My last weekend at home before Wednesday's departure and my mind is full of so many thoughts as I prepare for my next adventrue. This has been a wonderful summer of enjoying family, friends, and the sand and sea of San Diego. After a few very hot days last week, today's marine layer and cool breeze have the hint of autumn and the promise of something new. My suitcases are packed; one with light clothing for the warm weather in Israel and another with sweaters, etc. for Assisi and my second fall in Italy. Trying not to disappoint myself and my Italian friends by forgetting the language, I began the summer reviewing my Italian workbooks, starting an intermediate conversation class, and even taking an online course. I was making solid progress when, somewhere along the way, I decided to put the Italian on hold and begin reviewing Hebrew. Having taken two years of the language and living briefly in Israel many years ago, I loved listening to my CD's and the memories they evoked. It's been 28 years since my fourth and last trip to Israel; I started out by being a tourist for two weeks, followed by a month of studying archaeology the following summer. My next trip was for six months with the plan of spending that time on a kibbutz; this adventure lasted six weeks when I decided that four hours of making chicken soup every morning was not how I wanted to experience Israel so I moved to Jerusalem and fell in love with the beauty and sanctity of this very special place. My final trip was as a student once again...lots of Hebrew...humus...pita...and a very memorable romance.
So now the language part of my brain has got vocabulary of these two very different languages mixing with one another and I find myself thinking in Hebrew and Italian, with some French thrown in for good measure! The perfectionist in me gets frustrated...and then I remind myself that I can order ice cream and wine in both languages...and I smile...
No comments:
Post a Comment