Why I Like Ulpan

Since I took a semester of Hebrew class a few years ago, I already know a fair amount of what we've been studying so far. When I got here, I probably remembered about 60% of what I learned in 2006, and what we learn in Ulpan is a good review. Many times during class, I won't remember a word, and Michal (the teacher) will tell us, and I will remember having learned the word or phrase before. It's interesting how that works.

Also, my friends here think I actually speak Hebrew, which is funny, since I barely know any. But I speak the most of the four of us, so it's nice. Sometimes they ask me to help with homework. When we got lost the other day, I was also able to speak with the people we met along the way to ask how to get back to Herzl St (the main street here in Ramla). Though, for some reason, no one seemed to know where it was... or they just didn't want to help the stupid Americans, which is completely plausible.

The other day, we went to a hamburger place that was appropriately called בורגר (Burger). I ordered in Hebrew, and my friends ordered in English, and I totally got charged 3 shekels less, even though we all got the same thing. It was awesome.