My favorite thing about my school right now is the bells, or as an Israeli once called it, the ring tone of the school. They are a 10 second snipet of a song, and each bell is different. One attempts to depict "row row row your boat", another sounds suspiciously like "twinkle twinkle little star". Each time a period ends, the town erupts in a chorus of synthesized, abbreviated renditions of nursery rhymes. The timing of the day is strange to me too. Classes are 45 minutes long, from 8-2:45, and there are 3 periods of recess that are followed by periods of eating throughout the day. Many times the mini meals consist of things like cake and doughnuts. No wonder the kids are bouncing off the walls. The teachers continue to be kind. One teacher likes to ask me what new words I learned that day, and I get to show off what I practiced all weekend. My favorite thing to do is sit in the teacher's lounge and listen to the women chat. I could do it all day. They appear to scream at each other, and I start to plan my escape routes in case a fight breaks out, when they suddenly all laugh and kiss each other on the cheeks. I turn to my English teacher, confused, and she explains that one teacher got an unexpected present from her husband. Every time I am surprised!

We had our second ulpan class this week. Our teacher does not speak a word of English, and it takes every ounce of concentration I have to pay attention for the whole two hours. The material itself is basic, and I usually understand what she is saying, even if I don't understand all the words. I leave feeling proud and energized for the next day, but only after a long recuperation period that consists of me lying in my bed in a stupor. 

At the end of this past ulpan, our teacher stuffed posters into the hands of all the girls and told us in rapid Hebrew that she would show up at our house tomorrow at 8 and that we were expected to come dancing with her. We had NO idea what she meant, or what to expect, but I have learned by now not to say no to Israeli women. Sarah and I went, and we sat hidden in a corner hoping no one would ask us to do anything particularly energetic. We shrank in our chairs as each woman in orthodox skirt and head covering walked in, regretting everything from our running shorts to the Hebrew we didn't have the energy to to understand after a long day at work. We were starting to plot fake sicknesses when a short bubbly man in tight jeans and a tiny mic popped out, and music began to blast from speakers. Everyone is up in a circle dancing, and we are too, because no matter where you grew up or what language you speak, if you are Jewish you know the Mayim. The songs are shmalzty, but layered with new dubstep-esque beats. The dances are taught in Hebrew, but they are simple and familiar. The leader shouts out each move the way someone shouts out when they get a package full of chocolate from their favorite aunt. The women in the group are all really into it, closing their eyes and swaying to each beat with a smile on their face that says this is their favorite part of the week. It was all high energy and so fun. I learned so much Hebrew, like for example the word for "point", a word you can use to describe everything from the shape of your feet while dancing to the birthmarks on your face. 

Last week we went to the Roman ruins in the national park for a night tour and light show. The show was impressive, with music and lights all over the park, and a projected movie playing on the walls of the amphitheater. The show told the story of the city of Scytopolis, which according to mythology was founded by Dionysus, god of pleasure, and was a huge center of life and culture until an earthquake brought it to ruins. The city is said to be the gateway to the Garden of Eden. Our tour guide was Dudu Levi, my host dad, who volunteers part time because he loves it, and is one of the few guides who can give a tour in English. He told really fun personal stories about growing up in Beit She'an and watching the discovery of the ruins unfold. When he was a child, everything in the park was totally covered except for perhaps the top 10 inches of a column, and no one knew what it was. He and his friends used to play hide and seek, and he would hide behind the column, and as they grew older they used it as a soccer goal post. Little did he know then how deep that column went, or how it would stay with him as he talked about it on tours every weekend as an adult!

Dudu's English has a wonderful flavor to it that is distinctly Israeli. During the tour, he described the many different layers of cities that created the tell at the end of the park as, throughout the centuries, one civilization after another built on top of the last civilizations' ruins. Because Israel is most interested in the Roman ruins, Dudu explained, that is what has been dug up. However, if you took a cross-section of the tell you would learn about the other era's that inhabited Beit She'an. Instead of using the word cross-section however, Dudu said that if you took a big knife and cut the tel like a cake, and took a slice of that cake, all the layers of frosting would be different civilizations. What a fun way to think about the world! Another time he told us that we could take home one of the bread loaves that Gila made, because she had made twins. I love it. And of course I know I sound even more peculiar in Hebrew. I get laughed at often for saying things incorrectly. I have collected a huge repertoire of dirty words that I stumbled upon unwittingly because they sound similar to something much more mundane that I meant to say. How silly we sound all the time with our sparse vocabularies and American accents! Good thing everyone here is so forgiving. 

English of course is important for all students in economically poor areas because without it you don't go to college, but it is also important to Beit She'an because of the park. People come to Beit She'an from all over the world to see the Roman ruins, including many English speakers, and there are not enough tour guides to accommodate them. Dudu will help train Dan, Kevin and KT as tour guides, who will help to take on this load. It is amazing how many ways that a command of the English language translates to direct economic benefits in corners of the world like Beit She'an. Hopefully the continued presence of MASA here will help the city to grow and prosper.

I will be traveling a lot over the weekends in November, and so I am looking forward to a weekend of cooking and eating and relaxing with my host family. Shabbat Shalom everyone!