Post-Shabbat, FYI

A quick update, before I buckle down for some studying.

The mood here is mixed - there is definitely a huge range of people, from those determined to stay, to those already gone. A lot of parental pressure has sent a handful of students packing their bags, but generally, there's definitely an "in-it-together" attitude, and most of us are sticking it out. There hasn't been an attack on Haifa since the initial attacks Thursday night, and despite threats, as the IDF and IAF take control of more of southern Lebanon, attacks on Haifa, being as far from the border as it is, seems less likely. This isn't to say that we're ruling out the possibility, of course, but we're all trying to deal with the situation.

Since I haven't addressed ulpan yet, I'll do so quickly. It's going "tov m'od," very good. I'm studying 2-4 hours a day, and in addition to the five hours of class, I'm totally squeezing a ton of information into a very small space: namely, my brain. I'm trying to stay ahead of the class, so that I can use class time to work on fluency and learning newer concepts, instead of struggling through vocab. I've definitely increased my vocab to around 300 words, which is awesome. I'm already noticing that I understand simple conversations, which is so huge... every new moment I understand something, I know that my time here is totally worth it, situation or no.

Anyway, life is going on... we hear warplanes flying up and down the coast, and we're all checking the news regularly. That said, people are going out, partying, doing the general 18-29 live young thing. I'll keep y'all posted, for sure.

Oh, and thanks for reading. I really appreciate all of your concern.