There are several terms that are translated into an English equivalent that I'm familiar with, but it often turns out that more than one of these things is not like the other. Below are a few of my observations.
"Kindergarten" There are three years of kindergarten here: Pre-kindergarten for 3-4 year olds and kindergarten for 5-6 year olds. While Russell was enrolled in "kindergarten", he's actually in pre-kindergarten. A better English equivalent would be "pre-school"
"School bus" In September we thought, 'Boy, tourism is really picking up here!' due to all the charter buses. After two weeks of wondering what the attraction to the residential neighborhoods were (yes, we're a bit slow), we figured out that the charter buses were being used as school buses!
"Mall security" With the exception of the small family owned stores, every store you walk into has a metal detector and a security guard posted at the door. After a week of shopping here you get used to putting your purse on the table next to the metal detector and walking through the metal detector while the guard carelessly looks through your purse (if at all) and you continue on your way (even if the metal detector is going off). At first we were suprised with all the security. Then we were surprised at the lack of attention we got from security. Now we realize that Israelis live with a keen sense of awareness about their surroundings. They aren't worried and they don't overreact. They are just aware. They have had lifetimes of knowing what looks suspicious and what to give attention to. For example, if something is left unattended on a bus, any given Israeli will notice it and calmly start asking those around them if the parcel belongs to them. If not, then the word spreads throughout the bus to locate the owner - again, calmly. Eventually the owner is found and scolded. We haven't been around for when the owner isn't present.
"Lemonade" Doesn't that sound refreshing? Especially on a sunny 95 degree day (which is what most of our days are like here)? However, the lemonade here is bitter more than sour and definitely not sweet!
"Electrical plugs" Where do I start? The electrical current is never consistent. They don't always stay in the wall (it depends how crumbly your walls are - remember, all the walls and ceilings are concrete). They usually spark when you plug or unplug your cord. They are at the level of my shoulders. They all have three holes, but they were two diaganol slats and a hole. Most 3 prong electrical items have three round prongs. The advice we got from our teammates? Drill out the slats to be holes. Ok...
"Partially cloudy" This refers to a season and not a day. I think that season starts in October or November, but by Febuary the season is over and we return to "sunny".
"Grocery shopping" If you are used to shopping at Aldi's, then the only challenge you'll face here is finding the food equivalents to what you're looking for. They have most of what you are used to, but it's in different packaging with irrelevant pictures and in different quantities than what you're accustomed to. The produce is the best deal in this country - it is twice the size of American produce and half the cost! As in every shop, you bag your own items. Oh! And when you put your purchase on a credit card they will ask you how many payments you want to make. I'm still not sure how that works, but a lot of Israelis will split their purchase into three payments.
"House cleaning" I'm still experimenting with this. The advice I've heard is to use lots of water. The floors are tile, so the tools of choice are water, a squeegee with a long handle, and a cleaning rag for over the squeegee. There are drains in the floor in almost all the rooms. What I do is sweep and crumbs the dust off the floor, mix a little cleaning product with hot water, and then dump part of the bucket on the floor (which is probably why the outlets are so high off the ground). Then I wrap the rag around the squeegee and scrub as best I can. When I'm done scrubbing I remove the wrag and squeegee the water to the drain. I actually like this last part because then you don't have dirty water sitting on top of your floors to dry. The floors get pretty shiny if you squeegee well, and they feel amazing in your bare feet. I know when it's time to clean the floors when I start preferring to walk around the house in sandals rather than bare feet. Another note on cleaning: In the States I hated to dust and could avoid it for long periods of time. Out here we get the equivalent of 2 months worth of dust in a week. So I've begun dusting more regularly out of necessity.
"Checking account" We just got a shekel account and most of our information is in Hebrew, so we have a lot to learn. What we noticed right away was that you don't need to have any money to have an account. Their technology for signatures impressed us, too. We signed an electronic pad five times each until the computer software found a consistent average. I forgot to use my middle initial in one signature and was rejected, so I had to sign several more times. I don't think there is such a thing as "free" checking, so we're expecting some fees. There are no debit Visa cards here, but we do have an ATM card.
