Yesterday was wonderful. Rachel and
I stayed in the library to do homework, and when we were done, we were both
headed towards her apartment, so we went together. In her apartment, I ended up
spending 15 minutes or so exclaiming over a guidebook (to which she asked if I
often exclaimed aloud, even when alone (the answer of course being yes)).
Finally we left for what turned out to be our collective errands.
The
first stop was the used and rare book store right up the street from her house.
I had been in it once before, so this time knew exactly what I was looking for.
We thoroughly enjoyed looking through the children’s books but couldn’t find
anything worthwhile or that looked like it had good enough pictures. However, I
did find Harry Potter in Hebrew. I know I’ve read all the books a bunch, but
hopefully that will help make the Hebrew easier, because I already kind of know
what it is saying/context. For example, I figured out stuff relating to
divination, because Trelawny started talking about seeing the students in the
corporeal world! So cool!! Plus, its higher language, so it of course
challenges me. But at least I get to be a little kid again in how excited I get
(I tend to act like a little kid when I am reading and come across a word I
know, especially in the newspaper or something, because it’s rare enough to
still BE exciting!
Anyway,
we left there and went to what was Tesco in Prague and equivocal to super
Target in the states. On the bottom floor is a grocery, the entry floor (קרקר)
has a pharmacy, and the next two levels home stuff and clothing. Right in the
entrance were two tables with items on sale. As most of the things there were
books, I gravitated to them! A woman helped us find a good book (it rhymed!!)
and then I picked out two I had read as a child: Cordoroy and something about a
potty or pooping. Then to the grocery, where we decided we would make Shakshuka
for dinner, and home.
Back
at Rachel’s, we sat on the couch and played Words with friends. However, we
didn’t really interact, we just sat there playing our own games independently.
Unfortunately, something tells me this will become more and more common in the
coming generations, as they forget how to actually be with people and interact with
them. We did figure it out, eventually coming together to cook dinner and eat
and talk. And talk we did. We talked about working in a synagogue and having
real life experience, about what that looked like and how it has shaped the
place we are today. It’s fascinating to hear different people’s life
experiences and learn from them, realizing that some we share and some we
don’t.
After
dinner, I skyped with my parents (Rachel’s conversation with her mom earlier
highly resembled mine with my parents). Then we decided to try out one of my
new books, so took turns reading the little stories on each page! When we didn’t
know a word, we looked it up. Oh my, was it incredible! We were both so happy
and enjoyed it so much. Then, we looked up Lion King in Hebrew and watched a
compilation of Lion King songs from the Hebrew movie! So awesome. Next I
introduced Rachel to מץ פטל, so we spent another 11 minutes watching that. Then
it was time for home.
Yesterday
was so wonderful! That is the kind of immersion and interaction I want out of
my time here in Israel. I want to pick up as much Hebrew as possible and get as
strong a grasp on the language as possible. That means soap operas, butchering
words often, just trying to push them out, talking with Israelis all the time,
reading the newspaper and listening to Israeli/Hebrew music. It will be hard
and take time, but I want to do that. I just need to make sure it doesn’t get
in the way of the relationships I have begun and will continue to make!
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