Word problems.

Wow. This non-blogging phase is so unlike me.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I am chronically ill. Diagnosis: monolingualism. It’s a difficult disease to cope with, characterized by long periods of latency spotted with acute, incapacitating flare-ups. After spending yesterday evening with two quadrilingual kindergartners (Hebrew, Arabic, Swedish, and English!), I’ve come to the conclusion that for the first time in my life I’m going to become serious about fighting for a cure. Basically, I can no longer stand the fact that I am fluent only in English. As in, I do not think I can be satisfied with my present lingual status ever again. My children are going to be bilingual at least—the cognitive flexibility multilingualism provides simply cannot be ignored—but before that can happen, I myself must become a serious language learner. I wonder if I can do it. Quite honestly, I’ve never tried. Oh, sure, I aced a few years of high school Spanish, like every other American teenager, but all I had to do then was memorize some vocab and know how to spit out a little basic syntax. As of right now, though, I am serious. I want fluency, and for the first time in my life I believe I am willing to work for it. I know I'll be busy next semester, though, as a parasitology TA, program director, and research assistant. The more I think about it, the more I think next semester is going to be just as backbreaking as my first two have been. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I won’t get out of class until seven PM; Thursdays, five-fifteen; and Fridays (my early days), four o’ clock. Hmm.

On another note, I just received a perfect score on my Ancient Near Eastern History midterm. I immensely enjoy that class; my professor is literate in every ancient language from cuneiform to Coptic (you think I’m exaggerating), and even worked on the team that translated the Dead Sea Scrolls. Judaism class, though, still tops the charts for me; my Israeli professor’s vocabulary canvasses the Oxford English Dictionary and then some, and every day I sit in awe of his immaculate oratory. It would be no exaggeration to say that I hang on that man’s every perfectly formulated word. Thanks to my exposure to him and to a few new friends that speak as well as they can think, my words are getting better, too. We play very competitive Boggle and do Times crosswords, which I’ve been delighted to realize are actually possible (I’ve never tried one before, and I completed my first yesterday, only running into trouble with two words!).

As I’ve said before, I currently live in the best of all possible worlds. I have eighty built-in friends, six brilliant professors, three delicious buffet style meals a day, living space that wins worldwide architectural awards, professional classical music concerts every Sunday, trips all over the country every Monday, trips outside the country every few weeks, an endless calendar of activities, one of the world’s most coveted views outside my bedroom window, a (seemingly) endless supply of shopping funds, freedom to do whatever I like whenever and wherever I like (excluding the West Bank and Gaza Strip), and access to the best gelateria in West Jerusalem. This is the pinnacle of happiness and satisfaction.

P.S. Happy National Hebrew Book Week! “Goodnight Moon” in Hebrew is possibly my sweetest purchase so far. Erev tov!