It's amazing that a month has passed since my last post. I kept thinking that I'd get to the blog in a few days. I'll write something when things settle down, I said to myself...
Well, I've come to realize that things aren't going to settle down. Every week there seems to be a reason to be unusually busy: an upcoming Hebrew test, a concert, wine tasting... the truth is that there are so many things that one can do here in Jerusalem, being bored never seems to be an option.
Over the course of a few sessions, one of the activities that has been somewhat central to the student experience has been the "Who Are We?" effort. In a nutshell, the interns (upper year students who spend the summer in Jerusalem to help get the new class settled in) have taken us through several discussions about who we want to be as a class. Some seemed a little contrived, others precipitated heated discussions, but the truth of the matter is that we did begin to coalesce as a group as a result of these activities. Perhaps the more productive sessions (for me anyway) were when we broke out into small groups to discuss specific topics. This gave us a chance to have more substantial discussions, hear more than a quick comment from a fellow classmate, and engage in real conversation and debate. Who we are will, no doubt, continue to develop as the year progresses, but I know a lot more about my classmates than I did before we went through this. Maybe in some way it was meant to be a "frosh week" experience of a shared hardship that brings people together...
Hebrew class continues to be my main area of focus. It's hard not to when you spend 4.5 hours a day in a classroom with others whose Hebrew skills are basically at the same level. The first day was rather overwhelming, and I wondered if I had been mistakenly placed in too high a class. It's hard to know whether the ramp from barely being able to understand every tenth word being said by the teacher to being able to follow almost all of what she said was a result of the brain turning on, or the teacher adapting her vocabulary to the blank stares of the students, but either way, it's become enjoyable to participate in classroom discussions, read short stories, etc. Grammar is also part of our lessons, and I have to say I'm loving it. Why patach, and why kamatz? I don't know all the rules yet, but there is logical structure in many of the rules we've learned so far. Some people say "Who cares? It sounds the same". I care, and I'm glad we're learning about it. If you want to know more about the voles that commit suicide every couple of years in the Golan Heights, or the illiterate woman Rachel who learned to read so she could attend funerals, give me a shout!
On the fun side of things, I attended a concert a couple of weeks ago with Mati Caspi and Shlomo Gronich playing. Both are what I would call Israeli pop-folk singers, and the music was fantastic. Gronich started the show on his own singing at the keyboard. After a few numbers, a small band joined him for several more songs. Caspi was a guest artist and sang a few of his popular pieces. The great thing about this concert was the setting: about 150 people under a big tent overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem from Yemin Moshe. There were maybe seven rows of chairs in total, and we were halfway back. The singing was soulful, technically superb, and even understandable about half the time (that speaks to my vocabulary, not to the quality of singing). Here's a link to one of the songs Gronich performed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ixiSk-at8
Last week a group of us went to the Israel Museum for an outdoor wine tasting. The view was amazing, the breeze almost cool (it was in the middle of a heatwave), and the variety of Israeli wines was staggering. ₪60 (about $15) got you a decent wine glass and as many tastes as you cared to have over the course of the evening. Food was also for sale (sushi, wonderful cheese plates, olives, chalva...) to help balance the constant flow of alcohol. Since I was walking home, it really didn't matter so much :-)
The novelty of living in Jerusalem is starting to wane a little, although it's still wonderful to be here. What continues to be source of joy is spending time with my classmates. We often get together for Shabbat dinner Friday night (it ends up being a tight squeeze usually, but a lot of fun), lunch Saturday after services, and Havdalah Saturday evening at a local park. I'm ramping up on a lot of new melodies that "everyone" knows from summer camp (OK, not everybody), but the atmosphere is really warm and we hang out for the better part of an hour singing songs in a big circle. This past week two Arab families who were sitting within earshot came over to say how much they were enjoying our singing. Not the kind of story you're likely to hear about on CNN.
OK, this is getting long. Promise to self: post on a weekly basis from now on! Thanks for reading.
Good to hear you are so busy, Dave! I spent almost my whole vacation singing in circles with friends at the KG festival, there is nothing like that. From sea shanties, to pagan songs, to harmonies with a friend from my old song group, and even with a group of unrelated strangers who knew nothing in common and reduced the repetoire to Gilligan's Island and One Bottle of Pop... constant singing is good for the soul. Your story of the nearby Arab families is the sort of thing that SHOULD be on CNN. Take care, and post more, dear friend!
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