"Salesmanship" While customer service is a novel idea here, salesmanship is spectacular. As a customer, you feel like the salesman truly wants you to have the very best product. If you are even browsing the products, a salesman will come over to you and open the packaging to display or even demonstrate it. I felt a lot of pressure to buy at first, but now that I know it's a common technique I am just entertained. What do they do with all those opened boxes that customers don't buy?!
"Family plan for cell phones" In the States this would mean that you have a block of minutes that every phone on the famiy plan chips away at. Here it means that you have a block of minutes that you can call one other phone with. So our family plan here is only $10 a month and I have 300 minutes I can call Marshall's phone with. Then you pay per minute when you call someone else (which is like 2 cents a minute). By the way, you have to have a shekel checking account in order to get a cell phone plan. Otherwise you get a prepaid phone and pay about 30 cents a minute.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Things I've Noticed about Russell
1. He is very interested in where Jesus is at all times. "If Jesus goes to school with me, then will a little Jesus go to school with you and Daddy?"
2. His tennis shoes have holes in the toes.
3. He knows the names of his classmates.
4. He loves bus rides (and often falls asleep).
5. He has started taking the same group of things and seeing how many different ways he can categorize them: color, shape, size, function...
6. He asks for forgiveness on his own initiative (as in just now when I meant to save a draft of this post and he pushed random buttons on my computers that resulted in it being published).
7. His control over a computer mouse is getting REALLY good.
8. When he is mad at you he growls.
9. He will correct our Hebrew pronunciation, even though he won't actually say the words he knows to anyone.
10. He learned to disguise the taste of green beans by mixing it with the food he does like.
2. His tennis shoes have holes in the toes.
3. He knows the names of his classmates.
4. He loves bus rides (and often falls asleep).
5. He has started taking the same group of things and seeing how many different ways he can categorize them: color, shape, size, function...
6. He asks for forgiveness on his own initiative (as in just now when I meant to save a draft of this post and he pushed random buttons on my computers that resulted in it being published).
7. His control over a computer mouse is getting REALLY good.
8. When he is mad at you he growls.
9. He will correct our Hebrew pronunciation, even though he won't actually say the words he knows to anyone.
10. He learned to disguise the taste of green beans by mixing it with the food he does like.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Throw the Baby Out
Do you know the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water"? In the case of culture and language learning, that's what has happened. After extensive personality indexing and learning style testing Marshall and I have completely reversed roles! He has become the bold "forge ahead even if we mess up" personality while I have reverted to "hide in the apartment until I know I can say it/do it with some measure of confidence".
We're learning our numbers right now. I have been tested and proven as a visual and experiential learner, yet I find myself not clicking with the vocabulary until I have heard a recording of our tutor reciting the vocabulary. I'm forcing myself to look at the numbers written out to bridge the gap between sound and form. Marshall, on the other hand, is preferring to look and remember before listening - he who is such a strong auditory learner!
In short, throw the baby out!
We're learning our numbers right now. I have been tested and proven as a visual and experiential learner, yet I find myself not clicking with the vocabulary until I have heard a recording of our tutor reciting the vocabulary. I'm forcing myself to look at the numbers written out to bridge the gap between sound and form. Marshall, on the other hand, is preferring to look and remember before listening - he who is such a strong auditory learner!
In short, throw the baby out!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Making Friends and Influencing People
This is a relatively short post summarizing the friends (ok, acquaintances) we're making here:
1. M and X (the hardware store family) - X is in his 20's and always wants to give Russell candy, whereas M loves Marshall for all the money we've spent there.
2. E - Our downstairs neighbor (male, but it is also a popular woman's name) who came up early this week (as in 6:30 a.m.) to complain about all the noise we were making... Neighborly relations improved after I took Russell down later to apologize. It doesn't help that they sleep below Russell's room, so the cars on the tile floor are like fingernails on a chalkboard for the people below. It also doesn't help that these neighbors don't go to bed until 3 a.m.
