Ulpan is over

I've been here for five months. Five months! Wow, time has both flown by and at the same time it feels like I've been here for a long time and can't remember what things were like before I arrived.

Anyway, ulpan is over. Tomorrow marks the last day of class and the first night of Chanukah. Today we had a party in my class to celebrate our crazy Hebrew journey together and also to sample food from all over the world. When ulpan first started there were probably around 30 people in the class, about 60% women and at least 10 different countries represented. This morning we were down to about a group of 15 and I was the only guy who had survived the class; most of the others had dropped down to another level or just completely left the ulpan for one reason or another.

I was put in charge of the party by my teacher and I must admit that I thought I did a lousy job of organizing it. However, to my surprise, it really came off well and there was way more than enough food from many parts of the globe. We had food from Russia, Peru, Estonia, Finland, the States, Israel, Georgia (the country), and more. It was a great spread and we enjoyed spending a few hours together visiting and reflecting on how much we had learned. Our teacher, Ayelet, was very sweet and wrote us each a card describing how we interacted in the classroom.

Nu (hurry up), so how's my Hebrew you ask? I'd say it's kacha-kacha (so-so) but I guess it's a little bit better than that. I understand a fair amount when people are talking and I'm beginning to hold my own in conversation (though at times I feel 100% lost). It will really be on me to improve it over the next 3 or 4 months because I am going to be taking a nice long break from studies. I start full-time at YouLicense (www.youlicense.com) on Wednesday where I've been working 25 hours a week for the last four months. A post will be coming soon about my work...

Now that I'm not in school and less busy, I'll try and kick these posts up to every 5 days or so. Stay tuned for these future stories: My parents' visit and my job.

Til next time, you stay classy San Diego. (name that movie:)