Long Days and Deep Reflection

Oh, it's Wednesday! That means tomorrow is a test... and then the weekend!

So today was class first (surprise, surprise). We have two teachers for our classes. The first two days, we had Hava, who is very nice and goes over things slowly and answers questions when we ask them. Yesterday and today, we had Aviv, who is very gay, very obnoxious, and just flat mean. He makes fun of us for asking questions and refuses to write anything down. I got yelled at for using a dictionary since he said a word four times and I still couldn't understand him. >.<

So, I haven't really struggled with an academic subject in a really long time. The chemistry classes that I had issues with, I did what I needed to do to get a decent grade, relied on the curve and pretty much learned how to BS my way through any assignment. I am fortunate in the fact that writing comes naturally to me, I love arguing and research, so papers aren't a hassle, and I can usually figure out most math or logic. In high school, I was pushed to write and read and do research and put effort into whatever it was that I was doing. That drive sort of slipped away from me in college, as I bounced from major to major, career to career. I must give props to my high school for being an incredible environment - everyone there wanted to be there, wanted to go to college and do really impressive things. And most of my classmates are.

College was sort of a let down, because all of the sudden there were people who were only there for the parties, people who were simply using it as an escape from home, people who didn't care about academics, people who had a multitude of reasons for being there that didn't include anything centered on education or learning. My high school was nothing but kids who were interested in information for the sake of education, and we enjoyed learning as much as we loved complaining about the work we had to do. But I was at my academic prime. I was interested, I was excited, I thought the world was open for my exploration, and that I could do anything as long as I was willing to learn how to do it.

And then college came and I somehow got sorted into a major with very specific career options that I ended up not really being very interested in. I was slated into a group of students who were oddballs because of their love of learning, their interest in things, their ease at school because they found it interesting. People who say I'm smart frustrate me because everyone has the capability to learn things, but so few people take that opportunity to do so. Even tonight, I had an experience that makes me so disheartened with the general population. (I know, I'm skipping ahead, but my day was pretty much class, lunch, study, dinner, movie.)

This evening, we were invited to a private screening of The Wonder, and Israeli movie, by our TAU Madrachim (basically our counselors).  They have all these different activities and tours and stuff to expose us to Israel and show us around, etc. Anyways, tonight they took us to this movie.  The theater was awesome. It was in a mall with all these lights and it was decorated with really cool posters and designs and all these statues of famous movie characters. (Go check out my Facebook to see some of them!) I was taking a whole bunch of pictures. (Obviously. That's what I do.) A particular friend was making fun of me. As per usual. So I take a lot of pictures. I don't force them on anyone. I don't take pictures of people. I snap what's going on in my life when I'm traveling.  Just like this blog, I want to be able to reflect and see what things were like.

I was so excited. All these cool statues. Iron Man, Mickey Mouse, the Genie from Aladdin, Olive Oyl, Tin Tin, Sly... so many. And I was being made fun of. So I told her my favorite quote, one by Roald Dahl -

"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." 

She kind of looked at me funny and I let it go.

The immediate preceding line is, "And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places."

I think the whole quote is something so astounding and such an incredible way to view the world. I was so enamored with these statues. They're so reminiscent of home, but thousands of miles away. I'm definitely a kid at heart. It makes me happy. And there are people standing there making fun of me. Instead of appreciating the fact that our environment is in fact global (something that's only been proven true to me time and time again through my various travels), they were of the opinion that it was no big deal, it was expected, it was blase.

And yet, they had a Spongebob, Winnie the Pooh, and Iron Man statues in Tel Aviv, Israel.  Five THOUSAND, 671 miles away from New York City, 7551 miles from Hollywood, there are statues representing the most iconic movie characters of the past decades. If that's not awe-some, I don't know what is.

Our world is so globally linked at this point in time that it's impressive that there are as many differences in culture as there are. And that should be celebrated. And those differences should be pursued for the sake of learning and exploring. Get excited about the similarities just as much as the differences, though. We're all human, we all share SO MUCH, and it's really impressive how you can have a conversation about Duck Dynasty in the university book store and buy Disney products in every country in the world. That's the magic of today's world. 

