The Ulpan: Excursions

I discussed most of the Ulpan before the program abruptly ended a few days ago. I did not, however, find the time to touch on the excursions. The International School here planned multiple trips for their Ulpan students. I did not attend all of them, but I still had some good experiences.

I will quickly list the outings I attended and write some brief notes about them.

• A Hike in the Golan Heights: This was pretty cool. I had been to the Golan Heights twice before, but my previous trips focussed more on the history and importance of the mountain range to the State of Israel. I would see how there were still mines planted throughout the mountains, I would see old military encampments, and I would look off the edge to see Syria and Lebanon. This trip was different, though. We hiked, and I got to see the Golan Heights from a "wow, this is beautiful!" perspective. We stopped at a couple small waterfalls, and I even swam a little. Sometimes, these mountains' beauty is overshadowed by their geopolitical importance.
• Caesarea: The ruins of Caesarea are another touristy spot that I had visited twice before. Once again, though, I managed to see a different view (although for the Golan Heights, I chose the different view -- Here, I just got lucky.) I was placed in the tour that was guided by a University of Haifa archeology professor -- a man who was taught by some of the very people who excavated these ruins. I definitely learned some interesting tidbits on that trip.
• The Nearby Druze Village: Some of us took an afternoon trip to a nearby Druze Village, which is something I might do again without any guidance -- the Saturday markets are supposed to be great. But this time, I saw a Druze museum that memorialized the Druze who had died in Israeli wars. Part of the Druze's religious belief is loyalty to one's home country, so the Druze men fight in the Israeli Army by the same guidelines as Jewish Israeli men. They have also been some of the best fighters in Israel's storied military history, from what I understand... We happened to visit this village the day after a special municipal election, and there was quite a sight to see: cars were driving throughout the street and people were screaming celebratory shouts. We don't have celebrations like that for municipal elections in America; we only barely have celebrations like that when we elect a charismatic black president...
• Jerusalem: And, of course, I went to the holy city of Jerusalem. At the Western Wall, I got blessed (and then asked for tzedakah [charity]) twice, which would normally be fine. Unfortunately, one man asked me for charity as I was at the wall praying, and I feel that significantly tarnished my experience. I also saw "King David's Grave," which really wasn't his grave, but people have visited it for centuries as if it is. The main part of the trip, though, was through the Christian Quarter of the old city -- I had already seen Yad Vashem and the City of David, so I wanted something new. Unfortunately, the tour guide was mediocre at best, and the Christian Quarter was pretty bland until the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the place where Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe Jesus Christ was executed and buried. You could tell that this place was immensely historical, if not holy, too. There were actually two old graves that had been found in the Church! After this historical excursion, we went to the marketplace (or Shuk) in Jerusalem -- and I bought some wonderful rugula and some good olives!

Leia Mais…

An Aside From My Trip Directly: RIP Teddy Kennedy, Israeli Style

During a break from class today, I learned that Senator Edward M. Kennedy had passed away, and it has been occupying much of my thoughts today as I prepare for a final exam tomorrow. Hence, I have obviously been very busy. I can report now that the Ulpan is almost over -- it will be completely over in about 12 hours. I still have more to tell you all about it, though; I will get to that once the end has allowed me to relax.

For the time being, I wanted to share a write-up by M.J. Rosenberg that remembers The Lion of the Senate through a little-told story about the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin. I felt it was appropriate for this blog. Here is his post in full:

It is a small part of his great legacy but it should not go unmentioned that Ted Kennedy was one of the few senators who rarely, if ever, yielded to the pressure to join the Israel-is-always-right caucus. The mindless jingoism of his colleagues was not his way (nor is it John Kerry's) and when he addressed the Israeli-Palestinian issue, he was compassionate and even-handed. He was not your standard "liberal on everything but Israel" type.

Professor Leonard Fein from Boston (of Americans for Peace Now) -- who has spent a lifetime struggling for Middle East peace -- offers this beautiful remembrance of Ted Kennedy today. He describes a small incident in Kennedy's long life but one that tells us a lot about the man.

"On the morning of the day before the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, Senator Ted Kennedy called the White House to inquire if it was appropriate to bring to the burial some earth from Arlington National Cemetery. The answer was essentially a shrug: Who knows? Unadvised, the senator carried a shopping bag onto the plane, filled with earth he had himself dug the afternoon before from the graves of his two murdered brothers. And at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, after waiting for the crowd and the cameras to disperse, he dropped to his hands and knees, and gently placed that earth on the grave of the murdered prime minister.

No spin, no photo op; a man unreasonably familiar with bidding farewell to slain heroes, a man in mourning, quietly making tangible a miserable connection."

Miserable it is. But how much more miserable it would be if we never had these heroes at all?

Leia Mais…

The Ulpan: A Whirlwind of Friendships

Some Ulpan students are just that. Some will move to a different program in Israel once the Ulpan is over. Some will return to their respective home countries and continue with their regular lives.

Yet some of those are pretty awesome people, too.

This is an unfortunate occurrence for any short-term program. One makes many good friends and then rarely communicates with them afterwards. We just aren't allotted the time to build strong, lasting relationships. Beyond the shortness of this program (4 weeks), we have Hebrew classes that occupy a vast chunk of our time away from the larger group. In some ways, I have less time to bond with people during the Ulpan than during my Birthright trip a year and a half ago or during my three week trip to Oxford in 2006. There are some friends that will, eventually, only be considered "good acquaintences."

That I lost my phone has only made a difficult situation even harder. I lost my phone two Fridays ago, and, in part due to my hopes of finding it, I did not receive a new phone until Thursday. The new phone, however, only lasted me several hours before losing all signal with the world. For over a week I have had to rely on my roommate and on luck to plan afternoons or evenings with some of my friends.

Thankfully, fortune has granted that most of my new companions will remain in Haifa for the semester. I will travel with a few in September, and then I will have a full semester to build on many friendships I have already created.

One of the coolest aspects leaving all friends behind for a long-term trip is that one easily meets some of the most fascinating people. I say this due to my experiences through three weeks, but I've only experienced the tip of the iceberg. There will be less international students at the University in the Fall than there are now, but there will be many more Israeli students and a lot more time. I'm looking forward to that.

Leia Mais…

The Ulpan: Rigorous Foreign Language Training

For those of you who did not know, this is my basic timeline for my time in Israel:

1. From when I arrived, and for another week onward, I have been participating in the University of Haifa's "Ulpan" program, which is an intensive foreign language course. The International School has also planned trips once or twice a week for the Ulpan participants.
2. Then, I have a break between the Ulpan and the semester. The intention is to use this break to travel. I have tentative plans to go to Greece for a few days, Turkey for about a week, and some parts of Europe for longer.
3. Finally, after the high holidays and Sukkot have passed, the semester will start. This will be a normal semester.

As mentioned, I am currently in stage 1: The Ulpan. My scarce amount of updates to this blog have been due to the whirlwind of activity given to me by the Ulpan. I will, however, work hard in an effort to get you all the important stories and details of this first month in Israel.

I am busy primarily for academic reasons. The Ulpan attempts to fit an entire semester of Hebrew into 4 weeks, which is a very ambitious idea. Four days a week, I am at class from 8:30 AM to 1 PM. I have a 30 minute break at 10 and a 10 minute break at 11:50. This is Monday through Thursday. Sunday, I am at school for the same amount of time -- just an hour later: 9:30 to 2.

The Ulpan programs in Israel have received much acclaim, and they are almost definitely some of the most effective fast methods to learn a foreign language that are offered. That isn't to say it is perfect, though. Four weeks of super intense learning is clearly no substitute of a full semester combined with practice. The largest academic downside I have encountered has been the time I have to practice. Normally, I would study much more per hour of class than I have been doing during the Ulpan. I simply do not have much time here. Unless I want to render myself without a social life to learn Hebrew, it is hard to keep up like I should.

That has helped me with some other things, though. My study habits are improving some, I think. At least, when I do homework I try to learn the entire homework beyond how it encompasses the lesson of the day -- it is a time saver, and I think I will be glad of this when I return to normal-semester speed.

I have kept up with the grammer pretty well; that has always been an odd strongsuit of mine (although on the last test I made some stupid grammar mistakes). The vocabulary has been much harder to keep up. Always more of a memory game, vocabulary is something that will only come to me with more practice - something that is much easier for me to do during a regular semester.

I have been asked if I am conversant in Hebrew yet, and the answer is a definite "no." I think that will only come with more time and practice, something of which the the Ulpan can only offer so much, especially because all the Israeli students I hope to interact with later this year are still on summer break. That said, though; I now have a firm grasp of active and reflexive verbs in all three basic tenses; past, present, and future. My knowledge of the future tense was limited when I came here, and I feel one must have confidence in all three basic tenses before conversation can thrive. I now have achieved that basic requirement.

Despite its downsides, the Ulpan is definitely worth the time and money. I'll be a strong step ahead by the end of it, and it is a good setup for the real Hebrew practice that I will more often encounter when I immerse myself more with Israelis during a normal school term.

