It has been a while since I've been able to update my blog, so this is gonna be a long post (probably, I haven't written it yet so I don't know). I was going to update it yesterday, but my internet broke, more on that later.
Last week was orientation and those were some of the longest days ever. Each day of orientation lasted at least 8 hours and were full of speakers and group discussions. It wasn't so much of an orientation to school and life in Israel as it was an orientation to the major ideas of why the YII program exists.
Orientation went from Monday night through Shabbat services. After services, I went back to Gan Sacher to play ultimate frisbee with some Israelis I met last week at the park. They play a pick up game each week and told me I could bring with some friends. I plan on going back every week that I'm in town and the weather is nice to play.
On Sunday, Ulpan started. Sundays are normal days in Israel, but the week ends on Thursday. Friday we have all day to prepare for Shabbat and Saturday is of course Shabbat so we don't have class. Ulpan is an intensive Hebrew program for 4.5 hours each day to help everyone become more comfortable with Hebrew and be able to speak and read it. I am in Kitah Hey, which is the highest kitah, so our class is entirely in Hebrew and moves very fast. We read short stories in Hebrew and learn dikduk, grammar. The class is definitely a challenge but I like it because I'll learn a lot more in this class than any other.
Also, since I'm an education student, I have a weekly Seminar with the other ed students. That is on Mondays from 330-530. In 12 days, my group of 3 has to give a 50 minute presentation about the book we are reading; The School and Society and the Child and the Curriculum. I can't say it is a riveting read, but it has some interesting concepts.
Monday night-Tuesday was Tisha B'Av. That holiday commemorates the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem as well as pretty much every other bad thing that ever happened to the Jewish people. We still had class for a while on Tuesday, but then had an extended Mincha service and were given a text packet to study if we chose to. I ended up sitting on the roof of my apartment with Leah and Dusty, two other students, and studied the texts for over 2.5 hours! And we only got through 3 pages of the packet! It was a great experience and I'd love to continue working in chevruta the rest of the year.
Now I'm working on reading my book and getting my work done because Monday night is Ari Rosenberg's wedding and thats gonna be one crazy night.
Erev tov from Jerusalem
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