9-10 PM. Verrryyyy boring at night.
Tomorrow, the program hosting a tour in the Old City with Shabbat services at the Kotel (Wailing Wall, Western Wall) and a Shabbat dinner at the Hyatt Regency. I am looking forward to Shabbat, especially that Israeli wine is really good. And I also miss eating challah.
Good night all!
After leaving Mom at Madrid (don’t worry, the security was just telling me “no toca fotographia por favor”- not interested in my camera), I flew to Tel Aviv. It was an interesting flight actually- I sat with a tour group filled with older people from Dominican Republic. They couldn’t read in English on their travel document to Israel so I had to translate some stuff for them. Fortunately for me, the airlines didn’t speak in Hebrew and Spanish as I feared. Just in English and Spanish.
When I saw Tel Aviv’s beaches through the heavy clouds, I felt a sudden emotional rush. It is hard to describe how I felt because I think those who have deep understanding of Israel’s place in their lives can only understand what I am talking about. As the plane made a wide circle (I guess El Al isn’t the only one who does this maneuver) around the city, I shed several tears. I just could not help myself but think how I was able to stay away from Israel for eighteen months. So in other words, I just cried.
Linda was right there with a big yellow sign welcoming me to Israel in both English and Hebrew. We drove to her kibbutz, which is much different than what people read about when learning about Israel’s history. The kibbutz had changed so much but the sense of the community was still there. When we walked around and Linda talked with several people, I could felt the connection. Everyone still help one and another like tribal groups all over the world. Kibbutz used to be agricultural and now most of the work is done in small factories. Children from the city come in for day care. Children used to have their own society in the “children’s house” and did not live with their families but now they live with their families. Cats and peacocks roamed around freely. The houses were very similar and small- about the size of the original space of the first floor in my house. I enjoyed it all- I am no-frills type of person.
I met the rest of the family except for the two older sisters who were away at school. That’s when I got my first taste of Israeli life that I did not see on my birthright trip. Two memorable moments were: how hot the water can seriously get in Israel and the constant subtitles in Hebrew on English speaking programs. It was really difficult for me to follow a romantic comedy that the son and I were watching because it was in English but the subtitles were in Hebrew. All I knew was that I’ll definitely pick up my Hebrew reading speed by watching television here! Additionally, I asked everyone tons of questions about Israeli culture, transportation, traveling, army, et cetera. I was beginning to understand the huge advantage of doing a home stay while abroad but unfortunately, my program does not offer it.
Linda dropped me off at the Hebrew University the following day. It took forever for me to be called for registration but I got everything done including moving in before the campus tour.
The campus, as I realized over the next few days, is huge. Even the student union, the Forum, cannot be compared to the Coop at Colgate. All the buildings are connected to one and another that other than the signs, you would not know that you are in the next building. It is about 20-25 minutes walk from my dorm to Boyar building, where my program is situated. There is a very old amphitheater behind Boyar that looks over the rest of East Jerusalem and the desert. Linda and my guide told me that on very clear days, you can see the Dead Sea, which is 45 minutes away through a heavily guarded road through the territories. The campus is very nice- a bit like Colgate with a mix of very old and new buildings. There is just a lot of Jerusalem stone that I feel like I can be blinded with all the sun reflection. I hope that I can eventually learn my way around, especially around the Forum. The Forum is a multi level that has an upper floor with three middle floors that it is sort of like a spiral shape. So the post office is not necessarily on the same floor as the travel agency. Down on the bottom floor is the bus station.
Allie told me that students have to pass an English exam in order to be admitted into Israeli universities. My impression thus far is that they probably just barely passed as many hesitated to use their English with me when I asked for directions. It is really hard to meet Israelis overall even though we live in the same buildings as they do. But the use of English in Israel so far is a lot higher than in Spain. I think some of them are afraid to use it because they could tell that I speak fluent English with no Israeli accent. So this means that I should jump in a few campus events in order to meet them where they might be asked to speak in English instead of Hebrew.
I had gotten to know a good number of people over the past few days through the tour, classes, activities, and a bagel brunch that my roommate, who was here last semester, threw. It is really exciting for me to meet people from so many different schools such as McGill, BU, Haverford, Washington University in St Louis, Emory, University of British Columbia, and so forth. In my ulpan class, there are several people who are not from the North America. One is from Turkey. Another is from South Korea. The third one is from Australia (who actually emigrated from the States and went to U of R for graduate school!). I also ran into someone from Argentina and I almost switched my language to Spanish before he deserted me. One of my friends, Allie, was right about the ulpan being the most exciting part in terms of meeting people from all over. One of my roommates said that someone came from Russia. I have enjoyed talking with them and learning a little bit about their cultural background.
The ulpan itself is going well. I am in Aleph 3, which is pretty good! I passed out of Aleph 1 and 2. The system is set up so there are mini-levels within levels. It starts with Aleph and ends at Heh. Aleph 1 is for people who have never seen Hebrew before. There are few in Dalet. The pace is going perfect for me- fast enough so I’m learning several new concepts in a session but we repeat often enough that it almost feels like I am studying in class too. Two instructors alternate days in which they teach. Their names are Shira and Michal and they are very sweet and outgoing. I am absolutely thrilled that I did not need to buy a book since I had checked in advance to see what text they would use. At the end of the day today, we are when it’d be mid-October when I took Hebrew at Colgate. I hope to graduate into Bet by the end of the semester.
My apartment is pretty nice. Maybe it is a little too white since we have light colored floors and bare white windows. We have a common room with a kitchenette (no oven or dishwasher). There are five single bedrooms, two toilet rooms, a shower room with a sink, and a hallway sink. So I have four other roommates. There is Dena, who is a freshman in the First Year Program and keeps kosher. Essentially, if we want to use her little grills, sponges, or utensils, we have to keep kosher. That does not bother me at all. She is from Ohio. The second roommate is Jessica, who is from Seattle and goes to UWashington at Seattle. The third roommate is Allison, who goes to Emory and is a sorority sister (I forgot which one). She told me that despite Emory’s high Jewish population (39%), she was one of the few to go to Israel. The fourth is Gina, who is from Boston and goes to BU. Also a sorority sister… and a business major (hint to Andrew). The third and fourth are alright- not really interactive with the rest of us. Jessica and I are trying to bond but it will take time. In all, they are tolerable to live with. The biggest challenge here is trying to keep the apartment clean between the five of us. Thus far, everyone has been doing a great job in keep the sink clean, which makes me really happy. Judging from their bedrooms, everyone’s fairly tidy. Believe me, you can tell a lot from how people keep their rooms. By the way, my room’s very tiny. I had to move one end of my bed to under my long desk to create a bigger floor space.
Next to the dorms is French Hill, which largely composes of Arabs. I have been told that is a very nice group otherwise the university would have not built their dorms at this spot. There is not very much in there- no real restaurants, cafes, or exciting stores. There is a supermarket along with several little mini-marts. It is just a small neighborhood. Basically, the campus is rather closed-off/isolated from all the action that occurs in downtown Jerusalem. I looked at the local and campus houses- everything generally shuts down by 9-10 PM. Verrryyyy boring at night.
Tomorrow, the program hosting a tour in the Old City with Shabbat services at the Kotel (Wailing Wall, Western Wall) and a Shabbat dinner at the Hyatt Regency. I am looking forward to Shabbat, especially that Israeli wine is really good. And I also miss eating challah.
Good night all!
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