Yom Reeshon

Rachel: Am I really a student again? Reality is here. After weeks (and weeks) of moving, packing, unpacking, repacking, schlepping, settling, acclimating, orienting and a few free meals, school has finally begun. Well, sort of… today was our first day of ulpan (an intensive six-week summer Hebrew program) for HUC students to prepare us for our formal studies which commence in the fall. I’ve definitely been dreading this day; the anticipation has been overwhelming. I’m in kitah gimmel – the middle class – not the most basic and certainly not ready to translate Hebrew novels (maybe next semester). Since I’ve never been in a formal Hebrew class, I spent the first 90 minutes sitting in the classroom dreaming of ways to move down a level or two. But, after a 30 minute hafsakah and a café hafuch gadol, I felt much better. Yes, it’s VERY challenging for me – I understand what the teacher’s saying but it’s fast and I can only do one thing at a time. Reading, writing and speaking at once is a challenge but it’s only day one. Another strange development is that our class has two teachers -- one teacher for Sunday and Tuesday and a different teacher on Monday and Wednesday. I’m not feeling good about this but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. I’m definitely learning that a positive attitude is the best way to approach ulpan. So as we say goodbye to Shabbat and greet the new week, the speeches are over, the board of governors has left the city and now we’re like new olim – struggling to integrate into this place, to learn the language, the culture and fall in love with our history – to make it “home” for a few months and somehow translate the experience to future congregants. But for today, I will struggle through my homework, join Amy for the remaining hours of a babysitting gig and hopefully get some sleep before I do it all over again tomorrow – yom shishi, a new day.