Swirling Thoughts #92 - They don’t roll their “resh’s” – they swallow them

Well it’s almost Chanukah – are we Israeli yet? Sort of.
We shop for fruit in the shuk and we’re weaning ourselves off the convenience of the makolet (in favor of the better priced Shefashuk) for groceries. But we still fill up our wagon in a way that seems to scream, “Excessive wasteful Amerikyim!” It’s probably all the paper goods.

Some of us take showers the Israeli way (rinse, shut the water, soap up, rinse) but some are still singing in the shower and losing track of time until the hot water runs out.

We use all of our excess water (usually unfinished ownerless water bottles) to water our cacti. But it’s really more water than the cacti require.

We don’t answer call waiting and we no longer expect anyone else to.

Asher explained to Becky one day that we live in Israel now and in Israel they just have less stuff. “Less water. Less electricity. Less paper. Less stuff, Becky. So you can’t waste!”

Barbara is working on an art project in class for which she needs to bring in scraps of fabric from home. She’s been collecting scraps from old clothes but if she forgets to bring it she is welcome to use scraps of fabric other girls have brought from home. She anxiously came to me tonight to remind her to bring her bag of fabric because if she “has to use someone else’s fabric she could get lice from it!”

When I asked my kids what they wanted for dinner tonight and made some typical Saturday night suggestions (cereal, toast, yogurt), Becky piped in, “Milky!”

Rosie asked me if she could bring a pompon that broke off her slipper to gan to put in her megehrah. I looked at her funny. Mege-what? “Megehrah!” she answered and looked at Becky for help translating. “Her drawer in school, mom.”

Barbara sounds Israeli even when she speaks English. For a short while I thought she was developing a speech impediment – the kind that makes your “r’s” disappear or sound like “l’s”. Then I realized she swallows her “r’s” just like she swallows her “resh’s.”

Rosie came to me today and said, ”Wanna hear me say Dora in Hebrew? Doh-gha.”

It occurred to me that maybe Dora in Hebrew would be a good benchmark for how Israeli my kids sound so I asked each of them to say Dora in Hebrew. Barbara, of course, gave a perfect Doh-gha and Asher, as I suspected he would, gave me something a little less Israeli – Dorrrra. Becky surprised me with a Dorrra and I had to confirm what I thought I knew about her. “How do you say ‘four’?” “Aghba” Good. How do you say ‘sport’? “Spohlt” Excellent.

So far so good but we’ll check back at Purim.