Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
a gutn sof vokh
Where do I even begin, this was quite the weekend, and three days felt like 3 months.
I guess the easiest thing to do is go in chronological order.
Frytik:
I had my E. european survey class down at YIVO HQ from 9-12, which was good. After the class, I did some heimarbet (homework) in a starbucks on 18th and 6th ave (i think), then went and met a friend from class to see a film on Sholem Aleichem up on 66th street. My friend David goes to Brandeis, and he brought along his girlfriend, and another friend of theirs who also goes to Brandeis. Turns out this girl is from AZ and is good friends with the Zitmoer family. And if that wasn't enough, she went to OSRUI and knew plenty of my friends. Needless to say, there was plenty to talk about.
After the movie, I split off and went back to my apartment for a few hours, then met Jeremy down back near YIVO HQ for dinner at a mexican place. Turns out the chef was a challenger on Iron Chef. The food was very good, but I wouldn't say Iron Chef good. It was raining quite a bit on friday, and I think after dinner we called it a night and headed back in the direction of my place.
Shabes:
I got up around 10am and did a couple hours of heimarbet in the morning. When Jeremy woke up (around 12), we picked up and headed from SoHo. Jeremy was doing some "research," going in and out of countless stores to see if they could potentially fit in at the new mall. This was my first experience in SoHo, and I was amazed at how much was going on down there. It seems like the hip fashion capital of NY at the least. Yet, high prices come with that territory. We're talking 80 bucks for a tee shirt in some places. Let's say "just browsing" was a well used line that day. I split off from Jeremy in the middle of our excursion to go explore the Lower East Side (LES) and hopefully find a spot to get some more work done. I'm well aware that the Jewish presence has faded significantly from the LES, but I didn't really understand fully until I was walking along the famed "Hester Street." The old movie titled "Hester Street" chronicles a Jew who is convinced that getting out of the LES "ghetto" is the way to make it in America, and I think to an extent he was right, but of course there is a lot of cultural baggage that gets left behind. The picture below is the Hester street back in its Jewish heyday.
When I was down there, the street was very similar to the picture, save for the fact that everyone was asian and speaking chinese, not Jewish and speaking Yiddish. It was a cool experience nevertheless. I felt like I was in the heart of a midsize metropolis in China. After my walk down Hester, I found a coffee shop on Orchard street to do some work at. Jeremy met me there soon there after and we went and ate some dinner in little Italy. Little Italy was a very cool area. Looks just like it does in The Godfather. We ate outside at a restaurant, and it turns out that the people we were sitting next to were originally from St. Paul. a kleyne velt! We got to talking, and when the guy noticed we were only drinking water, he called the waiter over and ordered us 2 beers. Saying "You can't be in Little Italy and not drink a Peroni!" We walked all the way up to colombus circle after dinner, then took the unterban (subway), back to my apartment.
Zuntik:
Today was a langer tog as well, but very interesting. We goal was to go find some yiddishe kinder bicher (yiddish childrens books) to have for reading practice when I leave NY. We went into Williamsburg, Brooklyn around 12:15 and headed to Satmar Hasid land. These guys aren't just the "orthodox," their quite fanatic, and most of the kids don't know a lick of english. They have their own everything in the city, living in a sort of bubble away from the rest of society. Anyways, we walked into the first store we saw, I found some books, and that was that. After, we walked around Williamsburg, taking in the surreal sort of life that they live. I wasn't particularly overcome by the "yididshkeyt" in the city. Everyone pretty much kept to themselves, and there wasn't any sort of hustle-bustle atmosphere. Perhaps Crown Heights is different, where the HQ of the chabad-lubuvitch movement is located, since they are known for their outreach, and more vivacious style of life. We took the unterban back to manhattan, and made a stop in the LES at the one and only kossar's biali store. We both got garlic bialis, which of course were very good. I think the difference is because their always fresh.
