Endless Holidays

Well, I am currently in the midst of what is quite possibly the longest stretch of holidays I have ever experienced. That, however, is not the reason why I haven't posted in a while. No the reason for my lack of posts was an incredibly irritating bout of illness. It began as a mild sore throat and stayed that way until I went out to a bar called Morrison's, which is themed along the lines of the lead singer from the Doors but only seemed to play techno-remixes of Madonna songs. It was also incredibly smokey and quite loud. After that I had a sore throat which prevented me from talking and I couldn't walk or stand for more than a few minutes before having to sit down. This all occurred last week during our break for Rosh HaShana, which is the Jewish New Years holiday. While everyone else I know went out to bars or visited Egypt, I was reading in bed, eating soup, and drinking chamomile tea with honey to soothe my throat. Needless to say, that kinda sucked.

After Rosh HaShana, we had two days of school before our break for Yom Kippur and Succot. I had another good intro to rabbinic lit class and in Arabic I learned 4 more arabic letters, 5 out of six arabic vowels, 2 additional pronunciation markings, and about 10 words. I also had my first Psychology of Conflict Resolution class which, in all honesty, seemed like a moderately sized group therapy session. The entire class was comprised of questions about the reading, but they questions about how we felt about the reading, you know... what it made us feel. Now, I hadn't done the reading because I was not in the last class. That being said, here is a near direct record of my sole contribution to the discussion:

Teacher: You, how does that make you feel?
Me: How does what make me feel? (I hadn't been paying attention)
Teacher: Everything.
Me: Everything?
Teacher: Yes.
Me: Uh, everything is... good?

Regardless of how free form that class is I think I will stick with it, if only because it is completely unlike any class I have had before and may prove interesting. Also during this time I tried to arrange a trip to turkey for me and some other people during the Succot holiday (which commemorates the Jews wandering in the desert and also has some harvest-related meaning). But all these people were in Egypt for all of last week and I was too sick to make it to the travel agency's office so that didn't end up happening. But since with my new schedule I now have four day weekends every week so I can probably go there for the weekend later on. Now I am trying to figure out if I want to go on the international school trip to the Dead Sea. I am torn because the trip includes some time at the Dead Sea, then a hike up Masada (King Herod's mountain stronghold) and then camping in a Bedouin tent for the night. Now, as most of you know, I hate hiking and I'm not really one for camping either. On the other hand, it would be a good opportunity to meet some of the other international students and apparently the sunrise when viewed from Masada is one of the most beautiful sights in Israel. Oh, well, I'm sure I will come to a decision eventually. Also, The Succot holiday will last for all of next week as well. This means that we had a week of school, then a week off, then two days of school, then a week and a half off, then two and a half months of school. All of which roughly equates to me working my ass of on research papers and oral presentations about a month earlier than I would back home because of how condensed the semester is.

The last thing I want to mention is that I watched half of the first presidential debate and all of the second one last night and was kinda (not really) surprised to find myself agreeing more with McCain than Obama. Granted this may have been because Obama's goal for the second debate seemed to be to not directly answer any question he was asked, but I digress. Also, from both debates, I noticed that McCain is really, really good at getting in the last word, it was quite impressive. I would like to talk about the debate in a bit more detail but I am little pressed for time right now so I may do that later, I don't know.

More later