But it's also magic that we have the thousands of religions and careers and so much information. Cars and boats and planes and trains and spaceships and language and math and physics and history and philosophy and anthropology and archaeology and medicine and the body and the brain and people and trees and cats and... everything. The amount of stuff we know is intangibly huge. The amount of stuff we still have to learn about is infinite. 

So why would you not be interested in learning just a little bit more, and a little bit more, and a little bit more? What we find out today might be tomorrow's magic. The internet was a dream, and yet, I get to broadcast my crazy rants on this page and reach out to however many people want to read it. I get to talk to my parents every day, even though they're seven hours behind me and I'm going to bed when they're going to work. You have to believe in the magic to see it, but you also have to want to participate in that magic. 

And now, after this incredibly huge tangent/rant, I'll get back to my magic.  Not the magic of the movie theater, but the magic that I had renewed in the past couple of months that is really shoving its head into my idealized plans. I've been lucky in my education that I've been interested, and I was upset that I had lost that inspiration in college. And then I figured out that my five-year-old self had the right idea in saying I wanted to be a teacher, and I got so excited about my chemistry education research. But it was still a little relaxed. Excited, but still not inspired.

Now, I'm in a class that's kicking my ass. I studied for the first time since high school. (Studied, not crammed.) I'm interested in learning Hebrew. I'm ecstatic to be here in Israel and cannot express how much it means to have the opportunity to be here. I'm learning, and feel like I'm learning. It's not regurgitation for a professor who hates teaching. It doesn't even matter if my teachers here don't like teaching. I'm learning, and I'm so excited to be learning. 

My teacher drives me insane and makes me feel like an idiot. And this is something that rightfully makes me feel dumb, which gives me so much more drive to learn it, because it is something that I can do, something that will benefit me, but is also fun. In a week, I've learned thirteen verbs. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I can communicate with a population that I couldn't interact with before. And it's a language that is international on so many levels. I'm not even going to get into the religious implications of being here in Israel. That's a topic for another post.  (Though I did have a wonderful two hour lunch discussing philosophy of religion today...) 

I'm surrounded with so many students who are here for the fun of it, who aren't appreciating the opportunity to be here. I was surrounded in college by so many masses that didn't care so much about classes as the gossip going on or the parties being planned or the idealized four years of college that is essentially very little responsibility with very little supervision. College isn't about learning anymore. But that's what it should be. Even so, the problem is even more basic - that people don't want to learn, there's no interest, and there's no excitement about the world, even the little things. 

So I leave you with this tonight - seek out the magic, and make your own. I wish that I could better express my love of learning, and somehow inspire it in more of the people I meet. 

Lilah tov!

P.S. The movie was awful. You kept waiting for something to happen, a plot twist, something. It was very predictable, and very long. But it was a fun night out. 

Exhaustion Continues

I got up, I went to class, blah blah blah. We have two teachers, so we met the second one today. He's very gay, very obnoxious, and has a very unlikeable teaching style. He refused to write down 90% of the words we were learning until the end of class, so some of us were completely confused until the last hour of class, when we started frantically writing everything and asking questions and then being made fun of for being visual learners.

After that, I went with Nessa to get a bus pass (we get 33% discount for being students if we use our pre-paid card and not cash!) and then went to the shuk. I forgot that there's an art market with local crafts every Tuesday (and I think Friday), so I browsed that a bit before doing my shopping. I got some nice produce to make little salads and stuff. On the way to the bus stop, I got some delicious cheese pizza.  (I'll be doing a food related post on Friday when I have the time and energy to accompany with pictures and write decent descriptions.  Yall know I love grocery stores and vending machines!) As soon as I got back, I crashed.

A lot of people are sick right now. Mostly with digestive problems. Thankfully I'm not having any issues with the food or water, but I've been running a fever all afternoon.  I'm pretty sure one of the girls in my class got us all sick.

Lilah tov!