3. Curious Creature with no name - This is the lady whose lap I fell into on the bus last week. I've seen her twice since then and the last time we were verbally greeting one another and blowing kisses to each other as I disembarked the bus.
4. E and D - This woman and her 3 1/2 yr old son live two apartments beneath us. D also goes to Russell's school, but since we have no common language there isn't much to this relationship yet.
5. S - a female soldier posted near our neighborhood. Russell created a game to play with her on the bus, which led to conversation. She gave us her phone number. I reluctantly called her, thinking she was just being polite. She was THRILLED to receive the call. Apparently she had been calling the gans (kindergartens) in our neighborhood trying to find us. She has invited us to share a Friday evening meal with her family soon. Her family lives in a kibbutz near Jericho.
6. The others are too nominal to blog about immediately. We'll see how God works things out.
1. M and X (the hardware store family) - X is in his 20's and always wants to give Russell candy, whereas M loves Marshall for all the money we've spent there.
2. E - Our downstairs neighbor (male, but it is also a popular woman's name) who came up early this week (as in 6:30 a.m.) to complain about all the noise we were making... Neighborly relations improved after I took Russell down later to apologize. It doesn't help that they sleep below Russell's room, so the cars on the tile floor are like fingernails on a chalkboard for the people below. It also doesn't help that these neighbors don't go to bed until 3 a.m.
3. Curious Creature with no name - This is the lady whose lap I fell into on the bus last week. I've seen her twice since then and the last time we were verbally greeting one another and blowing kisses to each other as I disembarked the bus.
4. E and D - This woman and her 3 1/2 yr old son live two apartments beneath us. D also goes to Russell's school, but since we have no common language there isn't much to this relationship yet.
5. S - a female soldier posted near our neighborhood. Russell created a game to play with her on the bus, which led to conversation. She gave us her phone number. I reluctantly called her, thinking she was just being polite. She was THRILLED to receive the call. Apparently she had been calling the gans (kindergartens) in our neighborhood trying to find us. She has invited us to share a Friday evening meal with her family soon. Her family lives in a kibbutz near Jericho.
6. The others are too nominal to blog about immediately. We'll see how God works things out.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Curious Creatures
This post could be about the cats in Israel - the fact that they are everywhere, but no one's pets. They have public litter boxes, but they have no home. They scavenge the garbage and run from affection. Curious creatures, these cats.
Yet it's not about cats that I'm writing about tonight. Rather, it's about the little tottering old Jewish women. They are also everywhere, seeming to belong to no specific place. Their legs are wrapped up in Ace bandages so it's easy to understand why they inch along down the sidewalk, onto the bus, or in the middle of the market - oblivious of the mass congestion they're causing behind them.
Most of these curious creatures cover their heads as a sign of their faith, and the choice covering is what I call the "80's Easter hat". The fabric prints of their outfits never match, but sometimes they show their fashionable side with some bling. Today on the bus home one of these curious creatures, older than the rest I've observed, had a glittery "Bewitched" t-shirt on. Put together with the white hair, bandaged legs, Easter bonnet, and toddling shuffle - I couldn't help but giggle.
I also giggled at another of these curious creatures on the bus who was very much enjoying the bread she just bought at the market. She would bring it to her mouth to eat like a sub sandwich, and while there was just a little bit hanging out of her mouth, she would take her chubby fore finger and resolutely push the morsel the rest of the way in. She would often glance up at me with a mischevious twinkle in her eyes that practically shouted her enthusiasm for this snack. You see, these other curious creatures either sleep on the bus or scowl as though the entire world has disappointed them beyond repair. To see such enjoyment for something as little as bread was, again, conducive to giggling.
I'm certainly glad that this particular curious creature and I established a nonverbal repor, because in the next few moments the bus lurched and I (not yet having gained my "bus stance" while standing during the bus trip) toppled backwards into her Ace bandaged-wrapped lap.
"Shlixa!" I said, very apologetically (that word can be an apology or an insult depending on how you use it). "Beseder?" which again is a generic term for "fine" or "ok", but all I know are generic terms at this point so I'm supplementing it with all sorts of non verbal behaviour.