Around 8pm, I grabbed a sandwich from a store down the street, and Jeremy went into midtown to meet a friend from high school who was in NY for the week.
That's the weekend rundown. mazl tov if you made it through to the end of this post.
Looking forward to a challenging but informative week!
zie gezunt!
moishe
I guess the easiest thing to do is go in chronological order.
Frytik:
I had my E. european survey class down at YIVO HQ from 9-12, which was good. After the class, I did some heimarbet (homework) in a starbucks on 18th and 6th ave (i think), then went and met a friend from class to see a film on Sholem Aleichem up on 66th street. My friend David goes to Brandeis, and he brought along his girlfriend, and another friend of theirs who also goes to Brandeis. Turns out this girl is from AZ and is good friends with the Zitmoer family. And if that wasn't enough, she went to OSRUI and knew plenty of my friends. Needless to say, there was plenty to talk about.
After the movie, I split off and went back to my apartment for a few hours, then met Jeremy down back near YIVO HQ for dinner at a mexican place. Turns out the chef was a challenger on Iron Chef. The food was very good, but I wouldn't say Iron Chef good. It was raining quite a bit on friday, and I think after dinner we called it a night and headed back in the direction of my place.
Shabes:
I got up around 10am and did a couple hours of heimarbet in the morning. When Jeremy woke up (around 12), we picked up and headed from SoHo. Jeremy was doing some "research," going in and out of countless stores to see if they could potentially fit in at the new mall. This was my first experience in SoHo, and I was amazed at how much was going on down there. It seems like the hip fashion capital of NY at the least. Yet, high prices come with that territory. We're talking 80 bucks for a tee shirt in some places. Let's say "just browsing" was a well used line that day. I split off from Jeremy in the middle of our excursion to go explore the Lower East Side (LES) and hopefully find a spot to get some more work done. I'm well aware that the Jewish presence has faded significantly from the LES, but I didn't really understand fully until I was walking along the famed "Hester Street." The old movie titled "Hester Street" chronicles a Jew who is convinced that getting out of the LES "ghetto" is the way to make it in America, and I think to an extent he was right, but of course there is a lot of cultural baggage that gets left behind. The picture below is the Hester street back in its Jewish heyday.
When I was down there, the street was very similar to the picture, save for the fact that everyone was asian and speaking chinese, not Jewish and speaking Yiddish. It was a cool experience nevertheless. I felt like I was in the heart of a midsize metropolis in China. After my walk down Hester, I found a coffee shop on Orchard street to do some work at. Jeremy met me there soon there after and we went and ate some dinner in little Italy. Little Italy was a very cool area. Looks just like it does in The Godfather. We ate outside at a restaurant, and it turns out that the people we were sitting next to were originally from St. Paul. a kleyne velt! We got to talking, and when the guy noticed we were only drinking water, he called the waiter over and ordered us 2 beers. Saying "You can't be in Little Italy and not drink a Peroni!" We walked all the way up to colombus circle after dinner, then took the unterban (subway), back to my apartment.
Zuntik:
Today was a langer tog as well, but very interesting. We goal was to go find some yiddishe kinder bicher (yiddish childrens books) to have for reading practice when I leave NY. We went into Williamsburg, Brooklyn around 12:15 and headed to Satmar Hasid land. These guys aren't just the "orthodox," their quite fanatic, and most of the kids don't know a lick of english. They have their own everything in the city, living in a sort of bubble away from the rest of society. Anyways, we walked into the first store we saw, I found some books, and that was that. After, we walked around Williamsburg, taking in the surreal sort of life that they live. I wasn't particularly overcome by the "yididshkeyt" in the city. Everyone pretty much kept to themselves, and there wasn't any sort of hustle-bustle atmosphere. Perhaps Crown Heights is different, where the HQ of the chabad-lubuvitch movement is located, since they are known for their outreach, and more vivacious style of life. We took the unterban back to manhattan, and made a stop in the LES at the one and only kossar's biali store. We both got garlic bialis, which of course were very good. I think the difference is because their always fresh.