Exhaustion Sets In

Whew! Today... today was Monday. Which means it's Tuesday. Which means it's only three more days of school til the weekend. This whole starting-on-Sunday-thing is still throwing me off pretty badly.

I learned some stuff in Hebrew. I felt like and idiot. Made some strides. Figured some things out. Still feel utterly and completely lost.

Came home and had the most non-Kosher meal ever: Salami and cream cheese sandwich on fresh bread.

Oh, well, I should backtrack for a moment. I went to the grocery store and now I have a JAP story. JAPs abound in this program. I don't know why. Anyhoo, I went to the grocery store and ran into two girls from the program. Perfectly JAPy, even down to the New York accent. They had TONS of stuff, and only two hands to carry it all back. My having lived abroad has prepared me for daily grocery shopping, so I had very little and helped out. I should mention that the grocery store is maybe a seven minute walk from campus, if you hit the one red light possible. After expressing their surprise at my lack of overload of food, I mentioned that I was used to daily shopping and that they could actually get better and cheaper food from the shuk. Their response was along the lines of it being far enough already and it being a hassle to even go the five minutes.

I don't really get why people travel or move just to be exactly the same in a different place.  In Belgium, you go to the supermarket literally every day and eat at home, go to the bars around 8/9, and then catch the metro home by midnight. In Singapore, you don't really party out anywhere, eat every meal at a stand and pass time hanging out in malls. Here in Israel, you go to the beach, you hang out, you eat super late (dinner's at 9/10), you go to the shuk to get fresh food. In Clemson or Charleston, I go to the grocery store once a week, never walk anywhere and leave to go out at 11 or midnight. Why I would take that mentality anywhere else is beyond me. That's not learning anything about another culture, that's just changing the scenery.

Speaking of which, I got into an interesting conversation at the bookstore today. I'm one of the very few southern people on this trip (the other person being from Tennessee). I don't really have an accent, nor do I ascribe to some of the more common southern traditions. I was talking to a friend and mentioned that some of the people I went to school with in Clemson were essentially on par with the stars of Duck Dynasty.  Surprise! Israelis know what Duck Dynasty is! So I was talking to the clerk, and he was asking if people really spoke like that or acted like that or whatever. He seemed surprised when I said yes. He was even more astonished when I told him I knew people who had never been on planes, who had never traveled, and had no desire to ever leave their hometown, except for family and southern traditions like football and college. There were other people in the room that were following our conversation, and I was overwhelmed with the general response, and eagerness, of people to travel. I was speaking in English (since I'm not exactly capable of Hebrew yet), and at least six people joined in - all of them Israeli, all of them fluent in at least English, if not English and another language.

There are people here in the Ulpan program who are from Germany, Panama, Argentina, Norway, France, and other non-English speaking countries. They not only are learning Hebrew, they have to learn it from English, since that's the predominant language. So they're learning a third (or sometimes fourth, fifth or sixth) language in reference to their second language. It's mind boggling. I am so impressed and so jealous, and now have a reasonably substantial goal in life. Maybe not the eight languages of Marion and Inge, but a good, solid four or five would be nice. Of course, keeping them straight might be difficult, as I definitely answered all the Hebrew questions in Portuguese today... Answered them correctly, as in understood the Hebrew, but said all the answers (also correctly) in Portuguese. That was a fun moment.

So after all this, I finally got a blanket from the apartment, spent the afternoon hanging out with my roomies and doing homework. Now it's time for bed.

Lilah tov!

On the Importance of Vowels

My brain feels like it's been doing gymnastics all day... I had four hours of Hebrew Ulpan today, and just finished with my homework.  The next month will suck, but I'm fairly confident I'll be able to read, write and speak by the end of this nightmare.

I like languages, don't get me wrong. I just can't seem to wrap my head around no vowels and the very, very odd grammar structure. In Spanish, Portuguese, English, German, French, and Italian (all languages I've at least been exposed to, if not actually spoken), there's first person, second person, and third person, singular and plural, so you end up making little charts with six sections for each verb. Adjectives pretty much stay the same, other than gender or the addition of s. In Hebrew, the subject, verb and adjectives all have the same ending, and it's based on gender and singular or plural.

