Monday, December 13, 2010

Comfortable Conversation

I recently returned from a trip to my parents, who live abroad.
I hadn't been back home in a while. To be honest, I don't really miss much from there, beside my parents. Most of my close friends don't live there anymore and I've learned to live without my favorite products. Usually the trip isn't anything special and a little complicated, since my parents don't keep kosher and there isn't a lot of space for all of us, so I try not to go often.
This time, however, I had a very different experience. I actually found myself wishing I could live there again. Not because I like the country so much, or the people. It's cause I like the language. Well, actually, it's an ugly language, but what I actually love about it is that I speak it fluently. It's so nice going shopping, asking questions and getting answers when you understand everything perfectly. I haven't lived in a country where I speak the language fluently for over 7 years. I've gotten by, and where I live now it's really fine. I understand almost everything and speak it somewhat, at least for the basics. But being back home I noticed how comforting it is to be surrounded by your native tongue. I even had a very interesting literary conversation with the saleswoman in the bookstore. I would have never been able to do that where I live now, or in Israel.
The sad thing is, I probably wont ever live in a country of my mother tongue again, since the only place we plan on moving to in the next few years is Israel. I guess all I can do is strengthen my comprehension of these foreign languages and hope that some day I will be completely fluent in them.

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