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!

Intro to Jerusalem

                Welcome back! I’m sitting in my dorm room on a mountaintop in Jerusalem, admiring the view. It’s been quite a busy week, and it’s not over yet, but I thought I’d take a few minutes to let you know how it was going. A couple of notes to start off: one, I’m staying here for the entire semester, until the beginning of June, and two, the time difference between the central US and Israel is 8 hours.

                My jet lag isn’t as bad as could be expected, probably because my schedule wasn’t that normal in the first place, so even though I haven’t settled into a routine here yet, I also don’t have to get out of my routine from the states. The plane ride over was very nice – I’d never flown Turkish air before, and they give you three meals and a whole variety of accessories. Besides that, the flight wasn’t that full, so I had three seats to curl up and nap on during the 11.5-hour flight to Istanbul.

                Sarah picked me up at the airport, and I stayed at their apartment for the night. The morning was a little hectic because of the two little ones and a meeting Josh and Sarah had to get to, but Sarah was able to take me to Jerusalem and drop me off at campus (all before ten in the morning). I filled out all the forms, got my key, found my room, and started settling in. There was quite a bit to worry about yesterday – not only settling in, but finishing my placement test, signing up for trips outside class, and all the other little things that go with moving in.

                The scenery around Mount Scopus is breathtaking enough that even if it weren’t Jerusalem, I would love to stay here. It’s about a 15-minute walk from my dorm to the other side of campus, where my classes are, but it’s a very nice walk, and the weather is beautiful right now. There’s also a really beautiful botanical garden en route.

                In case anyone’s worried, by the way, you have to go through a bag check, id check, and metal detector in order to get onto main campus, and only staff and students can get in without prior notification. Basically, imagine that all of Israel has the atmosphere of an airport in the States: no jokes about terrorism, no unattended bags, etc.

                Anyway, by noon yesterday I was exhausted from so many unfamiliar situations and people and trying to worry about so many things at once. When I’d gotten everything done for the morning, I went back to my room, locked the door, closed the window, wrapped up in a blanked and just lied there in silence for half-an-hour or so. I don’t know how extraverts relax, but sometimes I just have to lie down by myself and think, or I hit a shutdown point. Anyway, after that I felt my energy coming back and headed out for the rest of the day.

                The main event of the afternoon, outside of several other errands, was orientation. I usually find orientations disorienting, since they usually involve trying to take in a ton of information and cultural/security warnings in the space of an hour or two, but this one wasn’t that bad. And afterwards, the leaders took a group to go shopping for kitchen utensils, bathroom supplies, food, and etc. I don’t think anyone got everything they wanted, but it certainly helped for immediate needs.

                I also got to translate for the first time. We went to a bagel shop yesterday and, since most of our little group didn’t speak much Hebrew, asked for an English menu. The waitress explained (in Hebrew) that the English menu wasn’t right, which I translated, and we ended up with Hebrew menus. As it turned out, what people wanted wasn’t on the menu anyway, but it was nice to know I could translate if needed.

                And the week isn’t over yet. The weekend here is Friday and Saturday, but I have my first class in a few hours. And after class, there’s an overnight trip to the desert in which I’m participating, that lasts until tomorrow evening. And then there will be time to rest and recharge, and get ready to start classes and start exploring Jerusalem and Israel. I’ll let you know how it goes next week – I’ll probably be posting Tuesday or Wednesday, so stay tuned! Oh, and hello from Jerusalem!

Looking Back, Looking Forward

                I’m sorry I’m posting this so late; things have been pretty busy recently. Between finals, packing, and heading home, my schedule has been pretty full. I am happy to say, though, that I am curled up on the couch in my very own living room, with the tree a few yards away and Christmas decorations galore surrounding me.

            Finals, I will say, I think went well, though I won’t know until later. My physics project presentation went well, I finished my Hebrew essay, and the philosophy final was a lot of writing, but nothing unexpected. Because Harvard classes don’t post grades throughout the semester, I’m very in the dark about some of my scores, but hopefully no major surprises are in order.

            I also went to quite a few holiday parties last week. My a cappella group had our Christmas party, complete with food and Secret Santa gifts. This also included elections and switching over of responsibilities, so I’ve passed down my position as treasurer. I’m glad I was able to take the position, but it will be nice not having to worry about that through the coming year.

            My entryway also held, as our tutor* put it, a “wintertime festival of nondenominational joy,” which much like a Christmas party included a lot of unhealthy food, pictures, and an optional gift exchange. It also gave me a chance to say goodbye to all my floor-mates, whom I won’t see for quite a while, since I’ll be gone next semester.

            My parents arrived on Saturday night, and we met up before church on Sunday. We spent most of the rest of the day packing. Once the hassle of packing and paperwork was over, we were able to go see the Boston Pops in concert and visit a few of the Harvard museums. And then, last night, I hugged my blockmate* goodbye, grabbed my bags, and headed off with my parents to their hotel. We set out early this morning for Texas, and after several hours of flying and several hours of driving reached home.

