My messy room was kind of getting out of control. So when I got home last I proceeded to tidy-up like it was my sole mission in life. After starting the massive pile of laundry and sweeping under the bed I realized I had uncovered a few less tangible things that were kind of out of control. The past week or so has been decorated with subtle frustrations and blatant comments about how bad my Arabic is. I mean, the people who tell me this are my friends, of course – shop keepers and taksi drivers continue to insist I “bitakallam kwayyis”….but the people who know me and care about me and know how long I’ve been hear assure me, I suck at Arabic and supremely suck at Egyptian colloquial. but! I’ve figured out why picking up Arabic has been so difficult… Beyond the fact, fus-ha (modern standard) is USELESS outside of the classroom. The problem is, I am not thinking in Arabic. French was easy to learn because I was able to think in the language... I have yet to grasp an Arab mentality or psyche for myself. But in the last 24 hours I have committed myself to aquirering one, and things are already looking hopeful. I've forced myself to ask how to identify everything in the room if I am with a native speaker (and so my room and our apartment will become labeled like a lifesize picture dictionary, heh) and I forbid myself to complete simple tasks with English.
On a more exciting note, tonite was my first night teaching with STAR, an AUC organization that teaches Sudanese refugees... and it was really exciting. One of the women invited me to her home in Dokki for Iftar on Friday! On verra.
No comments:
Post a Comment