That's the weekend rundown. mazl tov if you made it through to the end of this post.
Looking forward to a challenging but informative week!
zie gezunt!
moishe
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
zeyer komish
Mein lerer hot gegebn dos viedo tzu undz.
my teacher gave this video to us.
Seinfeld auf Yiddish!
very funny!
enjoy
moishe
my teacher gave this video to us.
Seinfeld auf Yiddish!
very funny!
enjoy
moishe
Monday, July 4, 2011
der sof-vokh
This weekend was eventful and quite nice because of the extended break for the 4th of July.
On Friday, Jeremy and I met up with one of his friends from school. We walked around the flat iron district, got some great bread and spread from a really nice Italian Market, then ate on the steps of the NY library at Bryant Park. We also walked the highline path, which is a very cool elevated walking path that goes about 25 blocks on the lower west side. It used to be a RR line.
Saturday was great because I saw Jake, whom I hadn't seen in almost a year. We met in queens and ate at a great deli, then went to citi field to watch the mets-yankees subway series game. The game itself was uneventful, but it was great to spend some time with Jake.
Sunday I did a fair amount of work, to catch up on what I missed from neglecting homework the past couple days, but then Jeremy and I met up with Ben Lerman and we ate at a great indian place in midtown on the east side. The food in NY just keeps getting better and better. Today Jeremy and I went down to Greenwich villiage and ate at a great hummos place for lunch. After that, Jeremy left to go move into his extended stay for two weeks. I ended up walking over to the east side and up park ave for a bit. When I eventually got back to my dorm, I did a little bit of work, then walked around and grabbed some groceries. I came back to do some more work, and I think I might head to bed early tonight so I'm not too tired tomorrow morning.
It was a great weekend and I was able to do a lot, so don't worry (mom and dad), about me not getting around enough. Because of the holiday, we have a shortened week. I'm planning on maybe going to a show on maybe a week night of this week, and getting my first taste of Brooklyn over the weekend.
dos iz ale fun izt!
moishe
On Friday, Jeremy and I met up with one of his friends from school. We walked around the flat iron district, got some great bread and spread from a really nice Italian Market, then ate on the steps of the NY library at Bryant Park. We also walked the highline path, which is a very cool elevated walking path that goes about 25 blocks on the lower west side. It used to be a RR line.
Saturday was great because I saw Jake, whom I hadn't seen in almost a year. We met in queens and ate at a great deli, then went to citi field to watch the mets-yankees subway series game. The game itself was uneventful, but it was great to spend some time with Jake.
Sunday I did a fair amount of work, to catch up on what I missed from neglecting homework the past couple days, but then Jeremy and I met up with Ben Lerman and we ate at a great indian place in midtown on the east side. The food in NY just keeps getting better and better. Today Jeremy and I went down to Greenwich villiage and ate at a great hummos place for lunch. After that, Jeremy left to go move into his extended stay for two weeks. I ended up walking over to the east side and up park ave for a bit. When I eventually got back to my dorm, I did a little bit of work, then walked around and grabbed some groceries. I came back to do some more work, and I think I might head to bed early tonight so I'm not too tired tomorrow morning.
It was a great weekend and I was able to do a lot, so don't worry (mom and dad), about me not getting around enough. Because of the holiday, we have a shortened week. I'm planning on maybe going to a show on maybe a week night of this week, and getting my first taste of Brooklyn over the weekend.
dos iz ale fun izt!
moishe
Thursday, June 30, 2011
a freylikh sho
Gut shabes fun Yiddishland גוט שבת פון יידישלאַנד
Another week has gone by here at YIVO and as the dust begins to settle, I'm finally starting to find myself in somewhat of a daily routine (and by that I mean the lady in the deli recognized me). The work hasn't let up, although we do get the fourth of July off, which means an afliu hot gedarfn langr sof-vokh (a much needed long weekend!).