So, "Sally studies a lot" translates almost directly into, "Sally estudia mucho", while "Henry studies a lot" translates into "Henry estudia mucho". Also normal is "I study a lot. You study a lot." -> "Yo estudio mucho. Tu estudias mucho."  The only thing that changes is the verb.

Ready for Hebrew? "Sally lomedet gadolet." "Henry lomed gadol."

Maybe that's not the best example, but it's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the language. It's going to be a rough couple of weeks.

The second part, and the topic that gives the title to today's post, is that there are no vowels. So, in reading, I sound out the consonants with mostly schwa sounds until I can figure it out. It's like a really bad game. "Florida" was "fa-loh-ra-dee" and "university" was "oon-yoh-rah-sa-teh" until someone figured it out. If you think it can't possibly be that hard, try this on for size:

Spkng wtht vwls s s mch mr dffclt thn y thnk. Nd nglsh s trmndsl sr thn hbrw.

Get it? Here's what it says, with vowels this time:

Speaking without vowels is so much more difficult than you think. And English is tremendously easier than Hebrew.

Oh, and everything in class is in script, not print, so that's been a ton of fun, too.

So after class, I went out to lunch with some friends, then went to find the school store. I got some cute tee shirts before heading home.

Our homework was to write three separate paragraphs using the verbs we learned today (study, work, live and speak), with different subjects to practice the different genders and numbers. I had popcorn for dinner, and now it's time to relax before bed. I get to do all this again tomorrow... yay.

Lilah tov!

PS. I added photos into the previous posts, so check them out!

Weekend Relaxation

Today wasn't much of anything. Michele and I tried to go to the beach about 11, got lost and ended up taking a taxi. We were told that the beach was "15 minutes walking" and we believed them. Turns out that 15 minutes gets you to the middle of the airport, and we couldn't figure out how to get around it. There is a way, but we couldn't find it.

The highlight of this morning? We asked a guy for help and he said to, "jump the fence [to the airport]; it would be fun to watch." We passed on this, but appreciated his sense of humor.

When we did finally get to the beach, we sat and had hummus and french fries. One of my absolute favorite things about Israel is the drinks. First is something that's as prevalent as sweet tea in the south - lemonade with mint. It's cool, refreshing, sweet but not sugary, and utterly delightful. The second is grapefruit soda. Prigat is my favorite brand, but it's basically white grapefruit juice that's been carbonated. It's delicious. I like the tangyness, and I feel like it's more healthy than soda.

So if that's a favorite, a not so great thing is that it takes FOREVER to eat and be served. You sit down and wait twenty minutes for menu, then thirty to order, another fifteen for your food to come, and when you ask for the check, that takes twenty minutes to come. It's all very nice and relaxing, but frustrating when you're ready to leave. 

After some food, Michele's friend Cinderella, from Germany, joined us, and we laid in the sun and took naps on the beach. It was a nice day with no clouds, but was on the chilly side, so we were all in long sleeves and pants. We headed back to our dorms after a bit, mostly because we were cold.

This evening, Michele and I went to meet and Israeli soldier that she knows through a friend, and he took us to show us around central Tel Aviv, and we went to Max Brenner, which is an amazing chocolate shop. We had a lovely time and talked a bit, and now it's time for bed. Ulpan starts bright and early tomorrow (Sunday!) morning, and it's supposed to be super intense.

Lilah tov!

Shabbat Shalom!

Today is Friday, which means that everything closed about 2PM today. I woke up at noon, which didn't actually leave that much time to do much. The apartment needed cleaning, so I did that, and then went on a search for milk before getting ready for services. I finally found some at a 24/7 store - it's sort of like a gas station food mart.

So I searched the internet and found a synagogue for Progressive Judaism (or the Reform movement), that's only about 35 minutes away, walking. I posted in the Facebook group to invite other people, and Michele came with me. It was a nice temple, and the people were welcoming. The sanctuary was gorgeous.