            It was a rather unceremonious departure – I didn't feel like I said a proper goodbye to Harvard, and I won’t see her until next September – but all the same, I’m glad to be home, and looking forward to spending Christmas with my family before heading out for the adventure that is study abroad. Before I go, though, one more factoid about Harvard.

            What do people scribble on the back of bathroom stall doors at Harvard? People list the Harry Potter books, quote CS Lewis, and theorize on what makes the greats great. Then there are the people who helpfully comment that with this sort of scribbling on the back of stall doors, they can understand why people want to kill themselves. And then there are people who scribble their numbers and offer anonymous support for anyone who really does feel tempted by suicide. People do care here.

            One of the most wonderful things about Harvard, one of the things I’ll miss the most, is the conversation. You can walk through a dining hall and people will be discussing the political situation in South Africa or Nietzsche’s conception of morality or the newest Nobel-prize-winning discovery in physics or a bunch of other things in languages you don’t even recognize. However, if you get on a shuttle back to your dorm at one in the morning, conversations are a little different. We’re no supermen. Or as we like to put it, we’re people too.

            We cover the spectrum here at Harvard. On my floor alone, people have engaged in passionate discussion on the ethicality of government surveillance or the impact of racism in academia. There have also been zealous debates on the efficacy of dish soap in unclogging toilets (there was an entire think-tank discussion on this). Everything is open to improvement, after all.

            I’ve spent a year-and-a-half at Harvard now, and it really has started to feel like home. I’ve made good friends, found my favorite places, put down roots. This was a hard semester, but I’m coming out of it with more than I started with. And now it’s time to rest, relax, and look toward the future – study abroad, here I come!

*tutor - the adult overseeing each floor in upperclassmen dorms (in freshman dorms they're called proctors, and they're for each entryway)

*blockmate - someone with whom you arrange your housing; in this case something between a roommate and a suite-mate. I explain more in previous posts.

Festoons and Snow Flurries - oh, and Finals, Too

                Festoon - what a fun word, right? Anyway...

                Three more days. I should really be more excited, but right now I’m just focused on the task at hand. Facebook is full of finals woes. However, no one could ignore the trees, wreaths, and ribbons appearing all over town, or the snow flurries and sub-freezing weather. December has come.

                I’ve finished my ROTC commitments for the semester, and I’ve finished practically everything for Arabic. We still have class tomorrow, since language classes still meet during Reading Period, but they’re combining our class with the one before it in order to show a movie. I’m not quite sure why they expect people to show up an hour earlier than usual on the last day before finals in order to watch a movie, but there it is.

                My Hebrew paper is written but needs to be edited for grammar and overall content, but that’s not due until Friday night. I have a philosophy exam Thursday morning (the very first slot of exam period) which isn’t supposed to be that hard, and then Friday afternoon my group presents our physics project. And then it’s over.

                Until then, though, it’s a marathon – one appointment after another. The main problem is actually paperwork; I went to a study abroad meeting last week and found out that I have another whole round of forms to get signed before I head off, which means making a lot of last-minute appointments with various administrators around campus and then hopping around to fifteen-minute meetings all day, but it will all get done.

                Actually, the weekend was fairly refreshing. I was able to take a full Sabbath on Saturday, which was very nice, and to catch up on sleep, the only problem being that when I finally got up at 11:30, there were only a few hours of daylight left. On Sunday my Hebrew professor invited both her classes to her house for lunch, where I had pita and hummus for the first time since I came back from Jordan. It was like Thanksgiving dinner; we were in an actual house, everyone sat around the living room and chatted (in Hebrew), and the food just kept coming! I went home stuffed and didn’t eat anything until Monday morning.

                Because the Hebrew classes are so small and focus so much on speaking, and because people generally take it for a couple of years, the community is very good. Although I have to admit, listening to people discuss the differences between Arabic and Hebrew grammar, in Hebrew, with a little English and French thrown in for good measure, is interesting – especially when you consider that native languages included British, Irish, and American English.

                I also had time to start work on a short story (in English) this weekend that I intend to finish over the break. I haven’t written flat-out English fiction, just for the fun of it, in a long time, and it’s a good way to take a break from studying without forgetting completely about thinking. I also dropped in on  Christmas Tree decorating party in my dorm last night for some hot chocolate and cookies (well, they didn’t call it a Christmas tree; it’s just a tree we happen to decorate while singing “seasonal holiday tunes”, but the spirit’s the same).

                Okay, it’s been a while since I’ve thrown in a random Harvard fact, so here’s one: we love signs. We have signs to tell you where to put your dishes and signs to thank you for doing so (which also randomly appear next to stairwells). We have signs on the doors to tell you whether to push or pull (for those of us who are both book-smart and blonde). We have signs telling you if a door is an emergency exit and if a door is not an emergency exit (the main entrance to Lamont Library is clearly marked as an emergency exit; no one’s sure why). We have the creepy-out-of-context helpline signs on the inside of the bathroom stall doors that tell you you’re not alone. And last but not least, we have the lovely sign in my dorm telling us where not to leave the dishes (under which everyone always leaves their dishes).

