Week two of Ulpan is over. I suppose I should tell you about my last shabbat, my teachers, and the Tiyul (trip) I went on today.
This past shabbos I went all the way up north, almost to the golan, to my cousin's Kibbutz Gonen. For those of you who know, its about a 7 minute drive from Qiryat Shmona. I left on thurday night to take the four hour bus ride from Jerusalem. I hadn't bought a ticket in advance, and I got super lucky because I was the LAST person allowed on the bus. The driver literally turned away about a dozen people behind me. So, being the last person on the bus, I had to sit on the floor. Btw, the bus system in Israel is a bit different than the US. Not only can you fill all the seats, but you can have at least an extra 5 or 6 people who stand/sit for the whole ride. So I sat on the floor at the front of the bus for about an two hours (before seats became available). As I was sitting there I realized that at that moment I was the happiest I've been in a long time. Sitting, exhausted, on the floor of a bus at night going to the other end of the country, I realized that I am having a total Love affair with the State of Israel. It was really an amazing realization (I have goosebumps thinking about it). Needless to say, I made it up safe and had a very relaxing shabbat.
At Ulpan I have two teacher, one teaches sun, mon, and thurs (Sylvia) and the other teaches tues and wed (Linda). Sylvia is sort of a legend at my ulpan, she's been around for quite a while and I must say is very fun to learn from. She's very warm, and I can understand 100% of what she says (which being all in hebrew is pretty fantastic). Linda, on the other hand, is a straight up Israeli sabra. It's almost like good-cop bad-cop. Linda is like a drill sergeant in class, and she only likes the students who have attitudes or talk back, she's very cheeky. Class with Linda is frustrating sometimes because she doesn't hold back in terms of vocabulary, and she's not always clear. However, she teaches us in a way that really pushes us, because she wants us to really learn hebrew well. I have this weird love-hate complex with her. We learned how to conjugate past and future tense in the span of two days, and are expected to be able to conjugate on command! Also, we have a page of words to memorize every day (its at least 30-60 words a day). Ulpan is very intense, but the amount of Hebrew I'm learning is Immense.
Today the Ulpan went on a tiyul (trip/tour) around Jerusalem. The first place we went to was the Haas promenade. Two years ago, when I was on Birthright, the first place we went to in Jerusalem was the promenade. It was very different then than it is now. While we were there on taglit we took a group picture, which when we received it said: "The journey has just begun." How right they were! Almost exactly two years later, I was at the same spot, with another group, doing another tour. But this time it's different. Now it's my home. We also went to the Mt. of Olives, the Castle, and the Knesset. Overall, it was a really nice tiyul. This shabbat I'm staying at a hostel in the Old City with a few friends, which should be really fun! Being in עיר דוד (the city of david AKA the old city) for shabbat is always a really spiritual experience. I also can't wait to daven with the Carlebach minyan tomorrow night! The pictures are of the Promenade, a view from the Mt. of Olives, and the view from my Cousin's porch in the morning. That's all for now.
Yours,
-Yachiel
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