The hustle and bustle never seems to stop, as is the case of the last few days.
Last Thursday, I had a set game plan on how my afternoon was going to go, then I was invited to go to a winery. After much internal debate, I decided to go to the winery. Myself and eight others took a sherut (shared taxi) to the town of Zikron Yaakov, about 40 minutes away. We went to the winery, got a five minute tour, made our purchases, then set out to see a bit of the town down the street, including a restaurant to have some wine ourselves. In the evening, we made our way back to the winery for a wine and cheese tasting. It was very relaxing and quite pleasant, however we stayed mostly to a corner so we international shorts-wearing tourists didn't have to mingle with the evening-dressed 50 and 60 year old patrons.
Friday. 0500 hours. Wake up. 0615. Bus ride. 0840. Arrive at destination: Jerusalem. That's right, twice in one week, though this time was with the organized University trip. There were two options but both included the Tomb of King David and the Western Wall. The Jewish tour went to the City of David, which included a quarter-mile hike in a water tunnel, and a Christian tour, which included the room of the Last Supper, Via Dolorosa, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I've been in the water tunnel, and I'm not here to see things I've seen before. So I did what made most people raise their eye brows – I went on the Christian tour. For even a purely historical perspective, it was completely fascinating to see the sites that have effected literally billions of people through religion, popular culture, and yes, conquest and war. I (think) I have a better understanding now about the events during the final moments of Jesus and the start of the different denominations of Christianity. We saw the tomb of Mary and the Church of All Nations (there are so many churches in that small area!) and eventually made our way back to the Old City through the Lion's Gate to start our tour of Via Dolorosa, ending at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and boy, what an epic building! So many chapels, each to a different denomination, some to none at all. But the thing that got me the most was the story of what had happened there. True or not, it's definitely incredible to see. We finished the tour with a visit to the Kotel (the Western Wall), an awkward feeling coming from the holiest place in Christianity.
Then there was Monday – a totally different cultural experience. Toy Story 3...in Hebrew! No subtitles, and even the lips of the characters looked as if they were speaking in Hebrew (Different voices though. Tom Hanks, you should learn Hebrew with me). The song “You've got a Friend in Me” was sung in Hebrew as “You are My Friend.” My friends and I laughed in the beginning during the train robbery with the opening lines of “Kesef kesef kesef!” which means “Money money money!” Oh Mr. Potato Head, even in Hebrew, you entertain me so much. The movie theater was as modern as the Regal Cinemas in Eugene (part of a large mall and very modern looking), but I was unfortunately unable to fulfill my craving for much longed-for popcorn as we had to rush into the theater. I know you're all wondering “Amitai, how much of the movie did you understand?” Well, I'll tell you that I was very uncertain but willing to go along for the ride. To my surprise, I got probably around 60-70%.
I just had part of a chocolate bar with pop rocks in it. Whether you know or not that they're in there, it's a terribly confusing and wonderful sensation.
Observations:
1. When people pretend to speak Hebrew, or even just listening to it, there is the big stereotype of the hard “ch” sound, as in “Chanukah.” For years, I've been kind of offended and embarrassed at how people exaggerate and make fun of the “ch.” Well, I can't do that anymore because it's totally true. Granted my Ulpan teacher exaggerates it because she talks slowly so we can understand her, but that is really how people talk (just clearly not as exaggerated).
2. Apparently, people can't tell where I'm from when I speak Hebrew. I've been told my accent is “weird,” but more specifically Arabic (which makes the most sense as I took...er, “tried” Arabic for a year), Chinese, and French (I was actually even introduced as being from France). Nobody has told me I sound like an American. At least that's good, right?
The first Ulpan session ends tomorrow and I'm traveling right after my final, so I'll write when my big weekend is over.
The pictures are of the biggest Dachshund I have ever seen hanging out near where we got smoothies in Zikron Yaakov, sandal shopping, wine and cheese tasting, the tomb of Mary, and the stone that Jesus was put on after they took him down from the cross.
-AZ
