We arrive at the shuk at 8:15 on the dot, split up by level/instructor and they take us across the street to a small park area so Abby and I can read our paragraphs in Hebrew about the history of the shuk. We play a short game (just like we'd do in the classroom) pretending that one of us is a seller and one is a customer. The catch? The entire interaction has to be in questions. Think "Whose Line is it Anyway" with Drew Carey or whoever stars on it.
"Good morning, how are you?"
"Do you have the time?"
"Can I help you find something?"
"Do you sell chicken?"
"How much chicken do you want?"
"Do you also have vegetables?"
"Why don't you want to pay me for the chicken?"
The game goes on and on and it's very funny :)
We move into the shuk and continue with various games. The next one is to find out the names of various desserts in Hebrew, from Marzipan, the famous rugelach store. Our team may or may not have won, but in ulpan, everyone's a winner! The next stop is Uzieli, the etrog healer man. (Etrogs are a citron fruit used during the fall harvest holiday of Sukkot.) He uses etrog juice in drinks, facial sprays, and all sorts of other healing methods. Someone's task was to describe his shop in Hebrew, so we all understood what we were doing there. We then sample his products, including being sprayed in the face by etrog juice. He says it's good for the skin. Yeah, we'll see about that.
On to more and more stations and more fun games. We finally leave the shuk around 10:15 and take a private bus back to Beit Ar-El to continue the ulpan lesson in the classroom. Abby, Josh, and I stick with it until 12:30 and we are exhausted. Man, this waking up in the 6:00 hour type thing - does not work for me. I come back to the apartment for a well deserved nap :) Halfway through my nap, I hear men's voices (yes, multiple, not just one) through my door. I'm thinking - maybe one of the boys from next door is home or in the hallway. Marlowe knew I was napping; she wouldn't have invited anyone into the living room (which with my room shares a wall), right? Hmmm well I toss and turn a bit, my stomach growls, and I get out of bed to find 2 maintenance men trying to install a new wireless internet unit in our apartment. (We are logged in to the apartment next door until they get us our own.) I wander out of bed groggy as ever, stumble into the kitchen for my leftovers (salad from Caffit). Absolutely delicious. Count me in for leftovers next time too!
Time for another nap since the first one didn't work so well. I told Rachelle I'd wake up in time to go to the gym around 6. In reality, we both wake up from our half naps, and head to the gym. It's in one of the yearcourse apartment buildings on Hevron Street which is not too far away. It's free for us to use anytime it's open, which is great! Turns out they have 2 treadmills, 2 ellipticals (or what I am convinced is really a Nordic track), an upright bike, a recumbent bike, and multiple machines. There is a staff person there to make sure everything is running smoothly, and from what Rachelle has told me, he will also help you figure out what's best for you, and assist you with certain exercises if you want him to. Although I didn't catch his name, he was very friendly and helpful while we were there, especially to the yearcourse kids who were around. Day one at the gym - check.
Wednesday (10/6) brings us another day in ulpan and another afternoon seminar. This one is entitled "Israel's political map." I'm pretty excited because I love maps and looking at geography. I figured looking at various maps of Israel from over the years (pre 1948/UN, 1948, 1967, 1973, until now) would help me understand history, as my brain is not normally equipped for such things. We all gather in Kitah (classroom) Hey (a Hebrew letter, basically classroom #5) at 3:30 for Ilan Bloch's presentation. Turns out, this is not a session about maps at all. Well, kind of, but not in this way. His presentation is describing the political SYSTEM in Israel, not exactly a map. The Knesset, Israeli Parliament, is set up very differently from the US government, most obvious to note is that the Knesset is made up of multiple parties, not just two (left wing and right wing). After an overview of the system, the parties, the seats, the "map," he splits us up into very small groups (2-3 of us at a time) to become each of the main parties. He asks who identifies as strictly secular (and ends up giving those folks a party who is on the religious end of the spectrum). He asks who is pretty religious and stands by their beliefs that the land of Israel should be whole, not split into a two-state solution (and ends up giving those folks a party who is very left-wing and happy to give up land for peace). You see the trend - we had to think in a perspective that not only was not our own, but probably one that felt very uncomfortable. Case in point. Well done, Ilan. Each group split up to its own location around the building to work on a short project that included giving a campaign speech, song/poem/tv advertisement, and poster. Rachel Good and I are assigned to represent the New National Religious Party. Ha, this is going to be fun. We worked very well together to come up with a nice speech representing our party to inform "the voters" about our platform, and a poster (thanks to my beautiful skills with markers). We reconvened as a group in total; 10 presentations later, we each cast a vote (as ourselves, not our characters) as if we were actually voting in an election in Israel. Man, it was hard! Kadima doesn't know who they are and what the even represent, and so many parties are all over the left/right spectrum when it comes to various issues, the main three being: land for peace, religion and state, and socialist or free market economy. Hard to decide but I pick one and we move on. He summarized the activity and we head out of the classroom.
Another evening spent in the apartment, doing ulpan homework and catching up on the blog. I always end up staying online too late, catching up with friends from back home. Hey, that's how the time difference works out around these parts.
Laila tov/goodnight!
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