Services were in Hebrew (obviously), and for the most part, I could follow along. The two biggest problems were that the cantor chanted INCREDIBLY fast and there were lots of extra versions. Like, I know my prayers, but I can't say them that quickly, and I'm used to saying each prayer once, not three times.  The order was a little off, as well, but not too terrible to figure out.  My goal is that, by the end of my time here, I will be able to understand the sermon and will be able to keep up with and read all the prayers.

Now it's bed time and tomorrow we'll hang out at the beach. The first round of pictures is on Facebook, so go check them out!

Lilah tov!

Beach and Shopping!

Wow! A long day, and I haven't even started classes yet!

So, the first thing they SHOULD have told us when we got here would have been how to get hot water in our shower. For the past two days, I just took frigid showers because I was too tired to even complain that much. This morning, however, we figured it out. There's a timer/knob in our kitchen that turns on the electricity for the water heater in the apartment. So, you have to turn on the knob for at least 30 minutes so the water will get hot, and then you have to take your shower before all the water gets cold again, which is surprisingly quickly.

After breakfast and a hot shower (finally), I met up with some girls around 11 and we started walking towards the beach. Tel Aviv University is in the north part of the city, over a little river, and is about three miles from the city center (officially). We were told that the beach was 15 minutes from campus, though, and we thought it'd be nice to walk down to the market (Shuk HaCarmel), which is in the southern part of the city, while walking along the beach. Well, we turned towards the beach and started walking, but we ran into the little baby airport and had to make a detour and made it to the beach in about 35 minutes.

The "beach" that we were on was in fact a boardwalk, and really pretty and nice. What's super interesting is that they have outdoor gym equipment for public use.  It's pretty much just your basic machines, and they use your body weight rather than built-in weights.  Also on this boardwalk were huge jungle gyms and swing sets and all sorts of playground equipment that looked like it was for adults. (At least it was big enough for adults.)

We finally did hit the beach and walked some through the sand and felt the water. The temperature while we were walking was fairly high - probably the mid/high 70's, but the water was relatively cold. There were some people in the water, and quite a few on the beach, but still was a lot quieter than I've seen it in the past.

Walking down the beach was nice, and we finally found the market after about three hours of walking. I got a trashcan and a blanket and some delicious strawberries in the market. Some of the other girls got some things, too. We asked at a stall where to get falafel, and we were sent down a side alley for some that was both good and cheap. (Six shekel! That's less than $2.) Then we headed back to campus, where I took a nap. It was about five hours of walking, overall.

I must say, Israelis love to shop. The market was huge, and there was everything from fresh fruit and bread to clothing and shoes to towels and bedding. And it's all relatively cheap. The food is amazing and fresh and smells wonderful. The clothing is all the latest fashions and comfortable. It's just a fun place to be, especially if you like shopping, and even if you don't, like me.

My roommate woke me up around 7 for tonight's Tel Aviv Nightlife Tour, which was really interesting. We saw some cool places and learned a tiny bit of history, but mostly it was about, "Here's a bar. There's a bar. That's a gay bar. This is a pickup bar. You should go to that bar." Apparently there's a lot of drinking and a lot of bars. It's what all the Israeli's do - go out and get drunk. It costs about the same as in the States for a drink ($6 for a draft beer at a more expensive place), but they do sometimes have specials, like 60 Shekel for unlimited drinks (about $18/20).

Tonight's tour really drove home the whole temperature duality for me. During the day, I wore shorts and a tee and was comfortably warm.  Tonight, I wore long pants and a jacket and was on the chilly side. It goes from a high of 80/85 during the day to a low of 55/60. It makes dressing for the afternoon and evening difficult, but I'm sure I'll get better at it.

Tomorrow is Friday, so it's our official weekend. (SO weird!) Classes start on Sunday. Hopefully I can get my final things in order and catch up on sleep before then.

Lilah tov!

Welcome to Tel Aviv!

