A Little Humor Goes a Long Way
On Friday before Shabbat, a worried family member asked me over the phone, "Do you think you and Matt are going to be able to make it a whole year in Israel?" (Does that mean my posts have been too negative? I'll have to think about that.)
So are we going to make it? The answer is definitely "yes." Although we are experiencing some serious culture shock, we are dealing with it as we try to deal with everything in our life - with humor. We try to have fun with everything, because if you aren't having fun, why do it?
So, what's funny here in Jerusalem? Our clothes dryer is one example. Every time you want to start a load of laundry to dry, you have to close the door with the remains of a piece of duct tape. However, since the duct tape doesn't work very well anymore, the door will open two or three times per drying cycle and the towels will fly out of the dryer and land on the floor. Honestly, it's funny every time!
How about the electrical plugs. We were very worried when every time we plugged in an appliance we were (literally) shocked. Jean was convinced for the first few days that her hair dryer was trying to kill her. When we told some other people about our electrical problem, they said, "Don't worry about it, that's normal." It may sound strange, but we still laugh about it.
We also find our lack of Hebrew skills humorous. The most useful phrase we've found so far is "Ani lo medaber ivrit." (I don't speak Hebrew.) Very useful! We've been told that the three of us have been placed in "Hebrew zero." That's more beginner than "Hebrew aleph" (Hebrew 1) So we are thinking of making shirts for ourselves that say "HEBREW ZERO AND PROUD OF IT!" on them so we can at least embrace our super-beginner level here.
Okay, okay, this post also sounds so negative. I really don't mean it that way. We are having a good time and enjoying everything that is different here. Where else can you make jokes that relate back to this week's parshah and have others get it? Where else can you sit and debate some piece of halakah and ask others around you for their thoughts? Where else will you be surrounded by thousands of years of history?
So are we going to make it? The answer is definitely "yes." Although we are experiencing some serious culture shock, we are dealing with it as we try to deal with everything in our life - with humor. We try to have fun with everything, because if you aren't having fun, why do it?
So, what's funny here in Jerusalem? Our clothes dryer is one example. Every time you want to start a load of laundry to dry, you have to close the door with the remains of a piece of duct tape. However, since the duct tape doesn't work very well anymore, the door will open two or three times per drying cycle and the towels will fly out of the dryer and land on the floor. Honestly, it's funny every time!
How about the electrical plugs. We were very worried when every time we plugged in an appliance we were (literally) shocked. Jean was convinced for the first few days that her hair dryer was trying to kill her. When we told some other people about our electrical problem, they said, "Don't worry about it, that's normal." It may sound strange, but we still laugh about it.
We also find our lack of Hebrew skills humorous. The most useful phrase we've found so far is "Ani lo medaber ivrit." (I don't speak Hebrew.) Very useful! We've been told that the three of us have been placed in "Hebrew zero." That's more beginner than "Hebrew aleph" (Hebrew 1) So we are thinking of making shirts for ourselves that say "HEBREW ZERO AND PROUD OF IT!" on them so we can at least embrace our super-beginner level here.
Okay, okay, this post also sounds so negative. I really don't mean it that way. We are having a good time and enjoying everything that is different here. Where else can you make jokes that relate back to this week's parshah and have others get it? Where else can you sit and debate some piece of halakah and ask others around you for their thoughts? Where else will you be surrounded by thousands of years of history?
posted by Jen | 11:41 AM
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