teen aliyah

I've been lazy about my blogging again.....I forgot the password and got busy with stuff.....this is a new year and I'll try to be more diligent.

Happy New Year everyone.

I feel good. I changed my looks. I got the fuzzy eyebrows trimmed--I had runaway eyebrows that were trying to bridge my nose. Got those trimmed, the bridge fuzz removed and changed my hairstyle. The hair is now close-cropped on the sides with a bit of spikiness on top and high-lighted. I think it looks pretty good. The question is, Will Girls Notice?

Enough about this.....

I had a good summer, sort of.....I spent a bit of time in a summer ulpan. I took August off and spent most of it at the pool.

I'm out of ulpan now and in school full-time. It's hard because of the Hebrew: speaking Hebrew to guys is okay but understanding the response, usually delivered in staccato, is hard. This makes me feel a bit stupid--I am always asking "Ma?" (What?)

My mom is the opposite--she has more trouble speaking it but understands a lot of what is said to her. But she has the same problem: she'll say something to someone but then the person rattles back a quick answer and she has to say "Od paam?" (Again?) or "Liat" (slowly)

I like the school for these things: there's Torah learning; I have friends there from last year and they were glad to see me return; my Hebrew is getting better because I need to use it 6 hours per day. I like my vision consultant, Judy, who helps me a lot. She helps me with vision issues but also helps me with Hebrew. I don't get an aide this year to help with language.

A friend of mine at school, Shalom, asked me what was difficult about the Hebrew...Shalom, of course, grew up speaking Hebrew so doesn't find it hard at all. I explained to him that I don't understand 100% of what is said to me, especially when its quick. Shalom offered some consolation, telling me "it will come in time." There is a well-used phrase in Hebrew, "Liat, liat" which means "slowly, slowly" but also it means "take it easy" -- and Israelis offer this advice to newcomers all the time. They have enough immigrants in Israel that they know it takes us a while to learn the language and learn our way around.

So far, so good. This is my first year without assistance, and I think I'm doing okay....but we'll see how it goes.

For Rosh Hashanah, I went to "Uncle" Yossi's mom's house....we had Moroccan food that seemed endless and I got to hang out with Netanel and Liel, his boys, and Rose, his daughter.

On Yom Kippur we fasted--and I made it all the way through the fast. It's easier here in Israel because the country goes OFF Daylight's Savings (called "Summer Hours" in Hebrew) right after Rosh Hashanah precisely so that the fast on Yom Kippur will be shorter, unlike the States where we fasted until 8:30 at night. We went with our neighbors to their synagogue a few blocks away. It's a Sephardi synagogue, and the people there were nice but it was really hard to follow the service because it was totally in Hebrew and a different order of the prayers.

Lt. CMDR Worf Out--End Transmission