As of now, I've got a large chunk of what needs to be done completed. I've done my first three lectures, and haven't started on the final one because I'm still hoping Alice will send her version. I also just have one recitation left, which isn't a big deal. I have to write a new lab that uses the Swing-ish stuff so they'll know it enough to hack the final project together... should be exciting. Hopefully, I can complete most/all of this tomorrow, and then have lots of time to chillax, relax, and perfect.
Being here for ~2 weeks before the program starts is really awesome. We feel the impending doom of the program, but we're getting SO much done, it's really amazing. I think the summer is going to run a lot more smoothly because of this, and I feel that it will be a lot less stressful in general due to the extended time frame.
So I workedworkedworked, and then Shabbated! Anna arrived in Jerusalem a day later than I did, and while waiting to get into the Hebrew University's campus, she met some guys who invited her to Shabbat dinner. Shabbat is the Jewish sabbath, that runs from just before sundown on Friday to sunset on Saturday. Depending on the extent of religious observation, Shabbat can be celebrated by a meal with the family or with an extensive day of rest that prohibits any work or electricity use (therefore banning the use of cars, lights, computers, etc.). Not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we took them up on the offer.
Anna, Amanda, and I (some other people bailed, silly gooses) went over to "the place where the guy pointed" and just walked into the door of a HU dorm. We wandered around, and found a kitchen, and Anna bravely poked her head in and asked where the dinner would be. The girl we met (Hadar) explained that dinner wasn't ready... and who were we anyway? Anna gave the story from the previous paragraph, and the girl said she had no idea who we were, but we were more than welcome to join them for the dinner. She then proceeded to show us her room, introduce us to her roommate, and then take us on a walk around the area. She even showed us where to do laundry. Oh! And there was a hedgehog!!! It was laying around near a dumpster, and looking very much on the edge of death. It must have been a pet, as it seems unlikely that hedgehogs are indigenous to the area. Then again, I looked this up, and it turns out there are 3 species of hedgehog that are indigenous here, and the species we most likely saw was an East European hedgehog. Of course, even the article states that the hedgehogs are noctural... further confirming our suspicions that the hedgehog was perhaps dying. Cat wounds, perhaps?
End Aside. When we returned to the kitchen, several guys were at work cooking more food for the dinner. We chatted with them for awhile while our crutch Hadar went off elsewhere. Like Hadar, they were really awesome, and a situation that should have been incredibly awesome wasn't at all. I suppose it's just the college mentality to accept whoever walks through the door and listen to their stories and share your own? Something I will certainly miss...
Anyway, turns out they found the guy who had invited Anna, and his name was Daniel. We helped set up for the dinner, carrying out plates and chairs and such, and chopping up a vegetable salad. I've never been to a Shabbat dinner, which is somewhat ironic as I've fasted three years on Yom Kippur, and been to two cedars. These dinners happen weekly, and I have certainly had more than a few opportunities to go. In any case, as I've never been to one, I'm not sure exactly what should happen. There was some challah covered by a cloth, as well as a cup of wine, along with the other food for dinner. There are definitely supposed to be candles too, but we were candleless. Eventually, everyone (wherein everyone equaled the 3 of us, plus about 10 others) came together to start the dinner. The guys had been joking before about how Daniel was taking this really seriously because we were there. I guess he did put in a little extra effort to impress us, because he put on a kippa and said some prayers. He started with the wrong prayer, and one of the guys stopped him, while a few others reminded him of how the beginning of the prayer should sound. He flipped over a few pages, found the right verse, and started again. I'm not exactly sure what he said, and I couldn't find all of them online, but Anna said he blessed the nonexistant candles, the wine, and the bread. Everyone said "Amen" at the appropriate junctions and sang a little song. We didn't light the non-existant candles, but we all took a sip of the wine, and had some challah that had been dipped in salt. Then we dug into an AWESOME dinner.
Time really flew as we talked and sample the deliciousness that lay before us. There was hummus, potatoes, minced meat, salad (Israeli style, where "salad" means lots of chopped vegetables, not a mound of lettuce with a slice of tomato), and some amazing vegan dish that Hagar had made. All of it was just simply wonderful, and we were quite impressed by the skills of these college kids. We just absorbed it all, sitting amongst these conversations that were partially in English, partially in Hebrew, everyone laughing and happy. I thought about the last time my friends set around like this and had a big meal that we'd cooked, but the most recent thing I could think of was the PPP (Parting-of-ways Potluck Picnic), which was quite different. I'm totally starting this up next year, though secretly calling it something else.
Racheli excitedly mentioned that she and her friends had held a human chess game the day before, and I asked her if she had any pictures. She did, and was happy to show them to me, so I went up to her room, and sat around with her, Hagar, Roy, and a girl who could possibly be named Michal, and looked through her pictures. And who should appear, but Omri (!!!) a guy I met around Schprinzak last summer. He was one of the white bishops in the game. Small world, I suppose?
A little after 11pm, we left to come back to our own rooms, happy and full. I wish we could do this again, but given the constraints of our schedule, I'd be surprised if it happened. I'm quite glad we went out on a limb to randomly go eat with these people.
Something else worth mentioning is the intense social separation of the Israelis and Palestinians at the university. With the exception of our MEET kids, I'd never seen Israelis and Palestinians interacting. I had also never thought about what the housing situation at Hebrew University would be like. It turns out that they are interspersed throughout the dorms, living side by side in ridiculously close confines. But, despite the fact that they certainly share common languages (classes are taught in Hebrew; most seem to know English as well), despite living in the same dorm, despite standing in the same room (!!!), they were just completely socially separated. It was somewhat disconcerting, and even just being around it, I could sense the tension in the room... or maybe it was only tense because I was not used to such blatant disconnectedness between two populations? Maybe they didn't feel the tension like I did?
I didn't grow up in the days before integration in the US, but it must have felt just like this. Blacks, whites, separated by nothing more than arbitrary societal barriers. Judging a person by the color of their skin rather than finding the common ground which you inevitably stand upon. I suppose it's a two way street though, and people seem to both fight change and to cling desperately to their own kind. No one on either side can make the first move.
And there I was, caught in the middle, belonging to neither group. Which is exactly where I need to be. It's perhaps an uncomfortable place to be at times, and I often wonder how it is that I am supposed to float between these two separate groups...
But of course, most of that doesn't matter at MEET. From the first day, they are together, and they are friends. They talk and interact and have fun, and it is not at all like a hot kitchen separated by a wall made of nothing more than air.
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