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

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