Does everyone have this problem? This cultural jetlag? I can manage the 7 hours difference in time but I have totally forgotten where I was when I left. Where are my keys? What is the code to my car? Which door do I have to push and which pull? What books do i have to give back to the library?
What papers was I supposed to have read?
The problem is aggravated by the fact that my sunglasses disappeared somewhere in Macy’s and I can’t see a thing without them. This meant that before I can run all the usual errands I have to get a new pair of shades. It was also a symbolic necessity, because, as they say in Hebrew “things that you see from here you can’t see from over there.” You need another pair of glasses. The world here is really that different.
Examples? The coming holidays – so much is concentrated on plans for the new year. Not only is it about who’s going where and who’s being invited when. Nor is it only about vacations and stores closing, or gifts and new clothes. We’ve had three calls from charities since we’ve been back asking for food baskets. The phone is ringing off the hook about the new year – the new schedules, plans, fears, needs. The Hebrew calendar begins, the school year begins, and religious reckoning is profound. It just doesn’t compare with autumn leaves in the department store window with fall clothes.
And that’s just one example.
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