                I’m going to miss Harvard next semester. Having exams after classes end is a nice system, but it means that there are people whom I realize too late I won’t see again until next fall or, in the case of the seniors, indefinitely. I’ve definitely made a lot more friends around campus and in ROTC this semester, and grown closer to the friends I already had. However I’m excited for Jerusalem next semester, and for the yet-undiscovered adventures the summer might hold.

                For now, though, I’m just going to concentrate on finals. And then concentrate on Christmas. When I write my next post, I’ll be on my way home! 

Tales of Thanksgiving

            Well, the weather suddenly realized that it was December. It’s been an incredibly warm winter, for the most part; it’s only snowed twice, very briefly, and the weather has been in the fifties for the last couple of weeks. Today, though, the temperature dropped into the twenties, and I walked home in the snow.

            I was walking home from a ceremony where Harvard presented its Humanitarian of the Year award to His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General. I just heard about it yesterday, and I decided to see if I could get in. All you had to do was show up early - it was one of those things that only happens at Harvard. I was fairly close to the front of the line, where I met a couple of people while waiting to go in, and we ended up getting front-row seats (not counting the rows of reserved seats in front of us). The Secretary-General did, I think, manage to infuse us with some of his “sense of possibility”; however, I think he really won everyone over though his use of the word ‘helter-skelter’ and his well-wishes for our finals.

            It’s the second-to-last day of classes before reading period and finals start. Everything has gone by really, really fast. There’s only one more blog post, and then I’ll be done for the semester – although I’ll write an extra one with end-of-the-year reflections, so stay tuned for another couple of weeks! In about two weeks, I’ll be leaving Harvard, and I won’t be back until next fall, since I’ll be studying abroad all next semester. I’m still not sure how I feel about abandoning one of my few precious semesters at Harvard, but I know I’m looking forward to spending that time in Jerusalem.

            Thanksgiving break was wonderful. Wednesday morning I got up, packed the little I needed in my backpack, and headed out. My parents met me at the airport to drive me home, and we talked and watched Back to the Future (I’d never seen it) before going to bed. I didn’t have much time over the summer to see my parents at home; there was a lot to get done. It was a good summer, but I will enjoy having winter break to spend time with them.

            We had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving with my family; we met all the cousins and aunts and their families at my dad’s mother’s house, and we spent the day eating and catching up. There was an abundance of home-cooked food, especially in the dessert department – four pies, two cakes, and two half-gallons of ice cream!

            On Friday we went out to eat with my mom’s parents, and we had a good time talking. I pulled everyone into a good twenty minutes of trying to remember all the state capitals, which I’m sure everyone enjoyed, and afterwards my grandfather took our Christmas card photo. I won’t attach the actual photo here, since many of you will get it in the mail later, but I’ll give you a behind-the-scenes pick of our annual Christmas card photo session.

            Saturday we drove up to Houston and spent the night so that I could catch a direct flight to Boston on Sunday morning. The hotel didn’t have Wifi, which was surprisingly relaxing, and despite the briefness of the break, when I got back to Harvard I felt rested, and ready to get to work on the remainder of the semester’s assignments.

            There are a lot of assignment. At the moment we’re in that strange time when you need to work on projects and essays for the end of the year, but you still have regular homework assignments to worry about as well. Harvard has a full week of reading period before finals, though, so there will be time to work on projects – although my Arabic class extends into that time.

            In addition to my normal classes, ROTC finishes up this week, so after tomorrow I can wake up at a normal time every day. Under Construction is a lot busier than we were at this time last year, singing at various events and performing at a church next Sunday. I’ll let you know how that goes.

            I am still sick, but getting more sleep should help, and I’m feeling better than I was last week, so hopefully this will only last a few more days. In the meantime, I’m continuing my college trend of getting sick at the end of every semester. I took my Physical Readiness Test (PRT) for the Navy yesterday, and as usual, when I finished the run I started coughing and sneezing and sniffling uncontrollably. I got several strange looks on the T; it probably appeared I was dying. However, I had enough time to take a nap afterwards, and when I woke up, I was back to my original recovery level.

            It’s getting to be that time of year where I can make a list of all the assignments I have to get done. Besides assorted other tasks, I have three essays, two big projects, one presentation, one test, and one final to look forward to. The projects are group efforts, and two of the essays are done, as of yesterday, so things are moving along nicely. Hopefully I’ll have enough time and energy left to get everything done well before the next two weeks are over.

            Now that I’m about to leave, I’m realizing once again how lucky I am to be here, and how much I’m going to miss this campus and the people in it. But end-of-year musings are for another time. We still have two weeks left – time to take the world by storm!