Pragmatist
Pragmatist

El Paso - Personnel
Wed Apr 30 2003

I thought I was going to write about neighbors, and I will briefly mention one couple. MJ and R. He was going to school on the GI Bill, worked part time at the post office, and by the time we left El Paso, they had eight (8!) children. How did they manage?

Anyway, there were three professors of note that I want to mention. One was a professor of psychology. He spoke probably a dozen languages. I know he spoke French, German, Russian, and Italian--all fluently. I think Chinese, also, but I don't remember for sure. There was a convention of psychologists from various parts of the world, and as I watched him conversing with these various people, I was fascinated by the way he segued from one language to another, almost in the middle of a sentence. He seemed to be translating the conversation so that everyone knew what everyone else was saying. Amazing.

Another was a history professor (my husband's major). He and his wife were godparents to Stephen. What he didn't know about history wasn't worth knowing. He could talk about any aspect of any civilization that had a written history. He could expound on the government, ethics, arts...whatever...of a particular civilization. He had a home library that a public library would envy. An absolutely brilliant man.

The third was an orthodox rabbi. He taught comparative religion. I had to admire his ability to put his own beliefs aside while he was teaching about other religions. His wife conducted classes for women who were interested in learning about Judaism or who were Jews and wanted to learn more. I was able to attend one of her classes in which she taught how to keep a kosher kitchen. At the time I thought it was an awful lot of work, and having separate dishes for various occasions seemed impossible to me at the time. And different cooking pots for various kinds of foods. Oh my.

And now I keep a kosher kitchen.

That's it for this evening.

5 Comments
  • From:
    Sezrah (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Apr 30 2003
    i have always admired people who speak multiple languages, to me it is an amazing feat and a show of intense intelligence
    i wish i could do it
    8 kids!!!! by crikey, and how many years were you there??

    sez
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Apr 30 2003
    Don'tcha wish we could take a "Hebrew pill" and wake up knowing Hebrew?
    But I'll bet Rabbi Cohen would have a lot to say about "our own effort" and all that. Seems like the best way is always the hard way. Sigh :-)
    Y.
  • From:
    FishCreekBride (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu May 01 2003
    AND I'm still learning English (my native tongue)!!!
  • From:
    Ozone (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu May 01 2003
    Staying true to one's faith is never too much work....it is all in the dedication.

    I used to speak several laguages too.....but only after several beers...or in the case of when I was in Germany.....beer (Dinglelacher), wine, expresso, and God only knows what else.
  • From:
    CovertOps (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri May 02 2003
    I'm sure if your professors saw your blog, they'd feel very honored. I have a professor I continue to write to because he is such a friend to me.
    Multilingual people are awesome. I am only trilingual (I can read and write English and Malay very fluently, but am only middling in Chinese, my mother tongue) and would like to be proficient in more languages, even if only as a hobby.
    Eight children... those were times when having big families was a virtue and Planned Parenthood was unheard of. I come from a family of three and I think that's quite a big family.
    Have a great weekend, my friend.
    Shalom!
    Love,
    E.L.