The weekend in Eilat!

Good morning America! Hmm....I hope that isn't a copyright violation. This last weekend I traveled four hours on a bus down to Eilat, the vacation getaway place for Israelis. School got out on Thursday at 1:00pm and right after that my roomate and I got on the 444 bus destined for Eilat. I was directed to go to a Hostel called "The Shelter" which was located about 10 minutes walking distance from the beach in Eilat. That to say.....I am so glad I found it! The only thing to do in Eilat is go to the beach and party. Eilat is much like Goa, India for those of you who are familiar with my past adventures. The city is located at the very northern part of the Red Sea and it is surrounded by Saudi Arabi, Jordan, and Egypt. You can actually see all three countries from mostly any elevated point in the city. It is still so amazing to actually swim in the sea that the Lord split for the Israelites to cross. Most of my time was spent in the hostel, it was very much like my refuge. This hostel is a christian hostel that is aimed towards bring in people off the streets and providing them with food and a place to stay and sharing the Gospel with them. While I was there I met the cousin of Yerusalem (Married to Eric, and for those of you who don't know either of them, sorry it's too long to explain!!). She was very nice and it was such a blessing, though it was rather hard to communicate because she didn't speak very much english. It did however give me a great oppurtunity to practice my Hebrew. The picture above is me and Galil, the guide from australia Another blessing was meeting a church group that had come to Israel from Germany. They invited me to eat every meal with them and travel around Eilat. Their guide was working with the Chosen People Ministry and all in all it was just really refreshing to be around believers again. Now I am back in Jerusalem, but I have made many more friends and have an idea of places to go for the next coming weekends. Hopefully I will continue to have grand adventures that I can share with all of you at home. Pray that I would continue to be dilligent in my studies and that I would be granted an extra measure of wisdom that I might be able to advance beyond the expectations of the course. I love you all and I thank you for your prayers.

This concludes yet another adventure in the Land, until next time.....

(Sorry for the cheesy commentary, I always feel an overwhelming need to change things up so as not to be redundant with my updates!)

Ani Lomed Ivrit!

Below is the branch of the school which handles overseas students

Mah Shlom'Chem? Tov, Tov. Ani Oseii Chaim! Oh, sorry...I forgot to switch my brain from Hebrew to English. As you can tell, I have been studying Hebrew sooooooooo much. At first I thought this Ulpan was going too slow, but it seems that when it picked up, it left me behind. With all joking aside I would just like to say that this is getting difficult. The great thing is, it's Hebrew! I love studying the language and actually doing something in school that I want to do. For anyone who doesn't know exactly what I am doing or for people who want more details, here is a brief description of life here, and what the program is like. First of all, this program is called Ulpan. It is an intensive language program mostly for new immigrants coming to Israel. There are many different Ulpan classes throughout the state of Israel. Most people prefer to join a kibbutz and learn the language that way. Now me on the other hand, I prefered to go to Hebrew University and take their language course. As I have never been on a kibbutz to study Hebrew, I can't give the exact differences between those classes and mine, but from my observations I think those ones are mostly to learn how to speak the language, whereas the Ulpan I am taking focuses a lot on both the written and oral parts of the language. Whatever the case, I do get ten college credits for this course, which I wouldn't find at a kibbutz. The course is from August 9th until September 28th. I study from 8:30am until 1:00pm, sunday through thursday, with an extra hour added on tuesday. I just had my first test today, and there will be a test every following thursday. All that said, I feel I did well on my first test and I am still so amazed that I can actually get a test written entirely in Hebrew and actually understand what it is asking me to do. When I am not in class, I mostly stay in my room either sleeping or studying. There is a nice cafe located right outside of my dorms, which I go to occasionally to do homework. In short I am just trying to keep my head down and stay glued to my textbooks. Thank you all again for your support and prayers. I will try to write an update every thursday from now on so you can know when to check for new updates.

With much love from Jerusalem,

Jesse

P.S. My phone number is (052) 312-5594. So far I don't think anyone can get it to work internationally. In any case if you want to try the country code is 972. Also, I made some modifications to the comment posting options. Now when someone wishes to post a comment they have to do a simple word verification. If you haven't noticed, automated software programs have been posting stupid comments on my site in order to get a link to their website. This verification should stop it from happening.

This is a view from Mt. Scopus, where the University is located.

Campus Life...

First of all, sorry for the delayed update. Secondly, I just want to express how excited I am that college is starting again! It is a nice change from hostel life. I checked out of my hostel on sunday the 6th and took a taxi to Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus. The taxi driver dropped me off about a mile away from the building I needed to be at and so I had to walk with all of my stuff (which is a lot of stuff) to the Boyar building which is the headquarters of the Rothberg International School. After I got there, I was completely exhausted, but rest was not to come. The Madrich (a student assigned to help new arrivals) gave me my information packet and told me to follow the instructions and don't miss any of the assigned rooms. This meant going up and down stairs and bouncing back and forth between rooms. Even though I was tired, I was really happy to have a set schedule to follow again. After getting my student I.D. card, my password for the computer, my rented cell phone, and my dorm assignment, a shuttle bus took me from the Boyar building to where my dorms are. All I can say is, I can't believe I have to walk that far everyday to get to classes. That small detail aside, I am impressed with my dorm room. It is rather spacious in comparison to others I have seen in the states. It has a fridge, ample closet space, and a nice desk where I might be spending a lot of time at. My roomate is from Germany and he is in the Bet level of the course, so I have a feeling he will be a lot of help in the coming weeks. School starts tomorrow and honestly I can't wait. Being here three weeks now have made me want to learn Hebrew so much more. That is what has happened in the past couple days. Before that, while I was still in the hostel, not much was going on. I did however have a great Erev Shabbat. I was invited to a picnic with a congregation that meets at Christ's Church in the old city. It was about a 45 minute walk from my hostel and when I got there, they were nowhere in sight. I walked up and down the park and couldn't find them so I thought I would just go home. Just then, a group of guys invited me to play some ultimate frisbee. Since I am a semi-avid frisbee player, I thought hey, why not? This was not the ultimate frisbee I was used to however. The main difference was that the frisbee was rubber, so the only throw you could really do was a normal forehand. There was to be no flicks or hammer throws (for anyone that knows frisbee lingo). Add to that my being completely out of shape, and it was an interesting game. It was fun however and they invited me to come out every friday at three. After the game, I found the group for the picnic and sat down with them. All the sudden this ultra-orthodox looking man came up to us and sat down. He grabbed the guitar and started playing some great songs. Come to find out he is a believer in Yeshua! It was great. It is not often that I see a man with white Tzitzit praising Yeshua. Anyway, that is my day. I have to cut this post short cause I have some more orientation to get to.

Address to University:

Jesse Hughes
Office of Student Activities
Rothberg International School
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Boyar Building, Mount Scopus
91905 Jerusalem, Israel

With much love from Jerusalem,
Jesse


Here are some pictures of the campus.