Starting the Semester

                For future reference, it looks like the normal posting time is going to be around Wednesday morning CT; I can’t seem to get this up any earlier. Quite a bit has happened since my last post; I’ll try to start from the beginning.

                Last Wednesday, we finished our intensive Hebrew course. I got an A+, which was nice. On Thursday, since we didn’t have class, a group of us headed up to see the Temple Mount. We left around 6:15 am and took a bus to the Old City.

                I’m always nervous at religious sites; I’m always ready for someone to come up and complain that I’m not dressed modestly enough or that I’m taking pictures or that I’m talking too loudly or that I’m not supposed to go into one section or another. We made it through all the checkpoints without a problem and put our scarves on to pass the wailing wall, but when we got near the Al-Aqsa mosque, someone stopped us. He started talking in very fast Arabic, then switched to English when he realized we were lost.

                He was concerned because we were wearing jeans and not skirts; luckily, we all had scarves or skirts to put on. I started wondering why there were tourists walking around with uncovered heads and jeans who didn’t have a problem. Then, however, he asked if we were Muslim, and seemed quite surprised when we answered no. After that, everything made sense; if we were Muslims going to pray in the mosque, of course we wouldn’t be wearing jeans. But as we were innocent American tourists, we weren’t allowed in anyway, so it was a non-issue.

                Anyway, we toured the temple mount and tried to figure out who built what, and then we made our way back into the Old City. It didn’t take more than a few hours. A couple people stayed, and a couple of us headed back to our dorms.

                The next day, it snowed. I know – I thought I left Boston, too. Snow here is somewhere between snow in Boston and Texas. On the one hand, people actually believe it can happen, and they don’t get too excited. On the other hand, everything shuts down: schools, workplaces, public transportation. We had planned to do some sight-seeing, but with no buses running, we decided that the better plan was to walk into the Old City and take pictures.

                It’s about a thirty-minute walk from our dorms to the Old City. The snow was the nice, soft, fluffy, clean kind that you actually kind of like – the kind that inspires gangs of boys ranging in age from 5-25 to start snowball fights everywhere. Getting to town involved getting pelted every few blocks, although there were a few snowball fights with adorable little boys that made up for it. In the Old City, we clambered around and took pictures of things in the snow. It was strange to see the markets empty in the middle of the day – the bazaar was like a ghost town.

                As we headed back, people were beginning to resume ordinary life – the snow was melting in full force by around noon – but the buses still weren’t running, so we walked the half-hour back. By this time, though, the snow was the icy, dirty, dangerous kind, and I didn’t feel like leaving my room again after I’d made it back and defrosted.

                I’ve already talked quite a bit, but I couldn’t finish this blog without telling you about starting classes. I’m taking five classes. First, there’s advanced Hebrew, which is pretty much a continuation of intensive Hebrew (same books, same people, same layout) except that we only have it three times a week. Second, there’s colloquial Arabic; I’m still not sure what level of that I’m in. Third, I have an independent study-type formal Arabic, which I haven’t started yet. Fourth, I have a seminar-style class in International Law, and fifth, I have a class on Palestine, which the Professor started off by declaring that “both sides are wrong, and they deserve each other!” I think a lot of people come just to see what he’s going to say.

As it’s still the first week of classes, assignments haven’t really started to pick up yet, so I’m not sure what my workload will be. However, I’m looking forward to learning a lot and doing something besides Hebrew all day. I hope everyone’s having a good week – until next time!