"Beseder," she nodded, rubbing her tortured legs.
And then she giggled.
Yet it's not about cats that I'm writing about tonight. Rather, it's about the little tottering old Jewish women. They are also everywhere, seeming to belong to no specific place. Their legs are wrapped up in Ace bandages so it's easy to understand why they inch along down the sidewalk, onto the bus, or in the middle of the market - oblivious of the mass congestion they're causing behind them.
Most of these curious creatures cover their heads as a sign of their faith, and the choice covering is what I call the "80's Easter hat". The fabric prints of their outfits never match, but sometimes they show their fashionable side with some bling. Today on the bus home one of these curious creatures, older than the rest I've observed, had a glittery "Bewitched" t-shirt on. Put together with the white hair, bandaged legs, Easter bonnet, and toddling shuffle - I couldn't help but giggle.
I also giggled at another of these curious creatures on the bus who was very much enjoying the bread she just bought at the market. She would bring it to her mouth to eat like a sub sandwich, and while there was just a little bit hanging out of her mouth, she would take her chubby fore finger and resolutely push the morsel the rest of the way in. She would often glance up at me with a mischevious twinkle in her eyes that practically shouted her enthusiasm for this snack. You see, these other curious creatures either sleep on the bus or scowl as though the entire world has disappointed them beyond repair. To see such enjoyment for something as little as bread was, again, conducive to giggling.
I'm certainly glad that this particular curious creature and I established a nonverbal repor, because in the next few moments the bus lurched and I (not yet having gained my "bus stance" while standing during the bus trip) toppled backwards into her Ace bandaged-wrapped lap.
"Shlixa!" I said, very apologetically (that word can be an apology or an insult depending on how you use it). "Beseder?" which again is a generic term for "fine" or "ok", but all I know are generic terms at this point so I'm supplementing it with all sorts of non verbal behaviour.
"Beseder," she nodded, rubbing her tortured legs.
And then she giggled.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
1 Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed
We learned that the word for monkey is the same name as a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, kof. So today we’ve been calling Russell a kof. Little did we expect to reenact the story of the little monkeys jumping on the bed. We were all on the bed playing cars while the chicken cooked in the oven and Russell took a dive over Marshall. Unfortunately, Marshall was next to the wall. Also unfortunately, the wall is not made of drywall, but concrete. It sounded like he hit his against drywall, and I remember being surprised about that. The wailing came about five seconds later. As he turned around to face us, the goose egg on his forehead made me jump out of bed. Yikes!!! He laid really still for Marshall as ice was immediately put on that bump. Let’s just say dinner was a little dry, but Russell doesn’t seem to be suffering any sustained consequences from the lump. In honor of my sister, though, I shall name the lump “Cohen” in relation to my former lump, Sasha, and because of the pun of ice being involved, and the irony of our experience in Israel (refer to our trouble with the phone company in late August).
Nighty night Russell. Nighty night Cohen.
On other notes, we figured out today that the bus that runs by our apartment also takes us to THE mall in Jerusalem. Yippee!!
Nighty night Russell. Nighty night Cohen.
On other notes, we figured out today that the bus that runs by our apartment also takes us to THE mall in Jerusalem. Yippee!!
The start of September
So this morning Russell went to school for the first time. He's the youngest in the class - everyone else is at least 4. They call it "kindergarten". I can't wait to learn some Hebrew so I can find out if that means "pre-school" or if it really is kindergarten as we understand it. He got a name tag and a folder for his classwork. It's in Hebrew. Ha ha ha. The Hebrew letters are reish, vav, samech, lamed (they are all consonants). What a different world!!! Anyway, we were told class started at 7 a.m. only to realize it started at 7:30. Kinda. Kids slowly arrived with their parents until 9 a.m. We were told to stay, but we didn't know why. Eventually they gave us a schedule, but it was all in Hebrew. After an hour and a half of occupying time, the teacher finally found an English speaker who could explain things to us. Apparently on the first day the parents stay until 9 a.m. and then pick their kids up at 10 a.m. On the second day we drop the kids off at 7:15 a.m. without staying, but we are to pick them up at 11 a.m. Finally on the third day we drop them off and don't pick them up until 1:30 a.m. This will be their regular schedule. Talk about weaning them!
