Hello! السلام عليكم
I had my first full week of intensive Arabic classes at the University of Haifa. We had our first quiz yesterday, which covered vocab, linking letters (6 of the 28 letters don't connect on the left side and the others have four forms: independent, initial, medial, and final), matching words according to gender, rearranging words in a sentence (e.g. as in Hebrew, there are construct chains and the verb tends to come before the subject), possessive endings, and some conjugations. We're learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is the written form, but have been picking up some spoken Arabic along the way as well. I love learning Arabic. It is such a beautiful language. Our textbook's in Hebrew, which makes things even more interesting...
For those who are curious, here's the Arabic alphabet (image credit: school-portal.co.uk). Read it from right to left. The letters shown are the independent, initial, medial, and final forms, with the phonetic value at the very left.:
If you can help it, avoid taking a bus from Jerusalem to Haifa on a Sunday. Oh my. I saw the ugliest face of Israel that afternoon. Since the buses are first come, first serve, people elbow and shout their way through. I saw men and women of all ages push and scream at each other in order to get on the bus. Yikes.
There are about 50 people taking intensive Arabic at Haifa U. this month and about 170 people in a modern Hebrew ulpan. Folks are from all around the world, and I've met people from at least twenty countries so far. In my elementary Arabic I class, there are two American college students, a Swiss law student, a German high school religion teacher, a Korean married couple my age, a Korean high school senior who attends a prep school in Boston, and me.
Our dorm suite was pretty darn disgusting when I first moved in. There was trash all around the kitchen, the kitchen faucet was leaking so mildew coated the sink, and the fridge was full of moldy food. I bleached the heck out of the kitchen and threw everything out. When I took a shower my first night, I smelled toasted pine nuts... from the random pine nuts strewn across the shower floor. I'd love to hear stories you come up with to explain that...
Maria (Seth's roommate in the States!) moved in the following day and we met our suitemate Marwa, a sophomore studying computer science at Haifa U. She's Muslim and from Nazareth. She goes home every weekend, as most Israeli students tend to do (my roommates in Jerusalem did that as well). That night, she invited me and Maria for tea and cake, which was sweet. :)
The following night, Marwa invited us to have some cheesecake that she made for Ramadan. It was delicious. I brewed us some tea and Giusi walked in the door. She's our other suitemate, a lawyer from Roma, Italia. The four of us had a lovely evening learning about each other. It'll be a fun month, with such great roommates and so many languages in the flat.
Haifa is nice because it's right on the coast. There's a nice view of the water from the university campus, and I'm eager to hang out on the beach. Maria, Giusi, and I are hoping to make it down there tomorrow. It's shabbat, so we'll have to take a taxi.
Yesterday
Yesterday, the Arabic students + Maria went on a Haifa tour. We saw the Baha'i Gardens, the Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery, Haifa shuk (yay for shuk produce and a full fridge!), and Wadi Nisnas. I didn't take many pictures, but I'll go back and take more to show you. Wadi Nisnas is particularly interesting because, according to our guides, Jews, Christians, and Muslims have coexisted peacefully together in the neighborhood since the very beginning. Each December, they have a celebration of all the holidays ("Holiday of Holidays Festival"). There a lot of cool street art in the area.
Baha'i Gardens:
Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery:
I had my first full week of intensive Arabic classes at the University of Haifa. We had our first quiz yesterday, which covered vocab, linking letters (6 of the 28 letters don't connect on the left side and the others have four forms: independent, initial, medial, and final), matching words according to gender, rearranging words in a sentence (e.g. as in Hebrew, there are construct chains and the verb tends to come before the subject), possessive endings, and some conjugations. We're learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is the written form, but have been picking up some spoken Arabic along the way as well. I love learning Arabic. It is such a beautiful language. Our textbook's in Hebrew, which makes things even more interesting...
(sorry it's sideways; tilt your head left)
For those who are curious, here's the Arabic alphabet (image credit: school-portal.co.uk). Read it from right to left. The letters shown are the independent, initial, medial, and final forms, with the phonetic value at the very left.:
If you can help it, avoid taking a bus from Jerusalem to Haifa on a Sunday. Oh my. I saw the ugliest face of Israel that afternoon. Since the buses are first come, first serve, people elbow and shout their way through. I saw men and women of all ages push and scream at each other in order to get on the bus. Yikes.
There are about 50 people taking intensive Arabic at Haifa U. this month and about 170 people in a modern Hebrew ulpan. Folks are from all around the world, and I've met people from at least twenty countries so far. In my elementary Arabic I class, there are two American college students, a Swiss law student, a German high school religion teacher, a Korean married couple my age, a Korean high school senior who attends a prep school in Boston, and me.
Our dorm suite was pretty darn disgusting when I first moved in. There was trash all around the kitchen, the kitchen faucet was leaking so mildew coated the sink, and the fridge was full of moldy food. I bleached the heck out of the kitchen and threw everything out. When I took a shower my first night, I smelled toasted pine nuts... from the random pine nuts strewn across the shower floor. I'd love to hear stories you come up with to explain that...
Maria (Seth's roommate in the States!) moved in the following day and we met our suitemate Marwa, a sophomore studying computer science at Haifa U. She's Muslim and from Nazareth. She goes home every weekend, as most Israeli students tend to do (my roommates in Jerusalem did that as well). That night, she invited me and Maria for tea and cake, which was sweet. :)
The following night, Marwa invited us to have some cheesecake that she made for Ramadan. It was delicious. I brewed us some tea and Giusi walked in the door. She's our other suitemate, a lawyer from Roma, Italia. The four of us had a lovely evening learning about each other. It'll be a fun month, with such great roommates and so many languages in the flat.
Yesterday
Yesterday, the Arabic students + Maria went on a Haifa tour. We saw the Baha'i Gardens, the Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery, Haifa shuk (yay for shuk produce and a full fridge!), and Wadi Nisnas. I didn't take many pictures, but I'll go back and take more to show you. Wadi Nisnas is particularly interesting because, according to our guides, Jews, Christians, and Muslims have coexisted peacefully together in the neighborhood since the very beginning. Each December, they have a celebration of all the holidays ("Holiday of Holidays Festival"). There a lot of cool street art in the area.
Baha'i Gardens:
(do you see the Shrine of the Báb in the middle?)
(me and Maria!)
(recall: 1 Kings 18... contest between YHWH + Elijah and Baal + Baal's priests on Mt. Carmel. According to a newspaper clipping we saw on the wall of the church, the church was built over what was believed to be the grotto of Elijah the prophet. A service in Italian started when we were on our way out.)
Today
I slept in. No classes on Fridays! After spending an entire afternoon working on Arabic homework, I went out to join the shabbat dinner. It was nice: songs (someone played his ukelele and another his guitar), lots of food, prayers, and new friends. I ended up getting to know two Japanese students who will be staying in Haifa for the entire year, learning Hebrew and Arabic. One wants to study modern Hebrew literature written by Arab Jews, which is difficult to do in Japan. Interestingly it was 9/11 that spurred this interest. Fascinating. The other is a Japanese Christian... the first I've ever met. Considering how less than 1% of Japan is Christian, quite an encounter. They were both very sweet and nice to talk to.
ليلة سعيدة
good night~
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