Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Seeing the Sights

                I’m done with Ulpan! A few hours ago I turned in the three-hour exam, and now I’m officially finished with the preparatory Hebrew course and ready to start the new semester. I know my grasp of Hebrew grammar and vocabulary has improved immensely, but I look forward to continuing to improve it, along with other things. However, more about that next week; this week held more than enough excitement to fill up this page.
                On Friday a couple friends and I went to the Old City. Besides finding very cheap produce, we finally got to see some of the sights. For transportation reasons, we visited everything in reverse order: we started at the Garden Tomb, which might not have a good claim to legitimacy, but is a beautiful prayer garden in any case. Then we went down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to house the actual sites of the crucifixion and burial (and thus the resurrection). Unlike other buildings, it hasn’t shrunk since I visited it several years ago; it’s as majestic as ever.
                After this, we went down the Via Dolorosa backwards, which was quite confusing since 1) the signs all pointed the wrong direction and 2) we were all Protestants and had to keep looking up which station of the cross we were passing. Finally, we finished at the Garden of Gethsemane. In stark contrast to the last time I was there, this time it was only us, a priest, and a nun in the room. After that it was about time to head home, but I’m sure I’ll be visiting those churches again.
                On Saturday the same three of us went to visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Getting there required three different buses, and when we arrived we were told that we couldn’t go into the Muslim section because it was too close to noon prayers, and that we couldn’t go into the Jewish section because it was Shabbat. We decided they needed to build a Christian version, and then wandered around the shuk while we waited. I was very happy to find $1 falafel at an outdoor kiosk that was every bit as good as the $7 falafel near our dorms.
                Finally, we visited the Muslim sections of the tombs, but since we were all in jeans, we ended up having to wear these gigantic hoods that made us look like a mix between hobbits and aliens. We took plenty of pictures. I also got the chance to use my Arabic reading signs, which was nice, since I’ll be starting up classes again in a few days.
                On Sunday we started our last week of classes and finished up what we needed to learn before the exam. After class there was a tour of the Knesset. We didn’t see anything actually happening, but everyone took pictures, and the tour guide was interesting and gave us a lot of information about Israeli politics and government.
                By Tuesday we’d covered and reviewed most everything, and in the afternoon all the classes got together and put on a sort of talent show. Everyone sang but our class, who sent up several people (I didn’t volunteer) to do a skit, which was probably not understood by 70% of the room, but which we thought was very funny. After that we watched a TV show episode and then headed home.
                And now? Now it’s over, and I’m sitting in my room looking out the window and planning for the weekend. Most of my plans will depend on the weather. Jerusalem is somewhere in the middle when it comes to snow – it isn’t a once-a-decade phenomenon, like it is in Texas, but it’s rare enough that even a little bit shuts everything down. We’ll see if it snows; either way, I’m glad I’m not wading through snowbanks in Boston. I hope everyone has a good Ash Wednesday and Chinese New Year, and next week I’ll be writing about my actual classes this semester!




















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