Yesterday, I waited for a bus to Jerusalem as I had a wedding to attend. A guy at the bus stop asked me a question, but I couldn't understand him.
I boarded the bus, but card reader didn't work. The driver said something to me, I couldn't understand him. He said something else. I couldn't understand him. He shouted something else, I couldn't understand him.
As we neared Jerusalem, we hit traffic because of a protest about the hostages. The driver said something to us, but I couldn't understand him. He let us off at an unfamiliar locale. I suppose he was avoiding the traffic. I wanted to ask someone where we were but didn't bother because the people around me were all obviously Israel and not likely to speak English.
As I was walking, a guy asked me for directions, but I couldn't understand him.
Before going to the wedding, I stopped in a Judaica store in Meah She'arim where a Yerushalmi that I really like, a great guy welcomed me and tried to talk to me, but I couldn't understand him. It was so frustrating. The wedding in Jerusalem was all Hebrew and Yiddish speakers. I couldn't understand anybody. I sat by myself and read a book.
Today the secretary from my daughter's school called seeming to have an urgent message. But I couldn't understand her.
I have been here 10 years. Is that how you want to live, in isolation, in a bubble of loneliness because you don't speak the language (the one they don't teach in American yeshivas)?
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