More about my students AND Yom Kippur

Okay...picking up where I left off earlier today...



9-H - the advanced class - they're all girls, and worked with an intern from my program last year. They're very smart, kind, and wonderful. One of the girls is extremely bright - she reads books in English, and she serves as translator for me when it is needed. After our first class, when they were leaving, each one of them complimented me, most of them being a variation of, "Thank you Teresa, the lesson was beautiful!"



The kids are absolutely amazing. None of the students (not only my own, all I see when I'm in and around the school) have been rude or unkind at all. Most all of them know some English, and all of them know enough to say, "Welcome! What's your name?" though all of them don't understand the importance of listening for the answer to a question asked. They're so eager to learn English - some so they can use it when they travel, but generally just because it's the cool thing to do. English is "in." They're a bit rowdy at times, but NOTHING compared to what some of the other interns have to deal with. Our program directors explain that away as relating to the socio-economic status of the area, and I'm not sure how right they are, but there is a definite difference in the attitudes of the students. Anyway, like I was saying, they're all very eager to learn, and hungry for affirmation of any kind. My 8-H group, we had some spare time at the end of one of our classes, and they were just milling around the room. They picked up some children's books (in English) that were on a shelf in the back, and one of the girls brought one over to show me. It was Chicken Licken. She said, "Chicken Licken is beautiful..." Then she asked if she could read it to me, and I (of course) said that she could. And so she did. We didn't get to finish it before class was over, and the next time we had our group she asked if she could finish it. You have to really understand how these kids say the word beautiful. And I really can't think of any way to spell it or write it where you could understand...but the way they say it - it's endearing, funny, cute, everything. With my 9-H group, in class one day we read a short paragraph together and then they had to answer some questions. This is how the assignment checking went. They would tell me they finished, and I would say, "Okay, great!" They would then look at me, and hand me their paper, which I would look over and attempt to hand back to them accompanied by another affirming word. (To my credit, I learned after the second student.) They wouldn't take it back from me until I wrote on it - to prove they had done it and I had checked it. Their regular teacher signs her name on it, and I decided to write some nice word on each one - marvelous, terrific, fabulous, wonderful, etc. along with a smiley face. Now it's become an institution, and instead of the lessons being "beautiful," they're stupendous or fantastic - it's great.



They're all very complex kids though - it would be impossible to live in Israel and grow up in the arguably pleasant cocoon I enjoyed as an American, but for the kids in my school (who are Arab, and many are Muslim) it's more than just living in a war-torn country. There's such a divide between the Arab-Israelis and Jewish-Israelis. Tuesday, with my 9-R class, one part of our exercise was for them to tell me what their favorite color was and why they liked it. The only boy in the group told me that his favorite color was red, because it reminded him of the people who have died. He actually used the word "memorial," (after a thorough search through the Arabic-English dictionary, that is) and so it wasn't at all a morbid thought. It was a way of honoring the memory of...I'm not entirely sure who "the people" are, but still. There is a depth and a sensitivity in the students I've been able to spend time with that surprises me.



I know I've posted an awful lot in the past day or so...sorry to overwhelm anyone :) it's just that I actually have time on my hands while I'm in close proximity to a computer, so I figured I'd take advantage of it. On that note, I'm going to go on some more.



Yom Kippur began at sundown Friday night (it's technically Saturday as I'm typing this now). Yom Kippur (day of atonement) is the holiest day in Judaism, as I've mentioned. No businesses are supposed to be open, no one drives, it's an EXTREMELY quiet time. Now...I'd heard all this, heard about it, had the atmosphere of the holiday described to me, but it didn't do it justice at all. Since no one drives (except for emergency vehicles) the roads are empty...empty of cars, that is. The roads are, therefore, full of everything else - Mary, Eylon, and I just took the dogs for a walk down one of the major streets here, and there were people everywhere! Kids riding their bikes, people on rollerblades, people just walking, people with their dogs - all just strolling down the middle of the street. It was a bit bizarre...Mary said at one point that she felt like she was in Westside Story, and that the people on the street were going to break out in song at any moment...and that sums up the mood perfectly. It wasn't just that people were in the middle of the streets - it's also the amount of people out. They were out in droves. Eylon said that the people who fast on Yom Kippur (observant Jews) usually stay up really late into the night, so they can sleep in late - the sooner sundown comes, the sooner they can eat again. Anyway, it was really amazing, something I'm definitely happy I was able to experience.



So I suppose that's about it for now. I took a three hour nap earlier today, completely on accident (in my defense though, I'm still not feeling great), so I'm not even remotely sleepy now. I thought about staying up long enough to call someone in the States when it would actually be convenient for them, and not just me...but I doubt I'll last that long. Update on my progress through the Dark Tower series - I should finish the 4th book tonight or tomorrow, Mary doesn't have the 5th, but she does have the 6th, and the 7th (and last, which just came out this week) arrived Thursday. Very exciting! I highly recommend them, to anyone who has not read them. I'm not a big Stephen King fan (much to the chagrin of my sisters), the first book of his I attempted to read was "Insomnia," and it was freaky and hard to follow. But these books, science fiction or not, are amazing. And I'm completely NOT a sci-fi fan...but they're great. Very captivating. Anyway...I'm just rambling, so I'll go now. Love you all!