So...somehow, its been a long time since my last post AGAIN. WHERE did the month of October go?!?! Honestly, whoever is holding the remote for my life needs to STOP hitting the 'fast-forward' button please!! I can't believe I only have two full months left in Haifa. This can't be right, can it?
It has been a busy, albeit wonderful month here for me. My classes started, my internship is in full swing, and we're managing to still find things to do to have fun on the weekends!
Hmm, shall I start with the academics? I really enjoyed the "shopping period" the first two weeks, during which we were allowed to go to as many/whichever classes we wanted. I'm glad they use such a system here, because most of the classes I went to that first week, I didn't enjoy. BUT it DID allow me to find the classes that I fit really well in. Unfortunately...or fortunately depending on how you might look at it, with the way our Arabic class has been set up, I now ONLY have class on Thursdays! It is so completely different from any other semester of schooling I've ever known. And, it comes with its perks, (such as I only have to worry about handing homework in one day of the week) but it also has it's downsides. (Like sometimes, it allows me to be a bit too lazy?) So, to counteract my extremely unbalanced schedule, I go in to my internship at least twice a week as well. I'm loving every part of both my classes and my internship right now. In addition to Arabic (which I have as a four hour-long seminar on Thursday mornings, I'm taking a class called "Leadership in Organizations." This is a three-hour seminar that follows Arabic every Thursday, and it focuses on leadership studies, mainly in the political arena. The professor is this somewhat eccentric Haifa native, who spent most of her academic career learning and teaching at Universities in the U.S. She's so lively and fun, and I spend half the class laughing at all her jokes. She's obsessed with Diet Coke, and George Clooney, and we all knew this within the first five minutes of our first class! Every class inspires me to think outside the box and challenge what my own conceptions of what it means to be a leader is. Its a small class, and a large part of it is discussion-based, and it's an environment and a material that I've come to look forward to every week.
After the first seven horus of class on Thursdays, I have another three-hour seminar on Terrorism and Response. You would think this would be one LONG day..and it is, I do get quite hungry, but I don't even NOTICE the time passing. Thats how amazing these classes and professors are! My Terrorism professor has me hanging of every syllable for the FULL three hours! When have I ever been known to sit still that long before?! Now, I'm not saying I usually agree with him or what he's teaching, on the contrary, I find his opinions very harsh and blunt, and usually in opposition to mine. But, he delivers his opinions with force and courage, and that's what has my respect for him growing with every lecture. He's fairly high up in Israeli military and security, and always brings his gun to class. (THAT was an experience the first day..I'm not used to professors have guns in their belts??) He used to work for the Pentagon, and still meets with many security and military officials back in the U.S. (He is originally from the states, but moved to Israel in the 80s). His lectures pack a LOT of punch and touch on really sensitive subjects, but they are done in such a manner to leave everyone just a little bit breathless and wanting more. (Now if only the assigned readings could be as interesting!).
And then, as mentioned, to round out my schedule, I'm spending 15 hours a week at my internship. I'm interning for an organization called Aswat. (aswatgroup.org) Its a Palestinian Lesbian Organization that works under and within the Haifa Women's Coalition. The office here is a beautful place that houses the various organizations in the coalition. I love everything about it so far, and the people I've met, and what they're trying to do is just wonderful. As of right now, I'm mainly helping them with their English publications (translating Arabic-English) and researching funding and advocacy partners both within Israel and Internationally. I've only been here two weeks and I already firmly believe in what they're doing and what they're about, and I can't wait to help out, even if its just a small amount.
So Aswat work and home work fill most of my days, but inbetween, I'm getting to know some really great students here and making the kind of friendships that are going to be painful when separated in just a few short months.
The weather here has gotten cooler, and by that I mean it only gets up to the lower 70s during the day now. Haha...but the nights are chilly, and I'm starting to need a jacket if I want to go out anywhere after dark. Apparently our days of going to the beach every day after class are over. :( But it IS still absolutely beautiful here at the top of our mountain...and it still takes my breath away every day.
The international school threw a Halloween Party Sunday night. We were able to carve pumpkins and dress up and dance all night, forgetting for just a few hours that we are in a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween, and letting ourselves be entirely "American." (Although, it was an open party, and many of the Israelis we invited got REALLY in to it! Maybe next year they'll want to celebrate again? Just watch, in about ten years we'll have the whole COUNTRY celebrating Halloween!!).
In the next few weeks there is still a lot to look forward to, and I fear that the month of November will fly by even faster than the ones before.....
Thank you to everyone back home who has been keeping my in their thoughts and correspondences. I love getting mail and I love hearing from everyone back home. I recently received a letter from some very special people back home that ended with "We miss you, but we know you're doing a good thing." And I couldn't agree more with the sentiment. I miss home. I do. I miss my life there and my family and the familiarity of it all. But I know I'm here for a reason, and I know I'm right where I'm meant to be at this point in my life. If I didn't feel so strongly about that, I wouldn't be able to stay away so long. Home will be there next year right? Its funny..change is something that I used to fear, even run away from. And now...now I willingly face it head on. And I don't think I'll ever stop wrestling with change now that I know the results it can produce.
Oh, by the way, the title to this post is the English translation of one of Aswats key slogans. Its written in Arabic on everything here, and its a beautifl phrase that I've taken to mean something just a little bit different than it's purposed definition. For Aswat, its about sexual and gender identity. Its about being okay with who you are no matter who that is. For me, its a little more personal, but still along the same lines. For me, I see it to mean that I have the right, and the will to lead my life where I want it to go. I have the right to choose my path and to be who I envision. It's an awfully empowering thought, so I decided to share it. It's sort of become my new mantra these days??
Ahh, and now it's that time again, where the post gets just a little too long for anyone to read it in one sitting. So I must sign off, and get back to the mountains of work awaiting me. (I haven't exactly morphed out of my procrastinating college-student ways just yet!)
I hope everyone back home is enjoying fall! Love!
Kadie
No comments:
Post a Comment