Naughty Blogger!

Wow! It's already 2 October and I have left y'all hanging for two weeks! I am a naughty blogger, indeed, and starting today will remedy that.

The Ulpan ended last Thursday. When I had last written, I was embarking upon a supplementary program to complete the final 6 chapters of the textbook for Alef with the goal of writing the level exam. This did not happen. I did do the supplementary program, an extra 2 hours per day of Modern Hebrew instruction, and watched myself become stressed and anxious and trying to cram so much into my head that my head erected a wall and nothing more could be crammed. I spoke with the woman heading our level, Michal, to see about my options. As it turns out, I can write the level exam 30 October. This is what I'm doing. Shortly after speaking with her, I felt my brain resume its regular sponge status and I was able to walk into our final exam with confidence, the head holding that brain held high. I have all the materials I need to study for the exam, and have Joseph to study with. It's all good.

The day after the exam, Mary and I hosted Shabbat dinner. Peter, Joseph, Adrienne and one of my new neighbours, Joe, joined us. Adrienne is an opera singer; she's an American ex-pat now living in Copenhagen with her husband and children and is here studying as part of her anthropology degree. She sang the Kiddush (sp?) and it was truly beautiful. An added bittersweet ingredient in our little party was the fact that this was our last Shabbat with Mary. She left yesterday morning to do a month of volunteer work with the Israeli army in their Sar-el program. It was getting late at our dinner party, around 11:30 pm, when we noticed that it was raining. I have been here for almost three months now and this was the first rainfall in that time, a rainfall this country desperately needs. We all ran outside and like children ran as it fell upon us. Jerusalem is a little cooler during the days now, the blue skies are constantly populated with clouds, and the nights are downright cold. I laugh at my meteorological arrogance remembering the question I asked before coming here: How cold can it possiby get in Israel?

Adrienne, Mary and I decided to roadtrip. Originally we wanted to rent a car and head north to the Galilee but we had left our planning late - understandable, since we were all studying in preparation for the aforementioned exam - and there weren't any cars left whose rental fees we could afford. No big deal. Instead, we rented a room at the En Gedi Youth Hostel and hopped a bus down to the Dead Sea on Sunday. We got there around 2:30 - only an hour away - and high-tailed it to the spa. Unfortunately, we arrived late during their operating hours and I wasn't able to head to the Dead Sea proper to soak and mud-up. I did, however, soak in the mineral pool and went for a very heavenly one-hour massage, then paddled in the pool for a little while. I didn't get down about not going to the Sea - I'm here for while and know that I'll be back.

There were no restaurants in the area but the hostel provided us with a box meal. I was expecting a sandwich. We got bread, chicken schnitzel, fries, some sort of salad that was very yummy (a root vegetable in creamy dressing), chocolate wafer cookies, an apple, and of course hummus. Adrienne had brought along a bottle of shiraz from the Golan that was perfect, medium to full body and very smooth. We sat on the terrace of the hostel's common area, the Dead Sea before us, the mountains behind and around us. It was so warm and the wind so welcome - the leaves rustling in a near-by tree sounded like rain - and the smell of sulphur was distant and not unpleasant. One of the guys staying at the hostel (he looked like he was in his late twenties and a total surfer dude) poked his head out onto the terrace and said, "You live like queens." Yes, yes we do, and I did feel like a queen sitting with my royal friends. One of the highlights of the evening was Adrienne singing part of the love aria from The Marriage of Figaro. And! As it turns out, Adrienne's last role was the soprano in Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail - the opera I had seen with Julie in New York in May!

The next morning we were up and hiking in the En Gedi National Park. Photos are pending development! There were pools at the bottom of waterfalls where you could swim; none of us wore our suits but we swam all the same in our clothes. I had to be coaxed in, I admit it. At the second pool, Mary waded in right away to her waist and a few minutes later excitedly called to Adrienne and me to join her. On a rock half in and out of the water was a freshwater crab. We called him Rabbi Crabby. It was just us three splashing and revelling in where we were until a huge group of Swedish students invaded. That was our cue to move on. We hiked until noon, up as far as the Shulammit Spring when we turned back (the last bus to Jerusalem was at 2:30). From this height the view of the Dead Sea and Wadi David was spectacular. We didn't make it as far as the Ein Gedi Spring, but like I said, I'll go back.

Sightings of note at En Gedi: Nubian ibex (wild goats), rock hyrax (conies; they look like groundhogs), eucalyptus and fig trees growing out of the rocks, my first Israeli hummingbird - all black with an iridiscent blue/purple head.

