The Museum In My Pocket

This is a story that I meant to post last Friday, but time got away from me. Last week, I went to Marzipan near my Ulpan after a difficult day (I mentioned before that half the time in Ulpan is self study and half is with the teacher. During one of the half hours I was supposed to learn some new words and for what ever reason my brain refused to absorb them). As I was paying, I handed the guy behind the counter a 10 agurot coin. He looks at the coin, then at me and says, "Where did you get this?" I explained that before I came to Israel I went around my parents house to find all the Israeli money that had been brought back from various trips. Then he laughs, holds up the coin and says, "this is very nice but you cannot pay with it."
"What", I said.
He told me that the coin has been out of circulation since 1986.
I paid with real money, went home, and googled Sheckel coins in circulation. Sure enough, the coin had not been legal tender since 1986. So of course I looked at all of the coins I brought with me. Almost all of the very small denomination coins (5 and 10 agurot), were completely useless. These coins only amounted to about 3 dollars, but they are heavy and I brought them all the way from America! The question is, what should I do with them now? 

Consider yourself at home

I am starting to feel at home in Jerusalem. On Sunday, I took the bus to the central bus station and got a RAV-KAV (card that allows you to ride buses at a discounted rate). Then my roommate and I walked over to Machaneh Yehudah (the market). Over all, I was very surprised by how expensive food is in Israel. In the grocery store I paid 9.90 Shekels (about $2.48) per Kilogram for grapes. In the market the same amount is about 5 Shekels (about 1.26). There were so many things I would have bought, but in the end I bought fresh, whole wheat pita. This trip was one of the ways I oriented myself in Jerusalem. The neighborhood I live in is one I was not that familiar with. Seeing it on a map is not the same as walking around. Taking the bus showed me how close I am to the city center and the old city. Today, I walked through the German Colony on a tiyul for my ulpan. This is when I realized how close I live  to one of my landmarks, a youth center, which is at the other end of Emek Refaim from where I am currently staying. Knowing where you are in relation to familiar places helps establish connections to new places.

A note on language:
My courage to speak Hebrew, comes mainly from my participation in a Hebrew immersion program at JTS, last summer. Last Spring, I volunteered at a school where I spend several hours a week in Hebrew classes. I did lose some Hebrew during the year. This is why I am very happy to be in Ulpan this month. Ulpan Or, is a great method, with several pieces; part one is a grammer book, two is a book of exercises aimed at increasing vocabulary (reading comprehension, translating, ect.), three is listening to music with a vocab. list. and lyrics, four is tiyulim (trips around Jerusalem). When we meet for class, half the time we work with a teacher and half the time we work individually with mp3s of all the parts mentioned above On occasion, youtube videos and their e-tone a clever play on the Hebrew word for newspaper. If your students are able to deal with being self directed about their work this is a great method to use.

As for me, when I am around town, I try to speak only hebrew if possible. The exception to this has been opening my bank account. While I know the word for account, and atm card, I wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into. The only way to overcome a fear is to face it head on. Think about it this way, if you make a mistake while ordering food or talking to a cashier you don't need to be embarrassed because you will probably never see them again. Even if you do it is unlikely that they will remember because they deal with novice Hebrew speakers all the time. Most importantly the only way to get better is to practice.

So time travel is possible...

   I just arrived yesterday and it feels like I have been here for about a week already. I have already gotten lost while trying to find a place to at dinner with my new roommate (RM). We ended up at Tal Bagels on Emek. Before going inside I said, "Tal is a New York bagel place, it will be a taste of home!". RM said, "you have only been here for like 5 minutes!" We went inside and who do I see, but two people from JTS.

I already found my bank, pharmacy, grocery store, and Marzipan off of Emek (this took a little detective work).

 To give you an idea of my journey to Israel:

   A few hours before my flight I checked the status and it said the flight was delayed enough that I would miss my connecting flight at Heathrow. I was able to change to an earlier flight, but could not switch to the vegetarian meal (I never order the Kosher meal when I fly, most of the time it is meat) because it was too close to the flight. We left the house at 2:20 first to pick my sister up from camp, then to pick up my father at 125th St. in NYC. We got the the airport at 5 PM for my 6:50 flight. Luckily, I was still 20 minuets early because the terminal is small. The first flight was uneventful, I watched part of Juile and Julia and tried to sleep. 

   Heathrow Airport is one of the most beautiful airports I have ever seen, even nicer then Ben Gurion! Still I had trouble there as well. When you have a connecting flight, you need to go through security again. Before security you show a british version of a TSA agent your ticket and they make sure you are in the right terminal. This a very good thing because had I gone right to my next flight, I would have found that I was taken off of it. Long story short, after 20 minutes I was back on the flight and I set of to spend the one pound I had in my Wallet, which is not that hard to do. The airport was deserted, at least it seemed that way because the international terminal was huge compared to the British Airways terminal at JFK. The second flight had several young children on it, including one old enough to kick my seat, but not old enough to understand proper airplane etiquette. This was fine because I spent about 1/4 of the flight standing. 

   It took about 5 seconds for me to get though customs at the airport, both my suitcases made it with me despite the removal from my second flight. I hopped on a Sherut (shared taxi) bound for Jerusalem and got a mini tour of my neighborhood. When I had trouble finding the apartment someone from the next building helped me find it and helped bring my bags.      

       

Next Stop Everywhere

I meant to post this last week and did not get around to it:

  Next week I am off to Israel for 10 months. The main thing I will be doing is studying Jewish Texts at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. I never did a gap year program or studied abroad during college. This will be my first solo trip to another country. Luckily, I do speak the language, though many Israelis do speak English, and sort of know my way around Jerusalem.

 I will also be skyping with students from the religious school I have been teaching at for the past three years. This will supplement their Israel curriculum. Through stories, pictures and videos about my encounters with Israeli culture and people, I will give them a clearer picture of what it means to be Israeli and help create stronger ties to the land.

Oh! I will have a brief layover in London...During the Olympics.