Here come the classes

It's Monday, and I've officially started classes. So far, I had a Biblical history class today, which was very interesting. We read the story of the Tower of Babel and then discussed the historical implications of the story. Was it true? Is it possible to know or not know? Does it matter if the story was true, or can the moral implications still apply if it's allegorical? Basically, the lecturer used the story as a vehicle to show the complexity of studying ancient history, which is a discipline in which we don't always know if an event happened at all, let alone how it happened and how it impacted the world.

I also started the process of setting up music lessons, including violin, voice and theory. I hope I get to do all three. The lessons are incredibly cheap compared to my lessons in the States (I hope nobody from the Arad conservatory is reading this and decides to raise rates because of my comments)!

I'll also be volunteering at a daycare center in Arad, starting in a week or two. I hope the kids are really cute! It should be a lot of fun: I spend an hour or two with them, and when I get tired of the crying and diapers, I go home. Not a bad deal at all.

Off to my next class, which is entitled "People of the Book." I think it's basically a Jewish literature course.

Shabbat Shalom

So, as per my title for this post, it's Shabbat in Arad. So it's a pretty quiet day. Last night we had services, dinner, and an oneg. The services were ok, but I didn't know a lot of the tunes we used. Dinner was disgusting, mainly because we've had the exact same kind of chicken for the past four days in a row. It tastes decent, if you can get over the fact that it's swimming in grease. If I never see that chicken again, it will be too soon. And I bet we'll have it for lunch again tomorrow.

Before all of our kabbalat shabbat activities yesterday evening, we returned from our first tiyul. Thursday night we camped out in the middle of the Judean Desert, surrounded by miles and miles of dust, rock and scorpions. It really wasn't a bad experience. We had a camp fire and sang songs and goofed off. Then we slept in little tents, which really weren't big enough to hold as many people as they insisted we pack into them.

The next day, we went hiking--my first hike, and everyone else's second. To be perfectly honest, I hated it. It was scary and painful. By the end, I was so dehydrated and overheated that I was sick for at least an hour afterwards. Today, I'm incredibly sore.

Right now I'm missing home pretty badly. The mirkaz klitah is an extremely foreign environment, and it's dingy, dirty and in varying states of disrepair. I really just want to be somewhere bright and pretty and clean for a little while. I'm sure I'll get over this feeling, but it's hard. I feel like I'm the only one who hasn't adjusted fully, although I'm sure that's not true. And my roommate is driving me crazy with her never-ending optimism and lack of empathy for my misery. Plus, somebody tripped at brunch and spilled scalding hot water on my back, which really just made me feel that much worse!

Hopefully my next post will be more upbeat. We start classes tomorrow. Maybe being busy will help me adjust.

Arad, from the top of a building

The sunset over the Negev, from a rooftop in Arad. Not the best picture, but kind of interesting anyway.



The city of Arad from the top of the same building in the middle of town. The long ugly building in the back is the one I'm staying in.

And the orientation continues...

After the second day of orientation, I'm not yet sure if I'm oriented or disoriented. This morning was test-taking time. We had three Hebrew tests to choose from: easy, medium or hard. I chose medium, and got to work wracking my brains (or what's left of them after jet lag) to remember past and future tenses. I guess I did ok, because I'm ending up in the middle ulpan group, kitah bet.

We also signed up for insurance today, which was thrilling to say the least. It took forever. Then we got pitches from two competing cell phone rental companies. I chose the less confusing of the two, which seems like it will overall be cheaper. My main point for deciding was that I'd rather not have to look at a list of rates before every call I make.

Tomorrow is our tiyul (trip) in the desert. I'm skipping the first hike, which is kind of hard. But then I'm camping out and going on a hike the next morning. Hopefully it'll be fun.

Pictures of Arad should be coming soon. Of course, I can't guarantee they'll upload, as internet access here goes at the pace of a snail!

Hi from Israel

This is my first post from Israel. I got to Arad at about 8:00 p.m. Israeli time, although they use military time...which confuses the hell out of me. So far, the building is dingy, but the people seem really nice. Today is orientation, so I guess I'll find out what I'm doing then. More later!

Preliminary post

I am keeping this blog so my friends and family can "follow" my activities during my stay in Israel. Look for updates at the end of October!