JessMaster
02-13-2007, 04:18 AM
My Dog in Jerusalem
This year was a big adventure for my Upland Lab. I took her to Israel with me on my sabbatical! Away from her yard in the suburbs on the edge of town to an apartment in a big city :( Fortunately there is a huge park nearby so she gets a lot of exercise twice a day, before and after my four-hour-five-day-per-week language class.
The title of this post could also have been “I thought my Hebrew course was going well until…” or “A little bit of knowlege is a dangerous thing.”
Our building in Jerusalem has a preschool next to it. Each morning the mothers are bringing their small children and associated bundles down the stairs by my apartment. Meanwhile, I have to get up the stairs with my "middle-aged" female labrador retreiver who loves children.
In Jerusalem, for some reason mothers don’t love dogs, they are terrified of them. In fact, their panicked reactions unconsciously make me feel I should also watch out for something.
The lab is called “Jess,” and Jess has to press her nose against every human in greeting. Furthermore, due to the unseen world of scents, her movements are somewhat unpredictable, so I have to be ready to pull her leash, as at any moment she can veer over towards a child whose mother is holding it pressed against the wall. When this happens the mothers usually let out a little shriek and either yank the child up into the air or look like they are going to collapse… meanwhile I feel like a schmuck. Of course, pulling on the leash is a confirmation that the dog is vicious and dangerous, so the whole experience feeds on itself.
One Friday morning, the mother of a little boy and girl shocked the other mothers by greeting Jess cheerfully. She must have been from the San Fernando Valley suburbs. This was my opportunity to reach out! In spontaneous ulpan Hebrew I said, “Jess kelbah mamash tovah! Hee ochelet yeladim.”
Ahh, the difference an “L” makes!
I had meant to pronounce “ohevet” which means “loves.” Instead I said “ochelet” which means “eats.” So… as I said it the sentence was, “Jess is a very good dog. She eats children.”
This year was a big adventure for my Upland Lab. I took her to Israel with me on my sabbatical! Away from her yard in the suburbs on the edge of town to an apartment in a big city :( Fortunately there is a huge park nearby so she gets a lot of exercise twice a day, before and after my four-hour-five-day-per-week language class.
The title of this post could also have been “I thought my Hebrew course was going well until…” or “A little bit of knowlege is a dangerous thing.”
Our building in Jerusalem has a preschool next to it. Each morning the mothers are bringing their small children and associated bundles down the stairs by my apartment. Meanwhile, I have to get up the stairs with my "middle-aged" female labrador retreiver who loves children.
In Jerusalem, for some reason mothers don’t love dogs, they are terrified of them. In fact, their panicked reactions unconsciously make me feel I should also watch out for something.
The lab is called “Jess,” and Jess has to press her nose against every human in greeting. Furthermore, due to the unseen world of scents, her movements are somewhat unpredictable, so I have to be ready to pull her leash, as at any moment she can veer over towards a child whose mother is holding it pressed against the wall. When this happens the mothers usually let out a little shriek and either yank the child up into the air or look like they are going to collapse… meanwhile I feel like a schmuck. Of course, pulling on the leash is a confirmation that the dog is vicious and dangerous, so the whole experience feeds on itself.
One Friday morning, the mother of a little boy and girl shocked the other mothers by greeting Jess cheerfully. She must have been from the San Fernando Valley suburbs. This was my opportunity to reach out! In spontaneous ulpan Hebrew I said, “Jess kelbah mamash tovah! Hee ochelet yeladim.”
Ahh, the difference an “L” makes!
I had meant to pronounce “ohevet” which means “loves.” Instead I said “ochelet” which means “eats.” So… as I said it the sentence was, “Jess is a very good dog. She eats children.”