January 28, 2007
Everyone in the apartment felt intimidated by the idea of attending classes on a Sunday. Dena admitted that even though she has been doing this since August, she isn’t still used to doing it, especially for a 8 AM class. Needless to say, we somehow managed to roll out of bed in order to be in class by 9:30 AM.
In Ulpan, Michal taught the first 90 minutes, and then we had a 30 minute break. Much to my disbelief, we actually have a music class after our break. Memories of music class back in middle school came back to me as the choir teacher taught us songs and used her piano. I knew that it was a good way to get more practice in speaking Hebrew but it was not what I had in mind at all. If only there was a different option! Then we had a 15 minute break. Finally, Shira taught the last 90 minutes. We also had our first quiz today. I think I did fine except for maybe 2 questions. I think Shira is tougher than Michal in her manner of teaching Hebrew. Oh well. Two and half weeks to go! We did learn more food words (not different kind of cheeses yet…) and how to ask what we want or drink. The pace is really stunning. I think by Anat’s calendar at Colgate, we’d be in early November.
After classes, I met up with Jessica, Ashley, and few others for a trip to downtown. I got on the bus for the first time- it felt really natural. I’m used to it from riding around D.C. I also got a bus pass that was good for 10 rides. The bus itself was not crowded and we just rode along. It actually bypasses East Jerusalem. On the bus, we met Shirah, who was in the same program as Dena. Shirah mentioned that she was going to the shult, an open air market. The other girls were going to Ben Yehuda to shop. The idea of shopping did not really appeal to me and I had already been to Ben Yehuda on birthright. So I went along with Shirah and met a couple more new people along the way, who were mostly from GWU.
The market was quite interesting. It reminded me of one of the malls in Kyoto where venders line up along the walls and sold their stuff. The place was not very busy as it was late in the day. I saw the biggest lemons and red peppers that I have ever seen. The meat looked pretty sketchy and Shirah told me that I might be better off with grocery store. Everything else looked good and the bread smelled wonderful. There were stands selling dried fruits and nuts too. Apparently, this place is only bad when it’s Friday morning with everyone trying to shop for Shabbat. I bought some mozzarella cheese balls- yum! The security stood at the entrance to make sure no sketchy people would come through.
The weather outside did not look so good- getting kind of dark. It was also getting pretty windy. I talked with Amy, Wendy, and Elliot while waiting for the bus stop about traveling. Amy heard that the girls should not go to Arab countries by themselves, even if it would be a group of them. For every girl that wants to go, she has to find a guy to accompany her. I did not like that idea but I would not be surprised for Egypt. Elliot told us about his plans- two days of diving in Eliat and then travel to Petra. Sounds good to me.
We met up again to go to Hillel’s opening party later on. By then, the weather got very, very windy and we took the bus to the campus. The party itself had quite interesting entertainment- a drummers group! We all had drums and learned some drumming. The performers danced and showed some karate type of moves. They pulled a couple of guys to come up and to follow their lead. It was hilarious, especially when they were asked to try doing some cartwheels. The group also showed us some folk dancing moves and some other instruments too.
I went back with Ben, a classmate, and two of his friends. It was literally monsoon outside. I honestly did not think that Jerusalem could get that kind of heavy rain! We walked through a garage and the buildings to the pedestrian entrance. By then, the rain had stopped. Still, I nearly got soaked wet.
Still no one to go to Paris with me…
Everyone in the apartment felt intimidated by the idea of attending classes on a Sunday. Dena admitted that even though she has been doing this since August, she isn’t still used to doing it, especially for a 8 AM class. Needless to say, we somehow managed to roll out of bed in order to be in class by 9:30 AM.
In Ulpan, Michal taught the first 90 minutes, and then we had a 30 minute break. Much to my disbelief, we actually have a music class after our break. Memories of music class back in middle school came back to me as the choir teacher taught us songs and used her piano. I knew that it was a good way to get more practice in speaking Hebrew but it was not what I had in mind at all. If only there was a different option! Then we had a 15 minute break. Finally, Shira taught the last 90 minutes. We also had our first quiz today. I think I did fine except for maybe 2 questions. I think Shira is tougher than Michal in her manner of teaching Hebrew. Oh well. Two and half weeks to go! We did learn more food words (not different kind of cheeses yet…) and how to ask what we want or drink. The pace is really stunning. I think by Anat’s calendar at Colgate, we’d be in early November.
After classes, I met up with Jessica, Ashley, and few others for a trip to downtown. I got on the bus for the first time- it felt really natural. I’m used to it from riding around D.C. I also got a bus pass that was good for 10 rides. The bus itself was not crowded and we just rode along. It actually bypasses East Jerusalem. On the bus, we met Shirah, who was in the same program as Dena. Shirah mentioned that she was going to the shult, an open air market. The other girls were going to Ben Yehuda to shop. The idea of shopping did not really appeal to me and I had already been to Ben Yehuda on birthright. So I went along with Shirah and met a couple more new people along the way, who were mostly from GWU.
The market was quite interesting. It reminded me of one of the malls in Kyoto where venders line up along the walls and sold their stuff. The place was not very busy as it was late in the day. I saw the biggest lemons and red peppers that I have ever seen. The meat looked pretty sketchy and Shirah told me that I might be better off with grocery store. Everything else looked good and the bread smelled wonderful. There were stands selling dried fruits and nuts too. Apparently, this place is only bad when it’s Friday morning with everyone trying to shop for Shabbat. I bought some mozzarella cheese balls- yum! The security stood at the entrance to make sure no sketchy people would come through.
The weather outside did not look so good- getting kind of dark. It was also getting pretty windy. I talked with Amy, Wendy, and Elliot while waiting for the bus stop about traveling. Amy heard that the girls should not go to Arab countries by themselves, even if it would be a group of them. For every girl that wants to go, she has to find a guy to accompany her. I did not like that idea but I would not be surprised for Egypt. Elliot told us about his plans- two days of diving in Eliat and then travel to Petra. Sounds good to me.
We met up again to go to Hillel’s opening party later on. By then, the weather got very, very windy and we took the bus to the campus. The party itself had quite interesting entertainment- a drummers group! We all had drums and learned some drumming. The performers danced and showed some karate type of moves. They pulled a couple of guys to come up and to follow their lead. It was hilarious, especially when they were asked to try doing some cartwheels. The group also showed us some folk dancing moves and some other instruments too.
I went back with Ben, a classmate, and two of his friends. It was literally monsoon outside. I honestly did not think that Jerusalem could get that kind of heavy rain! We walked through a garage and the buildings to the pedestrian entrance. By then, the rain had stopped. Still, I nearly got soaked wet.
Still no one to go to Paris with me…
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