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Israel: Unscripted
Apr. 12th, 2011 01:03 amWell, it certainly was a busy weekend. Or at least, Sunday was. Saturday was mostly spent sleeping, which was a good thing considering how stressed I'd gotten the night before; enough to induce severe heartburn. Fortunately, I had the medication for it.
The stress was mostly personal, nothing to do with the ulpan or adjusting to living here. The only twang of homesickness in a couple weeks was a dream where I went home for the upcoming Pesach holiday, since we get two entire weeks off. Even in the dream I was worrying about the cost of a ticket, though, and the dream promptly segued into something involving police chasing elf children through a mall and dwarves made of stone. So...the dream may have just been regular weirdness.
Sunday was right back to work. Besides vacations and free weekends, the only day I get off is Saturday. Sunday, depending on which Hebrew class (or kita) you're in, you either go to class or work. I got Mario's Garden again, and I remembered sunscreen this time. Hard to forget, actually, when I'm still peeling from the last sunburn. This time I didn't get assigned to picking onions. I weeded them! :D
Okay, perhaps that sounded a little condescending. I actually enjoy working in the organic garden regardless of what tasks I've been assigned thus far. Weeding the onion sprouts (which will be replanted once they get big enough) is an incredibly delicate task, since you don't want to uproot the sprouts while you're clearing out the weeds. The weeds also didn't have thorns, unlike many of the ones I've dealt with thus far, which was a relief to say the least. The conversation was nice too. When you're working in the cheder ochel or the kitchen, you don't get as much of an opportunity to chat as you do working outside, where the pace is a good deal less frantic--at least thus far. I also got to work a little with Mario, who while very...certain of what he wants done in the garden, is very kind about it.
Afterward, I went into the colbo (mini-mart, supermarket) to do some shopping for blank paper and envelopes. I also found tons and tons of chocolate from Germany (Kinderschokolade~), and Israel (of course) though I only bought one small bar.
I also began filming part of a vlog I was thinking of starting called "Israel: Unscripted". As the title says, I'll be doing it on the fly. I wanted to do it like that so that the experience would be more genuine. Here's the first episode:
Monday (today, actually, but...I spent so long writing this it's now Tuesday) was class. There's definitely a lot of vocabulary to learn; around twenty words a day! We started on adjectives and reviewed the ablative case (to/for, though it wasn't introduced as such and the case names were never mentioned) and forming questions from statements.
I also discussed the previously-mentioned question of budget with the ulpan director. The money is mostly spent on staff, housing, and food as well as lessons (turns out the work only pays for food and housing on the days you work).
Relating to phones: I did forget to mention last time that I had ordered a phone on...I believe it was Monday, from IsraelPhones. The very next day, I had my phone. They answered any questions I had promptly and without being evasive when I was ordering, and all in all it was a very good experience.
One final thought before I go to bed: As someone who spent most of her youth in a middle- to lower-class black neighborhood in the upper South, it was...really, really odd to see black people speak anything but English (especially anything but Ebonics). I'm not trying to be racist, I'm really not. That's just one of the things I wasn't expecting to surprise me. It's always the little things that catch you off-guard.
See you next time, when I'll be drawing up a more detailed list for a first-aid kit (Internet permitting, I may also edit the original packing list). Shalom!
The stress was mostly personal, nothing to do with the ulpan or adjusting to living here. The only twang of homesickness in a couple weeks was a dream where I went home for the upcoming Pesach holiday, since we get two entire weeks off. Even in the dream I was worrying about the cost of a ticket, though, and the dream promptly segued into something involving police chasing elf children through a mall and dwarves made of stone. So...the dream may have just been regular weirdness.
Sunday was right back to work. Besides vacations and free weekends, the only day I get off is Saturday. Sunday, depending on which Hebrew class (or kita) you're in, you either go to class or work. I got Mario's Garden again, and I remembered sunscreen this time. Hard to forget, actually, when I'm still peeling from the last sunburn. This time I didn't get assigned to picking onions. I weeded them! :D
Okay, perhaps that sounded a little condescending. I actually enjoy working in the organic garden regardless of what tasks I've been assigned thus far. Weeding the onion sprouts (which will be replanted once they get big enough) is an incredibly delicate task, since you don't want to uproot the sprouts while you're clearing out the weeds. The weeds also didn't have thorns, unlike many of the ones I've dealt with thus far, which was a relief to say the least. The conversation was nice too. When you're working in the cheder ochel or the kitchen, you don't get as much of an opportunity to chat as you do working outside, where the pace is a good deal less frantic--at least thus far. I also got to work a little with Mario, who while very...certain of what he wants done in the garden, is very kind about it.
Afterward, I went into the colbo (mini-mart, supermarket) to do some shopping for blank paper and envelopes. I also found tons and tons of chocolate from Germany (Kinderschokolade~), and Israel (of course) though I only bought one small bar.
I also began filming part of a vlog I was thinking of starting called "Israel: Unscripted". As the title says, I'll be doing it on the fly. I wanted to do it like that so that the experience would be more genuine. Here's the first episode:
Monday (today, actually, but...I spent so long writing this it's now Tuesday) was class. There's definitely a lot of vocabulary to learn; around twenty words a day! We started on adjectives and reviewed the ablative case (to/for, though it wasn't introduced as such and the case names were never mentioned) and forming questions from statements.
I also discussed the previously-mentioned question of budget with the ulpan director. The money is mostly spent on staff, housing, and food as well as lessons (turns out the work only pays for food and housing on the days you work).
Relating to phones: I did forget to mention last time that I had ordered a phone on...I believe it was Monday, from IsraelPhones. The very next day, I had my phone. They answered any questions I had promptly and without being evasive when I was ordering, and all in all it was a very good experience.
One final thought before I go to bed: As someone who spent most of her youth in a middle- to lower-class black neighborhood in the upper South, it was...really, really odd to see black people speak anything but English (especially anything but Ebonics). I'm not trying to be racist, I'm really not. That's just one of the things I wasn't expecting to surprise me. It's always the little things that catch you off-guard.
See you next time, when I'll be drawing up a more detailed list for a first-aid kit (Internet permitting, I may also edit the original packing list). Shalom!
