ישראל

Well, I’m in Jerusalem and it has been pretty neat so far. My program this semesters starts with a 5 week long Hebrew class and then follows with the actual semester where I do clinicals and take an elective course. The Hebrew class is really intensive-we are in class for a five hour-long class, five days a week. My first class was Thursday and to say the least, it was really hard. I’m going to have to study a bundle because having a new alphabet and learning to read from right to left will take a little to get used to. I am really excited though; it will be a good experience.

The view outside my window. If you look hard enough you can see the Dome of The Rock- The gold dome.

During our first class we heard a really loud noise outside of the window. Rothberg (the name of the international school we are at) is having a lot of construction being done. The noise sounded like it really could have been a gunshot of something, but it really was the construction workers chiseling in to the rock wall (There is a building code in Jerusalem that all of the buildings have to be made of Jerusalem rock). When our professor heard it, she just waved her hand towards the window and sarcastically laughed, “For Israel, is normal” as if it was the sound of an explosion or something. Oh boy.

Today is Friday, meaning that Shabbat (Sabbath) starts at sundown. My roommate and I ventured into a market to go grocery shopping-it was CRAZY. Everyone is trying to get enough shopping in to make all the food they need for Shabbat dinner. It was literally packed. The market was amazing though; there were so many fresh things to buy.  There was a lot of produce that I had never even heard of before. It will be really cool to start cooking new things.Today I bought a mini-watermelon. I think that has been my dream since I watched Aladdin when I was like 4 years old. You know, like when Abu breaks open a melon and they share it? I also bought an avocado that was probably bigger than the size of my heart. If only we had really good markets like this in the states.

The market. This picture doesn't give it justice. It was really busy.

It is cool to be surrounded by so many different types of people. My program has people from all over the world. Albeit that most of them are Jewish, they are still from everywhere. I never knew there was such a large population of Jews in Australia, or that there is a dialect of Hebrew that is a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew like Yiddish is a mixture of Hebrew and German. I also love being able to hear the Muslim prayers in the morning. I hope to learn a lot more about other religions while I am here. It is interesting because talking to people about religion here is really natural and normal. People here aren’t surprised if someone is religious to any extent. It might be a faulty perception I have, but it always seems like people are surprised that I actually believe in God, that I really enjoy going to church, or that I choose not to drink alcohol because of my religion. Most people I have talked to here aren’t really surprised at all.

I am sure that there will be a multitude of adventures to come. Next week all of our classes are out by 1 P.M., which gives plenty of time to get around the city.

רק מאוחר יותר!