My day truly turned around, I think, on that 480 bus back to Tel Aviv. Since I was one of the last passengers, I ended up standing in the aisle with a few other people. Just as the bus made its way onto Highway 1, a woman passed through a couple of standing people to me and asked about my cochlear implant. We then divulged into a long conversation that lasted nearly the entire bus ride. It was as if God sent an angel to me in unlocking some doors to make my dark world as a deaf-blind a brighter place.
This woman was a mid-50s divorcee from San Diego. Her name was Karen. She was on her third trip to Israel (one 2 years ago, first one back in 1971) dong some medical volunteer work in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem with Israel Volunteers. Karen wanted to make aliyah so she was using this trip to explore different cities where she could wind up living and working with deaf children as some sort of social worker or educational professional. She had just returned from a visit with a deaf man in Jerusalem who was teaching her some Israeli sign language. She told me that it's going to be a challenge to learn both Hebrew and Israeli sign language (only 30% of the signs are American Sign Language). When I asked how she got interested in this whole Deaf business, she said it was from her experience as an 18 year old camp counselor working with blind children and there were two deaf-blinds at camp. Upon hearing this particular story, I said to her, "Have you heard of Ushers? I have Ushers so I'm partly blind and...." Then she said that particular man in Jerusalem had Ushers as well! It was as if fate met its destiny. I got her e-mail so I can e-mail her for this man's information so I can talk to him. She told me that he was very happy to be in Israel. He made aliyah from Manhattan, I supposed, a bit ago. I was amazed and in awe that he had such courage to do it as a deaf-blind. I mean, I'm still relatively lost in the world of the deaf community in Israel because resources seemed so scarce. He even had a job! (Even if it's in the post office). Finally, finally there was someone with Ushers a little older than me who can maybe give me some support on dealing with my new identity as visually impaired.
We also talked about aliyah and new immigrants' experiences, including challenges of Hebrew. I reassured her that once she finishes Bet, she should be able to function in the society. Once she gets into Dalet, she'll be able to read the newspapers. There was still a lot that she didn't know about moving to Israel and how to move forward once she's there. So I gave her plenty of helpful hints that I've picked up from living in Israel and other olim.
As we got closer to Tel Aviv, she asked if we were getting close, and I said, "Oh, yeah, it looks like we're hitting the rush hour though.... maybe another 10 or 15 minutes." She said that she needed to meet her group in Tel Aviv's CBS. I thought, "CBS? That's not right..." I responded, "Wait, you mean the Central Bus Station as in downtown?" She nodded. I smirked, "You're on the wrong bus then. This goes to the one north of Tel Aviv... you should've caught the next bus over- the 405." She was so embarassed. I told her, "I've seen and gone through worse things than this."
I was so elated that I didn't even care about anything else today. Not even the news of Naomi, my teacher, being hospitalized could bring me down from the sky. I am now a little concerned but I trusted the director's words that we would continue to receive excellent instruction. We had liked our subs, Irit and the guy, anyway. They definitely didn't expect much from us except to be eager learners in the classrooms. I am just very grateful that I'm not in a situation where I do need to have credit- I mean with Naomi gone for some time, there's just no way I can get a fair evaluation anyhow.
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