And now, I'm all on my own in my big five room apartment here at the Kfar Hastudentim. Joseph and a couple of other friends, Jacob and Paul, are having a male bonding weekend in the Negev riding horses and hanging with alpacas. I wanted to go, but need the time to study for the Biblical Hebrew placement exam that I don't want to postpone any longer. I'm looking forward to having this time alone, to getting some work done and to meeting my new roommates when they eventually arrive.

Short and Sweet

I apologize for not posting sooner, with more exciting news than what I'm delivering today. Basically, I'm swamped in Modern Hebrew homework and trying to work ahead to hopefully finish level Alef before the end of September. I don't know if this will happen, but I will try. The plan, for our level, is to finish at chapter 22 in the text so I need to work ahead to finish the final 6 chapters; both exams are written on the same day. Plus, my placement exam for Biblical Hebrew was postponed to this Wednesday...it's a little crazy.

On a happy note, it looks like I'll be in Paris (yes, Paris, France!) this October to meet up with Jason who's there on business. So, instead of spending 2 weeks in Cairo, I'll do one week in each city. For the rest of October I'll be working on school stuff and touring around Jerusalem. I've decided to choose a site/museum to visit every day in lieu of classes, to both get to know intimately this city which is home till next July and to practice my Hebrew. Fun! You'll hear more from me then! You'll see more photos of me and my world then! And, a heads-up: I'm jonesin' for some Hawksley Workman...can anyone help me out?

This was taken at Montefiore on a class fieldtrip. Such a cool neighbourhood - the first built outside Jerusalem's old city walls. More to come...do stay tuned!

Jerusalem Street Festival

Last Shabbat, 29 August, Joseph and I went down around 4pm to Ben Yehuda for the Street Festival. Throughout the month of August, Shabbat was welcomed with live music in the middle of one of the squares in this pedestrian thoroughfare. It was packed, it was hot, it was fantastic. We arrived and found a good place to see the action and hear the music with our backs to one of the stores and right around the corner from the beer vendor. Mmmm, beer and great, live music. I found out a few days later that we were listening to Mosh Ben Ari and I'm in love. The best part of his band was the trombone player, and I took many photos of him specifically for Julie. The music was melodic, heavy, popular - everyone knew the words but us, it seemed - and the crowd - including us - went crazy when they did a a heavy-guitar-and-horn cover of 'If I Were a Rich Man' from Fiddler on the Roof. After the concert, there was a DJ playing house music (ha-muzikah ha-bayit, as I called it in class on Sunday) and everyone continued the party. I danced and Joseph sorta danced, but he was filming the whole thing. When I can figure out how to do it, I'll get some of his footage on here for you. It all ended around 6:30 or 7pm and the place cleared out. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of Mosh performing, but Joseph did.

More from Nazareth

This is just outside the White Mosque. Just after I snapped it, a man walked by and shook his head at us. I find the juxtaposition of the signs strange and fascinating.


This little boy ran up to me in the shuk and pointed at my camera - would I take his picture? I said of course and his beautiful face lit up. He signaled at me to wait a moment while he ran to ask his mother if it was OK. Less than a minute later he was posing.


As promised, the bust of Padre Pio for Nana. This was just inside the gates leading to the entrance of the Synagogue Church: the synagogue is said to be where Jesus preached; a church was later built right beside it. Padre Pio was a welcome face: Nana attributes the miracle of Dad being here to Padre Pio answering her prayers.


On Paulus VI.


To the left of the entrance to the Church of the Annunciation.

Flashback to Nazareth

I just developed three rolls of film, so there are more photos on the way - photos of which I am very excited because, to me, they are so much better than those taken with my digital. This is why I love photography, and I am more inspired than I have been in over a year to take my Minolta everywhere. Over the weekend I'll be adding more. These next five photos were all taken in Nazareth.

Chamber Music at the YMCA

Last night, Mary and I went to the 11th Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. Can you believe this is a Y?





The tower was closed when we arrived, so that a man could give a concert with bells from it. We were sad that we couldn't ascend to see what Mary raves is an amazing view, but really enjoyed the music as we dined on spinach quiche and salad. I'll go back and get more photos, both of the building and from the tower.

Me!




Mary!






The Concert:

Mozart-Grieg -- Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, k.545
Carter -- Gra for Solo Clarinet
Grieg -- Sting Quartet in G Minor, op. 27 (My personal favourite: the cellist was wonderfully expressive.)(and I don't care how high-falutin' that sounds, cuz it's true.)
Mozart -- Sonata for Bassoon and Cello in B Flat Major, k. 292
Mozart -- Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, k. 478
Grieg -- Songs (arranged by the students of the Israel Academy of Arts and
Science)