Class is going alright. I often have to remind myself that I only officially have had 8 days of language instruction, so when I get frustrated about not being able to say something, or not understanding something, I (usually) remember to take it with a grain of salt. I am usually against any sort of academic competition, but in this environment I find it helpful to try to see my peers not necessarily as competition, but as fellow runners in a sprint. Usually in sprints, everyone finishes within a fraction of a second from each other, which would be ideal, but I don't want to be the runner that pulls up lame after 25 meters. This mentality has served me well so far, the idea that were all individuals in a collective sprint .
Vocabulary has been my number 1 priority as of late. We've gotten through a lot of the grammar that I can comprehend thanks to Latin and Hebrew, but vocab and sentence formulation remain at the top of the list. I'm not used to memorizing words and using them to make coherent sentences, (opposed to using a dictionary to translate foreign texts.) That's the most difficult part for me; not necessarily learning the vocab, but pulling those words out of my brain to speak in yiddish.
Our class has meshed very well, and each day I get more impressed with the people that are around me. PHds, a full-bright scholar, a lawyer, an actor, a cantor, and a few quad-linguists. (and thats just my beginners class! takey! (really!) ) I was initially intimidated, considering roughly an average 8 year age gap between me and most people in my class, we all have already grown quite close, and the gap now seems non-existent. heint noch klas, mir hobn ale gegangen mit undzer lerer tzu a shenk fun a freylikh sho un hobn gehot a bisl lekhoyim. (Today after class, we all went with our teacher to a bar for a happy hour and had a little lekhoyim). It was nice to get to know our teacher outside of class, and have an opportunity to relax with my fellow studentn. He's a relatively young guy (36), so he fit in well with our class. We've also been learning some great, hilarious yiddish saying and idioms in addition to the actual language instruction. My favorite so far has to be "nisht azoy foygldik." (not so birdlike) i.e. not great.
We've also been singing some yiddish songs. My favorite so far is the classic lullaby "oyfn pripetchik," which can be heard here:
Saw Jeremy and Brett for dinner the night they came in. We at a nice cafe around my neighborhood on the upper west side. (115 and broadway to be exact). I'm excited to have him here for the rest of the summer. The programing outside of class has also been good. We watched an alt yiddisher film called "Der purimshpeiler." It was really funny, with the help of english subtitles. Vu dan?
Let's see. We watch a Sholem Alechim documentary the other day at YIVO HQ. I saw a girl from my hebrew class who is taking a yiddish summer program up in Amherst, MA.
Looking forward to this weekend and getting some time to relax and explore, but also catch up on some vocab. Dos iz ale fun izt. (that is all for now)!
a gutn shabes
zie gezunt,
moishe
Another week has gone by here at YIVO and as the dust begins to settle, I'm finally starting to find myself in somewhat of a daily routine (and by that I mean the lady in the deli recognized me). The work hasn't let up, although we do get the fourth of July off, which means an afliu hot gedarfn langr sof-vokh (a much needed long weekend!).
Class is going alright. I often have to remind myself that I only officially have had 8 days of language instruction, so when I get frustrated about not being able to say something, or not understanding something, I (usually) remember to take it with a grain of salt. I am usually against any sort of academic competition, but in this environment I find it helpful to try to see my peers not necessarily as competition, but as fellow runners in a sprint. Usually in sprints, everyone finishes within a fraction of a second from each other, which would be ideal, but I don't want to be the runner that pulls up lame after 25 meters. This mentality has served me well so far, the idea that were all individuals in a collective sprint .
Vocabulary has been my number 1 priority as of late. We've gotten through a lot of the grammar that I can comprehend thanks to Latin and Hebrew, but vocab and sentence formulation remain at the top of the list. I'm not used to memorizing words and using them to make coherent sentences, (opposed to using a dictionary to translate foreign texts.) That's the most difficult part for me; not necessarily learning the vocab, but pulling those words out of my brain to speak in yiddish.
