Ulpan, Birthday, Field Trips--Oh My!

As seen from Ramat Rahel

What a week it has been!

Ulpan has been exhausting. It's been an interesting balance of review and challenge (i.e. smichut activities and trying to read the NEWSPAPER) and I'm definitely struggling to adjust to such a small school. Going from 50k to 37 people is difficult for me. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's just something I'm having to adjust to (luckily, so are most of my classmates, so that's good). I'm really enjoying my ulpan instructor, Osnat. She rules. I'm not entirely convinced one way or the other if she actually speaks English. Sometimes it seems she does, and other times, not so much--the great thing about this is that it forces us to figure out a way to communicate with her in Hebrew (and frantic gesturing).

I will say that after 4 days of ulpan I'm already feeling more confident in my ability to speak Hebrew. Recently I went to the grocery store, and I went through Shoshana's line (not my normal girl but she rules) and we had a whole conversation about the benefits of a frequent shopper card (I understood about 50% of this, and mostly from context) and she offered me a sample of the walnuts that are on special sale this week. Then, we had a whole conversation about my nail polish and where I bought it. I was actually able to communicate myself and have a friendly conversation! By the end of the year I'll be talking Shosi's ears off before I leave the grocery store.

In other news, I have really been enjoying exploring Jerusalem. After school, I've tried a couple of different coffeeshops where we try to get some homework done. One is called Nona Chocolate and Cafe, which obviously ruled. I've also been exploring some of the Israeli bookstores. I even found a bilingual copy of some of Yehuda Amichai's poems! For those of you who don't know, I really love Yehuda Amichai's poetry. I discovered him in a couple of Dr. Tanenbaum's awesome poetry classes at OSU, and I found out during my rabbinical school interview that he actually had a very close connection to HUC. I love that now I am able to read the Hebrew versions and actually understand the poetry to some extent, instead of having to translate every word or rely on the poetic translation.

Kid playing at Haas Promenade

Oh! How could I forget to write about my birthday! On Monday (yom sheni) I turned 22. And it was awesome. For the first time in my entire life, I had school on my bday, which was strange but fine. Then, in the evening, a HUGE group of my classmates came out to dinner with me! We far exceeded the reservation (oops) but it was really an incredible feeling to be surrounded by so many new friends. I felt a little homesick, since I'm usually with my family on my birthday, but I loved the support and company of my great HUC classmates. Thanks to everyone who was there!

Southern wall and the top bit of the City of David

So it's been a busy but great week. We had the first session of our Biblical History/Archaeology class; the way this one is set up is really cool, because we have lecture a couple of times and then we get to go on field trips to see the locations we talked about in lecture. There is nowhere else we could do this besides Jerusalem, so that is really awesome. This time we went to the Haas Promenade (unbelievable views) and Ramat Rachel.

Minaret just before the Jordanian Desert.

I feel like my days here are filled with really great memories in the making. From trying great restaurants to people watching in a place where tzit-tzit aren't surprising to see to spending another day in Tel Aviv, my time in Israel has truly been amazing so far. I find that something happens every day that brings on the water works (have I told you guys how easily I cry?) but it's just because I'm so touched by everything that's going on around me. All good.

Ice cream salesman on the beach--you'll notice his sombrero.

Friday a group of my classmates and I journeyed to Tel Aviv for the day. We had a lot of free time so some of us hit the beach and then we explored the city. Every Tuesday and Friday in TA is something called Nachalat Benyamin, which is basically like a big artists' market. Lenette and I found some gorgeous hamsas from an artist, and now we both have awesome purple hamsas so that rules.

Crazy statute that Dan Brown would love.

Friday evening, we went to the Namal, which is the port area of Tel Aviv, for shabbat services. Traditionally, Jewish people pray towards Jerusalem (so, usually we face east) but as part of this "beit tefillah yisraeli"--Israeli house of prayer, we faced the Mediterranean.

Gorgeous.

It was a unique experience; we got to watch an exquisite sunset from our seats during shabbat services. I think that there is certainly a political statement being made by orienting services in such a way, but I have to say that beyond whatever statement is being made, it was a gorgeous evening. There is something so refreshing about the breeze off of the water.

We might not have been facing Jerusalem, but we were facing something just as holy. If not more. That's for a different post.

We came back late last night to Jerusalem, and this morning we joined together at HUC for morning services. We're no longer on parashat Pinchas, which may come as a surprise for some of my classmates who may or may not be reading this blog (didn't it seem like we read that portion for weeks? anyone?).

Tonight a group of us gathered at Adam's and Manda's for some delicious shabbat leftovers, and then we went to Yemin Moshe (the windmill I mentioned before--it's really close to my apartment and it has gorgeous views looking to the Old City) for havdallah. We were joined by a couple of visitors, and, right after we finished our singing and havdallah, a group of high schoolers joined us and we did havdallah again. If you're keeping score, I've done havdallah 4 times in 2 shabbats. I feel like maybe I'm really separated from Shabbat now. Is that how that works? Anyway, it was a great night filled with singing and, thank the lord, the heat finally broke so it was actually almost chilly out. Life is good here in Jerusalem.

Thanks to everyone for reading! Also, to anyone who has somehow reached out to me over the last few weeks, I really appreciate it. It's always wonderful to hear from friends and family from home, and it's made all the difference in the world for my adjustment to this crazy city. You guys are the best!