This week I've been informed that my coordinator has high hopes and big plans for me. So big I can't even say what they are. They have to remain confidential until my office is aware.
Regrettably I had to quit the FUNDAEC class I mentioned in my last entry because it coincides with the start of my upcoming Hebrew classes. I found the FUNDAEC class such a great way to understand the nature of education throughout the world - it was so interesting to see other BWC staff members' thought processes and reactions to the material...it really helped me to understand more about the dozens of cultures of the world that are represented here. I hope to join such a diverse group in the near future. But for now, I have to focus on my Hebrew lessons. I've been told they are pretty simple in nature - they don't so much cover such things as grammar and phonetics as polite phrases and speech that lubricates the transition to English. However it's my understanding that those who really want to learn Hebrew properly can take a second, more in-depth class. I'll just see what happens.
It is hard to believe that soon my flatmate, Aram, will be leaving me. She'll be going in April. I have been trying to keep the flat sparkling (with limited success) to keep her from having to worry about such mundane things while she is try to enjoy her last couple of months. On the other hand I worry about her sometimes. She will drop anything for anyone and as a result it almost seems that her own life is outside of her control. She has indicated to me that before she leaves she would like to teach a beginning Farsi class because fourth months ago when I arrived she asked several of my fellow orientees which of them would be interested in such a class. She does not want to disappoint them and that is a nice sentiment, but I think she needs to keep in mind that she never promised anything and she doesn't owe a free class to anyone. I want her to learn to enjoy herself and be content with what she can do and what she can't do. Then again, feeling insufficient is more or less synonymous with being human, so I don't think I should be too hard on her.
In other news, I'm terribly excited to go to the beach tomorrow. Yes, the beach, and yes, January. I've described the concept of polar bearing to some fellow staff. The notion was met with laughter by some and horror by others. It will be interesting to see if anyone is interesting in trying a, well, mild version tomorrow.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
January 9, 2010
On some weeks, a rhythm and a routine sneak into my life and time goes by very fast, in pulses. This week was busy and unusual and it slipped away in a heartbeat. I can hardly remember it.
I joined a FUNDAEC class - this is an acronym for Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias, which is a Bahá'í organization that is working on developing a educational system that minimizes emphasis on competition and maximizes emphasis on discussion and collaborative efforts, and attempts to integrate contemplation of spiritual concepts into the curriculum. Currently it is an accredited complete high school program in five countries. What I am doing is going through the actual curriculum of the introductory book at a fast pace (as our focus is to examine the educational approach). I don't know how to sum up the system. I don't have a conclusive opinion about it yet...but as I am studying with a big group in my downstairs neighbors' apartment, I am finding it a wonderful way to meet many people from many different countries (my office is relatively un-diverse in this regard and will be comprised entirely of U.S. citizens by June, save for one Swazi who is technically a transplant), and to discuss education as it relates to spirituality and vice versa. I'm also finally getting to know my downstairs neighbors who are really good, courteous and friendly guys.
At some point I can't accurately place in time, I also finally had the opportunity to visit the temple land and Bahá'í cemetery. The temple land is the site of the future Bahá'í temple in Israel. It is currently marked with gardens and an obelisk. The Bahá'í cemetery was a bit anticlimactic to visit as many of the grave markers were in Farsi, so I had no idea who was underneath them. However there were many graves of recent prominent Bahá'ís as well. As such I got to visit the gravesite of the author of the very first Bahá'í book I ever read.
I have a hard time reading the news here, hard as I try. One of the most peculiar things about the news here, aside from the huge difference in perspective that exists from one publication to the next, is that things that would be big news at home are commonplace and meaningless here. If Canada fired rockets at the United States, even if they didn't hit anybody, it would be big news. But here as long as the rockets don't hit anybody, it gets mentioned in the news but nobody cares. I should mention here that rocket attacks from Lebanon do not appear to be a significant threat at this time. Relations with Lebanon are as I understand relatively stable at this moment.
