Just Over 2 Months Gone

It is now just over 2 months since I arrived in Israel. While sometimes it seems like I just got here, at others it feels like much longer.

I am only 2 weeks away from the end of the first level at the Ulpan and am having difficulty remembering all of the words we have learned, the verb forms, the rules for conjugation, and etcetera. There are masculine and feminine verbs that go with masculine and feminine adverbs that go with masculine and feminine adjectives that go with masculine and feminine nouns that go with masculine and feminine numbers. And don’t forget that the words become almost unrecognizable in the past tense and always keep masculine with masculine and feminine with feminine except when you are not supposed to. And all those exceptions!!!!! Oy Vey. Now I have a headache!

Well, I don’t know if I’ll pass the test or not. I am sure that I know more than I think I do. The words are all in my head; it’s just retrieving them that is an issue.

I have had the last couple weeks off from cantorial classes, and do not have another until 30 August. This has allowed me a little more time for both Ulpan homework and for practicing the pieces I have learned. I am making progress here, and the keyboard I purchased has made a tremendous difference.

Last night I was invited to a concert at the World Assembly of Choir’s in Israel. This was held at Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus in Jerusalem. The choirs are strictly amateur, no professional singers allowed. The program actually runs for 9 days and the time is filled with symposiums and workshops during the day and a concert by multiple choirs each night. The first choir up started performing a piece, then someone walked across the stage with a page number and the members of the audience, almost all of whom were there with different choirs, opened a book they had with the music in it. At that point the conductor asked all the altos in the audience to join in, followed by the tenors, basses and sopranos. Literally everyone in the audience, including me, joined in. We did several pieces this way. I really enjoyed it; it was a lot of fun.

After that there were four more choirs that performed, each doing several pieces. I was impressed that most of the performances were sung a cappella. Some were very happy songs, some very funny and some sad. All were beautifully performed. It was a wonderful experience and a VERY welcome break from the intensity of my “normal” schedule.

Tomorrow morning will be spent cleaning and preparing for Shabbat. I will be staying at the apartment this Shabbat and have not decided yet where I will attend services. At the moment I am leaning towards a conservative shul I heard about that is about a 10 minute walk from here, but no decisions yet.