The Unique Aspects of a Language

Well, I promied that I would post every Sunday and even though I don't have any new pictures to post, I will still fill all of you in on my recent events. The Ulpan is going great, and I think I am finally getting used to the difficulty level. I find that I am becoming more and more able to hear the words and understand the just of the conversations in class. We have a big test every Thursday and I just received the one I took last Thursday, I got a 96%!! It was a very refreshing sight to see that number on the test. I always think I do bad on my exams and then somehow, I pull out a good grade. Anyways, I was supposed to travel to Haifa this weekend but I made conflicting plans with four different people and so I compised and ended up staying in Jerusalem. On Friday, I went to a huge park that is right by the Knesset (Governmental Offices of Israel) and played some Ultimate Frisbee. For those of you who don't know, I am an Avid Frisbee player. I had played with these guys a month ago, and they ran circles around me. That was not the case on this occasion. We played for two and a half hours and I was at the top of my performance. I made one of the best diving catches, it was quite exhilirating. All that to say, it was a very nice afternoon to get to play Frisbee again after so long. There was only one slight problem, I hadn't eaten or drunken anything prior to the game. It hit me right after we were done and I think I was very close to being clinically dehydrated. I laid in my room for about an hour on my floor wishing I wouldn't have played so much, but then I slowly recovered and at about 7:00pm I went to an Erev Shabbat dinner. It was nice, except it was all in Hebrew. A good way to practice but not a good way to get to know people. On shabbat I did nothing as usual, just sat in my room and read some scriptures and played guitar. I think next week I will try to attend the synagogue that is on campus, it is called Beit Hillel. Tomorrow is the mid-term test so if anyone would be so thoughtful as to pray that I would understand what I am reading, that would be most appreciated. As for my part, I will pray and study hard. To address the title of this post, I would just like to say that I have learned so much more than just Hebrew during the time that I have been here. Languages are so fascinating, and now I feel that I understand english a lot more now that I actually have to be able to recognize a verb, or a noun, pronoun, prepositional phrase, etc. I am definately starting to see that while language does possess a measure of logic, it seems to be on the large part, composed of the spirit of the people who birthed it. It is quite a simple realization but one that I am thankful to see (I hope that doesn't spark a heated debate, because it tends to happen!). In the end, I am becoming very fascinated with languages (as I am with so much other things...One at a time Jesse, one at a time!) and I am really enjoying my time here. Sorry for the lack of pictures, Lord willing I will be travelling to Haifa next weekend and I hear there are some great picture oppurtunities on Mt. Carmel.

With much love from Jerusalem,

Jesse