Tuesday was a regular school day with Ulpan in the morning, a nice dairy date with Shar-Shara-Sharim-Sharot (the present tense conjugations of "to sing" for anyone not up on their Hebrew and also my favorite nickname for my roomie because it rolls off the tongue so nicely), and instead of Jerusalem class (JOY!!!), we had our orientation at Hebrew U for the real semester. We got a packet with an overwhelming amount of cool courses to take, along with the Hebrew three times a week and Freshman Writing Seminar that we have to take as well. I am considering a class in Israeli Art History, Intro to Talmud (word on the street is that the teacher is fantastic), and an Israeli Society and Politics Class. It was sooo hard to narrow down my options!
Tuesday evening we had Erev Nativ, so there was group programming in the evening. We started off with a lecture from someone advertising a program for camp counselors here, but he also gave us an interesting message about living in Israel. He said, "Be mindful of when you start saying and writing we instead of they while discussing Israel." Now that I have the thought in my head, it may be less spontaneous and telling when it finally happens here in my blog (an example would be if I said "we engaged in settlement freeze talks today") but I will still be interested in watching out for it. I kind of wrote "we" in my notes from Jlem class on Wednesday but I don't think it quite counts because I was half-dictating what David Keren was saying and he always speaks using "we" so it wasn't entirely authentic.
Speaking of Wednesday, it was a long day in Ulpan and then in our last lecture period of Jerusalem class. A word on Ulpan: Morah Shifi is the single most patient human being I have ever encountered. She will listen to the same question asked exactly the same way three times in a row and answer it with sincerity and gentleness each time (while I scratch at the walls...but that's a different story). I am just so amazed by the Ulpan program-it's exactness as a science and also the quality of the teachers. Jerusalem class on the other hand, is a far less precise art, and we were all rather frustrated with the lecture on Wednesday for contradicting previous lectures and recreating history in whole new ways. I was displeased.
We took a lil tiyul to a few lookout points-Samuel's grave and French Hill. From these places, we could see the divide between Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria/West Bank where the people are not residents of Israel. It was a rather weird concept-this Jerusalemite business, wherein the residents have ID cards that allow them to work in Israel and vote in local elections (but they don't anyway, because that would mean they approve of Israel having governing rights over their area) but they can't vote in national elections or call themselves citizens. The grave of Samuel was a cool excavation site because it was actually IN Judea and Samaria (not Israel...I guess) and the ruins go back to the time of the Bible. It is an important place for both Jews and Palestinians and they share it nicely as far as I could see and there were lots of Hasids there because they like to pray to God in open spaces so the lookout point is a perfect place for it.
Wednesday evening was a night of studying for all. I felt prepared but I wanted to go over things with the group and we had a really cute study hall. I ended up staying awake late because friends were writing essays and other such nonsense that I do not have to deal with presently.
Thursday was a glorious, glorious day. The day was already bound be to a good one because it was Roomie Becca's birthday! It started with an MVP shacharit performance by Reuben and then a not so terrible breakfast. I beasted on my Ulpan quiz and then there was the classic dairy date complete with a green salad and croissant and kitties and sunshine. Then we had to take our Jlem test and I again beasted. The test was a bit patronizing and I am too embarrassed to even say the "big essay" question.
After school (which ended early!) we went straight to the shuk for Caparot, the weirdest thing I have seen so far with my 18 year old eyes. The idea behind this is to cleanse yourself of sins before Yom Kippur by swinging a live chicken around your head several times and then having it schected and then I guess eating it. There were just chickens and chicken shit and chicken parts everywhere and it smelled and it was bizarre. Little kids were having chickens waved over their heads and then watching the man break their necks and drain their blood! A lot of boys did this from our group and I was upset by the treatment of the chickens during the swinging (they are held by their wings as if they were shoulder blades). It was an enlightening cultural experience but it's definitely not happening again.
I walked through the shuk to get back home and then we dined at home (it may have been chicken, but we're not sure) and we lounged and celebrated our freedom from Jerusalem class and Becca's birthday. My floor of girls got ready together and so many of us went out. We went to a bar and one of our people is friends with one of their people so we got the whole basement of the bar, which was a very cool lounge with booths and tables and room for dancing. SO MANY Nativers came for the dance party! I was very glad that it was strictly Nativ because it completely eliminated the creepy Israeli guy factor. A definite highlight of the night was when I came upstairs to get some air (it was a rather stuffy area) and I found two of my girlfriends dancing on the bar. Not wanting to miss out on a great opportunity to make a fool of myself, I joined them, found the experience incredibly exhilarating, and continued to do so for several songs.
I walked home around one and napped til around 3:30 and then we went on a Selichot tour!!! A few of the hearty souls here followed Elkana around Nachlaot (I think), a beautiful old neighborhood with a lot of character. We went to several Sephardic shuls to watch the Selichot service, which they perform every morning around 4:30. It was particularly interesting to see the small women's sections, which were all up a set of highly treacherous stairs. The women also did not sing or participate, but they seemed to enjoy their role. That is the interesting thing here-it is not a question of equality to these people, it is a question instead of spheres. Women have a sphere, men have a sphere, they do not cross, and everyone is happy. That is how I see it at least, and of course there is a great deal of discussion amongst the women on the topic. I will update throughout the year with my opinions on the gender equality issue.
Another observation was the large numbers of people like us who were on Selichot tours to watch the Sephardic services. We actually had to wait outside of one shul for the women's section to clear out of Tzahal women who were on a tour. It was interesting to see them clanking down the stairs of the shul in their boots and guns. The army presence here is still boggling my mind.
Now I am off to Tel Aviv with my girlfriends (and a few boys too, I guess, who are copycats) and we are going to spend a beautiful and restful Shabbat on the beach. Muah!
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