The customs officer waved me on.
"Gracias!" I said.
I entered the arrivals hall
scanning the crowd for a familiar face.
I did not see her.
She said she would be waiting
but she wasn't.
I walked over to a payphone.
Cards only.
Some guy
wanting to practice his english
offered to help
and pointed me to a store.
Only the store did not sell cards.
I asked a girl using the phone
where she bought hers.
In broken english
she informed me
but the woman behind the counter
gave me the wrong thing.
I was getting desperate.
Here I was
alone
in a foreign country
barely speaking a word of the language.
The girl from the phone offered her card.
I called my friend.
She was stuck in traffic.
I breathed a sigh of relief
as I waited it out.
But I was thinking...
Wouldn't it have been easier
if I had taken the time
to learn some words of Spanish
BEFORE I came on this trip?
Wouldn't it be easier
to take the time
and learn some of the prayers
BEFORE we take a trip
through the Yamim Noraim?
Won't we feel more at ease?
More at home?
10 comments:
Good point! Nice lesson. In the past aish.com has been helpful.
great lesson...
and I kow the feeling of being alone in a foreign country..and no knowing the language..in can be panic inducing..
glad it worked out...
So true. One of the only things I miss about school is the fact that before yomim tovim, we were pumped up and prepared for it. We were basically spoonfed and now that I am working, unless I actually make it my business to sit down and learn, I can come into yomim noraim completely unprepared. Thank you for the reminder!
Wow--thanks.
Will you read/show this to your students? They might just gain something from it.
We work
So we can buy the things we want
And we can vacation
And then we work some more
And buy some more things
And vacation some more
And then what?
Or better yet, WHY?
Do I know where I am heading?
How about Why?
What’s my ultimate goal?
And more important,
What are I doing to get there???
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Thanks,
at peace
at peace - thanks. yeah, i know. i used to be an aish addict, but slowed down of late.
david - still don't know the language... but i'm learning... se habla espanol?
halfshared - it's always better to be prepared...
little birdies - maybe. when I start school. though I don't teach kodesh...
at peace - our ultimate goal is to be ovdei hashem. :)
Looking through the davening before Rosh Hashana means we have to stop procrastinating and face the fact that it is time we looked at more than just the tefillos we will be saying and sadly it is something that we often push off hour by hour. Thanks for helping us face it :)
Preparation is key, for sure.
I have the Artscroll machzorim, but sometimes, the only chance I get to read the annotations or even the translations is during the actual tefilah...
Dreamer - my real question is how to bridge the gap between mind and heart. Any ideas?
It makes the Yamim Noraim so much more meaningful when you know what you're saying. Thanks for the reminder for me to brush up on my "language skills"!
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