It is odd to be spending the two-year anniversary of our aliyah in New Jersey, sleeping in the same house where we did for the period two years ago when we were “homeless.”
I miss being home.
It is great to see our family and friends in the United States, but it is clear to me that we’ve left for a different kind of life. I have a hard time verbalizing exactly what it is that is so “apart” about Israel, but it really is just not the same. (No judgements about those who choose to move there or choose to stay put. It’s not right for everyone.)
Of course, the truly bad part of being in the United States for over a month is what it is doing to my Hebrew language skills. They are atrophying. Or did, within 72 hours of our arrival.
The reason I know this is because I no longer feel like I have oncoming dementia.
At home, I would often be in the middle of a sentence and come upon a noun that I needed to verbalize. I would be able to picture the object accurately but not come up with the word for several, countable seconds. (All of this in ENGLISH, my mother tongue.)
I really, really hoped that it wasn’t some sort of dire brain issue, but could rather be blamed on a) my constant state of fatigue or b) processing two languages. And by processing two languages, I mean 90% English and 10% Hebrew.
I have given up sleeping while in America for real-time Twitter snark, yet my word recall has returned. So I have to conclude that I am, after all, a bear of little brain, and the small amount of Hebrew bouncing around in there was gumming up the works.
Which is fine for now, but will really be terrible in two weeks, when I once again have to squint at school forms, make conversation with kindergarteners, give directions to Tel Aviv, and–worst of all–receive phone calls.
(AM, meanwhile, seems to have improved his English recall but is still talking in his sleep in Hebrew. I would totally hate him were he not so completely adorable and snuggly.)
So, in sum: Life in Israel: good. It’s home. Hebrew language skills: bad for me, fine for everyone else. Never having to discuss day school tuition again: priceless. Also priceless: not being demented.
Last year’s video is still appropriate–but this year my kids know all the words.
Also priceless: not being demented.
Lol! Too funny. I’ve found that the more languages I have working up in my brain, the more random the assortment that comes out of my mouth. I seem to function on a last-foreign-language-spoken principle, so if someone speaks to my in Hebrew (like a meshulach), and the last thing I said was in Russian (like to my husband), I’ll end up speaking in Russian. Which is worse than my Hebrew (and that’s not so good).
The language thing sounds typical.
Joke heard from one of my (15+ years in E”Y) teachers in seminary:
what do you call an American who makes aliyah?
half-lingual.
I hope your Hebrew comes back as quickly as AM’s English did.