This weekend was really enjoyable, I went out to eat with friends a couple of times, went shopping for embroidery supplies (really this is a feat considering that my work schedule is generally incompatible or only narrowly compatible with most store hours) and went hiking today, which was a surprise treat. It is January, yes, but it was such a beautiful day that I was almost uncomfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. (I've been trying to organize a trip to the beach just to be able to brag about going to the beach in January, but I think this is a close enough approximation. In any case a beach trip for next Saturday is pending.) There is a national park right here in Haifa that I didn't know about until today; it's way up at the top of the mountain, right next to the university. It's enormous and it's not the prettiest thing that you ever did see, but it has its own beauty. I got to be surrounded by wildlife and breathe what I hoped was truly fresh air for the first time in three months. Part of the park is a lovely wildlife preserve designed to protect certain species native to the middle east. These nearly faced extinction with the coming of the German Templars and their practice of hunting for sport. I loved it so much and I'm sure I will be coming back regularly.
I joined a FUNDAEC class - this is an acronym for Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias, which is a Bahá'í organization that is working on developing a educational system that minimizes emphasis on competition and maximizes emphasis on discussion and collaborative efforts, and attempts to integrate contemplation of spiritual concepts into the curriculum. Currently it is an accredited complete high school program in five countries. What I am doing is going through the actual curriculum of the introductory book at a fast pace (as our focus is to examine the educational approach). I don't know how to sum up the system. I don't have a conclusive opinion about it yet...but as I am studying with a big group in my downstairs neighbors' apartment, I am finding it a wonderful way to meet many people from many different countries (my office is relatively un-diverse in this regard and will be comprised entirely of U.S. citizens by June, save for one Swazi who is technically a transplant), and to discuss education as it relates to spirituality and vice versa. I'm also finally getting to know my downstairs neighbors who are really good, courteous and friendly guys.
At some point I can't accurately place in time, I also finally had the opportunity to visit the temple land and Bahá'í cemetery. The temple land is the site of the future Bahá'í temple in Israel. It is currently marked with gardens and an obelisk. The Bahá'í cemetery was a bit anticlimactic to visit as many of the grave markers were in Farsi, so I had no idea who was underneath them. However there were many graves of recent prominent Bahá'ís as well. As such I got to visit the gravesite of the author of the very first Bahá'í book I ever read.
I have a hard time reading the news here, hard as I try. One of the most peculiar things about the news here, aside from the huge difference in perspective that exists from one publication to the next, is that things that would be big news at home are commonplace and meaningless here. If Canada fired rockets at the United States, even if they didn't hit anybody, it would be big news. But here as long as the rockets don't hit anybody, it gets mentioned in the news but nobody cares. I should mention here that rocket attacks from Lebanon do not appear to be a significant threat at this time. Relations with Lebanon are as I understand relatively stable at this moment.
This weekend was really enjoyable, I went out to eat with friends a couple of times, went shopping for embroidery supplies (really this is a feat considering that my work schedule is generally incompatible or only narrowly compatible with most store hours) and went hiking today, which was a surprise treat. It is January, yes, but it was such a beautiful day that I was almost uncomfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. (I've been trying to organize a trip to the beach just to be able to brag about going to the beach in January, but I think this is a close enough approximation. In any case a beach trip for next Saturday is pending.) There is a national park right here in Haifa that I didn't know about until today; it's way up at the top of the mountain, right next to the university. It's enormous and it's not the prettiest thing that you ever did see, but it has its own beauty. I got to be surrounded by wildlife and breathe what I hoped was truly fresh air for the first time in three months. Part of the park is a lovely wildlife preserve designed to protect certain species native to the middle east. These nearly faced extinction with the coming of the German Templars and their practice of hunting for sport. I loved it so much and I'm sure I will be coming back regularly.
Friday, January 1, 2010
January 1
Happy 2010 to everybody! At work here as well as in many other places I'm sure, my coworkers and I could not believe that it is already 2010. One of them commented that he remembers thinking of 2010 as off in the distant future. I replied that I could remember thinking of 2000 in the same way (though it never really was that distant for me as I was 15 in 2000). As he put it, "we're living in the future."
This is a good time to point ot that the Baha'i faith actually has its own calendar (largely unused at this point), in which the first day of the New Year is, most logically in my opinion, the first day of spring, March 21. Also logically, as in Judaism and Islam, days are considered to begin at sunset the Gregorian day before. I say this is logical even though it's hard to wrap my mind around why a day would begin with eating dinner and going to bed, because it allows most everyone to participate in welcoming the new year, in spite of their bedtimes and without altering sleep cycles.
The Bahá'í World Centre, however, in striving to be comprehended by as much of the world as possible, follows the Gregorian New Year. As such, excitingly, I got to change every number on my date stamp today, which led me to contemplate my definition of "exciting".
