Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Playing Catch-Up

Day 386 – I lived away from here for many years.  And even though I came back here at least once a year I didn’t really kept up to date with all the changes. Not with politics, of course, but in the same time I did not keep track of new music trends, up and coming singers, new books, new writers… in a way, living abroad we became a “national Preserve” for things long forgotten. I wasn’t even fully aware of that. only upon moving back here I started discovering these “holes” in my knowledge. And it is a huge gap – 22 years abroad. Movies, songs, wars, it encompasses everything, the collective memory I am not a part of.  When I just arrived I found it even in the spoken language – many new words that I totally didn’t know. Now I understand most of them already, but they are not available yet for use. I was reminded of that few days ago when a friend mentioned a singer that is one of the best in the country, in his opinion, but I never even heard any of his songs. He is active for a long time, about 10 years he told me, well, I was away from here for 22. But I am slowly working on fixing these glitches. This evening I worked on getting to know this artist, Idan Raichel, through several You Tube clips; and so far I like what I heard. One more of those things we don’t even know we missed; part of the price we pay for choosing to leave for so many years.  
   
I am thankful I got to close one more little gap. I am thankful I learned the name and work of a very talented Israeli singer. I am thankful I can learn something new every day (or almost), it will still take me years to make up for all the things I lost. 

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