Adjusting

Jet-lag is rough. I woke up at the crack-of-dawn, so instead of staring at my ceiling I went for an intensely hilly run in the nature preserve alongside the University. The amount of litter is spectacularly unattractive, especially near the picnic areas. I nearly had heart failure when I saw a jackal dart into the bushes as I rounded a bend. Unfortunately there are numerous swaths of burned patches throughout the preserve. During a hike yesterday, our guide explained that arson has become a common type of terrorist activity since fires are disruptive and a drain on local resources.

In the morning I took a Hebrew placement test, (which I zipped through since I hardly remember any Hebrew). In the afternoon I sat in on a class entitled Ethnic Groups in Israel, which I think will be very interesting since my Jewish education has been primarily Euro-centric. Other than Hebrew and an Honors Psychology seminar, I won’t be taking any classes "for credit" since I’m here primarily to do research. The highlight of my day was a trip to the largest mall in Israel – the Grand Canyon! It's a creative play on words (at least from an American perspective) since "can-y-on" means "mall" in Hebrew.