Realization Number Two: I love music. This might not come as such a surprise to many of you, and at first glance the words "I love music" are less than enlightening to me, too. But let me try to describe to you the extent to which I realize I've come to love music. I don't just love listening to music; I love contributing to other peoples' music, and I love making my own. I'm beyond that stage in my life where I could merely sing along to whatever song was playing on the radio and be satisfied. Now, I can't listen to two measures without breaking into spontaneous harmonies; they're floating somewhere by my ear, right above where the recorded song hits, and the only way for me to catch them and understand them is to sing them. This can play out in a rather embarrassing scenario, unless of course the harmonies turn out perfectly. In that case, it's all sunshine and puppies.
I had a slight panic when, about two weeks into my program, I opened my mouth to harmonize to one of my usual songs, and the notes that met my ears were not the ones that I had meant to sing. Looking back, I realized that I had barely listened to my iPod or sung בקול רם since arriving in Israel, nor had I touched a guitar: the iPod neglect I can only attribute to forgetfulness; the lack of singing to the lack of an outlet for such things on campus; and the absence of my instrument to El Al’s strict carry-on baggage quotas, the limited carrying capacity of my 5’2” frame, and my silly belief that given my sparse playing in recent months, I would not miss it. Joni Mitchell, and later the Counting Crows had it darn right, though: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone.” Cliché as ever, but remarkably true. Now that I have no guitar, my mind is filled with song ideas (not for new songs, necessarily, but for ways to shape up the old ones—don’t get too excited), and my hands are itching for the feel of the pick as it hits the strings. Sigh.
The future is looking promising, however: while I will remain guitarless for some time (I hope to go 50/50 with Cayla on the cheapest guitar in Haifa—we just need to find the cheapest guitar in Haifa), my friend Jeremy and I are planning on starting the University of Haifa’s first a cappella group (look out for the BEATachones!), and I’ve started listening to my iPod like it’s my job. Most of the time, you can find me with a headphone in one ear and a conversation in the other. I turn on my iTunes every morning while getting ready for class, and I practice my harmonies when I'm pretty sure no one is near enough to hear or be bothered. I’m on a mission to retrain my ear, and I’m pleased to say that so far, the mission has been a success: the harmonies that I imagine when I turn on a song are easier to imitate these days than they were two weeks ago. Things look brighter (though that could also be because the sun has returned from its lengthy hiatus) and sound prettier; life is definitely better with a soundtrack.
Realization Number 2.5: Jason Mraz is one of the best singers/songwriters/musicians of the decade. He is my current muse, and I want nothing more than to see him play in concert, preferably in a small, intimate venue like he used to play in the old days. Beautiful voice, thought-provoking (and ever-changing) lyrics, an amazing ability to improvise—he is what I currently aspire to be, musically.
Now, for some updates on Israel:
I made stir fry for the first-and-a-half time (I’ve technically made it once before, but it was with a friend—this time I did it all by myself) and it was מעולה, awesome. I also made rice without burning it (if you think you can’t burn rice, trust me, you can), and had enough food to use as leftovers for another dinner and a lunch. I am making some serious progress here. It's really exciting.
This is the last week of Ulpan, and then real classes start. I think I’m going to take four classes at the International School (including Hebrew), and audit one class at the regular university. I would take a class at the university, were it not for the fact that my main goal for study abroad is not to study too much. No, I’m not a slacker. Yes, I’m learning how to have more fun during the school year, the one thing that I’ve failed at pretty consistently for too many semesters.
Today, Doreen showed us the REAL shook. Where is the real shook, you might ask? It’s UNDERNEATH the other one. The “fake” shook is the one that our madrichim took us to the first week of Ulpan: it looks pretty, and it charges higher prices than the real one. The real one is a bit farther down the road: descend a set of stairs that you wouldn’t notice from up the street, and you’re there. It’s underground, grimy, dirt cheap (is there a pun there?), beautiful. I would say that it’s the best-kept secret in Haifa, except that everyone in the city knows about it besides the International Students. Plus, the best kept secret in Haifa is the Druze religion...Hehe. (Get it? Druze is literally a secret religion. We learned that today from our guest lecturer.)
Off to make dinner and study for my Ulpan final (Thursday). My newest Hebrew words:
להתמנגל (lehitmangel) = to mingle
גירית (girit) = a badger (yep, I learned that one from Harry Potter)
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