A Healthy Ability to Laugh at Oneself....

I would posit that a healthy ability to laugh at oneself is a requirement for being a new immigrant.  Case in point:

Yesterday, I was at a business office with Penina.  I had been there several times before and each  time appreciated the "take a number" system (or, as I think of it, "the deli system").  Alas, the number machine was empty.  When I sat down at the window of one of the clerks, I tried to note the lack of numbers by saying, "Ein misparAYIM hayom?"  He looked at me and asked, "What?".  I said it again.  He ignored me and began studying his computer intently.  At that point Penina leaned over and said, "Mommy, you just said there are no scissors today.  MisparIM is numbers".  Luckily, the clerk handed over my paperwork then because I was laughing too hard to do anything but leave with the shreds of my dignity intact.

I redeemed myself later by having an entire (if short) conversation with a worker in one of the stores in the mercaz when he asked if I was a visitor (I was, indeed, buying a really touristy item for our buddy Eitan from Philadelphia).  I told him, no, we had made aliyah and I lived in the neighborhood and, in fact, had even bought a tallit from the same store a few months ago.  So there ;)

Chana and I have started taking a conversational ulpan.  It meets twice a week for an hour, which is a stunningly huge drop from the 4.5 hours/day I was used to, but we figure something is better than nothing.  In the inspirational category: there is a 94 year-old man in the class who looks and acts so much younger it seems impossible that he is really 94.  He even walks to and from class by himself (with a cane, but steady enough on his feet that is seems a bit superfluous).  These older olim are very inspirational!