Thursday, February 16, 2017

Ulpan (lather, rinse, repeat....)

Ah, yet another semester of ulpan has started.  I think they're a little crazy how they schedule the semesters: last class of the previous semester was on a Monday, the government-given exam (taken only once in a lifetime and I did mine last year) was Tuesday, and then the next semester started on Wednesday.  Give us a break, people!  Day or two of vacation before we start all over again?!  Clearly they didn't listen to my input re. the scheduling....

I'm now in level Gimel, which is so cool that I finally made it to the big leagues :).  After one semester in Aleph Plus (say it "ploos" and you've have the correct pronunciation), and two in Bet (different teachers, so it was definitely worth doing again, especially as I wanted to work on improving my grammar), I've finally made it to the highest level.  I'm far from being the star student, but I'm holding my own.  The teacher, whom Shalom Shachne had last year and really liked, is an older woman with a very dry sense of humor.  Whenever someone gives up trying to say something in Hebrew and reverts to English (only we Americans do this.  I have never seen the native French/Russian/Spanish/Portuguese speakers do it....), she says, "your EEEnglish ees purrrfect" and then goes back to speaking in Hebrew.  The class is almost exclusively in Hebrew, with a few choice translations thrown in in our native languages.  I really like how, when she says a word that some/all of us don't know, she translates it into easier Hebrew before giving up and saying it in another language.

Delightfully, we only have class Sunday-Wednesday (In response to "why?" the teacher said, "Because I have already been teaching 30 years and I am old and I only want to work 4 days a week"), so my Thursdays are now free, free, free!  I'm really excited to have such a chunk of free time in my schedule, and I'm looking forward to getting a jump on Shabbos cleaning, shopping, preparing and cooking (oh, and did I mention blogging?).  Off to make my grocery list--we have a friend staying with us for Shabbos, we'll be 9 or 10 for dinner and a crowd of 12 for lunch, so I better get moving!


2 comments:

  1. Mazal Tov on your moving up to Kitah Gimmel!!!
    I am spending next Shabbat in Riverdale NY with family and then going to an aliyah mega event in the Big Apple, your classes seem wonderful!! So happy you get Thursday off!! Is Chana near Riverdale? I'd love to meet her and say hi when I am in NY.

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  2. I've heard those mega events are amazing and inspiring! Have a great time, Batya Sarah and b''eH we'll see you over here when the time is right!

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