Just a Quick Update

Well, so far I have finished one final, only four more to go! I have my written Hebrew final this Friday, my Palestinian History class has its final on Sunday, I have a final for Jewish Settlement in the Land of Israel on Monday, and last but not least, my Greco-Roman class take home final is due next Thursday (December 30). I also have to be completely moved out by December 30, so it is going to be a busy week and a half. I had my oral final in Hebrew today and I believe that it went well. Our dialogue was very very good thanks to my Israeli roommate patiently listening and correcting us. I later helped her with her English homework.

Anyway, I thought that maybe I should put some links up here for some of the songs that we have gone over in either Hebrew or other classes and other songs that are popular. Here they are:

For Chanukkah:




Songs we listened to in Hebrew





זה מן הסרט סלאח שבאתי (From the movie Sallah Shabati)



(From the movie Someone to Run With) זה מן הסרט מישהו לרוץ איתו



Hope you enjoy!

Chanukah, my Birthday, and Everything Inbetween

Well it's been awhile since I last posted. These past few weeks have been pretty hectic. I finished midterms, am starting finals (I have two this week for Hebrew) and am getting ready to say goodbye to Israel. But before I do, let me tell you what's happened.

First, I went to go see Harry Potter with my cousin. I personally loved the movie, though unfortunately, everyone in the theater talked the entire time. It was quite annoying but when we asked them to shut up, first politely and then not so nicely, they simply ignored us. The movie theater was decent (you have assigned seats once you buy your tickets) and the only real problem was the bathroom situation, which ran out of toilet paper sometime during intermission and they never bothered to replace it. That's that other thing about seeing movies in Israel, there's a break somewhere in the middle. Doesn't always make sense where they stop, but they do. The break was nowhere near 10 minutes though and my cousin barely made it back in time.

I also did a bit more shopping these past couple of weeks and spent way too much money. I went through the Armenian and Arab markets in the Old City again and bought some small trinkets. I also went to an amazing paper cut store near Ben Yehuda called Judaicut and bought a piece from them. I went to the Israel Museum again on a field trip and learned a bit more about Second Temple Judaism, especially burials and the Dead Sea Sect.

For my birthday, I went up to visit my cousin Sanda and she made me a Mexican feast (or at least as close as you can get in Israel). We had chili rellenos with mole, vegetarian tacos, rice, beans, horchata, tortilla soup, and more! It was amazing and delicious. I also received two nice hand-made cards, the first from my roommate, the second is from my cousin:

We also had our first instance of real rain in Jerusalem and I am happy it's over. The rain itself wasn't too bad, but it was ridiculously windy, making it impossible to use an umbrella. It was so strong that sometimes you got blown a bit off course. In Zichron Yaakov, the power went out the storm was so bad (it was out for well over six hours!) But the weather has improved again and I am just preparing for all my finals. Til next time!

Pictures from the Spa Day!

Midterms and Thanksgiving!

The past couple of weeks have been very hectic for me, so I've been neglecting my blog, but here's a quick post to let ya'll know what I have been up to.

First, I have been swamped with midterms. For my Jewish Settlement in the Land of Israel class I had to write a 10 page paper on a topic of my choice. I decided to write about UN Resolution 181 which passed 11/29/1947 (Israelis call the day ט בנובמברכ(. My essay focused on why countries voted in favor of the partition plan. I had a variety of case studies—Sweden, Finland, the Soviet Union, and the United States—as well as more general observations. All of the research took up a lot of time.

On top of writing a 10 page paper, I got sick for a few days. I had a low grade fever and felt absolutely miserable, especially since I had a Hebrew midterm that week as well. I got better in time to take my midterm, but I made some pretty stupid mistakes on the test.

I've also had midterms in my two other classes as well. For my Palestinian History class we had our test in class—thirty multiple choice questions. It was fairly simple and I did well. For my Greco Roman history class my midterm was a take home exam with three three-page essays. It's due today and I just recently finished going over all my essays for the last time. I wrote about the problem with studying Second Temple Judaism, the uses of Hellenism by the Hasmonean Dynasty and Herod, and lastly, I compared to scholarly articles. Sounds boring right? Well it was rather tedious and I am happy to be done.

Unfortunately, I have another 10 page paper to do for my internship for UCLA this week and then I'm free (mostly) until finals. So what else I have been up?

Well, I went to Sanda's last weekend for Thanksgiving and all of us girls (Sanda, Stefanie, and I) had a spa day on Friday. We went to an amazing place near Safed and all got massages. It was my first time and I absolutely loved it. (I will post pictures sometime soon). On Thursday, I had a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner, complete with tofurky and pumpkin cheesecake. Friday I had a more traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and stuffing, etc.

Then, a few days ago, Rothberg in their infinite wisdom decided that Rachel and I needed more roommates and three new people moved in. They are all Israeli, two boys and one girl. So far they all seem to be pretty nice, but I haven't had much time to talk to them yet. We all seem to have different schedules, so I've only talked to Anat, the girl, who is also majoring in history. I helped her a little bit with one of her assignments, though she had to translate everything I said into Hebrew. Eventually, I might ask them to help me with some of my Hebrew homework, though I usually do okay. At least they brought a lot of kitchen supplies. We now have a microwave, toaster oven, cappuccino machine, and coffeemaker. We also have new rugs, tablecloths, and bathmats. They brought some pictures as well but so far they haven't hung anything up but I'm hoping they do so our apartment won't be quite so barren.

Anyway, that's been my last few weeks in a nutshell. This Friday I'm heading to Tel Aviv to check out Nachalat Binyamin (נחלת בנימין) an artists' market. I went once before and had a great time. I'm hoping that they have more stuff because it's Chanukah. (Here's the website: http://www.nachalatbinyamin.com/en-Default.aspx) Then, I am taking the train up to visit Sanda. And that's it. I will try and post more pictures soon!