Musical Algebra (And Other Musings About 2nd Semester So Far...)

During my 'winter break' a few weeks ago, I was going through a bit of an existential funk. [Note: there is no such thing as 'winter' in Israel. From what I can tell, there are only two seasons - summer and less hot. I digress.]

Though I had made a cosy life for myself and had met some really great people, I - along with many of my classmates - wasn't happy at all with how the history courses were carried out last semester, the administration's pathetic attempt at rectifying the situation, and I was seriously examining other possibilities for after the summer. I realize that blogging about my dissatisfaction from last semester isn't the most entertaining way to start a post, but I told myself when I started this blog that I would attempt to keep as honest a portrayal of my experiences here as possible.

Luckily, from the moment classes started again (around two weeks ago) until now, it appears that the program has pulled a complete 180. I am taking three classes this semester, but I am sitting in on all five classes offered simply because every single one of them has something interesting and appealing about them. For the most part, the intrigue comes from the varied background of the professors combined with the topics that they are teaching. Amongst others, this semester I am being taught the problematics of historiography by a secular Zionist, who split his time growing up in Israel & South Africa under Apartheid: talk about the right guy to analyse how debates concerning Israel, Palestine, and the greater Arab peoples are contextualized. [More on his lectures in my next post.] Also, I am not usually one to appreciate it when a teacher sidetracks the lecture with anecdotes, but there is something incredible about listening to my Israeli teacher of Iranian history recount his days in Tehran before the revolution, hanging out with the late Shah's twin sister of all people. Talk about taking name dropping to a whole new level.

In addition to the great history teachers, the saving grace of last semester - the language teachers - really raised their game this semester: classes have been full of laughs and the material is finally starting to really click for me in Arabic. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that we are essentially learning Semitic languages via algebra & music - look at the formula below:

In order for us to learn the perfective, imperfective, and imperative templates for verbs in Forms I, II, & III, [Time out. Yes, I am turning into a linguistics nerd in some ways. Time in.] Our teacher, being the brilliant and entertaining man he is, decided to teach us the different conjugations by breaking them down into Xs, with vowels attached to the variables, and by singing them to the classic tunes of "Jingle Bells", "Hava Nagila", and - last but not least - Christina Aguilera's "Come On Over". [On a cross-cultural sidenote, I find it brilliant and slightly ironic that we are learning Arabic with the help of, arguably, the most famous Hebrew folk song of the last century.]

Granted, I have next to zero trust in the administration at this point and they have not changed their behaviour from last semester, but in a counter-intuitive way, this mindset has made me much more productive, as it has helped me realize that I do not need their help much in order for me to make the most of my experience in Israel. I am splitting my time evenly between attending all of the classes, improving at the guitar, and laughing a lot with friends outside of class. In a way, I guess, I am beginning to find a really comfortable balance between working and playing; and with that everything seems to be flowing along nicely...


2000 Blogtastic Bonus Points for whoever can guess what flag this is:




Love you all!