“Seven on Eleven” – A Blog Game

I was tagged by Carol Goodey to participate in a new blog challenge that is everywhere on blogosphere at the moment (including non EFL teachers whom I know). At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to particpate – it most certainly isn’t vacation time here! How would I:

1) Write 11 random facts about myself

2) Answer 11 questions about myself

3) INVENT 11 new questions

4) Tag 11 other blogggers, most of whom have been tagged already (if not several times).

It just sounded too overwhelming to me.

But then I remembered that my blog “loves” me, and will accept whatever I CAN do.

So here’s what crosses my mind when the number 11 is mentioned:

Seven on Eleven
Seven on Eleven

 

1. When I was ELEVEN years old we moved from a small suburb of Boston, Mass. to a distant suburb of Tel-Aviv. Big change in my life.

2. When I was TWENTY TWO years old I began working at “Shema”, the organization that supports deaf and hard of hearing students. I hadn’t even graduated from college back then. This is the framework for my current counseling job and things have changed dramatically. My hours and work mode will now have to change accordingly. BTW, this is the source of my screen name on Twitter.

3. My late grandmother (who passed away when I was 26) had a phrase that she used often: “I got there on the NUMBER ELEVEN bus”. Which meant that she walked to the location, on foot! Each leg represented a “one”, two “ones” beside each other are the number eleven!

4. When I was THIRTY THREE I completed my Masters Degree in Curriculum Development. Our second child was supposed to have been born at the end of the last semester of the second year (afterwards it was thesis writing time) but there was  a HUGE academic-teaching-staff strike and all classes were delayed. I ended up giving birth right after the beginning of the delayed semester. Twas difficult…

5. With two children we moved to our current apartment. We have ELEVEN  pictures hanging on our living room/dining room walls (it is one open space). Two jigsaw puzzles, three enlarged photographs, five Impressionistic reproductions (Monet and Van Gogh rule) and one family tree (also a reproduction). It is of my husband’s side of the family, the Epsteins, and it supposedly traces the family roots back to Spain before 1492. Back then the family name was Ben-Benishti! * Note: I admit I hadn’t counted the pictures till this week!

6. When I was FORTY FOUR I began a period of proffesional soul-searching. I had been teaching for 22 years and for a while I played around with the idea of beginning a second career. My mother began nursing school when she was 39, a fact I find very inspiring. It took me time but I realized that what I needed was to look for change WITHIN my profession, not outside it. This realization and acknowlegment of a need, eventually led me to blogging and the world of online professional development.

7. When I was a kid living in the States there were only Five & Dime stores. My first visit back was when I was 17. I was surprised to discover they had all become Seven-ELEVEN stores!

So, thank you Carol Goodey!


11 thoughts on ““Seven on Eleven” – A Blog Game”

  1. Wow Naomi!

    I loved how you used the number eleven and its mutiples – what a super idea! I loved learning all these things about you. Van Gogh and Monet – you’re my kinda gal! We have so many things in common!

    1. Here’s another one we have in common, Vicky!
      Although I DO drive, I hate driving. I take public transportation whenever possible.
      Naomi

  2. Thank YOU, Naomi! I love your take on the challenge. Sorry for the pressure at a busy time, but I really enjoyed reading your 7 on 11 🙂

    I can relate to number 6 at the moment and it’s interesting to read of your realization. I’ll keep thinking.

    Carol

    1. So glad you approve, Carol, even though I didn’t follow the rules!
      I’d be happy to discuss “number 6” with you if you need an understanding ear.
      Naomi

  3. Loved, loved, loved it! And I also drive but don’t like it and MUCH prefer public transport in most cases. (Unless it takes twice as long and involves changing a lot and standing around in the cold or in weird places for example).
    Will have to count the pictures in our apartment – my office has 26 frames, one has got 5 photos in it, one is a screen shot of the page showing my mother in her Lt. uniform from the website ‘Women in Miliary Service for America’ and another is a photo of the scoreboard in one of the stadiums where I sang the national anthem telling people to ‘rise’ and another is me with one of the singers from Manhattan Transfer who I went to high school with and the last really cool one is a photo of me with Tom Sellick who I met years ago in Hawaii while visiting the sound technician on the set of Magnum. And the rest are family, friends and a great shot of the BESIG team in 2011 in Brighton.

    1. Awesome photos Marjorie!
      You’ll enjoy the huge framed jigsaw puzzle we have of a beautiful Austrian valley!
      Naomi

  4. Hi Naomi,

    Really enjoyed reading this — like you, I broke the rules on my “11es” post, too. If I’d written it, I would have included my cosmic age-related elevenses as well, so I think maybe we’re related.

    At 11, I moved from Texas to England, which I called home for the next 11 years.
    At 22, I moved from London to Poland, which I called home for the next 11 years.
    At 33, I began my MS, which helped me internalize my concept of ‘home’, such that at 44, despite spending parts of the previous 11 years on 3 continents, home was in me, and it still is…

Leave a Reply to Carol Goodey Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *