11/7/2016 0 Comments Settling InAfter weeks of ever-changing schedules, I am finally settled in Jerusalem, taking classes with a regular schedule. On Monday thru Wednesday, we have classes in the morning and afternoon. In the morning, we have three periods, where we take Arabic and Hebrew and have a free. Usually during my free, which goes right into lunch, I go to the Y, which is less than a 5 minute walk away. It's been really cool to learn a new language, but it is definitely going to be challenging to learn all the letters and subtleties of the language. I also haven't taken a daily Hebrew class in years, and I have loved relearning the language and using it in daily life. These language classes are pretty small, with around 10-15 people per class. In the afternoons, we have two types of classes that are with the whole group called Jews in History and Land, People, Ideas. JIH is about the Jews of the countries we visit and their history, how they lived, who they were, etc. We have specialists for every country, so we never have a consistent teacher for this class. LPI is about the history of Zionism and is taught by a consistent teacher. LPI is closer to a class than a lecture, with discussion and a response paper due before every trip, while JIH is mostly lectures. There are usually three periods in the afternoon, so we often double up on one of these classes. Every now and then, a singer named Hadas comes in and teaches us songs about the cultures we will be visiting on our upcoming trip. Then we usually have a two hour break from 530-730, including dinner, which Kivunim either provides for us at Beit Shmuel or gives us money to go out to the amazing restaurants near us so we can explore the Jerusalem cuisine. So far, I've had amazing Hummus, falafel, Shwarma, Iraqi food, a middle eastern dish called Malawach, and so much more. There are a surprising amount of amazing burger places nearby, and even a Chipotle-esque Mexican restaurant. After dinner, a few times a week we have another lecturer at night. These lecturers range from professors at American colleges who Skype in to a former assistant to a recent Prime Minister of Israel to an author of a renowned book on coexistence between the Arabs and Jews in Israel. On Thursdays, I volunteer at a school for refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Philippines. There is one group of 4 from Kivunim that goes to this organization in the morning, and another group of 5 that volunteers in the morning, and you switch off every week. In the mornings, I volunteer from 9-12 and work with mostly babies. Last week I basically held and played with a baby for at least an hour, then switched over to toddlers who are just learning to walk. With these toddlers, we went on a little trip/walk to the grocery store to buy jelly and other fillings for the crepes that the kids were going to make after we left. When I am there in the afternoon from 230-530, the older kids come. With the 9-10 years old, we all play basketball and other sports, we help them do homework, and we make sure they are eating their snacks. Besides for volunteering on Thursdays, the rest of our day is pretty much free! Fridays and Saturdays are usually left pretty much empty, as they are the weekend in Israel, instead of Saturday and Sunday (Sunday is a workday and a school day in Israel). This past Friday was different, though, because an artist from New York named Tobi Kahn came to Israel for literally the weekend just to teach us about visual art. Because of this, we woke up at 4:45 a.m. and left Beit Shmuel by 5:15 to walk to the shuk (market) called Machane Yehuda, which a huge outdoor market with a wide range of food and other stuff. Usually on Friday morning, the shuk is packed as everyone gets ready for Shabbat, but because we got there so early, there was only a few merchants setting up their vegetables and no customers yet. Tobi pointed out to us the different colors of the sky due to the different variations of light in different places; some lights, or lack thereof, made the sky a darker or lighter hue of blue. We then saw the shuk begin to come alive as we left to go to a Jewish village right next to Machane Yehuda. After getting yelled at a few times by the people who lived there for waking them up, we got the most amazing pastries from a pastry shop called Marzipan, which just opened as we were leaving. This meant we got some of the freshest, warmest pastries we could get there. They were delicious! After a quick nap, we went to the Israel Museum with Tobi, who taught us about a lot of the art there, which gave me a greater appreciation for art than I have previously had. It also made me realize that I really don't get modern art at all. There was a piece of artwork that was an upside down urinal, which I found pretty hard to appreciate! But besides a lecture Saturday night, we had the rest of Friday and Saturday free. A few of us even went to the Kotel (the Western Wall) Friday night, which is always quite the scene. We played ultimate frisbee for hours on Saturday in what seemed like it was a horse park, as we saw three separate horses accompanied by their trainers/owners. One of the horses ended up running through our game a little bit as its trainer tried to corral it. This was definitely something I was not used to. Sundays are usually jam-packed days, as we travel around Israel doing whatever makes sense to do that week. One week we went on a hike and saw monestaries, one of which was located on the Jordan River at what is believed to be the spot where Jesus was baptized. This past Sunday, with Tobi, we met with various Israeli artists and saw their studios. One renowned artist is very good at wheel throwing, and she gave us all a quick lesson in how to do it and even let us try it out! In general, there has been about one time a week where I wake up early in the morning to go or watch something. We watched game 7 of the World Series at the director of the Israel program's house at 3 in the morning and woke up to watch the election at 5 in the morning. Overall, sleep isn't really a thing here and that's okay! This week I started going to a running group called Runners Without Borders, which is coexistence running group that both Arabs and Jews participate in. It was awesome to get to practice my Arabic with the Arabs and meet the amazing people that live in Israel. I am also going to start being in a flag football league this Friday with a lot of gap year kids – should be a lot of fun! We are now getting ready to go to Greece, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan on Sunday until December 9. Somehow I'm going to try to pack for 19 days without laundry, but I am so pumped to finally go on our first international trip. It's going to be an incredible 3 weeks with incredible food, people and cultures. Check back soon to see what it's like!
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AuthorDan Rosenzweig-Ziff Archives
June 2017
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