The first week in Israel was nothing short of amazing. The travel to the university was awful. It consisted of delayed flights, tiny seats, lost luggage and a crazy sherut (shared taxi) driver who pulled up to another sherut on the highway and told me to get out and get into another one which would take me the rest of the way to the university. Once I was settled in life seemed to slow down and I was able to enjoy and be thankful for the paradise which I will call home for the next 5 months.
Although, I don't know how much relaxation I will be able to find during the month of August- when the program used the phrasing "intensive" I did not realize how accurate of a description that would be.
Arabic in the morning, Arabic in the evening, Arabic at supper time, when Arabic is being learned I'm doing Arabic all the time...
They separated us into levels of language skill... obviously I am in elementary one along with a number of other students whom all seem as equally as overwhelmed as I am. There are two different elementary one classes, mine is made up of seven students included myself and one very patient professor. Everyday in classroom I am reading, writing and speaking Arabic- something I never thought was possible. It is totally worth all of the headaches and fatigue that come with the course. We had our first test on Thursday so I am crossing my fingers that I did well...
After our classes on Thursday our Madrachim (counselor type folk) took us on a tour of the city of Haifa. The tour stopped first at the Bahai Gardens which were absolutely breathing taking...
Then they showed us the the Stella Maris Cathedral where the tomb of Napoleon's dead soldiers is located which is sorta nifty and then after that we stumbled on over to the cave of Elijah. (life isn't real here)
The next stop was at the shuk (market) where my mother would have died and gone to heaven. The food was so incredibly fresh and the people so incredibly kind. I was looking at some grapes to buy and a young man working came over and picked off a grape and then popped it right into my mouth. I was taken aback both by the forward gesture as well as the crisp juiciness of the grape. The whole experience was magical.
I think we (my roommates and I) are planning on going to the Druz shuk on Sunday or Monday to check out the similarities and differences.
Dried fruit and nuts, I'm in love.
It smelled kinda nasty, but the fish sure were fresh
The fifth and final stop was in Wadi Nisnas, a village where Jews, Christians, and Muslims live in harmony- a rare and beautiful occurrence in Israel. We were taken through the village which was covered in wonderful artwork done by local artists to illustrate their idea of peace. After walking through the village we were led to a falafel restaurant which claimed to have the best falafel in town...I have to say it was pretty darn good. (I'm probably going to go back for seconds reaaaal soon)
After inhaling the falafel we walked on to the Arabian bakery which was filled with the most delectable looking deserts I have ever seen. I was not able to fit anymore into my stomach but I warned the owners that I would be back, back with a determination to bust my belt.
There is so much more to say but I have to save my fingers and your eyes, so I will cut it short and promise to try and update this as frequently as possible.
xxoo
No comments:
Post a Comment