Overwhelmed is no longer the right word to describe my first week. Lost is more like it, I think. I just suddenly had no idea what to expect after the first class. I am so used to heavily structured Hebrew ulpan that the whole concept of "no exams" seems... foreign, yet refreshing.
My American teacher, Naomi, came yesterday (Wednesday). Her pace was just right for me so I decided to stay in class. We talked a little today about what to expect and how to move on from here. She explained that second year Yiddish was just what it was- just more of texts and conversation and no much on grammar since "there isn't much to Yiddish, it's not that hard." So I will be mostly building up my vocabulary this summer, then, and getting comfortable with reading in Yiddish.
When I asked about credits or grades or something (because I loathe quizzes), she said there's none of that. But if I needed credit, then she would do an evaluation at the end. Um, no thanks, I don't want a test. I just want to be able to handle short stories by the end. So the idea that I can skip a class or two seem quite good to me. Without guilt. But the Jewish guilt will probably come to me later on.
I surveyed a few non-Israeli people who moved between intermediate classes to see how they were coping and following Hebrew. They thought their classes were appropriate but complained about Leah's rapid-fire Hebrew and Yiddish as well. I was glad that I was not the only one who felt that way. Many of the Americans who I talked to had their prior experience at YIVO's summer program. So we're all really on the same level.
It's quite bit of an adjustment to be in such a diverse class of Israelis, Eastern Europeans, and Americans of different ages. In my class, it's most Israeli with maybe 2 or 3 Polish, and 2 or 3 Americans. So Hebrew is still largely spoken but the Israelis are happy to accommodate for those of us with weak grasp of Hebrew. But when it comes to grammar lessons, they have to be in Hebrew because our grammar section has some English explanations and translations. Like for today, when deciding the appropriate translation for megn (may, with permission), the Israelis got into a "discussion" of what could be the right Hebrew word (I whispered, "guys, it's afsher and just leave it that..."). Everyone is helpful to each other, especially with page numbers!
What I do love about this is that I realized that I can continue to improve my Hebrew while I build my Yiddish vocabulary. For example, I get really mixed up with question words and some English words with multiple meaning like "to know" and "to meet", Hebrew makes much better sense. In Hebrew, the definition is more specific (and that's where English speakers flunk in foreign languages). So I am creating three columns for my vocabulary building- English, Hebrew, Yiddish. I also found that if I wrote down the Hebrew equivalent of Yiddish and not English, it's less of a headache to be reading one way and then the other way. I can simply read from right to left the whole line.
Classes start at 9:30 so I get to sleep in! It's also good because when I return to the United States, I have to go to California within 4 days of arrival. That's 10 hour difference of adjustment! So if I can stay up later and sleep later, all the better.
So my day typically will look like this:
8ish AM- get up, eat my Cinni-Minis (Nestle version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch), get dressed
9:30 AM to 11 AM- class
11 AM to 11:30 AM - coffee break (I get tea and some crackers and few chocolate filled wafer cookies- very popular! Yum!)
11:30 AM to 1 PM- class
1 PM to 2 PM- Lunch
2 PM to 4 PM - On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have lectures. Other days, I go to the pool for some sun time.
5 PM to 6ish PM- gym
7:30ish- dinner
Rest of night is whatever I feel like doing.
I've decided that until I finish these particular lectures, I'm not going to go all the way out to the beach. It's like a 30 minute bus ride. Besides, I'll probably be here for a whole week before I return to the United States so I'll go to the beach everyday then.
For the lectures, my old professor from Smith, JC, is here! He's teaching us basic introduction to Yiddish literature. He's just great as a teacher who knows how to engage and know his stuff. I'm learning a lot. It's helping me to appreciate the short stories and folk tales that I have to read. I respect this guy a lot so he's just the right person to try and inspire me to appreciate and like Yiddish. I thanked the director of the program for inviting him. JC was definitely very glad to see me.
Today, he asked how everything was going and if I was studying hard. Since he isn't my professor anymore, I honestly said to him, "No, not really..." Then he said, "Great, don't need to stress out, just enjoy it, have fun! You study hard during the year!" Wow, a professor telling me that I didn't really need to study. He's done this program as a teacher so he knew. All it mattered, he said, was that I get that certificate of completion.
Last night, I met up with the cousins for Sarai's summer concert at TAU. Mor, Or, and the whole Shalom family were there. So it was very nice to get out a little and enjoy some music. The musicians even played a song from the West Side Story (that everyone seemed to be excited about...). Sarai played the saxophone and percussion. She wasn't a music major- just her hobby at school. Unlike the concerts I've been to at Michigan, video-recording and photographs were permitted. Mor and Or played with their video camera quite a bit until the battery died. There were quite a few Israelis doing the same thing...
After class today, I decided to go into Tel Aviv and walk around the southern part and Jaffa. Jaffa was as run down as you can get so where I walked today wasn't that great to see. But I'm learning my sense of direction and the streets. I ended up walking from Jaffa on Ben Zion (I think) to Herzl and up on Herzl. I stop in the Florentine neighborhood to check out a few eateries that I found online. One of them was Hommus Beit Lechem. I ordered a plate of hummus with hard boiled egg on it. It was quite good- warm and creamy. (I'm ashamed to admit that this was my first pita and hummus of this trip!) After that, I continued up on Herzl and through the Ha'Carmel shuk. I just had to grin at myself when I surveyed the scene. It was about 7 o'clock at that point and everyone was trying to close up - meaning an aisle of mess! Garbage, food scraps, water.... You can imagine how dirty my feet got. I picked up a bunch of seedless purple grapes on the way out.
I'll try to explore a little more of Tel Aviv in the coming weeks. But really, with my budget, I can just afford hummos places and cafes. It's also that I've walked around quite a bit from my previous visits that I don't have a lot of interest in going in unless I need to shop or feel like doing some people watching while eating dinner. So that's why my schedule is like that for now.
Off to Jerusalem for Shabbat. I am so excited about it!
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