h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think you should do a bit more about your life in the kibbutz.

Do I understand that Hebrew was your first language?

What kind of humor is there in the kibbutz?

Humor? In a Kibbutz?? You must be joking! Kibbutzim are very serious. About EVERYTHING!
And I guess I would add some more to it, when I have more time, and, well, more computer... Sadly- mine's dead.

Did you like what you read?

Elly/Bob

There are jokes and silliness anywhere.
I mean c'mon, look at Purim!
If it were touched up a bit and a little more slice of life and it reflected who you've become, we might be able to shoehorn it into the Post.
Yes I liked it. I rarely bother with the one's I don't.
I think you represent a viewpoint that is sadly missing in a site with a lot of US/Israel bashing going on in the various politically canted forums.
Do I understand correctly that Hebrew was your first language? Or is I making an assumption?

You's not mistaken.
I am Hebrew speaking Kibbutznik. I am at the moment witnessing the hardships of learningthat language through my boyfriend, another researcher, by the way, who's struggling to figure at least some of the words and grammar out, and having a hard time at it.
And Purim is there to remind us that God's watching over his chosen people and all that , as are all our holidays.
Oh yes. I won't get myself into the American Israeli debate even if I was paid for it.

My point was that the Jews in America use Purim as a good excuse to make fools of themselves. Surely an exercise in humor. Or are Sabras very different?

I don't have a second language. Actually, I don't have a first language because almost nobody speaks it very well around here.

Speaks what? English?
Over here Purim's there so kids can dress up and feel uncomfortable and miserable in their costumes.
Why- what do you do there?

Among the Jewish communities, it is a time of dancing, alchohol, bad jokes and a service where the book of Esther (what is her other name, Haddasah?) is read aloud and noise makers and catcalls are heard at selected points of response. It is wildest among the most observant.

Of course, the Chasidic community never does anything by halfs.

And yes, very few people around here speak English. It is often foreign speakers who talk the most correctly because they cared enough to learn it. Most Americans take it for granted, like breathing, and many spend most of their lives without realizing that most of the rest of the world does not speak it. I have met people who do not know that there is a modern language called Hebrew.
I have met people who have never heard of Welsh Gaelic or Irish Gaelic or Scottish Gaelic. They just assumed that everyone in GB speaks English.
No, most of these folks speak poorly with very limited vocabularies and only the vaguest sense of what they hate about grammar. They think diction is something that happens in dirty movies.

A brave singing teacher tried to improve MY diction! Needless to say she failed miserably...
I know what you mean- I hear Hebrew being slaughtered on daily basis, and hate it. My boyfriend's Irish, so he knows the sound of Gaelic, but not much more than that. I want to study those old languages, they sound magical to me.
Yes, Purim is celebrated just like that here, but I'm not religious, and never go tothe synagogue. Maybe I'd start doing that when we move to GB....

A brave singing teacher tried to improve MY diction! Needless to say she failed miserably...
I know what you mean- I hear Hebrew being slaughtered on daily basis, and hate it. My boyfriend's Irish, so he knows the sound of Gaelic, but not much more than that. I want to study those old languages, they sound magical to me.
Yes, Purim is celebrated just like that here, but I'm not religious, and never go to the synagogue. Maybe I'd start doing that when we move to GB....

A little cultural connection never hurts. Though, if I moved to GB I doubt if I would seek out anything that reminded me of Texas.

Sorry it took me so long to reply- my life has become very...unusual.
If you're interested- read my journal.

A buncha frowns?
Hmm. This bears investigating.

Oh, so your forty pound smiley thread peters out and you come looking for me?

All I've got is and .

Did you go for a visa renewal or did they come around and knock on the door?

I asked for a brand new visa before we've left, and was given time to satisfy the vice console. 6 months. He said it would be fine if we went over together. Heathrow disagreed.
I'll have the , please.

oooooh, the Customs weinies! or the Border weinies!

Protecting the motherland from foreign indigents!

hethrow wenies so I gess border...oh well s**t haens..I say that dosent make me feel betterbut I say it any way

I've always found minor officialdom to be irritating. If they were truly competent, they'd be in an office somewhere. If the office weinies were truly competent, they'd train their people well.

They're jst doing their job. I'm the idiot who tries to walk into a foreign country for 5 monthes with no money, not even a mast*rcard.

Well, I fortunate that most states don't have a border guard. I've wandered into a few of them without a visible means of support.