Tiyul 1--August 18

So--my 2-week, one-on-one ulpan comes with two tiyuls (trips), one each week, which I knew. What I didn't know is that they're also one-on-one, so it’s essentially a personalized tour! My first one was this morning. We went to Rehov haNevi'im (Prophets’ street) and the surrounding neighborhood. Saw the house of Dr. Helena Cagan, the first female doctor in Palestine, and the next-door house where the famous poet Rakhel lived at the end of her life. (Her kibbutz kicked her out because she had cholera, so she moved next door to Dr. Cagan, who treated her). My guide, Moti, was excited that I knew some of her poems (shout-out to Dalit and Hebrew classes at Wesleyan). We also saw the Ethiopian church, which was really cool, the house of Eliezar Ben Yehuda (he led the rebirth of modern Hebrew as a spoken language) and Rav Kook's house (he tried to promote dialogue between the secular and orthodox). Last, we went to the Ticho house--Dr. Ticho was a famous ophthalmologist in the first half of the 20th century. He treated everyone, Arab and Jewish alike--one of my new heroes, I think! :-P His wife was an artist, and I also enjoyed seeing her sketches and paintings.

Of course, all of this was in Hebrew. I had been given a little booklet with the stories of all the places, that I had read last night for homework. So, at each place, I had to tell as much as I could, and then Moti filled in the rest. We also talked about all sorts of other things, also in Hebrew. It's kind of a huge ego boost, though--you think you know so much Hebrew because the whole tiyul is almost entirely in Hebrew, but then you realize that these ulpan teachers are really good at speaking in simple Hebrew that's exactly at your level, and not minding when you butcher your grammar. In real life, as soon as my waiter starts explaining the difference between two types of whole wheat bread, I'm completely lost... :-P