Classes for all of us

The Hebrew word "ulpan" means "studio"or "instruction" but it is primarily used to describe intensive Hebrew lessons. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the word: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulpan.  At any rate, today was my first Ulpan class! There are 8-9 women total, all native-English speakers from either the United States and South Africa with one "morah" (teacher) named Karen, a South African woman who made aliyah in the late 1990's. We meet at two different dirot (Randy's on Tuesdays and Kasha's on Sundays), both of which are in Ba'akah about a 15-17 minute walk from our dira. I pretty much have to walk by Aroma, the coffee place, on the way to Ba'akah, so I imagine I'll be stopping for natool at least twice a week! I'm so glad to be in an ulpan finally, although I am bummed I will only be here for the next two months of this one. (Shout out to Fern for organizing it!)

Our ulpan is for 90 minutes twice a week, and it focuses specifically on conversational Hebrew, which really is different than reading or writing Hebrew. While the words, grammar and letters are technically the same, conversational Hebrew is more informal. Today's topic of conversation was Hurricane Sandy, and I learned lots of words that I didn't know before: "p'nahseem" (batteries); "l'fanoht" (to evacuate); "l'heetchanehn" (to prepare); "tachbohrah tzeebohreet" (public transportation); "shemuah" (rumor); and many more. We have "shehurai bayeet" (homework) for next time - to learn at least 12 words from today's class and to write Hebrew sentences with them to illustrate that we know the meanings of the words.

Speaking of homework, we've started working with the WK and the CK on schoolwork from Cambridge. Although we're not particularly worried about the boys' catching up when we return to Cambridge, we're hoping that doing some of the work here will make the transition back easier for them. Both boys are super excited about doing their homework! I think part of it is that they know that they "know" the Cambridge assignments - the work is familiar to them (the assignments are in English, for one thing!). I think that familiarity makes them feel more in control than they otherwise do at school in Jerusalem. (Then again, what do I know? I am just winging it here.) We're making them pace themselves, so that most of it can be done before we return at the end of December and not all done within the next few weeks.

Pentheus started his class last night. He said there were about a dozen other people, none of whom he knew. The first class was interesting, which is good, and he plans to attend the rest of the classes in the course.

This week at school has been pretty good for the boys. Pentheus and I have been alternating days to walk them to school, and the schedule seems to be going well. I continue to be impressed by how much the Szold School is doing for the boys in terms of trying to help them adjust and learn Hebrew. The other kids are so nice to the CK and the WK, and seem to be trying hard to befriend them. I'm not sure how much effort the boys are putting in, but we feel like we can only push them so much. The WK has yet another birthday party this week. (The CK wants to have a "non-birthday party" before we leave for the States so that we can host a party for the other kids.) The WK hasn't found out yet (or at least he doesn't think he has found out yet) whether he made the Szold soccer team, but he has promised to ask the Coach what the scoop is. Here are some pics from around the outside of the school. The first one says "Government School 'Henrietta Szold' Jerusalem":

Aside from school and classes, we haven't done much the past few days. Yesterday the CK and I went downtown to pick up a ring that my sister had ordered, and, of course, we got some gummy candy as well. We wandered around to the different stores and had a good time. Taking buses in Israel is relatively easy, although I admit I have only taken the # 13 and the #18, and every time I get on a bus, I still confirm the destination with the driver. It took me several trips on the bus to figure out how to use my "rahv kahv" (bus pass).

It has to go in the slot in the proper direction; if not, the red light goes on. (I'm embarrassed to admit how many times the red light still goes on...)

The CK and I were talking about parking spots earlier, and we've noticed that instead of just marking spots for disabled people, the spots actually have the license plate of the person who can park in that spot. The CK took the picture but I'm not sure you can see the license plate on the car and the license plate number on the street sign next to it:

Tonight we all went to dinner at the "keekar" (square, as in Harvard Square, except this one doesn't have a name, as far as I know) near the dira. The CK had pizza from Big Apple Pizza (called that in Hebrew, too), while the rest of us had turkey in pita from "Manna v'Chetzi" (Portion and a Half). We've really loved having kosher meat all of the time at restaurants in Israel and will definitely miss that when we are back in Cambridge!

I know I still need to blog about Days 2-4 of our travels earlier in the month. I have started composing parts of the posts in my head, but I think I need just to start typing and adding pictures already. I will try to do that within the next few days.

Finally, here's a neat picture (at least I think so) that I took outside the dira tonight before dinner. It's an almost full moon peaking out between the trees: