We've been here only two months. It feels so much longer though with everything we've accomplished. It took us about a month to get settled, not just physically, but mentally. We got our papers in order, enrolled Nathan (our 6 year old) in school and Ilanit (our 11 month old) in Mishpajton, unpacked our two hundred and somewhat boxes, bought appliances, went grocery shopping and started to settle into somewhat of a routine in the place we now call home. However, not knowing Hebrew, despite the fact that most people here speak English, makes me still feel like a foreigner. Even though my husband can handle a simple conversation and I can order a shawarma without struggling too much (that is if I am not asked additional questions about my order), getting truly immersed in Israeli society implies speaking the language, so we started Ulpan.
There are ulpanim of every kind, color and flavor. The one we have available in Modiin is a totally intensive, 5 days a week ulpan that promises to have us speaking Hebrew in 5 months.
So, we walk into a room full of people, about 40 or so, and take a seat. We look around and the room is a total melting pot. The Tower of Babel had nothing on this place. A couple from Spain, someone from Ukraine, a few girls from Russia, a few guys from France, a Brazilian, a lot of Americans, Canadians, some religious, some not so much...
Although learning Hebrew is at the top of my priority list, a social life is too, so I start to look around scouting for potentials friends. I know it sound stalkery and all, but I miss my friends in Miami so much, I can't wait to find some new ones here we can hang out with. So I shut my conscious up and let my stalkery self do some searching. I see a girl that kind of looks like one of my friends back home, trendy and low key, but I hear her speak and realize she is Russian. How much can I have in common with someone from a minus 8 degrees country? I come from the tropics for heaven's sake. Totally disappointed, I decide I should better pay attention to what the Ulpan director has to say. She welcomes us, tells us how important we are to Israeli society and how the Ulpan will work. We take a short test to determine what level we are in and then we are asked to place ourselves in two class rooms. Kita Aleph, for those who wish to start from scratch, from the aleph-bet if you will , should stay in the room, and the rest should go into the class room next door. That means there will be a mish mash of levels in one class room. Levels bet and gimel together. I am nothing like a gimel. If anything an aleph plus or a bet, but definitely not a gimel. Now, I don't want to be an aleph either, so I brave it out and go onto the more advanced group thinking (erroneously thank God) that I would not understand a word. I have hubby with me just in case I get lost.
The class starts and Dalia, our teacher, who by the way is amazing, gets rolling. No English, just Hebrew, and to my surprise, I understand everything she says. She has such a clear way of talking, it sounds like simultaneous translations (maybe not, let's not get carried away, but it does sound very very clear). She has us introduce ourselves. Everyone says their names, where they're from, profession, children, bla bla bla. I don't really care much for what others have to say. After all, my stalkery self has been disappointed and has been napping for the past hour. Turns out ulpan can be a great place to meet people. Everyone comes form a different place, but we are all kind of in the same boat , lost trying to make our way through to get established, we all have sort of the same needs (a car, a baby sitter, a better place to buy something...) . Not that we have made tons of friends, but the future looks promising. A group of us take a 20 minute break that turns into a 30 minute one and go up to the makolet (convenience store), buy some snacks and sit in a circle on the floor under the sun, high-school style and chit chat. We kind of hit it off with this one guy from New York, he takes ulpan but his wife doesn't, which is a shame because we don't get to know her as well, but we went to the beach last week with their kids and ours and it was great. Between our potential new friends and friends from the past that now live here it feels like all is not lost in the friendship department. And as far as ulpan goes, in just two short weeks that Dalia has been imparting her wisdom on us, I can already feel myself understanding more and although timidly, speaking more. I hear words on the radio that remind me of something we did in class and can now handle additional questions on a shawarma order.
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