After a month of taking Ulpan, it was the first time that I truly learned the Hebrew alphabet and culture. When I was little, I went to Hebrew school but when I took Ulpan I did not remember a lot. During my first few weeks in Israel I would communicate a lot with Gett drivers and the restaurant staff. For examplea, a lot of the time I used words such as efo, maze, meaning where and what to get my sentence started of what I wanted to say. My friends and I during our first few days in a Gett and we were communicating as best we could with our Gett driver talking about everything it was we were passing outside. He was telling us about the beaches and some local restaurants. After this, from learning ulpan myself and my friends could definitely communicate and pick up words and speak them but sometimes our sentences were incomplete. Additionally, another example is calling up stores to make an appointment for something. I was calling up a nail salon called Pink of Tel Aviv and I was asking the woman on the phone where it was located by at first saying what street is the store on. she did not understand what I was saying, and I then used the word rehov which means street. Along with that, it was little things like this that I was able to use words that I learned in my Ulpan class and apply it to what I was doing in my everyday life. I really am glad that I took this Ulpan course because as I went from week to week in Israel reading signs and sounding out words became a little bit easier for me. In conclusion I have learned that it takes time to learn a new language, but I am very happy that I got to learn the beginnings of the Hebrew language.
I chose to focus on transitiin words in this piece of writing. I am more conscious now about using these words because it definitely helps the reader understand time frames and much easier to follow along.
“Teen girls at upstate camp nearly burn to death after smoke detector failure”
NY Post (8/18/2013)
During the summer of 2013 I was at my home away from home, sleepaway camp. This was my seventh summer here.
On one of these hot summer nights, I woke up to screams, “Fire! Get outside!” The moment I opened my eyes, I saw flames engulfing the rafters. In horror, I watched as a full-fledged fire spread before my eyes. Petrified, I jumped out of bed and ran for my life. Within four minutes, the fire expanded throughout the entire building. My friends and I huddled around each other and watched our home away from home collapse onto itself and literally burn to the ground. Underneath the burnt orange sky, the bright fire truck lights reflected upon our shocked and horrified faces. The scorched embers of the bunks resembled black garbage heaps, that gave off a stench of tragedy. The smell followed me around for months, as did several looming questions about what transpired that evening.
No lives were lost that night, and no one was hurt either, but the destructive fire catalyzed a remarkable change inside me. My parents always told me “Life is precious, be grateful for what you have.” I never paid attention to these clichés until I watched my bunk burn.
I began to think about my life on a deeper level, and I became preoccupied with more existential concerns. Nightmares about the fire led me to ask myself what was my purpose for being here at this point in time?
One day, months after the fire, I told my mother about these all-consuming thoughts. She explained to me that the fire was not the first time I beat the odds at life. My mother endured four years of painful fertility treatments and more than a handful of devastating miscarriages. Doctors would tell her to “Just accept fate,” as they’d hand her informational pamphlets about adoption. After seven grueling rounds of in-vitro fertilization, she finally conceived me. When my mom told me this story, my significance in the family became clear. I was a blessing to my parents, something I resolved not to take for granted.
On the micro level, surviving the fire taught me to live in the present. I give back to my community to build relationships with those in need. I place a high value on my relationships with people.
The night of the fire, everything I had brought to camp burned, but I never lost a thing of value. Although I initially struggled with post-traumatic emotions and internal questions, I ultimately relied on my family to prevail through the tragedy. I have been fortunate to have such a strong support system. I realized how much interpersonal relationships matter. In fact, these relationships form the basis of the most important part of my life. Without a doubt, helping those in need will always be a part of who I am. It was this experience that I will have with me forever. It is my story and although it was hard to talk about initially it will always be a part of who I am and I am stronger because of it.
While I lost my possessions during the fire, in retrospect it’s clear that I gained one of the most precious gifts of all: perspective.
I chose to use point of view here because I took a story that happened to me and used my own personal experience on it. this is something that I wanted to tell from my perspective and Jenks has showed it is important to do so.
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