Deserts and Dry Goods

                Well, I’ve successfully completed my first week in Jerusalem.  It’s been, and still is, a little hectic, but I think it’s going well. My Hebrew is better than I suspected it was when I only used it a couple hours a day, and it’s definitely improving. On the one hand, I feel like I haven’t been gone that long, things are going so fast. On the other hand, I feel like I’ve been here a really long time because so much has happened.

                I did take the trip to the Judean desert I wrote about last week. We met Bedouins, slept on mattresses on the ground, rode camels, took pictures of the desert…

                “Wait,” you say. “I’ve already read this blog post.”

                Well, yes and no. This time was a little different from Wadi Rum. For one thing, it was a lot shorter; it was less than twenty-four hours. For another, the Bedouin camp was a little different. In Wadi Rum there were a few tents for the tourists at the bottom of the hill and a larger tent for the Bedouin at the top. Here, we were in a village constructed entirely for tourists, and we slept inside a large communal tent instead of under the stars, which was kind of disappointing. However, we did have good food, awesome tea, and a bonfire – although the wood burned really quickly and kept setting small fires in our extra wood supply.

                The next morning we rode camels, but this time we actually went somewhere; we didn’t just hop on, take pictures, and hop off, which was nice. The camels had double saddles, which were pretty uncomfortable, but we rode them for quite a while. Afterwards we hiked (strolled, really) back to camp, with a guide who told us about geography and fauna and demonstrated starting a fire with flint and iron. He also went back and found the few people who managed to get lost on the way back. I wasn’t one of them, but it was understandable; with so many hills, you could be twenty yards away from someone and not see them.

                The trip also proved a good opportunity to meet people. It was the first week; most people still didn’t know much of anyone, and we were all looking for friends. After we returned, we had enough time to shower and nap before it was Friday evening and time for Shabbat (Sabbath) dinner. There were a couple of songs, and I realized just how much I’ve learned since Middlebury: I could actually understand the words now, even without having anything to read.

                Shabbat itself was nice. I spent most of it continuing projects I began over break and didn’t have time to finish, so it wasn’t all relaxation, but it was nice to stop and breathe. Shabbat in Israel is kind of like Ramadan in Amman; a lot of things shut down. Offices and stores are closed, so there’s no way to run errands, even if you wanted to. It’s an enforced day of rest, which is really nice. It was a fairly hectic week, and I needed some time to just sit back and think over everything that had happened. Apparently there’s a word for that in German – bedenkzeit, ‘thinking time’. It’s my favorite word at the moment.

                Class itself is challenging, which is good. We’re doing a lot of vocabulary at the moment, things like ‘cost of living,’ ‘addiction,’ ‘tendency,’ and the like. We’re also doing grammar; we’re covering all the things I never formally learned, like passive voice. We also read newspaper articles and discuss current events, using the new vocab and verb structures.

                There are a couple of problems that make class interesting, though. For one thing, the bookstore ran out of textbooks, so copies have to be handed out to everyone whenever we start a new section. For another, our room is fairly small and stuffy, so half the people want the window open, but it’s also still chilly outside, so the other half want it closed. Which means that, in the end, we just switch every few minutes. Exacerbating all these problems is the fact that our class was pretty large in the first place – about 20 people – and about eight people from the class below us have decided to move up, so our already-cramped room is now overflowing with desks, chairs, and students.

                The main stressors in my life aren’t related to class, though. I only thought I had a lot of errands before this semester; between food, toiletries, phone issues, and paperwork, I have much more to occupy me. I did, though, go to the market this morning with a couple of friends, and so my shelf has gone from peanut butter and bread to a bunch of fruit (see pictures below). All the little worries are wearing on me, but we get a sort of holiday tomorrow (we have to go to class Friday to make up for it; no one’s sure why it’s there), so hopefully I’ll have some bedenkzeit and be able to regroup. In any case, it’s good to know that all of you are reading and/or praying, and I certainly appreciate it. Until next week!