Ulai hu meshuga?

Greetings!

I don't have very much to report, even though I've been pretty busy. Ulpan is trying to eat my life, and I am steadfastly resisting. We go for five hours a day (which is at least an hour too much for my attention span), plus there is always homework. This week we had six days of class! Whoa! Too much. It's paying off though--the Hebrew section of my brain is growing. I'm getting better at reading and writing it, and I can understand more of the songs we sing in church. Also it's possible my speaking is getting better. On a recent eventful bus ride, my friend Devon and I explained in Hebrew to the lady next to us that there was a man in a wheelchair sitting in the road in front of the bus and that he didn't want to move. When she asked me why, I was able to say he was probably crazy. Wooo! (Don't worry, some pedestrians forcibly removed him from the road. He threw something at us when we drove away.)

I think the ulpan people know that our Hebrew enthusiasm is waning, because they had a lot of activities for us this week. We went to a play, a lecture on Jerusalem (in Hebrew), and some kind of concert thing, which was awesome. This guy passed out percussion instruments and got a beat going (it was like music class in grade school! Everyone is good at the tambourine!) and suddenly reappeared in a kilt, playing "Scotland the Brave" and "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. The audience kept the beat going, and the guy started yodelling. He also played the theremin. I'm not sure what his exact job title is, but I am thinking of changing my major.

Devon and I spent Thursday evening downtown with her friends, which was an experience. The people-watching was superb, and I tried a little of Devon's arak with grapefruit juice, which was GROSS. It has a licorice taste, which is not ok. Apparently it's pretty popular here, but I'm suspicious people drink it because it's cheap, not because it's tasty.

Yesterday afternoon, Madeleine, Sara, Jakob, and I went to the Garden Tomb, which is another possible site of Jesus' burial. I'm not taking sides on the debate of where the actual site was (it doesn't matter, remember?), but I will say that the Garden Tomb is a much nicer place than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Just as the name suggests, there is a garden and a tomb. It's in the center of Jerusalem, but completely quiet. It is a good place to sit and think about things.

Last night we had a potluck Shabat dinner at Devon's apartment, which was fun and delicious! We had curry potatoes and lentils and rice with zahatar, some kind of salad, and some chocolate eclairim for dessert.

More pictures!

This is the hill that you can see from the Garden Tomb, that is a possible site of Golgotha. Do you see a skull in the side of it? If not, try crossing your eyes. (For what it's worth, I don't really see it. I see two eyes and a nose, and skulls don't have noses.)

And now for kicks and giggles, here is a picture of the Dome of the Rock and a little bit of the Western Wall. Come visit!