First Week in Beer Sheva

Since the Internet isn’t set up in my room, I haven’t been able to post on a daily basis. Instead, I’ve been keeping track on my computer and I’ll be posting multiple entries at once – at least until I get the Internet sorted out. Hopefully that is soon.

Day One – Monday August 3, 2009

After a very long plane ride and a shorter than expected taxi ride, I finally arrived in Beer Sheva. The first person I met was Gali, a B-G student studying Biology and also a religious Jew – perhaps I judged this place too quickly. After lugging all my bags up three two flights of stairs, it’s time for my Ulpan exam. I was a little a little nervous because I hadn’t slept so much on the plane or the night before and this was my first day, but luckily for me, my teacher just wanted to hear me read a line and that was it. Ulpan Daled, just the level I thought I’d be in.
I then made a quick call to Sam. She came right over to the dorm with some essentials – blankets, silverware… - and then takes me on a tour of the campus. She helps me navigate the local grocery store and takes me to lunch in one of the many cafeterias (all of the kosher) where I feed my leftovers to a little white kitten. But after that Sam has to go because I have to run to my first Ulpan class.
Ulpan is great. I find it a little odd that I am the only Jew in the class, but two other join us the next day. I am in the perfect level with other students who actually want to learn. Even out of class, they want to speak in Hebrew, which is great because it’s the only way we’re ever going to get better. It’s also great that we all seem to be at the same level so there’s no one pushing us to fast or slowing us down.
After Ulpan we make a much-needed trip to the big grocery store in town. I didn’t really need very much because Sam had already taken me to get stuff, but it was good to hang out with the other kids in the program.
When we finally get back, it’s after 11pm and I’m exhausted. I met one of my roommates; his name is Vishnu, a Nepalese post-grad student who was sent to Israel to study agriculture technology. After saying hello, I quickly get into my room, lay down on the bed and I’m out. Good day.

Day Two- Tuesday August 4, 2009

I wake up at 5am. I can’t remember the last time I was up this early but I’m awake and I can’t fall back asleep. Luckily this is the perfect time to call Erica since she was just about to go to sleep.
I say hello to my other roommate: Stass, a big Russian-Israel. Then, after a hardy breakfast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I head out the door at 8 am so I can do my homework in the air-conditioned building 90 where I have Ulpan. There was no chance for me to do it the night before, but I didn’t have so much so it wasn’t a big deal.
Ulpan is going well. I ended up not having to give my presentation because we ran out of time and I finally figured out who my teacher reminded me of: Morah Shoshana, my Hebrew/Arabic teacher from high school.
After class I head over to see Sam’s apartment and finally meet Ari II. But I didn’t take into account that I had to be back on campus at 2pm for our trip so I was only able to stay for about 15 minutes. A little annoying but not too bad. The only bad thing is that I don’t have time to eat lunch. Not a good move when you have a big hike ahead of you.
I rushed back to campus to put on hiking shoes and get my camelback (and I am very happy I found that in my closet while I was packing). We then take a bus ride to one of the student villages of Ayalim outside Dimona (yes, that Dimona). They were built by students who took their discharge money from the army, and instead of traveling, they went to the Negev to build up Jewish settlements there. It’s very cool and I’m thinking about living there for the year instead of getting an apartment off campus.
After Ayalim, we headed over to Machtesh Ramon. I’ve been there before but it’s still beautiful. We took a REALLY long hike and then headed home.

