Loca People

"Viva la fiesta."

I hope all of you who celebrated Purim had a fun time! I sure did ;) For those of you that do not know the Jewish holiday Purim, it is a holiday in which people get dressed up and celebrate the story of Queen Ester and the survival of the Jewish people. It is a bit like Mardi Gras and Halloween combined...but more about that later.

My first week in Beer Sheva and my Hebrew emersion program have been better than I expected. My Hebrew is still pretty terrible but it is definitely good enough to speak with people for short periods of time. Talking to the two other girls on my program is especially easy because they are in the same boat as me and they are very patient. I am still not comfortable enough to strike up conversations in Hebrew with strangers but I think that will come in time. Generally, I am not all that frustrated. I also feel like I have already been learning more here than I was learning in Haifa. That is a really great feeling. It validates my decision to come here.

The man in charge of my program, Tomer, met us at the train station on Monday. Since then he has showed us around the city and campus, took us to dinner, helped us to set up everything we need on campus, and administered a Hebrew exam. He is very nice and extremely helpful. Here is an example: I am alone this weekend because the two other girls went to Haifa to pick up some stuff they left there last semester. This morning Tomer called me and asked if I wanted to go grocery shopping. In the car he told me about things I could do this weekend. He did not want me to be lonely or bored. Because of his prompting, I went to the Old City and the market this afternoon. It was nice to see the city alone for the first time. I am not going to go to the student Shabbat dinner that he suggested because I think I will feel uncomfortable going alone. Instead I have planed a delicious Mediterranean/Middle Eastern themed meal. I will eating roasted eggplant with tahini, quinoa with olives and feta cheese, Israeli salad, and pita with hummus. Tomorrow morning I plan on walking an hour each way to the Mezorti (Conservative) synagogue here. Hopefully, it will be worth it.

Besides basic orientation, Tomer also organized for us to go to a big student party in the Old City for Purim. Some students picked us up in front of our dorm and brought us to their apartment. They fed us, gave us drinks, and took us to the party. It was packed. The whole place was decorated in a Tanakh (the Torah, Prophets, and Writings) theme. People were dressed up and having an awesome time. I enjoyed getting to go out and dance with the girls from my program. I also think that it was important for us to have the opportunity to speak in Hebrew with young Israelis. (Although with all the noise it was not easy to understand them.) We had a lot of fun. When we left at two thirty in the morning the party was still going strong.

Yesterday, Purim day, we woke up late but still made it to the carnival in the huge shopping complex of Beer Sheva called Big. There were people pretending to be statues, acrobatics, food, and games. The best part was to see all of the costumes. All week people have been walking around wearing costumes but I think many people saved their best for the carnival. There were also festivities today that I saw in the Old City at the street fair. People here take Purim very seriously.


Based my experiences so far, I think that it is going to be really fun to live in Beer Sheva. There is a very strong student life: a lot of fun workout/dance classes to take on campus, a movie theater, and it seems like people here sit around outside being social a lot. I am also planning on volunteering for five hours a week. Tomer has a couple of options of places I could potentially volunteer that relate to my major in Psychology. We are going to meet about it soon and make some decisions.

My dorm here is pretty simular to the one I had in Haifa. The major differences are that I am in a single (instead of a double) and that my kitchen has a microwave and toaster-oven. I have been cooking more extravagant dishes now that I have more tools to use. The only downside of my living situation right now is that I haven't actually met my roommates. They are on break until Sunday and I guess they all went home. The two other girls in my program both met some of their roommates but they also have some that went home. There are three other rooms in the apartment but I am not sure if there are actually three other people living here. It is not a big deal but it is a bizarre situation. I have been using the plates, pot, and pan in the kitchen but I do not know if that is okay. I guess I will find out soon enough.


Sunday I begin my classes. I will be in class Sunday though Thursday. Every day I have Hebrew for an hour and half. On Sunday and Wednesday I also have my two other classes for an hour and a half each. It really is not that much class time, in my opinion, but I definitely do not mind. My two classes are with the two girls from my program. We are taking the History of Israeli Cinema and Media and the Anthropology and Sociology of Israel. Our courses, like everything we do here, are in Hebrew. I am very excited for my classes on Sunday and to truly begin the program!