Between the End and the Beginning

Ulpan has ended! We finished out the semester on Thursday with a mini party in the morning and an exam following. Now that the month-long intensive Hebrew program is over, I will be taking Hebrew 4 days a week, but for 2 hours a day, instead of 5 days/5 hours. I definitely feel that my Hebrew has improved, but it’s hard to tell on a daily basis because I’m constantly surrounded by people more fluent than I am (which means I’m learning, right?).

Thursday night after the exam we went to an event in downtown Haifa near the port. For Israeli standards, it was a swanky benefit complete with waiters serving hors d'oeuvres, a harp-and-trombone duo playing background music, and a relatively well-dressed crowd. All of a sudden, after the mayor of the city gives a few opening remarks, Smashmouth’s “All Star” begins playing and people begin dancing to it. Yes, that’s right. A flash mob. Students from Haifa had been going to rehearsals for this all week, but this was gigantic—it was actually sponsored by the mayor of Haifa and was meant to surprise some of the higher-ups in attendance there. Some people truly looked like they had no idea what was going on as more and more of the people standing around them began dancing. I hadn’t had the chance to learn the dance, but I was there and got to witness/video-tape it. If you’re interested, here’s the link to the professional video posted of it here (you can see me videotaping for a split second at 1:41).

Friday morning I went with my friend Riki to the beach. Though it wasn’t too warm outside, it was still sunny! We walked down the boardwalk (Hebrew: tayelet, טַיֶּלֶת), got some lunch at an outdoor restaurant (I had mint tea and nachos), and stuck our feet in the water. Riki thought the sea was going to be cold, but I taught her the error of her ways: it’s not anything like the Atlantic in February!



Saturday night (which is like a Sunday night in the States), a few of us went out for sushi for dinner and took a walk to the promenade (again! I really like it there). So, naturally, I took some pictures of the Haifa Bay at night.





So the semester starts tomorrow—should be interesting! So far, the classes I’m looking at are:
- Hebrew (obviously)
- Contemporary Israel: History and Society
- Israeli Collective Memory
- Internship (has yet to be finalized, but it appears that I will be working with children at a battered women’s shelter downtown)

Obviously, all of this could definitely change 39 more times, and I will definitely update accordingly. Laila tov! (Good night)