Changes

This Thursday will be my last day at JDC where I've worked three years, and on Sunday I'll be starting a new job, as a translator for PMW. 

I'm very excited about the new job, both about my position as a translator, and about the company I'll be working for, and I'm looking forward to it.  But as with all changes, it isn't simple. I'll miss the people I've worked with over the last three years at JDC.   And there is no way for me to know for sure how the new job will be until I start. As with all changes, it's a leap into the  unknown, a leap of faith. I think and hope it will be good, but time will tell. 

New and Exciting Job

In a week and a half I'll be starting a new job as a translator and I'm very excited about it. For years I've translated freelance, and often as part of my job. But I never defined myself as a translator, despite the fact that I am really good at it.

I know I am good at translating, and that I have excellent language skills. However in my present position I finally gained the confidence in my skills to fully own them, and to recognize myself as a translator - after all, I needed to recognize myself as a translator before I could expect anyone else to recognize me as such.

In my  position at JDC, I worked for an amazing man, Ralph Goldman. He was a man of vision and a man of action, and played a major part in the building of Israel, and in the guiding of JDC, an organization which helps Jews throughout the world, and works to strengthen all populations in Israel.

I learned many important things from Ralph while working for him. And in addition, I gained confidence in my skills, greatly encouraged by his appreciation. He was not a person to express appreciation or give compliments lightly. When he expressed appreciation of something, you knew he truly meant it.  He had a wonderful command of both English and Hebrew, and was very precise in the words he chose in all of his communication and writing .  Therefore his appreciation of my language and writing skills in both Hebrew and English meant a lot to me, and gave me more confidence in my skills, to the extent that when I saw an ad for a position as a translator, with stated requirement of at least a B.A., I had the confidence to apply despite not having a degree, writing to them that despite not meeting this requirement, I have all the skills they are looking for, and asking they give me a chance. They did, and I got the job.

Thank you Ralph.

Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha'Atzmaut As an Olah

Yom HaZikaron is one of the days that really reminds me I'm an olah, and not a native Israeli. I mourn with the rest of the country for our fallen, but unlike most Israelis, no members of my immediate family have served in the army, and no members of my family fell in service. My girls did National Service, and they have some "war stories" (bullet passing over head as riding bus, living under bombardment of bombs, getting caught outside at night during bomb siren and walking into nearest house - which happened to be Arab, etc.) but it's not the same.

This goes for Yom Ha'Atzmaut too, the other side of the coin. Without the personal connection to the army, I don't think my connection is quite as deep, It's getting there, deepening as the years go on - but the army connection is so integral to the full Israeli experience, to being a full, responsible member of the family.

Perhaps when my grandchildren go into the army I'll finally really feel fully Israeli, feel the full depth personally.

It's all in the attitude.

Today I was stuck in a serious traffic jam on the way to work - commute took nearly two hours longer than usual. A few minutes after getting off I saw a young neighbor of mine and asked him if he was on the same bus. He said yes and then, with a big smile, added "It was cool seeing how long it could take!"

Six!

Seems only yesterday my daughters got married (within three months of each other), and here I am grandmother to six.  A great pleasure, and very surrealistic.

I was sitting a few days ago with my eldest grandchild, playing with playdough, and demonstrated a pinch pot and tried to teach him how to make a coil pot.  Doesn't seem so long ago that I learned how to make those myself in my first pottery classes at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester. Time passes very quickly! 

We also played with blocks, building a large structure under his direction, a creative structure - but we'll need to work on his architectural concepts as I couldn't convince him of the necessity of doors to pass from room to room - he thought we could jump over walls to get from room to room. His father and I questioned the practicality of that, especially for his mother when carrying a baby, but he assured us it would be fine. And I had to admit, it could be fun... perhaps trampolines in some spots to help us jump the walls, ropes for other walls...

Job Hunting

Although still employed, my job will be ending soon (my boss passed away, at the age of 100), and I am hunting for a new one, and considering other possibilities such as working independently, combining translation, proofing/editing, and massage therapy, and/or studying osteopathy. However, financially, it seems I need a steady income. Working independently makes me nervous as I have no financial safety net and it would take time to build a clientele in the various fields. But it would combine well timewise with learning osteopathy.

So to be practical, or to take a leap of faith which seems extremely impractical and unwise from a financial point of view.  At the moment focusing on practical, hoping to find something that could eventually lead to the less practical path. And who knows what HaShem will put in my path...

The Yehudiya - Barefoot

When my daughters were younger we would go hiking and camping a few times a year.  We would usually camp by the Kinneret, enjoying the water in the morning and at night, even sailing on the sailboat I brought to Israel in my luggage (!) - though it turns out the Kinneret is not the ideal place for sailing, little or no wind first half of day, wild erratic winds second half of day.

When planning one of our trips, I asked an Israeli friend who's a tour guide about the Yehudiya and whether it would be a good place for us to hike (me and my daughters - approximately 7 and 9 at time). Well he didn't think so. He thought it would be too much for us and described why.  As he talked about the difficulties and described them - parts of the trail you needed to walk in water, a point where you need to descend a ladder or jump in to water from a height of several meters, part of the way that could only be traversed by swimming, etc. - my daughters who were listening were practically jumping up and down in excitement. Needless to say, we did the hike, and returned several times. 

But the first time was most memorable, due to sandal problems. At the time clear plastic sandals, good for water, were popular, and that's what my youngest daughter wore for the hike. We started off the hike, climbing down to the first waterfall on the trail.  When we reached it we all went in and enjoyed the pool at it's base. And then my youngest discovered one of her sandals had come off. We looked underwater, but no luck.  I was a bit concerned as she was too big for me to carry far and she wouldn't be able to walk far on dry land without shoes. But in the meantime the trail involved walking in water, so we continued. It turns out that her problem was a common one with this type of sandal, because we shortly came upon a similar sandal someone else had lost. It was quite big, but we pulled a string out of one of our backpacks and tied it on.  And so we continued.  Then we came to where we could either descend by ladder or jump several meters, after which you needed to swim part of the trail.  We all jumped.  Before jumping, my older daughter suggested that the younger one give her the sandals to hold for her so they wouldn't fall off again.  Needless to say, she dropped them.  We swam on, me trying to figure out how we'd continue when we reached dry land... and when we reached dry land we found more sandals that we tied onto her feet.  The rest of the hike was blessedly uneventful as far as sandals went, and we greatly enjoyed it.