Day Three – Wednesday August 5, 2009

My Ulpan class is getting bigger, but it’s still pretty small. The way we’re learning is much better than any system I’ve used before. Instead of learning straight from a book, each day half the class gives a presentation on a news story they read and we learn new vocabulary from them. That way we’re learning words that are actually helpful and would come up in normal conversations.
After Ulpan I decided to check out the kosher McDonald’s on campus. It feels weird ordering McDonald’s in Hebrew, but it tastes so good. However, my stomach disagreed very much and let me know.
A few hours later, I went over to the student affairs office with my friend Yishai to ask some questions about the Ayalim program. One of my big questions was “Are all the rooms that nice, or was the one we saw just really nice to make us want to live there?” Apparently, the room we saw wasn’t even one of the nice ones. Interesting.
In between classes I went online and found out that today, Euna Lee and Laura Ling were finally released from prison in North Korea. All it took was an official state visit from former President Clinton and his apology and now they are back in America. However, since their arrest, there has been virtually no coverage of their situation in the news. Similarly, there is almost no news about the captured American soldier Burgdahl in Afghanistan.
Why is it that in Israel, whenever there is any progress made in regards to Gilead Shalit, the first place it goes is on the front page of Haaretz? This has lead to absolutely nothing and is a recipe for disaster. This is the pattern of Shalit negotiations: Olmert says he won’t negotiate at all, but an unnamed source says he’ll release 200 prisoners so Hamas doesn’t budge. Olmert agrees to 400 prisoners but unnamed sources say he’ll release 1000. Hamas says it will consider a revised list, but once it’s published they deny it.
It’s about time Israel takes a page out of the American playbook and restrict certain – not all, but some – information, so that there can be some sort of real progress towards his release.
After being both elated and annoyed, I then head back over to Sam and Ari II’s apartment, so I can hang out with them for more than 10 minutes. It’s great to hang out with her again and Ari II is pretty cool. They were dog sitting for a friend, so both dogs were busy jockeying for attention. We ate some dinner and then took the dog with us to hang off to another sitter before going to see Sam’s English students.
In Arad, Sam introduces me to Julius and Yon, who are both Sudanese refugees, living and working in Israel. It is very humbling to listen to all they have gone through just to get to Israel. Their English is already very good and they also speak some Hebrew. We went to the mall to hang out and chat and I’m very surprised to see how quickly they have adapted to life here. Julius was even wearing an orange anti-disengagement bracelet “to fit in.” What a country.

Day Four – Thursday August 6, 2009

After Ulpan today I went to the bookstore to get a book to bring with me to Ein Gedi for Shabbat. I wanted to get “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited,” by Benny Morris (light reading) but I could only find it in Hebrew. I am not up to that challenge just yet. So after buying a new Hebrew-English dictionary, I went to the library to check it out there.
This was not an easy task. I had to search and search all over the building and when I finally found it, the only copy was an old frying copy with tape on the binding. Then when I went to check it out, I learned that I first had to activate my card, which was more difficult since it says I’m a student from 2008-2009 instead of 2009-2010. After spending a good 20 minutes with and old Israeli librarian, trying desperately to get this to just work already, I was finally ready to check out my book. She scans my card and says I have to have it back on Sunday. That’s 3 Days! I felt like I spent more time than that in line just to the get the book!
After this ordeal, I needed to relax, so I decided to hit the pool with a bunch of other students from the program. It is wonderful! Getting to swim while it is so incredibly hot out is just the best and I’m going to do it as often as I can. I didn’t want to leave.
I hurry back to my room so I can change in time for the movie tonight. The campus cinema – the Negative – is playing “Walk on Water.” I’ve seen it before, but it was interesting watching it with Israelis and a bunch of the students from Germany (it’s about a tormented Mossad agent who is hunting a rapidly aging Nazi war criminal). Eitan Fox, the director, is not very subtle (the main character physically can’t cry, the same 3 songs are cycled whenever something important is happening…) and his messages are very left-leaning (he makes it clear that it’s important to understand the motivation of suicide bombers because they must have a good reason to do something so horrible and yet he sees no contradiction when he shows no similar consideration to violent homophobic neo-Nazis. Apparently, there can be a reason to kill gays but there is justification for killing Jews).
After the movie, I went with a few friends to hang out with some of the German students who are studying here. Maybe it was because of the movie, but hearing them speaking amongst themselves in German gave me such a terrible feeling in my stomach. It didn’t matter how nice they were, or that they were also speaking in Hebrew. I just felt this weird feeling in my stomach that I was somehow surrounded.
One of them, a really outgoing guy named Max, decided he would open our conversation by telling me that there used to be a synagogue in his town before the Holocaust but now there isn’t one. What exactly am I supposed to say to that? Thanks for the sympathy? Should I ask him if he understands why there aren’t any Jews left in his town? Historical irony of a German telling me all this in Hebrew aside, I was incredibly uncomfortable. I wish I didn’t feel that way, but I guess all that Holocaust education that was drilled into my head for hours upon hours while I was growing up has had some effect on me. Hearing that much German – even when it’s punctuated by Hebrew – makes me nervous.
And on that happy note, I’m off to bed.

Days Five and Six – Friday and Shabbat August 7-8 2009

Today we hiked Masada. It wasn’t my first time, but it was still pretty great. Although, instead of going early in the morning before sunrise, we went at the hottest time of the day. So hot, in fact, that they actually closed off the snake path because of the heat. Thankfully they opened it up so we could walk down it… although it was still blisteringly hot.
After Masada we were off to Ein Bokek, a beautiful oasis near the Dead Sea. We hiked through steams and finally came to a shallow pool of water where we swam and hung out for at least an hour. It felt great to swim after being in the heat for so long.
While we were there, I met Gadi, Bat-Chen and Perah, three Israelis from Dimona. They were very nice and told me I should call them if I end up moving to the Ayalim village near them. Woo! New Israeli Friends! Go Hebrew! Maybe I’ll be able to spend the Haggim with them. But while I was there, I missed Erica’s call since I left my phone on the bus, so I didn’t get to talk to her at all before Shabbat. Time differences suck.
We decided to stay at Ein Bokek for longer than planned instead of rushing to the Dead Sea before Shabbat. So we relaxed in the water and eventually left and headed to our hostel outside Ein Gedi.
On the way, Ian and I discovered out mutual love of quoting cartoons. And I had been making so much progress in not doing that any more. Oh well.
We then ran over to the Dead Sea anyway. I had cuts on my feet from wearing my flip-flops for too long, and they burned when I stepped in the water. But after a while it stopped. I forgot how cool it was to just be able to float in the water. You don’t realize how much fun it is until you are here and even though I’d done it before, it was still lots of fun.
But we couldn’t stay long because Shabbat was about to start. So we ran back to the hostel, which was more like a really nice hotel that happened to have too many beds in one room than a hostel. However, when you’re feet are wet, it is very difficult to keep them in flip-flops and while climbing up from the Dead Sea and on pretty much every water-hike we did, I was in constant fear of falling and of them breaking as my feel slipped on almost every step. Good times.
We showered and got ready for Shabbat and then headed to the Hostel’s Beit Knesset. Aside from us, there was only one other guy there: an old Mizrachi Jew who was reciting Shir HaShirim. None of us were really sure what to do. Did we miss Minacha? Were we waiting for other people to show up? We decided to just wait for him to finish. Bad choice. He yelled at us for waiting for him, saying he wasn’t a Chazzan or in charge. So I was nominated to lead services, but since we didn’t have a minyan (as I had to awkwardly explain that we weren’t all Jewish), we only did Kabbalat Shabbat out together.
Then we had a wonderful schnitzel dinner (I did Kiddush) and afterwards we all got together and played mafia. Ari, if you’ve made it this far into the blog, I will admit it’s a pretty fun game when people are actually willing play.
We then all hung out for a long time, drinking beers and playing Thumper. It was lots a fun and just a very chill night.

The next morning I woke up at 6 am but services weren’t until 8:30 so I went back to sleep. The next thing I knew it was 10 am and breakfast was over. We then rushed to get ready for the hike.
We walked into Ein Gedi and it’s just as amazing as I remembered it. We walk up and jumped into a spring and just cooled off (it was boiling again). Then we walked up a little more and jumped into another spring. It was great; except my shoulders got really burnt despite all the suntan lotion I’ve been putting on.
When we got back, Ian, Mario, Josh and I decided to head over to the Dead Sea and walked really far down along the beach to find some mud. We covered ourselves completely and some Israelis asked us if we were from Zimbabwe. Oy.
I had never used Dead Sea mud before but it isn’t that hard to figure out. We just globbed it on and it was great. Plus, my skin is now silky smooth and my cuts didn’t hurt when I went into the water. I definitely recommend it.
We then went back to the hostel and I just fell right asleep. The next thing I knew, Ian was telling me that we had 15 minutes to get our stuff together and get out. We then all did Havdalah (guess who led) and got on the bus to go back to Beer Sheva. We watched “Ahava Colombianit” on the way, so Jason, now we can talk about it (although we didn’t get all the way to the very end).
Back at the dorms, Ian’s friend Aaron, who just made Aliyah and is now in the army, came to hang out. We went to the bar right next to the dorms and just had a few beers. It was cool, but a little weird for me to be in Israel and hanging out with someone who actually did what I thought I was going to do for such a long time. It didn’t make me thing I made the wrong decision (I don’t think that) but it just gave me a weird feeling. I guess some things never leave you completely.
Now it’s time for me to go to bed. It’s 2 am and I need to get up early because with all that hiking and swimming, I still haven’t done my Hebrew homework. But I don’t feel so bad since I’ve been using my Hebrew way more than most people and made friends with Israelis. Now if only they’d stop calling me Chamud and asking me if I’m about to start college.