First Day at Bezalel

I'm tired!

Today was the first day of classes at Bezalel. I decided to try out a bunch of classes this week, and then choose the ones I like best, but that meant that I spent 9 hours in class today. I left my apartment at around 8:30 a.m. and just got back home at around 9:30 p.m.

The first class of the day was a drawing class. The topic of the day: how to sharpen a pencil and scribble in circles. We have a very advanced art school here at Bezalel.
That actually was the topic, but it meant sharpening using a blade, not a pencil sharpener, and while the scribbling was just that, the point was to explore different ways of holding our tools and trying to loosen up our strokes. (It still just felt like scribbling though)

I sat in on a lecture in the afternoon, which was a bit too long for me considering that I haven't sat in a classroom in quite a while, but it was also interesting because he actually spoke quite a bit about abstract art in ways that relate to the topics I'm thinking about for my research.

Finally, I went to an evening printmaking workshop, which was a really nice, tight-knit group of students. I felt like a little bit of an outsider, since they all seemed to know each other very well, but they were welcoming and helpful, so I ended up learning how to do an etching!

Aside from the long hours, I think it felt much longer and more tiring because even things that are usually somewhat relaxing, like listening to someone speak, or having friendly conversations, take a lot more effort when they're in Hebrew. It's tough, but I think it will really improve my Hebrew. By the end of the day, I was already thinking in Hebrew. It also means that I'm learning lots of words that will be of very little use to me in the real world, such as etching, acid and lithography.

While it has been very intimidating entering into this world of Israeli art students, I met a lot of very nice people, and everyone was helpful - sometimes without even having to be asked. I think it's interesting that Israelis are so helpful. On the one hand, I know that Americans and other foreigners are always shocked by the bluntness and rudeness of many Israelis. However, it's also true that the niceties and manners that are typical of Americans, are in some ways a means of distancing one another. We make a show of being nice and polite, because it's also a way of being formally distant. Don't get me wrong, I think all those niceties are important and I have a lot of difficulty dealing with people when those things are missing. However, there is something refreshing about the way that Israelis are so open and in your face, that they can immediately either offend us, or make us feel like part of the family.