A wall of words

As I mentioned previously, perhaps the biggest challenge to living in Israel for me is a lack of fluency in the language. Though most Israelis speak beautiful English (a stark contrast to Asia, where English is just as prevalent on signs and t-shirts but nobody understands a word), they are sometimes timid to use it. I know what you're thinking -- timid?! -- but Israelis are smart folks overall, and they don't readily walk into a situation in which they have the lower hand.

But the problem isn't regular verbal interactions with Israelis, but rather my primary source of answers in life, the Internet, where virtually all useful information on Israel is available on a Hebrew-only website. It seems the Americans just haven't covered much ground here. Most folks who spend more than a month here are making Aliyah and go straight into ulpan. Instead, I have chosen the path of most resistance, foregoing ulpan in search of a social life.

My friends here are a few of the best people in Israel. I should emphasize few, as I really do need to meet more people. Again, the language barrier rears its ugly head here. While most Israelis communicate in English just fine, they understandably feel most comfortable and expressive in their native tongue. As such, attempts to make friends intrinsically force the friend "target" -- a person who is native to Israel and already has a plethora of Israeli friends -- to feel uncomfortable. Which makes it difficult to make friends.

I should give a special mention to the Passov family -- Yehudit, Yuval, Doron, as well as their parents Miri and Moshe and Yehudit's fiancee Jacob -- who have been extraordinarily welcoming and accommodating to me. They have all invited me out on numerous occasions and put up with me borrowing their towels, hats, and shirts and commandeering their beds and showers. I couldn't ask for a nicer, funnier, smarter group of folks as friends. Their friendship alone is nearly enough to render moot the whole rant I just laid out.