Since my last entry, I dropped out of the art class I mentioned after attending all of one session, because I do have a couple of art projects up my sleeve, but I need to be working on them independently; it works better for me. The one I have sketched is hard to describe beyond the fact that it deals with themes of memory and its organization, or lack thereof and meshes the concepts of universal and personal experience. Clear and specific, right? I've been reading a lot, and I attribute this to Israel's winter weather. Though it's not genuinely cold by any stretch of the imagination, it does have its frosty moments in the evenings, and when all you have to protect yourself against even the slight chill is a couple of blankets, a space heater, and no insulation, curling up in bed with a good book is frequently an appealing option. I read Daughter of Fortune and found it somewhat pornographic and definitely a cheapened imitation of García-Márquez with some awkward allusions to Jorge Luis Borges, and I realized upon seeing them again that I missed the arrogant know-it-all feelings I used to have when I read Spanish literature because I know a couple of things about it. I'm rereading Their Eyes Were Watching God and realizing that it's a terribly awkwardly written book, which I hadn't noticed reading it when I was 17. The sentences are ambiguous in a clearly unintentional way and the point of view and even the tenses keep shifting at random. Anyway, I like the story, so I'll forgive Zora Neale Hurston, but I won't name my kid after her like half my acquaintances with young children.
I've been trying to cook, and trying not to get discouraged by recurrent disasters. Let's leave it at that.
I start mandatory Hebrew lessons which are paid for by the World Centre in the middle of January. If I don't master the Farsi alphabet by then, I'll be pretty sad. Part of me recognizes the importance of Hebrew lessons and part of me wishes I could just concentrate on one language at a time. This is hard enough. But it will be good to be able to read things like street signs that say "closed" or "private" or "trespassers will be shot".
In other news, I continue to overdress daily, and I continue to wonder when winter will really start. I don't mean to brag, but I'm starting to think maybe this is it.
This is a good time to point ot that the Baha'i faith actually has its own calendar (largely unused at this point), in which the first day of the New Year is, most logically in my opinion, the first day of spring, March 21. Also logically, as in Judaism and Islam, days are considered to begin at sunset the Gregorian day before. I say this is logical even though it's hard to wrap my mind around why a day would begin with eating dinner and going to bed, because it allows most everyone to participate in welcoming the new year, in spite of their bedtimes and without altering sleep cycles.
The Bahá'í World Centre, however, in striving to be comprehended by as much of the world as possible, follows the Gregorian New Year. As such, excitingly, I got to change every number on my date stamp today, which led me to contemplate my definition of "exciting".
Since my last entry, I dropped out of the art class I mentioned after attending all of one session, because I do have a couple of art projects up my sleeve, but I need to be working on them independently; it works better for me. The one I have sketched is hard to describe beyond the fact that it deals with themes of memory and its organization, or lack thereof and meshes the concepts of universal and personal experience. Clear and specific, right? I've been reading a lot, and I attribute this to Israel's winter weather. Though it's not genuinely cold by any stretch of the imagination, it does have its frosty moments in the evenings, and when all you have to protect yourself against even the slight chill is a couple of blankets, a space heater, and no insulation, curling up in bed with a good book is frequently an appealing option. I read Daughter of Fortune and found it somewhat pornographic and definitely a cheapened imitation of García-Márquez with some awkward allusions to Jorge Luis Borges, and I realized upon seeing them again that I missed the arrogant know-it-all feelings I used to have when I read Spanish literature because I know a couple of things about it. I'm rereading Their Eyes Were Watching God and realizing that it's a terribly awkwardly written book, which I hadn't noticed reading it when I was 17. The sentences are ambiguous in a clearly unintentional way and the point of view and even the tenses keep shifting at random. Anyway, I like the story, so I'll forgive Zora Neale Hurston, but I won't name my kid after her like half my acquaintances with young children.
I've been trying to cook, and trying not to get discouraged by recurrent disasters. Let's leave it at that.
I start mandatory Hebrew lessons which are paid for by the World Centre in the middle of January. If I don't master the Farsi alphabet by then, I'll be pretty sad. Part of me recognizes the importance of Hebrew lessons and part of me wishes I could just concentrate on one language at a time. This is hard enough. But it will be good to be able to read things like street signs that say "closed" or "private" or "trespassers will be shot".
In other news, I continue to overdress daily, and I continue to wonder when winter will really start. I don't mean to brag, but I'm starting to think maybe this is it.
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