First week in Israel!

WARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY SHOULDERSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Good morning! ^_^ ^_^

So I'm blogging about my time in Israel. For those of you who don't know, I'm in Israel! Surprise! Haha brief background (don't snigger when I say brief, I can SEE you snigger in the futur- hey snigger gives me a red squiggly! Sif! =( ). I'm taking an oolpan over here (language course in Biblical Hebrew), and I'll be doing a 6-week immersion. I've finished my first week now, and boy is it tiring! So now talking about the stuff in detail... (here I make no claim to be brief ^_^)

The basic philosophy of the course is that just about everything is done in Hebrew. We don't get anything like 'Kum means get up' or anything like that. So at the start, what they did was have one of our two teachers to give the other a command (e.g. kum) and then the other teacher would stand up. He'd then give us the same command, and we'd get up. Then he'd tell the other teacher to 'shev' and he'd sit down. In this way, we quickly build up a vocabulary of commands by instinctively doing what they command. They'd often get us to do weird things as well, but it doesn't have to make sense =P. On the most part, it's really fun and informal, but still really tiring just because we're adsorbing so much. On Friday, they gave us a 20 minute opportunity to give THEM commands to do, which resulted in hilariousness =P. We made them do stuff like filling up cups of water and putting them on each other's heads, and then getting them to jump slowly; getting them to eat their swords; at one point we ordered them to get out of the hut and close the door behind them... and then we just sat there and laughed =P. So yeah, it's been really fun but really, really tiring.

So on the most part, for the first few days, it was all about just listening to commands and responding. We were taught more and more objects/animals/stuffs as well, and that was done by giving commands as well. So like instead of just saying 'That's a rock', they'd say 'throw the rock at this person', or 'put the rock in the cup and drink it'. Or, instead of 'this is a sword', they'd say 'hit the other teacher with the sword!' And they take anything (and I mean ANYTHING) and turn it into something to learn. So like once this guy was commanded to throw a chair, and he chucked the chair on top of the sword and broke the handle. And after that there was a flurry of learning about what breaking is in hebrew, or what strength is etc. And up to now (and probs for the rest of the course as well), he's considered as like the epitome of strength whenever they want to talk about something or someone that's strong =P. Haha yeah, once they pick something they stick with it =P.

At the same time, we've been going through picture lessons (a book with pictures on it with a recording that says what those pictures are in Hebrew), as well as learning the Hebrew alphabet and writing system. Moving into next week, I think we'll be doing more talking and vocalisation - we've already started a little bit. So we memorise some songs and Bible verses, and do quite a bit of dialogue from Jonah. Oh I don't think I mentioned - I'm here for 6 weeks, with the first 4 weeks spent on Jonah and the subsequent 2 weeks spent on the first few chapters of Genesis. So yeah, for these 4 weeks at least, I think the objective is to essentially be able to understand and memorise Jonah in Hebrew, and to think in Hebrew rather than to translate into English, because the languages are simply different.

Classes run in the mornings from 8:30 to 12:30. We do 50 mins, 10 min break, 50 mins, 20 min break, 50 mins, 10 min break, 50 mins, 20 hour break =P. So it's quite full-on, and by the time we're done with that, our heads are well and truly warked =P. We have lunch up in the dining hall after that (part of the course costs) which is all-you-can-eat, and it's pretty good! I usually go for like 3 servings (which are like full plates of some meat, rice and often a piece of bread with some olive oil =P). So people are getting the idea that I eat a lot... not too sure why =P. That's usually the point where we realise we were meant to go to Jerusalem or something... and then realise we're just too tired =P. So that's when we generally go back to our rooms and crash =P. At the same time though, we have a lot of homework we need to do each day, so really any time I'm not just simply chilling, I have to be doing the homework. It's pretty intense =P. And of course, every night we have the most important 8-hour assignment of sleep =P. Policy here is that homework does not allow you to comprimise on 8 hours of sleep =P. Which I do like, but it also means I have to work harder the rest of the da- ooh look I have 3 =P's in a straight row down! Probs just on my screen, I doubt it'll show up that way on your screens. Ahem. I did not just get distracted. Absolutely not.

Weekends we have off. Totally off. And man I was glad to have no class yesterday, so good to have a break haha. Although my shoulders are still dea- OH YEAH I HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT THAT YET! Okay later later =P. And I bet you I'll forget =P. And now I've forgotten what I was meant to talk about. Oh yeah that's right, the rest haha. Yeah it's great to just sit back and.... rest lol. I'm probs not going to any church this weekend cos simply... I don't know where to go =P. At the same time though, there's a truckload of hw I still need to get done (I'm less than halfway through, after spending a huge chunk of yesterday >_>), and you all know memorisation is not my strong point =P (that's most of my hw for today). Later might go out for a walk or something, cos the weather's really nice.

Oh yeah the weather! Haha it's super nice here lah. I'm out in the country area, which is actually really similar to the country area in Australia. We're on the top of a mountain, so even if the sun is out (which it always is), it's only slightly warmer than a nice Perth spring day. So yeah it's realllyyyy nice haha. And the place is really nice too - several ppl have commented that it doesn't look like I even left australia! =P So yes all in all I'm really enjoying the place, weather and environment here ^_^

PAH I DIDN'T FORGET!! (I just typed this part out after typing 'I bet you I'll forget' and left it there =P=P) Umm... uhh.... I totally did not just forget what I'm not meant to forget.... OH YEAH THAT'S RIGHT! On fri morning, there was an excavation crew who went out to a cave and a winepress to do some digging. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to go and give them a hand, while being able to see what they do as well. It was really quite amazing - we got to see what had been excavated over the past few weeks, and we saw the different layers of water adsorption into the wall that signified different eras. I was assigned to sifting through the soil. So people dug up the soil, chucked them into buckets, they brought the buckets to me, and I basically went through all of it trying to find pieces of pottery, or really anything else at all. Literally with every bucket they brought out, there were chunks of pottery in it - some bigger chunks, some smaller bits. They were kinda orangey, which the archeologist said was characteristic of the Hellinistic age, but looked like it might have something to do with Herod the Great's time as well. There were also inscriptions in the wall of what they think is John the Baptist, and they believe that this cave was one of the hideouts for a cult that followed John the Baptist about a century after he lived. It was really quite an experience, to just be picking out and holding shards that had lasted through the ages (cos really, you can't actually get rid of pottery per se...). So yeah it was a great privilege to help them out with the dig, and also a great struggle to get through the class that occured right after (we left at 6am and I needed to be back by about 8:30 =P). That and getting my shoes cleaned of all the mud, so that at the least I'd be let back into Australia afterwards =P. And yes. Due to all the sifting (which was surprisingly hard cos the mud was so heavy), yest morning and today my shoulders are killing me. Wark =D=D.

I think that's about all for the first week! Gonna grab a lil bit of air, then dive into the next section of my hw with a lunch break. I'll probably update again next weekend, hope you all are doing fine and awesome!

Gd night and God bless! Shalom! ^_^
Ernest (aka Nehemiah OHYEAHIFORGOTTOMENTIONTHATWEALLGOTHEBREWNAMESSOI'MCURRENTLYCALLEDNEHEMIAHRAWR!!)