When my dad returned from Israel years ago, he brought back a water bottle with Hebrew on it. At the time, I remember thinking it looked pretty cool.
Years later, when I started sifting though a bunch of the stuff I’d accumulated, I found that bottle again with the Hebrew on it. I remember realizing then that even though it was still cool to me, people living in Israel must just get used to it.
It must not even be a big deal to them to have this language on their water bottles, I thought. They probably don’t even notice it, the way we don’t notice English on our water bottles.
A few more years have passed. I’m living in Saudi Arabia, the third foreign country I’d say I’ve lived in. There’s a water bottle in front of me, this time with Arabic on it.
I’ve lived here over two months, gone through dozens of these bottles, and this is the first I’ve noticed it. This is the first I’ve noticed the bottle has another language on it. This is the first I’ve noticed it looks pretty cool.
