Today marks one week that I've now been in Israel, and I feel I've been here for a long time already. Classes started this week so I've gotten my first taste of what studying here looks like. I am taking 4 courses this semester that all fit into my program at Kuyper. I'm taking:
"Physical settings of the Bible", which covers the history of Israel but also the significant places in Israel that major events take place. We've had our first Field study which took us through the old Jerusalem city which was exciting. We saw the "Wailing Wall" where Jews come study and pray, but it's cool because people come write their prayers on a piece of paper and stick them in the cracks of the wall. We visited the church of the Holy Sepulchre which is the location of the Crucifiction, and the Burial of Christ. We saw the Markets and also the divisions in Jerusalem (Muslim, Jew, and Christian).
Biblical Archaeology which so far is my favorite class. Our professor is one of the most famous Archaeologists in the world which is amazing, and he is a great teacher. He actually taught us that Indiana Jones, the movie series, is based off of a real Archaeologist living in Jerusalem currently. When he found out that the movies were being produced he tried to sue Stephen Spielberg but he lost the case. Anyways, we started to learn the process of Archaeology, which is not like Indiana Jones at all...I know that kinda sucks, but it's still really cool.
Biblical Hebrew is also an amazing class, but it is very hard. Learning french was easy because the alphabet is the same as in English, but pronounced different. Hebrew has a completely different alphabet and I need to learn how to pronounce the names, and write the letters. Anyways it very tough, but also very exciting.
Rabbinical Thought and Literature, this class focuses on Jewish theology and the teachings of Rabbis. We are learning Midrash CHAZAL which is a way of interpreting scripture. This, by the way, is very different from Christian Reformed even though the biblical text is the same.
So those are my courses, I share a room on campus with 3 other men named John, Tucker, and Andrew who are all from colleges in the U.S. There are 2 Canadians on campus which are me, and a guy named Noah from Vancouver. On campus there are about 36 students. The weather is cool in the morning (cool until like 10:00), and then from about 10 till night it gets incredibly hot. The heat here is dry though so I sweat like crazy and I sweat constantly. I've gone through most of my socks since I wear shoes basically everywhere because walking long distance is not comfortable in sandles on stone roads. The food is very good, there are always about 3 parts to the meal. We always have Pita bread and Hummus (my new favorite snack), some kind of meat or pasta, and salad. Since tonight was Shabot (the night before the Sabath day) we had a special meal. We had shishkabobs with steak, Pita bread, salad, and hot dogs (explain to me how they fit into the picture). The food is always prepared well as if it is home cooked (not like Kuyper College...). One of the neat things about being in Israel here is the Market. The market goes thoughout all of the old city basically. There are shops on almost all the side streets selling clothes, drinks, pottery, and alot of Jewish decore. You can buy almost anything in the market, but it is a game of bartering. The new city is more reliable for buying things, but you can only buy more modern things rather than some of the cool souvenirs you'd find in the market. Military soldiers are everywhere and police assisting them. In Israel once you are 18 you are conscripted for I think it's 2 years of service. They carry full riot gear, and a scary semi-automatic rifle. The weird part in this is seeing girly girls who have been conscripted carrying weapons when they look like they should be in school, or out shopping, my point is they don't look like soldiers who should be carrying weapons.
Life in Israel is relaxed and laid back, but people here are very devote to their religions, and they make us as Christians in North America seem like we are very un devoted. There is a variety of people living here some are devote Jews with the little hat on their head, some wearing suits with the big hats and curly side burns, and Jewish orthodox wearing Ceremonial robes, you get the point. There are many different branches of religion here and it is cool to see. I find that between classes and homework there is alot of free time to sight see which makes this semester hardly feel like school some times. Now, however is bed time, so til next time, Shabot Shalom.