We also started meeting with Warren and Linda Graham today. They worked in the Hebrew branch for 40+ years and just so happen to be spending three months in Jerusalem visiting their daughter, who married into the Israeli culture. What a gold mine for us! Not only will they serve as our mentors for this initial period, but they are also our alphabet tutors, since another tutor hasn’t been secured yet. They took us through the Jewish calendar and summarized what the holidays would look like here before beginning our work on the Hebrew alphabet. When asked what we knew so far, I brought forth the book we’ve been working through. Linda took one look at it and said, “Don’t use this silly book any longer.” Ok. So we started from scratch again. Wednesday morning we meet them for an Israeli breakfast (which I assume will include fish) and we are to know all the letters by then.
Russell has been singing more and more these days. He learned the song, “Our God is an Awesome God” at the field retreat in Jordan. You’re all probably familiar with the lyrics:
Our God is an awesome God.
He reigns from heaven above,
With wisdom, power, and love,
Our God is an awesome God!
Here are Russell’s lyrics to the same song:
Our God is an awesome God.
He rains from having a bedtime,
With wisdom, power, and loving yourself,
Our God is an awesome God!
Russell has also been very theologically inquisitive. “Mommy, can I ask Jesus to keep the bad dreams away? I can? Hey, Jesus! Keep the bad dreams away from me.” Earlier he prayed with Marshall, “Dear Lord, please shoot the bad monsters with guns. Bam! Bam!” Yesterday we were talking about our friend, Teeny, who is going to be induced this week and have her baby. Russell wanted to know where our baby was and if we could buy one. I answered that babies come from God. “Can I ask God for a real baby?” he said. Yes. So he went out on the balcony and turned his face to the sky and asked God to give us a real baby. “He said, ‘Yes’!” was the report. Marshall and I just looked at each other with raised eyebrows. For the record, I AM NOT PREGNANT.
We also started meeting with Warren and Linda Graham today. They worked in the Hebrew branch for 40+ years and just so happen to be spending three months in Jerusalem visiting their daughter, who married into the Israeli culture. What a gold mine for us! Not only will they serve as our mentors for this initial period, but they are also our alphabet tutors, since another tutor hasn’t been secured yet. They took us through the Jewish calendar and summarized what the holidays would look like here before beginning our work on the Hebrew alphabet. When asked what we knew so far, I brought forth the book we’ve been working through. Linda took one look at it and said, “Don’t use this silly book any longer.” Ok. So we started from scratch again. Wednesday morning we meet them for an Israeli breakfast (which I assume will include fish) and we are to know all the letters by then.
Russell has been singing more and more these days. He learned the song, “Our God is an Awesome God” at the field retreat in Jordan. You’re all probably familiar with the lyrics:
Our God is an awesome God.
He reigns from heaven above,
With wisdom, power, and love,
Our God is an awesome God!
Here are Russell’s lyrics to the same song:
Our God is an awesome God.
He rains from having a bedtime,
With wisdom, power, and loving yourself,
Our God is an awesome God!
Russell has also been very theologically inquisitive. “Mommy, can I ask Jesus to keep the bad dreams away? I can? Hey, Jesus! Keep the bad dreams away from me.” Earlier he prayed with Marshall, “Dear Lord, please shoot the bad monsters with guns. Bam! Bam!” Yesterday we were talking about our friend, Teeny, who is going to be induced this week and have her baby. Russell wanted to know where our baby was and if we could buy one. I answered that babies come from God. “Can I ask God for a real baby?” he said. Yes. So he went out on the balcony and turned his face to the sky and asked God to give us a real baby. “He said, ‘Yes’!” was the report. Marshall and I just looked at each other with raised eyebrows. For the record, I AM NOT PREGNANT.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)