Hebrew Class Week Two

Whew, made it! Week two is over and I'm keeping my head above water, barely. There is not enough time in the day to get this stuff understood and still get enough sleep. Last night I indulged and got six hours of sleep...I went to bed at 11pm because I could not keep my eyes open, I set my alarm for 4am but I couldn't get up till 5am. I should have gotten up at 4am because I needed another hour to study for my grammar quiz. It was my second grammar quiz, I don't think I did that well (I didn't have time to study for it). I have to keep reminding myself that this is only the second week, that I need time for this stuff to start making sense, but I hope it clicks soon, otherwise my grades are going to be too low. We have a lot of homework for the weekend, which is frustrating, because I want to be with my family. Fortunately on Monday we'll have a review day over all the material covered so far, it will be like a breather, but we have a vocab quiz that same day over 72 new words and a review of over another 288 already memorized words. He quizzes us on 15 new words and five review words. It is hard work to stay on top of all the words, it takes more and more time as the days go on, and I need more and more time to keep revieing the more and more grammar we are to be learning...and I have been swamped since the beginning.

But I am glad I am learning Biblical Hebrew. It already is opening up new insights into the text. By the end of the summer I hope to be able to preach from an Old Testament book and do exegesis straight from the Hebrew text. That would be cool,and encouraging.

Our professor is a good teacher, does lots of helpful review, helps us make connections with concepts, and really wants to help us learn. He is a good encourager, but he is rigorous and demanding. A good combination.