Let me begin with the new and improved make-up of my class. The Americans have slid way down on the list. And this week we have had a lot of new students joining us.
England -1
Canada-1
Mexico -1
Brazil -1
Moldova -1
Holland-1
Ukraine -1
South Africa -1
Australia -1
Russia -3
United States -3
France -6
Lucky for me, I already speak English . Hebrew is my second best language. I speak a super basic medical Spanish (basically, do you have pain , here is your stomach , do you have diabetes , etc. . . . , ) I now know about four words in Russian, thanks to ulpan. I studied 4 years of high school French and basically , that's where this story is headed.
I studied French for four years of high school . I even went to France with my Marching Band. Because we were totally awesome , and before you make fun, marching band was totally the best part of high school .
Anyway , at some point, I spoke passable halting French with an awful accent and a limited vocabulary. My father always told me to study Spanish , but there was no way I was going to do what my parents suggested ! Well, finally finally I feel justified in taking French . Because my Hebrew ulpan is chock full of French speakers. And they are all kinder about my French than my French teacher ever was.
Okay, I actually don't speak French anymore . But I remember a few things here and there. But so far (and I say so far because it can only get better from here ) I have learned how to say "bless you" in French , so I say that a minimum of five times a day. And yesterday, we were split into small groups to have a discussion on a very interesting topic. But the topic was eclipsed because someone in my group didn't understand what I was saying in Hebrew. So I busted right into that French and said, "tres dificile . " That's right. Once again I have mastered the art of the many languages.
It's also possible that yesterday I called someone a manyak, which was probably not the right choice . But it's in Arabic, so I just can't control my command of so many languages . So, okay, my teacher said to use the word meshugah . So fine then.
I did take in semester of Arabic back in college, when I somehow managed to convince my guidance counselor that I was a sociology major with a concentration in middle east studies. Actually , I just wanted to take Arabic but needed it to count for something as I couldn't afford courses outside of my major. I'd like to relearn how to read Arabic and to say more than one actual phrase. Right now I only know how to say what translates as , is today a day of onions in a day of honey. So far, I've never needed to use that !
Moving on. In addition to my truly amazing progress in my many new languages I also learned two Russian words today and promptly forgot them. Maybe tomorrow they'll come up again. One never knows what might happen in ulpan .
Now, onto what some of my kids are up to. Leor's school just started a sort of program of electives. On Sundays, during the school day he is taking two classes that he was able to choose. What did he choose. Well, woodworking and something that he loosely translated as gardening and landscaping but he says is actually neither. Basically, he told me that yesterday, he and a bunch of other kids spent the period using pickaxes to break up a bunch of rocks that they had to move. So he is living a 10 year old boy's dream! And I'm sort of like. We'll sure you do that during school. Because, Israel??
Then he proceeded to tell me that he basically understands everything that his teacher says. Well, that's a change since up until now he claimed that he didn't really know what was going on. We shall see how this progresses.
Next child update. Actually , an update on my first child. You know how sometimes, you feel like steam is going to come out of your ears because your child lives in a filthy cave? And you're kind of yelling but trying not to yell? Yeah, me either. Okay, so that wasn't happening (wink wink). Then, said child called the bike shop to discuss repairs needed to his bike. He calls, speaks to them only in Hebrew , with a pretty good accent . He gets off of the phone and I compliment his accent . Except I said the word wrong so he tells me that I just complimented his key. Ouch ! ! ! That hurt !
Continuing along with the theme of languages. Every day I am surprised when I hear these "new" "Hebrew" words. Such as, ספציפי , מודרניזציה , נורמלי ? ? ? I mean, it's easy for me to understand in class, but I think if I use the word ספציפי again in class my teacher will make me stop. Everytime one of these words come up, we get a good laugh. And by we, I mean just two of us.
And finally , my last story of the day. I've been struggling to use slang. Or not even use it but to understand it. So today I asked my teacher how to use my favorite slang phrase, חבל על הזמן . Which, if you watched the video from a few weeks ago, you know literally means, shame on the time. But it's slang, so it is used in several different situations . Anyway, I asked my teacher to help me learn how to use it. So she gave me a lengthy explanation including several example which didn't really clarify it. But wouldn't you know it. Not even ten minutes later, the perfect opportunity fell in my lap, and I used that phrase perfectly (confirmed by my teacher ). After a few (okay, just one) fist bumps in class, I then went back to my usual situation סיטואציה in class which was trying to fit in words like סיטואציה . Just another day in the life here !
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