So it's time to get back to blogging! I'm sure this will be good for those of you reading to know. =]

I arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday morning, and it's been an exhausting two days. Flying business class (for the first time) on a 12 hour flight was GLORIOUS.  I had a wonderful big seat that laid out flat, real dishes, free wine with dinner, and a delightfully clean airplane toilet. The people around me were nearly all Jewish, and the lady next to me was interesting to talk to; if only she had slept as much as I tried to...

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before the flight, I was in JFK airport for four hours for the group flight. I sat down next to a girl named Nessa, who I'm sure will show up frequently in my writing this semester. She's from Oregon but goes to school in Connecticut and is super cool. Since meeting, we've had some very interesting conversations on a variety of topics.  As a religious studies major, she knows so much more and is able to give academic references for her support, which is really cool.

So yesterday, we came to campus on buses (there were 90 of us on the group flight), and then had to wait to get into our dorms.  Nearly everyone had come alone, but there is one group of girls that are all in the same sorority that came together, and then a couple of pairs and threesomes that knew people. It's nice to be in a group this large where people don't know each other because it's easier to make friends. In fact, I've met quite a few cool people; Erin, from Canada, Helen, who studies in Canada but's from Boston, Miriam, who's from London, and my roommates, Yasmin (from California) and Halley (New York). There are a TON of people from New York, but there are some from other places. Our few non-Americans are from Panama, Norway, France and Britain - at least the ones I've met. It's really cool.

Our dorms are smallish, but decent. Two bedrooms, a double sink, a reasonably sized center room with a kitchen and dining table, an oddly shaped shower and a toilet the size of a closet. (The door opens out because you step sideways into the bathroom and sit. You can't even turn around.)

Today was orientation, so it was an early morning for a campus tour, a welcome seminar, lunch, pictures, ice breakers with other students, and a rules lecture for our apartments.  We did have quite a bit of free time, where I hung out on the wonderfully grassy hills on campus. Our dorms are across the street from the university, and everything is guarded with key fobs and I.D. cards and stuff. It's strange to have such high security, especially coming from a place like Clemson, where there's hardly any at all. I understand it, but it's just something else to get used to.

Oh, we also took our Hebrew placement tests today... Jokes on jokes on jokes. So, we were divided into four classrooms - beginner, one semester, two semester, and advanced. I stayed in the beginner, where we were divided into none to knowing some. I know how to read and write and script, so I said that, and they handed me a paper that was entirely in Hebrew. Every single person who said they knew SOME Hebrew got this test, and we ALL gave it back for the absolute beginner test. They graded them right there in front of us, giving us 0, 0+, A, B, C, D or 1. Somehow, I ended up with a D, but she wanted to put me in higher and I refused, saying that my ability to transliterate was not equivalent with knowing vocabulary or anything. The only reason I understood and got the translation was because it said, "Dani... to university... she... a lot/large... at university" which is fairly easy to fake understand to say "Dani goes to university. She learned a lot at university." So... This should be interesting. I'm pretty sure that everyone expected to do a lot better than they did.

Campus is really big, but pretty. There are a fair amount of green spaces and everything seems pretty open as far as lower buildings and trees and big areas.  Other than a five or six coffee shops, there aren't many places to eat, but my classes will be in the afternoon/evening, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. The buildings are all very different and very distinctive, with unique architecture. I'm looking forward to learning my way around.

Yesterday night, Nessa and I went to central Tel Aviv to see the apartment (I tried to get some things, but couldn't) and ate at the falafal place I liked last time I was here. Then we walked the three miles back to campus, which was nice, but exhausting, especially considering our day and traveling. Tonight, we went with Helen and Erin to a place right around the corner from us and had some more falafel. It's SO GOOD. This place is right behind the huge mall that's about a block away from us, so I'm guessing we'll be going there often.

Tomorrow we're going to Shuk HaCarmel, which is sort of like a flea market or fresh produce stand.  It has clothing and food and household items and you can haggle and explore and get things cheaply. I have a list of things to get for our apartment, like a blanket and a trashcan, but am most looking forward to the fresh food. Then, at night, there is a university sponsored night tour of Tel Aviv (basically a pub crawl). It should be a fun day.

Lilah tov! (Goodnight!)