September 10, 2007

Bailey Porter
Brother Ludlow

We have been here for less than a week, but already we seem to know the routine of things. Today was a little different though. We started both Modern Near Eastern Studies from an Israeli point of view, and for half of us, Arabic. The other half were able to sleep in, since class didn't start for them until 9:30. We also had our first family home evening in the Holy Land.There are two Arabic sections. I'm in the second, and was waiting for the first class to leave so I could take my seat. As the class before me was leaving they were laughing and wishing us good luck. At least they weren't groaning and saying it. The teacher was funny, which is good because otherwise the class may be a little tedious. We were trying to say a particular word and someone said it slightly wrong, a barely noticeable error. The meaning however was changed from whatever we were saying to, how is your uncle doing? It should be a pretty difficult class, but also fun since we will be learning more of the Palestinian culture.After Arabic we went to meet our teacher of Modern Near Eastern Studies/Israeli perspective. This was my favorite class yet. We learned more about the Jewish culture and history involving Hanukah. The only downfall to this class is how much reading is expected. Many of us thought that both the reading for our first (which we would have to catch up on) and second day were due the following day. This would have given us that afternoon and evening to read 111 pages along with any homework from other classes. Not many went into the city for that reason. It turns out that we had until our third class to do the assigned reading.Later that evening we had family home evening. This was our first one since we'd arrived. We met next to the Oasis around eight and were split up into groups. We were then given a clue piece that began a scavenger hunt around the center, ranging from the bottom gate up to the security on the 8th floor. By the time the last clue completed the puzzle everyone that ran up and down the stairs was thoroughly exhausted.