the last week has been beyond crazy. I worked a couple days, we had a brit to attend, purim parties, baking for mishloach manot, PLUS the intensive ulpan. Not a moment to breathe.

I am back in ulpan aleph to take the final test. Its been an interesting transition from ulpan bet. I do not know my hebrew grammar as much as I would like, but I am amazed by how far I have come in the last 6 months. I know that last year I was in the same place as a lot of the ulpan aleph students... and now I feel so much more comfortable with hebrew... though I am no where near as fluent as i want to be. Its hard because I want to talk to my fellow classmates, but many of them are not able to have discussions in hebrew. I have been struggling to find people who understand what i am going through- the israelis mostly dont get why I struggle with aspects of israeli society, and the new immigrants who do understand dont speak hebrew or english well enough to really discuss it. Every so often their stories come out in class, and its comforting to know that there are other people dealing with the same issues i am.

maybe its because of the holiday, but this week has been difficult emotionally for me. I miss having people to really talk to. Most of Yehis friends/relatives are either older and married with multiple kids (and dont speak any english) or are my age and single (and speak english but dont really want to hang out with kids). Its a hard line to walk. In the states I would go to events at shul or work or a mothers group... here shul is not a place to meet people, I work too far away from where I live (and I am younger than most of my co-workers by about 20 years), and the only mothers group i have found is for babies under 6 months. Its been a struggle. This week I hope to find a moms group for our age bracket... if it exists here.

This is life in a foreign country... its ups, its downs... there is a crazy party going on outside because of Purim, and its nice to know that the country is celebrating with me. chag sameach!

making friends

I have been in Israel for two and a half months now. So far it has been good, but it is hard not being able to have real conversations in English. My hebrew is improving, but I still have to stop and think before every sentence, and I am often at a loss for words. While I love my in-laws and other family here, its just not the same.

Last week Yehi and I were in a pizza place here in KG when we heard a family speaking English at a nearby table. This is VERY unusual here. The only English speakers are usually Yeshiva students, but this was a young family with an infant. Yehi tried to get me to go over and talk to them, but I was nervous... How does one approach a complete stranger without seeming strange? In the end their toddler broke the ice by babbling in our direction... I went over and we made short introductions.

In the end we exchanged numbers, and met again today. It was amazing to be able to speak English and have a real conversation again. While Yehi's cousins have kids and are in a similar situation I am in, they dont always understand my background or my beliefs... or when they do it gets lost in translation. Having someone to really discuss things with was priceless. Sometimes it pays off to be forward, and it seems to work here in Israel better than it would in the states. So for now I am thankful I got up the courage... and we had plenty of fun making fun of ourselves. Living in a foreign country is making me take charge of my daily life, and I am learning to start over again outside of my comfort zone.