Ulpan

So, I went to ulpan here for the first time today. Ulpan, if you just made it here, is an intensive language immersion class designed to teach students to speak Hebrew and integrate into the culture/country as quickly as possible.
It was originally instituted as a program for new immigrants in the 40s, especially after 1948. The first ulpan established was Ulpan Etzion (pronounced eht-tsee-yohn), in Jerusalem. This is the ulpan that I will be attending in January, and baruch hashem (thank god) that, aside from the students' notorious partying habits, I have heard nothing but excellent things about the school.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
My temporary ulpan is called Ulpan Moresh (or Morasha, I've not been able to get a definitive answer on this) and is situated basically in the center of Jerusalem.
Every morning, because Har Gilo is a settlement and a twenty to ninety minute drive to Jerusalem depending on the traffic, I take a bus to the city at 7am. This morning was my first morning riding this bus, so naturally, especially being new to the country, I didn't have much idea of the route or where to get off. About an hour into the trip, I recognized where we were, saw that it would soon be close to where I needed to disembark (or 'go down', as it's said in Hebrew), so I pushed the stop button....about a minute too late. To my great dismay, the bus didn't stop anywhere near from where I needed to go but instead went all the way to the central station without stopping once. This left me with about ten minutes to get to my class, which is about 2 or 3 miles from the station.
So...I started to run. I ran two blocks before I realized that I would never make it in time (and what kind of a putz walks in late on the first day...not me), even if I could run fast. To make a boring story short, I hopped on a bus going in the general direction....and again got off one stop too late.
Eventually, I did make it on time (baruch hashem) and found a great seat up front.
So...since this is a post about ulpan and not me trying to figure out the Jerusalem city bus system, let me tell you a little about the class.
There were about 25 to 30 students in the class, all ages and genders included (er...both genders, I mean). The woman sitting next to me, named Alice was a nice lady, a 50-some-year old new immigrant from Pennsylvania. She knew no Hebrew whatsoever. This was a little frustrating when we were assigned partner/group work, but hopefully it will change in the future.
The teachers (there are two - one for morning and one for afternoon, and they switch each day) are awesome. Very Israeli. Very in-your-face. Spicy like a jalapeno and sweet like brown sugar at the same time. They are much like drill sargents, if you can imagine that in a language class. The class is designed to help you speak quickly. It isn't really geared towards grammatical minutiae, which is how I have studied ancient Hebrew and Hebrew in general up to this point.
I am a little bored (surprise) and wish we could go faster. But there were people today who were asking her to slow down. Her response? "You need to go faster, you know. This is an intensive Hebrew course. It will pick up". No sympathy. I have some for them, but I want to go faster and faster.
So, we will see how it progresses. I have promised to give it two weeks. If it's still too slow, I will speak with the teacher. Too bad they don't have an honors program or something....
In the end I am so thankful and excited to finally be learning Hebrew. It's really a blessing; that's the most important thing right now.

Address

By the way, if any of you want to send me something, here is my address until mid-January:

Mobile Post Zephon/Yehudah 7/3
Har Gilo 90907
Israel

I also have a vonage number where I am staying (it rings in Israel but dials through America, so it doesn't count as an international call): 971-223-5172
Remember, Israel is ten hours ahead of PST.

I'm here!

I'm here, everyone, safe and sound.
I flew into Tel Aviv on Sunday afternoon and have been doing all sorts of things since. I am starting to get settled, living with a friend of mine in a J'lem (Jerusalem) suburb called Har Gilo.
Yesterday, I went to the post office to register for my health insurance, which is almost basically free (at least for new immigrants, I think) - what a weird place to register for insurance....ah well.
You must know, there's really no rhyme or reason to most things here.
I also went to get my bank account, which I have to have to get my dough (in shekels) every month from the government. A very polite and helpful man named Moris told me that I have to have my teudat zehut (national I.D. card, everyone has to have one and carry it at all times) before I can get my bank account. This may or may not be true, according to whom you talk with at the bank, but he was nice so I will believe him. To get your teudat zehut, you have to go to the misrad hapnim (ministry of interior), but it was closed yesterday at noon (we were there at 1pm). So I came back early this morning to get my ID card and the man told me I have to bring my birth certificate, which wasn't on the list of things I needed (someone's fault, but you wil never figure out who). I called my friend Nancy and she brought my B.C to me, but it was already too late by th etime she was coming in to the city. So the misrad hapnim is closed right now until 2:30pm, and I cannot get my ID card until then.
So that was fun....NOT! It's an ongoing process, too. I really hope to god that I can get it today.
So, because I had some time to kill and I want to start learning Hebrew NOW (the lack of ability to communicate is enough to frustrate me into insanity), I went and checked out an ulpan (Hebrew school for new immigrants) not far from the city center called Ulpan Morasha. I am starting on Sunday at 8:30. Woohoo! We'll see how that goes. When I got there, one of the teachers started semi-interrogating me, trying to figure out how much Hebrew I know. Apparently, although I can ask all sorts of questions and get around alright, my Hebrew sucks. So I am starting in the first level. Hopefully I will start learning quickly and not be bored.
So now, I am just waiting until the misrad hapnim opens. Maybe I will get a falafel or something. There is no lack of AMAZING food here. Baruch hashem! Thank god!!
Signing off.

