Swirling Thoughts #191 – the countdown to PURIM

The PURIM email arrived today, Rosh Hodesh Adar, the official start of PURIM in Israel (also known as the unofficial end of the school year). As empowering as my ulpan experience has been (I just ordered Burgers Bar in Hebrew), I still rely on Google Translate to work through school emails. Because it's there and I can.

Regarding the upcoming Shuk Purim at school (during school, yes):
Each student will receive a tab which 10 stations of the market, as well as a raffle ticket at 5 million, additional raffle tickets at NIS 2 per ticket. Also sell a variety of dishes and snacks at a reduced price, pizza tin - 10 ₪.


Thank goodness they are offering snacks at a reduced price!

Boker Tov!
Last week Asher had a Boker Keeta. As he described it,
It’s like an Erev Keeta. But in the Boker.
Erev Keeta is a class evening out. Literally. They are outside, 30 kids and one teacher, roasting hotdogs and building bonfires.
Sure enough, for the Boker Keeta, they walked to the park and roasted hotdogs. At ten o’clock Friday morning.

English with an Agenda
Last month Barbara had an English test to see if she knew the difference between many and much. Duh. She came home laughing.


Mom! It was so easy! What kind of English class is this?


What kind of English class IS this? She’s in a class of English speakers. And so when I ran into her English teacher, I decided to ask. As it turns out, those English speakers in Barbara’s class were either born here or have lived here most of their lives. Meaning they are as comfortable in Hebrew as they are in English. And as such, they are at great risk for losing the ability to distinguish between ‘many’ and ‘much’ in English. Because in Hebrew there is no distinction. You can have much children and many happiness. You ask how many does it cost and how much days will you visit. Because it's all the same word.

Asher’s English test last week had a section where they had to distinguish between fact and opinion. Blue is nice (opinion). George Washington was a US President (fact).

Just as I suspected
All week in ulpan we’ve been rendering our opinions on topics ranging from whether or not mothers should work outside the home to what’s wrong with the world’s perception of the Middle East. Opinion opinion opinion.
Da’ati. My opinion.
Da’ato. His opinion.
L’da’at. In the opinion.


And then I was reading my cereal box. In Hebrew. Facts about the cereal under the heading:
Tov L’da’at. Good to Know.

Aha! In Hebrew, the opinion IS fact.

I'm being targeted. And that is a fact.
There’s a reason I ate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for breakfast Friday morning while Asher was dining on hotdogs. The impulse purchase section in our local makolet has been expanded to include a section targeting Americans!

With such rarities as Reese’s Cups (the three pack!!!), York Peppermint Patties, mr. Goodbar, Twix…
Not to be confused with the impulse purchase section for Israelis: