the basics... nes cafe and tumr (dates)
this is the view from my window looking up the street at night.
the picture from the last post was from me looking down the road from my window at night.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
more pics
the basics... nes cafe and tumr (dates)
this is the view from my window looking up the street at night.
the picture from the last post was from me looking down the road from my window at night.
Friday, June 27, 2008
two stories
I do have quite a few stories to tell, but i'll just glaze over some of my favorites right now to help you think about what things have become most important to me in my days here.
First story:
Being American. My friend Emma and I finally made a good excursion out of the University area of the town just two days ago. Emma works as a freelance photographer sometimes for newspapers and such and she wanted to get some pictures from the area.
Down town is a bustling place. Little shops and markets over packed with souvenirs, shawls, clothes, shoes, prayer beads, you name it. Men stand outside in groups, sit in their shops smoking, heckle and call, and always make the scene a bit of an adventure for Emma and I (two blondies). So we decided to climb instead. Amman is sprawled out over many (originally 7) mountains/hills, and the roads never cease to climb, dip, curved, and twirl. Emma and I found a stare case we liked and climbed. We were met with even more eyes of confusion, curiosity, and interest, calls of 'hello! welcome in jordan!" and random phrases in other languages besides arabic. The best reception we got though was from the children. Seeing Emma's camera two boys first stopped us shouting out "yella sowwarini" (take a picture of me!). After a series of many pictures, and repeated calls for more, we got to take a look into one of their father's shops and introduce ourselves briefly. Arabic has become a like a jewel these days, like a back stage pass to the best concert ever, and has allowed me to feel more welcome than ever before. It makes me happy when i feel as if my arabic makes up for the fact that i'm american, and can sometimes stand for one of the most hated places right now.
but that's only sometimes. Later on after walking we ran into two little girls who yelled out to us just the opposite of the boys "la tasowwarini" (don't take my picture). we stopped and talked to them either way, making quick friends. Alaaf and Raghad were they're names. Alaaf jordanian and Raghad palestinian (Nablusi). After a while a plethora of young boys were surrounding us, asking where we were from. One boy, was sure that we were either syrian or lebanese, (i had put on a stronger syrian accent for these girls because they were so cute... i couldn't help but elongate my questions in the most musical crescendo possible...3arafti shlloooown?). For a while i played with the idea of taking on a syrian nationality, but couldn't bring myself to lie. Only after telling him that i was american, did i regret it though. I saw a bit of estrangement and disappointment that's never fun to see in both his eyes and the eyes of Raghad. Of course, I'm just assuming that they've heard horrible things about america and americans, and couldn't put the two and two together that i might possibly speak their language but be from america. Nonetheless we remained talking for a bit until emma and i decided to head off (or rather when Alaaf emphatically called out, "yella" to us as a signal to go because she was bored with us and wanted to eat her chips).
It's sometimes a tough reminder to face, but i can only hope that these kids were more impressed rather than confused. who knows
Story 2:
Learning to Give
So over this past week I've spent most of my time either in the hotel where we stay or in the library just around the corner that is hosting our program. To be more accurate, I've tried as much as I can to be in the Lobby of our hotel, particularly because I've become so fond of the receptionists that work here. of the three working here now, two are brothers Lu'ay and Bilal, that I've gotten to know the most. In the beginning I started speaking to Lu'ay because i knew he didn't speak English, and with my lack of resources to keep speaking, he was always more than happy to sit and chat when he was free. Bilal speaks more English because he's younger and in University, but is also just as happy to speak and help me out whenever i'm around.
Of the two Lu'ay makes the most effort to speak with us all and find out our stories, as I was interested to hear his. He's 35, married to his cousin, has two children (two boys Muhammad and Ahmad) and originally from Yaffa (tel abib) although he was born and raised in Jordan. He's never been able to go to Palestine.
Quite frankly my lobby chats with Lu'ay have become the highlight of my time thus far, and we quickly became good friends. As soon as this happened I immediately began to think of the way that I could share my thanks for his help, and returned of course to trying to think of a small gift to give him that would show such. I only really brought gifts for women with me though and didn't have any time to go down and get something from the store when i first thought of it.
But of course. He beat me to it. Just yesterday Lu'ay came to work and brought me a gift; A mug with a cute cartoon character on it, and of course was packaged in a pink box with flowers all over it. He said that he had seen the mug and thought of me because it has "baby face" like me (his own words exactly... amazing) and also so that I can have my own cup when we drink tea together... which has become a daily routien. Here stuff that is tackily cute, is considered the best gift. Had i not received gifts like this before in my time in the middle east, i would have most likely laughed at the cup more than i would have enjoyed it (i'll post a picture later...it's pretty amazing). But instead I was so moved. I'm constantly amazed at the way people share here, sometimes giving gifts from right off their body (bracelets, necklaces, rings) just to give and be remembered by. I can't wait to find something to give in return for he, his children, and wife.
(note: the sad end to this story is that when i went to finally have tea with him using the cup, the cup cracked... and he noticed. I pretended not to care, but i could tell he was upset... we'll see what happens).
So that's it for now. I'll update with less fun things soon to fill in the gaps. but these are the moments i cherish.
First story:
Being American. My friend Emma and I finally made a good excursion out of the University area of the town just two days ago. Emma works as a freelance photographer sometimes for newspapers and such and she wanted to get some pictures from the area.
Down town is a bustling place. Little shops and markets over packed with souvenirs, shawls, clothes, shoes, prayer beads, you name it. Men stand outside in groups, sit in their shops smoking, heckle and call, and always make the scene a bit of an adventure for Emma and I (two blondies). So we decided to climb instead. Amman is sprawled out over many (originally 7) mountains/hills, and the roads never cease to climb, dip, curved, and twirl. Emma and I found a stare case we liked and climbed. We were met with even more eyes of confusion, curiosity, and interest, calls of 'hello! welcome in jordan!" and random phrases in other languages besides arabic. The best reception we got though was from the children. Seeing Emma's camera two boys first stopped us shouting out "yella sowwarini" (take a picture of me!). After a series of many pictures, and repeated calls for more, we got to take a look into one of their father's shops and introduce ourselves briefly. Arabic has become a like a jewel these days, like a back stage pass to the best concert ever, and has allowed me to feel more welcome than ever before. It makes me happy when i feel as if my arabic makes up for the fact that i'm american, and can sometimes stand for one of the most hated places right now.
but that's only sometimes. Later on after walking we ran into two little girls who yelled out to us just the opposite of the boys "la tasowwarini" (don't take my picture). we stopped and talked to them either way, making quick friends. Alaaf and Raghad were they're names. Alaaf jordanian and Raghad palestinian (Nablusi). After a while a plethora of young boys were surrounding us, asking where we were from. One boy, was sure that we were either syrian or lebanese, (i had put on a stronger syrian accent for these girls because they were so cute... i couldn't help but elongate my questions in the most musical crescendo possible...3arafti shlloooown?). For a while i played with the idea of taking on a syrian nationality, but couldn't bring myself to lie. Only after telling him that i was american, did i regret it though. I saw a bit of estrangement and disappointment that's never fun to see in both his eyes and the eyes of Raghad. Of course, I'm just assuming that they've heard horrible things about america and americans, and couldn't put the two and two together that i might possibly speak their language but be from america. Nonetheless we remained talking for a bit until emma and i decided to head off (or rather when Alaaf emphatically called out, "yella" to us as a signal to go because she was bored with us and wanted to eat her chips).
It's sometimes a tough reminder to face, but i can only hope that these kids were more impressed rather than confused. who knows
Story 2:
Learning to Give
So over this past week I've spent most of my time either in the hotel where we stay or in the library just around the corner that is hosting our program. To be more accurate, I've tried as much as I can to be in the Lobby of our hotel, particularly because I've become so fond of the receptionists that work here. of the three working here now, two are brothers Lu'ay and Bilal, that I've gotten to know the most. In the beginning I started speaking to Lu'ay because i knew he didn't speak English, and with my lack of resources to keep speaking, he was always more than happy to sit and chat when he was free. Bilal speaks more English because he's younger and in University, but is also just as happy to speak and help me out whenever i'm around.
Of the two Lu'ay makes the most effort to speak with us all and find out our stories, as I was interested to hear his. He's 35, married to his cousin, has two children (two boys Muhammad and Ahmad) and originally from Yaffa (tel abib) although he was born and raised in Jordan. He's never been able to go to Palestine.
Quite frankly my lobby chats with Lu'ay have become the highlight of my time thus far, and we quickly became good friends. As soon as this happened I immediately began to think of the way that I could share my thanks for his help, and returned of course to trying to think of a small gift to give him that would show such. I only really brought gifts for women with me though and didn't have any time to go down and get something from the store when i first thought of it.
But of course. He beat me to it. Just yesterday Lu'ay came to work and brought me a gift; A mug with a cute cartoon character on it, and of course was packaged in a pink box with flowers all over it. He said that he had seen the mug and thought of me because it has "baby face" like me (his own words exactly... amazing) and also so that I can have my own cup when we drink tea together... which has become a daily routien. Here stuff that is tackily cute, is considered the best gift. Had i not received gifts like this before in my time in the middle east, i would have most likely laughed at the cup more than i would have enjoyed it (i'll post a picture later...it's pretty amazing). But instead I was so moved. I'm constantly amazed at the way people share here, sometimes giving gifts from right off their body (bracelets, necklaces, rings) just to give and be remembered by. I can't wait to find something to give in return for he, his children, and wife.
(note: the sad end to this story is that when i went to finally have tea with him using the cup, the cup cracked... and he noticed. I pretended not to care, but i could tell he was upset... we'll see what happens).
So that's it for now. I'll update with less fun things soon to fill in the gaps. but these are the moments i cherish.
Monday, June 23, 2008
bored
We just finished our first two days of classes here at the Qasid institute. Having only two hours of class from 8-10 makes it seems like we don't have class at all sometimes since we are done so early in the morning and have the rest of the day free. They haven't made us do any 'external activities' yet either, so I really haven't had too many opportunities to get into town and see things.
Two nights ago I did get a chance to go out to a very western/upper class cafe two watch the turkey/croatia game on big screen, but it was a place i knew well before and it was kind of weird to be around Jordanians who were so english-ized that they were speaking english to each other... not just to foreigners. It kind of through me off at first... but I guess it makes since. I did get to see a nice souq (market) that night which was down the street in Jabal Amman. They have concerts there every friday night along with the souq.
I also got to learn some fun facts about the Chechnian (sp?) community in Amman... apparently it's not that small. We saw a group of Chechyan guys doing some time of dance in the street. The jordanian friend of my friend Emma here was explaining to us that they come and take certain jobs in the police force, which i thought was weird because I had believed those jobs were reserved mostly for Jordanians, but either way, who knows.
I'm having trouble thinking of things I want to put down. my mind is on something real specific right now that i can't really work out, so maybe i'll write again later. but that's all i can really offer for now. maybe i'll put some pic's up tomorrow.
Two nights ago I did get a chance to go out to a very western/upper class cafe two watch the turkey/croatia game on big screen, but it was a place i knew well before and it was kind of weird to be around Jordanians who were so english-ized that they were speaking english to each other... not just to foreigners. It kind of through me off at first... but I guess it makes since. I did get to see a nice souq (market) that night which was down the street in Jabal Amman. They have concerts there every friday night along with the souq.
I also got to learn some fun facts about the Chechnian (sp?) community in Amman... apparently it's not that small. We saw a group of Chechyan guys doing some time of dance in the street. The jordanian friend of my friend Emma here was explaining to us that they come and take certain jobs in the police force, which i thought was weird because I had believed those jobs were reserved mostly for Jordanians, but either way, who knows.
I'm having trouble thinking of things I want to put down. my mind is on something real specific right now that i can't really work out, so maybe i'll write again later. but that's all i can really offer for now. maybe i'll put some pic's up tomorrow.
Friday, June 20, 2008
phone number
here's my phone number.
country code. 963
number for out of jordan calls= 796314701
in country... just put a 0 before the in country number.
ok later
country code. 963
number for out of jordan calls= 796314701
in country... just put a 0 before the in country number.
ok later
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Mostly for mom and dad
This post is mostly for my parents... as it informs you of all the small basic details that parents worry about. There are some observations at the bottom that you might find interesting, but really nothing special... just day to day stuff. More interesting stuff will hopefully be coming soon once I get a phone and feel more comfortable going off on my own.
in the mean time, enjoy. and forgive the grammar mistakes. I'm not reading it over. you can't make me.
June 19th 10:30-
Wow. the past 18 hours or so have been pretty interesting. I still haven't gotten more than three consecutive hours of sleep since the monday night. This morning we had yet another orientation at ACOR (American Center for Oriental Research) which is coordinating our program (although we are studying at an Institute named Qasid which is just a 5-8 minute taxi ride down the road... thank goodness because it only takes a 1 Dinar ride to get there). After our first part of orientation we had a great lunch provided by ACOR. it was delicious.
After lunch some people from the embassy came over and talked to us about jordan. mostly things I hadn't heard before. Except for the new fun fact that you can now actually get second temporary visas SPECIFICALLY for traveling to Israel (as in, the government gives them out just for the people who need to travel to both Israel and states like Syria that don't let you in with an Israeli stamp). That's definitely cool, and I definitely think I'm going to do that. Only $70. We'll see when my plans start to fall into place.
Ok, so after that we went to Qasid and had our placement exams. No big sweat, although for some reason I was extremely nervous. That subsided as soon as everything was underway though. I am a bit frustrated with how slow my writing has gotten, since I haven't been practicing for almost a year now, but I'm sure it will come back quickly.
After the test is was already pretty late (probably around 8) so me and a couple other girls and the group went over to the mall right next door to get some basic food supplies. (Ketan, it was Mukhtar Mall... and they were selling Malto....I almost grabbed 10 and ran). They gave us half of our stipend this morning, most of which I'm keeping in the safe at ACOR right now until I'm in need of it.
Now I'm back at the apartment. I got to finally take my first shower tonight since leaving... our apartment is really nice. There are 6 girls living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathe, kitchen, and living room space. This is definitely a step up from most places I've ever stayed in the Middle East, with the exception of my home stay here in Jordan previously... but that was just ridiculous.
We have wireless internet downstairs in the lobby. Our laundry will be done for us at a price of $5 a load up to as much as every week. Haven't checked out the sports options yet, given that I haven't had any time, but supposedly Qasid is very close to the sports park in Amman, where even running outside might be allowed (amazing!).
I'm not gonna be able to get a phone card for a while though because our passports have been in the hands of various people and will continue to be for the next few days as we set up all of our arrangements in town. You need your passport to buy a card, so most likely it could be a few days.
Meanwhile, tomorrow we have a 9 oclock tour of Amman, and then our first free afternoon. I hope to rest up, perhaps do a bit more shopping for things needed in the apartment, and then get to talking with as many people as possible.
Today was a great day.
As far as we know our arabic program is going to be a bit odd. We actually only have 2 hours of class each day. Then we have to go on 'excursions" two of which we have to write a report on within a week. We then have nothing else mandatory. It's actually quite absurd. Hopefully I'll be able to set up appointments with tutors 3-4 times a week, because otherwise I know I will quickly become frustrated with the pace of the course. I am excited about the teachers at Qasid though, as well as the size of our classes. We will only be having about 6 kids per class, and after this placement exam I'm nearly certain that I'll be with people that are at my level and higher. Most of all I'm excited to learn with others.... it's been a very long time since I felt like I was sharing a learning process in Arabic, so I can't wait to feed off of that energy. Already a lot of us have been speaking in Arabic with each other at about 50%, and I'm sure this will only increase as we become more comfortable with each other and have more things to share and work on.
Observations from today:
1) the smell is still coming to me. I'll get passes of it when a dusty breeze comes through the window, or when I step outside, or even in the odd smells of the bathrooms and the water. Today it was much more pleasant, in fact it was almost soothing. For some reason though it's reminding me more of Damascus now, than it is of Amman. Perhaps it's the summer that's really affecting it, since I first went to Damascus while it was in similar heat.
2) The dust. every now and then i close my mouth and i can feel the grit soaked into my tongue and lips. It's so fine that you almost can't tell, but it's a nice reminder that I'm in desert country.
3) The heat. We are lucky enough to have an airconditioned apartment in addition to all of our classes and buildings being in air conditioning. There have been moments when rooms were getting a bit too hot today though, which was a bit rough on top of jet lag, but overall I don't think it's that much worse than home. We'll see how the rest of the summer pans out.
4)Azzan. the called to prayer is beautiful in Amman, echoing off of the mountains and penetrating your spirit.
in the mean time, enjoy. and forgive the grammar mistakes. I'm not reading it over. you can't make me.
June 19th 10:30-
Wow. the past 18 hours or so have been pretty interesting. I still haven't gotten more than three consecutive hours of sleep since the monday night. This morning we had yet another orientation at ACOR (American Center for Oriental Research) which is coordinating our program (although we are studying at an Institute named Qasid which is just a 5-8 minute taxi ride down the road... thank goodness because it only takes a 1 Dinar ride to get there). After our first part of orientation we had a great lunch provided by ACOR. it was delicious.
After lunch some people from the embassy came over and talked to us about jordan. mostly things I hadn't heard before. Except for the new fun fact that you can now actually get second temporary visas SPECIFICALLY for traveling to Israel (as in, the government gives them out just for the people who need to travel to both Israel and states like Syria that don't let you in with an Israeli stamp). That's definitely cool, and I definitely think I'm going to do that. Only $70. We'll see when my plans start to fall into place.
Ok, so after that we went to Qasid and had our placement exams. No big sweat, although for some reason I was extremely nervous. That subsided as soon as everything was underway though. I am a bit frustrated with how slow my writing has gotten, since I haven't been practicing for almost a year now, but I'm sure it will come back quickly.
After the test is was already pretty late (probably around 8) so me and a couple other girls and the group went over to the mall right next door to get some basic food supplies. (Ketan, it was Mukhtar Mall... and they were selling Malto....I almost grabbed 10 and ran). They gave us half of our stipend this morning, most of which I'm keeping in the safe at ACOR right now until I'm in need of it.
Now I'm back at the apartment. I got to finally take my first shower tonight since leaving... our apartment is really nice. There are 6 girls living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathe, kitchen, and living room space. This is definitely a step up from most places I've ever stayed in the Middle East, with the exception of my home stay here in Jordan previously... but that was just ridiculous.
We have wireless internet downstairs in the lobby. Our laundry will be done for us at a price of $5 a load up to as much as every week. Haven't checked out the sports options yet, given that I haven't had any time, but supposedly Qasid is very close to the sports park in Amman, where even running outside might be allowed (amazing!).
I'm not gonna be able to get a phone card for a while though because our passports have been in the hands of various people and will continue to be for the next few days as we set up all of our arrangements in town. You need your passport to buy a card, so most likely it could be a few days.
Meanwhile, tomorrow we have a 9 oclock tour of Amman, and then our first free afternoon. I hope to rest up, perhaps do a bit more shopping for things needed in the apartment, and then get to talking with as many people as possible.
Today was a great day.
As far as we know our arabic program is going to be a bit odd. We actually only have 2 hours of class each day. Then we have to go on 'excursions" two of which we have to write a report on within a week. We then have nothing else mandatory. It's actually quite absurd. Hopefully I'll be able to set up appointments with tutors 3-4 times a week, because otherwise I know I will quickly become frustrated with the pace of the course. I am excited about the teachers at Qasid though, as well as the size of our classes. We will only be having about 6 kids per class, and after this placement exam I'm nearly certain that I'll be with people that are at my level and higher. Most of all I'm excited to learn with others.... it's been a very long time since I felt like I was sharing a learning process in Arabic, so I can't wait to feed off of that energy. Already a lot of us have been speaking in Arabic with each other at about 50%, and I'm sure this will only increase as we become more comfortable with each other and have more things to share and work on.
Observations from today:
1) the smell is still coming to me. I'll get passes of it when a dusty breeze comes through the window, or when I step outside, or even in the odd smells of the bathrooms and the water. Today it was much more pleasant, in fact it was almost soothing. For some reason though it's reminding me more of Damascus now, than it is of Amman. Perhaps it's the summer that's really affecting it, since I first went to Damascus while it was in similar heat.
2) The dust. every now and then i close my mouth and i can feel the grit soaked into my tongue and lips. It's so fine that you almost can't tell, but it's a nice reminder that I'm in desert country.
3) The heat. We are lucky enough to have an airconditioned apartment in addition to all of our classes and buildings being in air conditioning. There have been moments when rooms were getting a bit too hot today though, which was a bit rough on top of jet lag, but overall I don't think it's that much worse than home. We'll see how the rest of the summer pans out.
4)Azzan. the called to prayer is beautiful in Amman, echoing off of the mountains and penetrating your spirit.
First feelings:
It hit me harder than I had expected. The moon. Outside the window as we were landing in Amman was the brightest white I had ever seen. I thought a helicopter spotlight was shining in my eye.
The smell. I stepped off the plane and took a whiff of something that I haven't smelled, felt, remembered, forgotten, licked, coughed, picked, had soaked into me for just over a year now. I'm now in my hotel where I'll be staying for my two month journey through the governments idea of intensive arabic study. I'll have more to write about that on once we have orientation in a few hours.
I could write about our 30+ journey to get here, the amazing people that are with me on this program, the niceness of the apartments where we are staying, but i my mind is stuck on that smell. I had never felt that feeling before. It was like all of the emotions, the horrors, the memories, details that I had purposefully put aside for the last year came running into me like a mac truck. It was shining in my eyes like an interrogation light (the helicopter...moon), it was seeping into my blood through the oxygen I breathed, and is now soaking into my mind. There is so much that I have put aside in this past year in order to cope with some of my time here in Jordan and in Syria. I knew that I would have to face it when I got here, but I didn't know it was be as invasive that this surgery feels.
Now without being to allusive or lyrical about my experience, let me just make clear that now, only 3 hours after arriving in Jordan, my feelings are intense. That's the only way I can put them. I'm already feeling the frustrations that being a woman come with in terms of access to certain communities and places-- which for me seem as the perfect opportunity to really use my arabic. I have the fears of running into certain people. I am also extremely excited to see others though. I'm excited to have those moments when I'm surprised by the genuine spirit of someone I misjudged. Like today on the plane, when I had one of my first 'exchange' of languages where I felt as if we were both learning the same amount from each other (me from his arabic, and he from my english). I'm so happy about learning from those around me. I'm excited to rediscover this city. I'm so excited to find myself in this city, to remember myself in this city, and the be myself in this city. I'm excited to have absolutely no time on my hands. I'm stoked to march up and down the hill outside our apartments when I don't have a place to run, or don't have time to go to a gym (one of the steepest hills I've ever seen). I'm scared that I'll get too wrapped up at moments, But I'm thrilled to find myself in those moments, realize it, and get myself out of them.
Most of all. I'm speaking Arabic. and i love it. I have boundless opportunities in front of me to not only learn a language, but to challenge myself in doing it, to overcome my personal fears that hinder me when in the highest need to learn. Who could ask for anything more?
The smell. I stepped off the plane and took a whiff of something that I haven't smelled, felt, remembered, forgotten, licked, coughed, picked, had soaked into me for just over a year now. I'm now in my hotel where I'll be staying for my two month journey through the governments idea of intensive arabic study. I'll have more to write about that on once we have orientation in a few hours.
I could write about our 30+ journey to get here, the amazing people that are with me on this program, the niceness of the apartments where we are staying, but i my mind is stuck on that smell. I had never felt that feeling before. It was like all of the emotions, the horrors, the memories, details that I had purposefully put aside for the last year came running into me like a mac truck. It was shining in my eyes like an interrogation light (the helicopter...moon), it was seeping into my blood through the oxygen I breathed, and is now soaking into my mind. There is so much that I have put aside in this past year in order to cope with some of my time here in Jordan and in Syria. I knew that I would have to face it when I got here, but I didn't know it was be as invasive that this surgery feels.
Now without being to allusive or lyrical about my experience, let me just make clear that now, only 3 hours after arriving in Jordan, my feelings are intense. That's the only way I can put them. I'm already feeling the frustrations that being a woman come with in terms of access to certain communities and places-- which for me seem as the perfect opportunity to really use my arabic. I have the fears of running into certain people. I am also extremely excited to see others though. I'm excited to have those moments when I'm surprised by the genuine spirit of someone I misjudged. Like today on the plane, when I had one of my first 'exchange' of languages where I felt as if we were both learning the same amount from each other (me from his arabic, and he from my english). I'm so happy about learning from those around me. I'm excited to rediscover this city. I'm so excited to find myself in this city, to remember myself in this city, and the be myself in this city. I'm excited to have absolutely no time on my hands. I'm stoked to march up and down the hill outside our apartments when I don't have a place to run, or don't have time to go to a gym (one of the steepest hills I've ever seen). I'm scared that I'll get too wrapped up at moments, But I'm thrilled to find myself in those moments, realize it, and get myself out of them.
Most of all. I'm speaking Arabic. and i love it. I have boundless opportunities in front of me to not only learn a language, but to challenge myself in doing it, to overcome my personal fears that hinder me when in the highest need to learn. Who could ask for anything more?
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