So I'm actually in Turkey now, but I have several posts that I want to finish. And it just won't be the same thing when I get back. So I'll post about my trek through Europe later.
Today's post is about Bethlehem University. Somewhere in the middle of my less-than-wonderful Arabic experience at Hebrew University, I realized that I could waste my money going to classes in English that weren't going to count for anything, or I could spend my money on a bunch of random classes in different languages all over that wouldn't count for anything. Can you guess what I decided to do? The second semester of my time at Hebrew University I dropped to half-time, took only 3 classes (all in Hebrew) at the university, and then took a class at Bethlehem University, one at the Polis Institute, an intensive Hebrew course at Ulpan Or (more to come about that later), and in addition to my internship at ICCI, I travelled to several different places in the West Bank to conduct research.
It was, to say the least, much, much better than wasting my money on classes in English with Americans like I did my first semester.
Classes at Bethlehem University and classes at Hebrew University were completely different. The whole atmosphere was different. The only things that overlapped, I think, was the smoking and, well, probably the smoking.
While most students at Hebrew University are between the ages of 22-30 (because of the army, travel, and other things Israelis do before going to college), most students were 22 or younger at Bethlehem University. It actually reminded me a lot of the University of Jordan, but on a much smaller scale. Bethlehem University is a Catholic university, and the only Christian-run and -funded university in the West Bank. (But Muslims are welcome and make up more than 50% of the student body.) It is quite a small campus in Bethlehem, with several buildings and large outdoor areas where students can sit and chat.
Did I mention that in both the University of Jordan and Bethlehem University, the students like to sit and chat? Like for hours?
I decided to take a class here for several reasons. First of all, I wanted to improve my Arabic by listening to lectures in Arabic. Secondly, I was intensely curious to see how a Christian-Palestinian university and a Jewish-Israeli university differ. And third (and this is perhaps the most important), I wanted to be surrounded by students who like to sit and talk. Because I wasn't speaking Arabic enough every day. And all of those students were just sitting there, waiting for me to go up and talk to them.
My class was interesting enough--it was an introduction to Islam and Christianity, with half the class about Islam and taught by a Muslim teacher, while the other half on Christianity was taught by a Christian teacher. I mostly just sat in class and tried not to make waves. I was thrilled to realize halfway through the semester that I could finally understand what the teacher was saying, but I'm sure that had a lot more to do with subject matter than my Arabic ability improving! (The Christianity half was the second half...)
However, what really changed my life and my experience this past year was what I did each Thursday and Friday before class. I bit the bullet and went out into the courtyards to talk to the female students sitting around chatting.
To understand what a feat this was for me, you have to understand how I felt about junior high. I hated junior high. Absolutely hated it. Walking down the halls, it was like everyone was judging you because you weren't popular enough or your clothes weren't fancy or you walked funny or you were just different. It seems like junior high is a time to fall down the stairs in the hall and forget where your classroom is and sit alone in a corner at lunchtime trying to eat as fast as you could. And the worst thing about junior high was the GOSSIP. Or maybe the fact that friends were your best friends one day and your worst enemies the next (and the next and the next).
Now, Arab universities and American junior highs are very different places. But when I walked around the campuses of the University of Jordan and Bethlehem University, I felt like I was in junior high again. Those same feelings of are people looking at me? Why is everyone staring at me? Can I just sit in the back of the classroom and not say anything? Where's a bathroom that I can hide in? Why do students sit around every door into the building? Can't I just walk for five minutes without having to walk past people? plagued me every day. Especially because I'm a foreigner and I walk around alone. I always felt like people were staring at me (not just at the university, but all the time actually!).
But, I moved to the West Bank so that I could improve my Arabic, and I had to talk to people if I wanted to improve my Arabic. So with a lot of help from Elad and my Arabic class, I would walk on campus, see the throngs of people sitting around talking, walk into a building and find a bathroom, take deep breaths and remind myself how much I needed to speak Arabic, go back outside, walk around campus looking for my next victims, and then walk up to them and strike.
"Hi, I'm Breanne and I'm studying Palestinian accents," I'd say (which is true). "Do you mind if I ask you some questions and record your answers?" They were almost all totally willing and excited to talk to me about Palestinian weddings, Islam, the university, the relationship between Muslims and Christians, etc. So I would talk to them for 15-30 minutes, recording the conversation, and then thank them and leave.
It sounds easy, but it was, for reasons beyond my understanding, incredibly difficult for me. Perhaps because I was in a position of disadvantage (because I don't speak Arabic perfectly and I was the foreigner and I was asking them for help), but it was really hard to do this each week. Plus, I had to find the perfect people to talk to: no less than two girls and no more than three (otherwise it's overwhelming to them or to me), no boys could be with the group, they couldn't be too close to the fountain or other loud noises, and as the summer wore on they had to be in the shade since it was way too hot in the sun.
And guess what? I only chickened out a couple of times. Most days that I went to class I found at least one group of girls to talk to. And it was always a good experience. You'd think that it would get easier because of all the good experiences I had, but guess what? It was still pretty hard.
The most important thing, however, was that I recorded lots of conversations in colloquial Arabic about lots and lots of different topics, and lots of the same topics, and it gave me the courage to work on my graduate research interviewing women from all over the West Bank.
And yep, my Arabic improved a lot. So I guess it was all worth it. And I'd probably even do it again if I had to!
