Ulpan

Oh my gosh . . . rabbinical school has begun.  The days I have been waiting for.  Now they are here . . .

Okay, can I just tell you . . . just between you and me . . . I have never felt so lost in my life as in Hebrew ulpan.  I have been in plenty of situations where people were speaking a foreign language but, by and large, I have not really been expected to know anything or do anything based upon the information I couldn't understand.  The first day of ulpan, I spent several hours listening to Hebrew, not having any idea what was being said; knowing for certain that I was missing critical information.  There was quite a bit of asking my neighbor, "what did she say?"  Quite a bit of response back, delivered with a reflection of my paniced look, "I have no idea."  Quite a bit of, "should I just quit now?  This is impossible!"  "Hang in there", I told myself.

Now day three has passed and I can say that it has gotten better.  I have improved from understanding 1% of what the instructor says to maybe 15%.  I think this is tremendous.  What a great improvement.

Hang in there, I keep telling myself . . .  I was able to order my falafel today using only Hebrew and the very patient man never bailed on me.  Usually they not so subtly let you know that they know Hebrew is only your hobby.  So now, I can eat in Hebrew.  Score one.

As I used to tell Aaron when ice skating . . . keep your head up to stay up . . . same here . . .