It’s
been another enjoyable week in Massachusetts – a belated happy first day of
Fall! On Sunday night I could see the lunar eclipse out my window, but I went
outside to get a closer look. It was beautiful, although I still don’t
understand why people broke into spontaneous applause from time to time. It’s
not like the shadow was suddenly over the moon; it was maybe a degree over from
where it was five minutes before.
Then
again, we celebrate birthdays and graduations and new years, and they don’t
change anything drastically. But things change, nevertheless, until you look up
and you can’t see the moon – ‘and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way’…
But enough of that.
With
the change in season has come the beginning of the foliage New England is so
famous for, as well as slightly cooler weather – jackets are now needed, at
least for those of us who go out before sunrise or return home after sunset.
Football season’s also started; we had our first game on Saturday against
Brown. We won. Most of my time, though was spent with others from ROTC, passing
out the thousands of free programs (that was not hyperbole) Harvard prints out
for people. Thousands for free programs, but not one red penny for air conditioning
– figures.
Anyway,
we had a good time, although it was the craziest time I’ve had yet handing out
programs. Everyone was coming in through one entrance, so it was particularly
hectic, and as people became increasingly drunk, they got ruder when they
didn’t want the programs. But it all turned out alright.
I had
lunch at church again on Sunday – this time it was a grad-undergrad lunch – and
there was a nice discussion about church and community. There were people at
our table from all over the United States and the world, something I’ve come to
appreciate about Boston. The homemade food was also appreciated.
What
else has happened this week? In my music class we’re studying Handel’s Messiah,
so that’s stuck in my head, not that I’m complaining. My parents have been
traveling, so I haven’t been able to talk to them for a while, which has made
me more homesick than I expected, but that will soon be remedied, and in the
interval I received a care package from one of my friends from Hebrew
University that made my day. And finally, I just received my transcript from my
summer at Cambridge, and I made all A’s, so that was encouraging.
I
thought I would end this post with a language-learning update. So, in
alphabetical order:
Arabic: It’s going alright. I have class almost every day,
but having more work means I do the work more superficially than I might with
less of a time crunch. The grammar and I get along, but at some point I need to
step back and make sure I memorize the vocabulary thoroughly this time.
English: I mean, it’s going pretty well. I did learn the
word ‘adventitious’ this week (it means by chance or from an external source).
German: Apparently I have a weird accent in German – to be
expected, since I’m largely self-taught. We’ll see where it ends up. I’m
running into all sorts of fun words – yesterday’s was Menschenhandel, or human
trafficking (lit. people-trading). Today’s is Morgenröte – the red of morning, or the dawn.
By the way, if you’re looking to practice reading in a
foreign language, and you’re tired of news, fanfiction is great – you can find
it for whatever TV show/movie you find interesting, it’s free, it can be good
quality and idiomatic, and it’s in all languages. Just a tip.
Hebrew/Spanish – I’m putting these together, because I
haven’t used either lately, outside of overhearing Spanish on the street or
accidentally mixing up the Hebrew and Arabic vocabulary in class. Luckily, most
of the people in my Arabic class also take Hebrew, so they still understand.
And now I’ve gotten myself into a ruminating nostalgic mood.
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing… But thank you for taking these
few to read my blog. Good luck passing the ‘lazy leaden-stepping hours’ until
next week – see you then!
Pictures:
Sometimes things just look pretty, and I have to take pictures of them...
Waiting for the eclipse...
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