Today's post is about Bethlehem University. Somewhere in the middle of my less-than-wonderful Arabic experience at Hebrew University, I realized that I could waste my money going to classes in English that weren't going to count for anything, or I could spend my money on a bunch of random classes in different languages all over that wouldn't count for anything. Can you guess what I decided to do? The second semester of my time at Hebrew University I dropped to half-time, took only 3 classes (all in Hebrew) at the university, and then took a class at Bethlehem University, one at the Polis Institute, an intensive Hebrew course at Ulpan Or (more to come about that later), and in addition to my internship at ICCI, I travelled to several different places in the West Bank to conduct research.
It was, to say the least, much, much better than wasting my money on classes in English with Americans like I did my first semester.
Classes at Bethlehem University and classes at Hebrew University were completely different. The whole atmosphere was different. The only things that overlapped, I think, was the smoking and, well, probably the smoking.
While most students at Hebrew University are between the ages of 22-30 (because of the army, travel, and other things Israelis do before going to college), most students were 22 or younger at Bethlehem University. It actually reminded me a lot of the University of Jordan, but on a much smaller scale. Bethlehem University is a Catholic university, and the only Christian-run and -funded university in the West Bank. (But Muslims are welcome and make up more than 50% of the student body.) It is quite a small campus in Bethlehem, with several buildings and large outdoor areas where students can sit and chat.Did I mention that in both the University of Jordan and Bethlehem University, the students like to sit and chat? Like for hours?
I decided to take a class here for several reasons. First of all, I wanted to improve my Arabic by listening to lectures in Arabic. Secondly, I was intensely curious to see how a Christian-Palestinian university and a Jewish-Israeli university differ. And third (and this is perhaps the most important), I wanted to be surrounded by students who like to sit and talk. Because I wasn't speaking Arabic enough every day. And all of those students were just sitting there, waiting for me to go up and talk to them.
My class was interesting enough--it was an introduction to Islam and Christianity, with half the class about Islam and taught by a Muslim teacher, while the other half on Christianity was taught by a Christian teacher. I mostly just sat in class and tried not to make waves. I was thrilled to realize halfway through the semester that I could finally understand what the teacher was saying, but I'm sure that had a lot more to do with subject matter than my Arabic ability improving! (The Christianity half was the second half...)
 |
| My classroom |
To understand what a feat this was for me, you have to understand how I felt about junior high. I hated junior high. Absolutely hated it. Walking down the halls, it was like everyone was judging you because you weren't popular enough or your clothes weren't fancy or you walked funny or you were just different. It seems like junior high is a time to fall down the stairs in the hall and forget where your classroom is and sit alone in a corner at lunchtime trying to eat as fast as you could. And the worst thing about junior high was the GOSSIP. Or maybe the fact that friends were your best friends one day and your worst enemies the next (and the next and the next).
Now, Arab universities and American junior highs are very different places. But when I walked around the campuses of the University of Jordan and Bethlehem University, I felt like I was in junior high again. Those same feelings of are people looking at me? Why is everyone staring at me? Can I just sit in the back of the classroom and not say anything? Where's a bathroom that I can hide in? Why do students sit around every door into the building? Can't I just walk for five minutes without having to walk past people? plagued me every day. Especially because I'm a foreigner and I walk around alone. I always felt like people were staring at me (not just at the university, but all the time actually!).
But, I moved to the West Bank so that I could improve my Arabic, and I had to talk to people if I wanted to improve my Arabic. So with a lot of help from Elad and my Arabic class, I would walk on campus, see the throngs of people sitting around talking, walk into a building and find a bathroom, take deep breaths and remind myself how much I needed to speak Arabic, go back outside, walk around campus looking for my next victims, and then walk up to them and strike.
"Hi, I'm Breanne and I'm studying Palestinian accents," I'd say (which is true). "Do you mind if I ask you some questions and record your answers?" They were almost all totally willing and excited to talk to me about Palestinian weddings, Islam, the university, the relationship between Muslims and Christians, etc. So I would talk to them for 15-30 minutes, recording the conversation, and then thank them and leave.
It sounds easy, but it was, for reasons beyond my understanding, incredibly difficult for me. Perhaps because I was in a position of disadvantage (because I don't speak Arabic perfectly and I was the foreigner and I was asking them for help), but it was really hard to do this each week. Plus, I had to find the perfect people to talk to: no less than two girls and no more than three (otherwise it's overwhelming to them or to me), no boys could be with the group, they couldn't be too close to the fountain or other loud noises, and as the summer wore on they had to be in the shade since it was way too hot in the sun.
And guess what? I only chickened out a couple of times. Most days that I went to class I found at least one group of girls to talk to. And it was always a good experience. You'd think that it would get easier because of all the good experiences I had, but guess what? It was still pretty hard.
The most important thing, however, was that I recorded lots of conversations in colloquial Arabic about lots and lots of different topics, and lots of the same topics, and it gave me the courage to work on my graduate research interviewing women from all over the West Bank.
And yep, my Arabic improved a lot. So I guess it was all worth it. And I'd probably even do it again if I had to!
Hi Breanne,
ReplyDeleteI was looking at studying Arabic in Jerusalem/West Bank this January. Any advise on best place to study?
Thanks
Monir
Hi Monir. I'm not sure what programs are being offered this January, but historically I know that Bethlehem University, Birzeit University, and Al-Quds University offer Arabic programs. I studied Arabic at the Polis Institute in Jerusalem and it was excellent. You might want to check those different programs out and see what they have to offer. Good luck!
ReplyDelete