Three Days to Go...

Thus begins the countdown to the beginning of the end. Everyone I see has been asking me the same questions: "When do you leave?" and "How do you feel?"
I leave on Thursday, take Amtrak down to LA (yes, it's long, 28 hours of long), and leave LAX on Sunday for a non-stop (that's right, no stops whatsoever. at. all.) flight to TLV (Tel Aviv-Yafo). The TLV airport is not actually in Tel Aviv, as LAX is in LA and PDX is in Portland. The airport is actually called Ben-Gurion International and is named after Israel's greatest pioneer and first prime minister. It is just outside of Tel Aviv, on the main highway from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. But, who cares? I'm just splitting hairs, nitpicking, insisting that everything be perfect, or at the least accurate. I'm such a stickler. The thing is, Israel is so small (think New Jersey or smaller - about a one hour drive from West to East) that 'just outside of Tel-Aviv' is not Tel-Aviv at all, and moving a green line one mile to the East is the difference between fomenting hatred and violence, and families and children living in the midst of violence and hatred.
The answer to the second question is more complicated, so I will give a shorter answer. I feel great. I feel happy, sad, bold, scared, ballsy, terrified, shaking in my booties, excited, nervous-excited, anxious-excited. I imagine myself standing on the edge of an enormous precipice (sp?), about to leap off and soar into the unknown. I feel as though I am leaning over the edge, trying with all my might to see what's going to happen, to get some glimpse of the future. It is both sunny and bright, and covered with a think pea-soup-like fog at the same time.
Furthermore, I am on a schedule. I am ready to jump. I am in the crouching position, muscles tensed, my mind focused on one thing - taking the leap. BUT I CAN'T, because my ticket says Thursday, 5:10pm. Frustration!!!! Will it never end??!!
And I know that I will look back on this time and miss my parents and my friends and (gasp!) Eugene and the pets and my family. I already do.
But I am ready. It is time. I am ready to follow my dreams.

By the way, this is the one I am going to miss the most:

This is Gracie, my cute, little, adorable 1 yr old cousin. She is the only person (don't tell her) for whom, if she asked me to stay, I would. This photo was taken at her birthday party last weekend.

Just to let you know

So...I just learned something, in case you wanted to know. 'Blog' for those of you who are, like me, not as quick on the uptake, is an abbreviation for 'web log'. hehe.
I'm glad we cleared that up.

Sukkah!!!

Yes, it has finally happened. Joanna has built a sukkah!
I slept in it the first night, ate lunch in it a few days ago, but I am a weenie when it's cold outside and haven't been out to eat or sleep in it since. Thus I am moving to the Mediterranean, where it's warm, most of the time.

For information on what I'm talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot

Been Down So Long...

Welcome back to me! I haven't blogged in like forever!
Hey!
Wait a minute! Now, before you start with the accusations (You're so lazy, Joanna!) and the assumptions (You just don't care about your non-existent blog audience, do you?), I have some very good reasons why I have been away for almost three weeks. I wanted to get on my computer, sit down in a nice coffee shop somewhere and write you some nice posts. I wanted to tell you what was going on, but I couldn't. Why? You might ask.
Because some mean, crazy, stupid people broke into my house and took off with my laptop. From my desk. While. I. was. sleeping. in. my. bed. three. feet. from. my. desk. Creepy, huh?
They also grabbed my purse with my cell phone, wallet, and some nice chap stick from my best friend Jena, and my dad's wallet from the kitchen counter.

By the way, if those creeps are reading this, GOD. will. give. me. justice. You will reap what you have sown. You need to find a new hobby other than ripping innocent people off for your fix. Get a job.

Anyway, I'm mostly over it. It isn't the loss of material possessions that gets me down (although I loved that purse, and there were some pictures and peoples' contact information that are now gone), but the fact that somebody entered my house, was in my room while I was sleeping (ick!), and violated the safe space in which I live is too much for me.

By the way, if anyone I know is reading this who wants me to have their contact information, send it to me at jscheyer at comcast dot net (jscheyer@comcast.net). Send a phone number, address and email. I have nothing. I have none of the numbers that were in my cell phone, nor the addresses and emails I had transfered to my computer from little scraps of paper.

Well, that's it. I'll try to post some pictures of my sukkah - the first I've ever built! Yay me!