Yad Vashem

Its been a few days since I last wrote, but today has been a long day, instead of classes today at the Ulpan we went on an Ulpan trip to Yad Vashem the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Having been before several times I knew what to expect at least I thought I did, somehow even having been before and visited Poland and places like Auschwitz still being at Yad Vashem still gets to me. Full of memories of people who survived and those who didn't and their stories. I would have liked to have taken pictures for those of you who have never been and so you could see like it but cameras were not allowed so I would suggest you look up Yad Vashem on Google and see for yourself that way.

Otherwise not much to really to report, over the weekend I went to Tel Aviv on Friday for a few hours to see people and then returned back tot he dorms, to enjoy dinner with others from the dorm and then yesterday was a chilled day, I think I actually left my apartment once all day LOL.

We have a break coming up towards the end of December, I'm now looking for things to do over that period while there is no Ulpan. Am thinking of finding out if I can do some volunteer work and keep myself busy, but we shall see, sadly coming back to England for a couple of weeks is too expensive

4 Weeks today

Well its been 4 weeks, 28 days, 672 hours since I left England and moved to Israel, its been a fun and enjoyable 4 weeks so far and I hope it continues. What to tell you since last I blogged, i've continued on with my Ulpan and this past weekend I went to see a Concert, was a bit surprised to see it was classical music, but I did enjoy it and it was free so all good, nice to be accompanied by David Silice and Maya Grosberg. Then yesterday after 1st day of the week of Ulpan, still getting used to my week beginning on Sunday while everyone back in England is enjoying a relax day, though since my classes are 8.30 till 1pm I suppose I can't complain too much, but anyway after class it was off to Haifa's Grand Canyon Shopping Mall with Maya and Judith this time, we spent a couple of hours there and I managed to not go mad and spend money in Tower Records despite there being a few DVDS I want. I did however buy myself some speakers for my Laptop so I can have better sound listening to the DVDs I brought from England. After that it was back to the apartment to do my homework and then off to the pub for a couple of hours. Then today we had a test in class on some of the stuff we have learned over the past few weeks, we also did some computer work and this afternoon I relaxed after doing my homework. We also had a discussion about the fire alarm in the building after it went off again on Friday/Saturday Morning at 1.30am because someone managed to burn something!!!! Learn how to cook please. Apart from that all pretty quiet, just relaxing watching some stuff online.

Trip to Netanya

Well I've been continuing to study hard and get out and about when I can, I took my 1st trip outside of Haifa today and my 1st trip on a Train in Israel. Having been used to the trains in England and even working for Network Rail, I'm not sure what I expected, obviously the Rail Network here in Israel is smaller than England, but its quite similar if different as it has two tier trains which is something we don't have in England. Also the cost is a lot different from England, its cheaper, it cost me 47 shekels for a trip to Netanya and back which works out at around 8 pounds. So a lot easier on the wallet. Anyway I went to Netanaya to visit a friend from England who is here for a week visiting family, so I spent the afternoon with her, 1st in a little cafe where we had hot chocolate and a pastry and then after a walk we went for a bite to eat and that cost a decent price for a burger, chips and a drink so it really was a cheap day out :-). More from me soon

Nearly 3 Weeks

I'm writing this at 4.50 on Friday afternoon, its nearly Shabbat, my 3rd since moving here and sometimes it still feels like a dream, when I started to seriously consider moving here and starting afresh I didn't know what I would get or what it would be and that it wasn't going to be easy, I had all these daydreams but I knew it would be hard. I still have moments of doubt where I wonder what the heck was I thinking, living up a semi-stable job in London to move to a new country and start again. But here I am following a dream of a better life. Been a busy week, been out 3 nights this week and 2 of them on school nights as well... yep I've turned into a party animal/rebel LOL. Still I'm enjoying the Ulpan and I think I'm picking up the lanugage, if still getting used to the changes when its male or female, plural male or female. Yep its complicated and I thought learning grammar at school in Hull was bad, but I'm getting the hang of it and hopefully by the time 5 months of Ulpan are up I'll be able to talk, read and write Hebrew with the best of them

The day after the party the night before

We had an Opening night Gala last night which was at a club called Beats and it was for all the Students of Ulpan Etzion as well as the College here in Haifa. It was a lot of fun but the end result not enough sleep before class today, yes I know me partying on a school night LOL. Today as always we had Ulpan, with more words and more things to learn as well as more homework. I'm pretty surprised that I'm remembering things more or less quite easily but when I put it all into practice talking outside the class we shall see how well I do. Tonight there is Karaoke and I may go, depends how I feel in a few hours and then tomorrow the last day of the week and the weekend is here

Day 3 Ulpan addendum

Okay I was feeling down, but cheered up this afternoon/evening, thanks to a spot of afternoon tea with Simon, David, and Maya and then a swim, jacuzzi and steam room again Simon, David and now Tsion, then pizza on the way home, and it was really nice,. So thanks guys cheered me up

Day 3 of Ulpan

I'd like to think I'm not stupid, but getting a hang of the language is actually quite hard, not so much the words but changing the words between masculine and femanine is quite hard to remember and when your still quite unfamilar with the language its not fun. Suppose like everything it takes time and hopefully with time full understanding. Otherwise not much to say, we had Thunder and Lightning and rain yesterday, almost felt like being back in the UK. Outside the window I can see docked in port is the Queen Elisabeth which is pretty cool :-). Otherwise a quiet weekend before getting back into studies today, still getting used to the fact the weekend here is Friday and Saturday, instead of Saturday and Sunday. Part of me is missing England if not the weather, feeling a bit out of place here like i'm around people but wouldn't be missed or noticed if I wasn't... guess I should have expected this, wasn't nervous at all before I came out to Israel for a new start and now after nearly 2 week guess a touch of being homesick is creeping in

1st Day of Ulpan

Today was my 1st day of learning Ivrit in the Ulpan, I'm in the bottom group and while I know some things in Hebrew, I'm happy being in the bottom group as it will reinforce what I already know and help me learn more. Class starts at 8.30 and goes until 13.00 with 2 breaks in that time. In my class there are quite a few people from the Dorms where I live so it feels good knowing that there are people I know at my same level and that I can study with after. Following class there was lunch and later today we have a BBQ so that will be another good evening. Last night was also fun, a few of us went to the Grand Canyon Shopping Centre where on our way back we got lost, fortunately we found our way back to dorms. Next time I think despite the cost I take a taxi LOL. Then last my fellow flatmates enjoyed a dinner together with a few others in the Dorm and we relaxed before the start of our studies today