Our class has meshed very well, and each day I get more impressed with the people that are around me. PHds, a full-bright scholar, a lawyer, an actor, a cantor, and a few quad-linguists. (and thats just my beginners class! takey! (really!) ) I was initially intimidated, considering roughly an average 8 year age gap between me and most people in my class, we all have already grown quite close, and the gap now seems non-existent. heint noch klas, mir hobn ale gegangen mit undzer lerer tzu a shenk fun a freylikh sho un hobn gehot a bisl lekhoyim. (Today after class, we all went with our teacher to a bar for a happy hour and had a little lekhoyim). It was nice to get to know our teacher outside of class, and have an opportunity to relax with my fellow studentn. He's a relatively young guy (36), so he fit in well with our class. We've also been learning some great, hilarious yiddish saying and idioms in addition to the actual language instruction. My favorite so far has to be "nisht azoy foygldik." (not so birdlike) i.e. not great.
We've also been singing some yiddish songs. My favorite so far is the classic lullaby "oyfn pripetchik," which can be heard here:
Saw Jeremy and Brett for dinner the night they came in. We at a nice cafe around my neighborhood on the upper west side. (115 and broadway to be exact). I'm excited to have him here for the rest of the summer. The programing outside of class has also been good. We watched an alt yiddisher film called "Der purimshpeiler." It was really funny, with the help of english subtitles. Vu dan?
Let's see. We watch a Sholem Alechim documentary the other day at YIVO HQ. I saw a girl from my hebrew class who is taking a yiddish summer program up in Amherst, MA.
Looking forward to this weekend and getting some time to relax and explore, but also catch up on some vocab. Dos iz ale fun izt. (that is all for now)!
a gutn shabes
zie gezunt,
moishe
Thursday, June 23, 2011
a grus fun New York! (Greetings from New York)
I've been in New York at the YIVO summer program for four days now. I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write anything on here; the workload has been zeyer grois (very big). I've finished my first week of language classes and am amazed at how much I have learned in only four days of class. The breakdown of the class is as follows:
9:00-10:45 - literature class. focus on reading stories and vocab.
10:45-11:15 - break. usually get coffee with class in JTS cafe
11:15-1:00 - grammar class. focus on leaning syntax.
1:00-2:15 - lunch. either in JTS deli or shops around the upper west side.
2:15-3:30 - conversation class.
3:45-5:00 - some sort of programing, (films, lectures, songs...)
My beginners class has 11 people, most of whom are in their late 20s or early 30s and are either PHD students or already have their doctorate. As you can imagine, the class moves very quickly, especially considering most people in the class have or will have careers in academia. A kid from Brandies and I are the only undergrads in the whole program of 40 people. The people in class are great, and the age gap between myself and them seems non-existent in class, were all in it together. Class is challenging by very fun at the same time. There are always jokes and funny moments; I feel very comfortable with my peers.
The teachers are also great. Very energetic and engaging. This past Monday-Thursday, as I imagine most M-TH will be, I have little time to go out and explore the city. Most of my weekday is either spent in class, or doing homework for class; it's a lot but hopefully it will pay off.
Today, the arbeter ring (Yiddish workman's circle) had a book sale down on 37th street and 6th ave. It was a nice break from mid-week studying, and I ended up buying 6 great books, 2 in Yiddish, for 6 dollars. A real metsiah. This weekend I'm planning on exploring greenwich village and the lower east side (I'm curious about the bialis...) , and if I feel bold, venturing into williamsburg or borough park to try and by some yiddish kinder bichir (yiddish children books). These in theory would help me with my reading comprehension. Hopefully I'll make some time to write another post after weekend.
dos is ale far itzt! (that is all for now)
zie gezunt
moishe
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