Leia Mais…

Living Conditions

The walk from the taxi to my room's door was probably the most tenuous part of my journey to Israel. Lugging multiple suitcases down a bunch of stairs, even with elevator assistance, has the ability to frustrate any traveler, especially a jet-lagged one. And so began my stay in Haifa: on the very bottom floor of the university's Talia Dormitories, suite 411. Nine floors separate my room from the main floor of the dormitory-area.

And that's just the dormitories. The University of Haifa is placed at the top of The Carmel Mountain (Har HaCarmel in Hebrew), and the campus is designed linearly on a slope. My suite-mate Evan Lacher and I estimated that we probably walk up 17 flights of stairs to get to class in the campus's Main Building. We are usually a bit winded by the time we walk into the lesson.

Speaking of the University's hilly location, one cost I had not factored in when estimating money necessities was that of transportation. I am not normal walking distance from anywhere significant in the city. I must take a bus, and students still have to pay, unlike in Austin. The cost is relatively low, but it is a cost I did not have previously.

The cost of transportation might be offset by food prices, though. All the restaurants on campus are subsidized, so I can buy lunches for reasonable prices. And vegetables here appear much cheaper than in America. I came to the quick realization that while a normal Israeli's diet might not be healthier than a normal American's (though it probably is), one would certainly have an easier time eating healthy here.

So, we are trying to cook some. We have prepared pasta several times, eggs several times, and a couple varieties of chicken. Unfortunately, we have yet to obtain a working toaster and our other cooking appliances are just...hotplates -- and only 2 small ones work. This complicates matters because only part of the pot or pan heats up decently, and a hotplate is much less efficient than a stove no matter which way you slice it. Right now, though, we just have to make due. And despite our amateur cooking abilities, we have received compliments from dinner guests. We'll get better at cooking, too.

When we have had those guests over for meals, the body heat and the cooked food seems to make it hotter than usual. See, there is no air-conditioning in the dormitories. Thankfully the summer heat here isn't quite the summer Austin or Houston heat, but I can't currently wear a pair of shorts more than 2 or 3 times before declaring them "dirty." We don't get much of a breeze into our room, either. The university is built on a wonderful spot for breezes, but the lack of them in my life probably reflects poor architecture for this building.

This constant heat, combined with a nearby beach that is much nicer than the one in Galveston, definitely encourages more showers. One would think that with such water problems as they have in Israel, the government would fork over money for air conditioning. Certainly, the government is less capitalist than our own in the United States, and an air-conditioning policy just seems like a good idea to me. Not to mention that the showers are graced with a ridiculous water pressure that I don't think I have even found in America. Even more reason to take more showers, not to save water!

Despite an oddly powerful shower, my material quality of life is not close to where it is in America. Then again, my cost of living is much cheaper, too. I don't remember exactly what the difference is, but the money I have paid to live in these dorms is ridiculously cheaper than it is in America. As I mentioned, there are advantages in food pricing, too. Besides, the sacrifice of a few material pleasures is completely worth the greatness of an experience studying abroad. I'm having a great time.

Leia Mais…

Statement of Welcome and Purpose

Friends, Family, and Curious Internet Surfers:

Welcome to "Hurta for Haifa," a blog that, despite the sound of its name, is not a campaign website. I thought the name had a nice ring to it, and it does reflect my politically inclined personality. More so, the purpose of this blog is to share my experience while I am stationed in Haifa, Israel to study abroad.

I have been in Haifa about a week now; just the beginning of a 5 month period where I will be away from the United States. I am studying right now in the Hebrew "Ulpan," which is an intensive 4-week course to improve my Hebrew skills. This course ends August 27, and then I will travel some in this area of the globe until the actual semester starts in October. I plan to take Hebrew plus 3 other classes during the semester.

I intend to write reflective and descriptive posts about my time here in Israel. Some of you might know me for my political blogging at the Burnt Orange Report, but this blog will be entirely different (even if I do once or twice opine on Israeli politics). I will not list every little thing I do every day; that would be boring and tedious. Instead, I will write on my general life in Haifa, trips and events that impact me, and anything else that helps communicate the essence of this stay in Israel.

I will later write more significantly on some of the happenings of this first week, but I will let you know that I have been busy and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I have settled into a dormitory-apartment that lacks air conditioning in the Israeli heat, met interesting people, been to a fantastic beach, partied, seen the Bahai Gardens, and (oh yah) learned some Hebrew.

Assuming my busy schedule does not induce the death of this blog, I hope you enjoy what I have to say! Welcome, and thank you for your interest.

Leia Mais…