Hello All,
Well it's been a pretty busy last few weeks. Figured it would be time to update everyone on my most recent adventures.
My good friend, Matthias and his girlfriend Anna just visited Jordan a couple weeks back. We did a good amount of sightseeing around Amman, then to the north in Jerash and Salt. Earlier that week, Matthias rented a car and they headed south to Petra for a day and a half (where Matthias was unfortunately ravaged by these super mosquitoes). My classmate Veronica was nice enough to host both Matthias and Anna for the nights they stayed in Amman.
In addition to our sightseeing, they got to experience some of Amman's best restaurants. The night Matthias arrived, I took him to an authentic Jordanian restaurant where we ate cold mezze (typically pita, hummus, vegetables,), followed by mishawi mishakala (basically lamb, beef, and chicken served with pita). We capped off the meal off with some Arabic coffee and watermelon mint arguileh (hookah). The the night before they flew home, Matthias and Anna treated me to dinner at one the nicest Lebanese restaurants in Amman. Between the sightseeing, and the great food, I got the sense they enjoyed their trip to the Middle East.
Class has been going well as usual. This language is immensely frustrating at times, but I've come to grips with the fact that there's a different learning curve with Arabic. Unfortunately, you simply can't learn this language with the ease in which you can pick up a Romance language, plain and simple. My Level I final exam is scheduled for a week from tomorrow, which will be followed by a short 3-4 day break before the beginning of the next term. I had originally hoped to travel to either Beirut or Israel over the break but those plans never really came to fruition. Instead I'm thinking I might head down to Aqaba for a couple days. Apparently the weather has been quite nice there on the Red Sea. It'll be great to get a couple days on the beach before heading back to Amman and buckling down for the Spring term.
I'm thinking I will take a supplementary course next term to focus on Jordanian Colloquial Arabic. To this point I've picked up a little Jordanian dialect strictly through osmosis, listening to people speaking on the streets. Otherwise I've been speaking the more formal, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, known in Arabic as Fusha), though this sometimes gets you some funny looks from Arabs who commonly speak Jordanian ammiyya (dialect) with each other.
I've also decided that I will move apartments at the end of the month. I'm looking to move with with a couple other Qasid students near Downtown Amman. The area which we're looking at has a number of good cafes, bookshops, and a couple Western-friendly bars that we go to periodically. Additionally, the area is a bit more affordable than where I'm currently living. We've started apartment searching just recently, and are hoping to get a nice three bedroom place in a newer building (newer building typically equals reliable utilities, as well as internet connection).
This weekend I'm looking to buckle down in preparation for the final exam. Then's its off to Aqaba and the Red Sea.
Wish me luck on the final. ~G
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Welcome to Qasid MSA Level One
So I realize I've been slacking big-time on the blog posts. As my teacher, Ustaadh (Professor) Amr would probably say, "With the will of Allah, Geoff will complete more blog posts soon!"
Before I get into updates, I thought it might be helpful to provide some background on my Arabic class, specifically my classmates and teachers. Since there're only four of us in the class, we've become especially close over the past couple months.
Classmates:
Cody: Aka "Kaaf-Waaw-Daal-Yaa", recently shortenened to "Kaaf-Waaw". The nickname is simply the transliterated spelling of his name, Cody. When we first arrived he liked to spell out his name for Arabs. As of a couple weeks back, I decided it was time to start giving him sh*t about it, ha! Cody is here on a Fulbright scholarship and will be researching the ways in which forensic investigations are conducted in the Arab Muslim world. He's become my best bud since I've been here, and we've had lots of good times. He hails from Bloomfield, Nebraska, and as such is a die hard Cornhuskers fan.
Veronica: Aka "Veron", is a grade school teacher from NorCal, and arrived in Amman this past November. She was originally teaching Kindergarten in Damascus, Syria, but was unfortunately evicted from the country by the Syrian government, along with the other teachers in her school. In any case, she seems to be enjoying Amman a great deal. While she is currently in the Level 1 MSA class, her Ammiyya (colloquial) language skills are pretty solid, owing to the amount of time she lived/worked in Syria. Though I do thoroughly enjoy making fun of her Syrian accent, I've actually picked up a good bit of Ammiyya from hanging out with her.
Peter: Aka Beter (Arabs can't pronounce the "peh" sound since no "P" letter equivalent exists in the Arabic alphabet, instead "P" sounds are replaced with "Bs"), is a self-titled Cultural Anthropologist, who hails from the South Coast of England. Beter has lived in Amman with his wife Sara since July 2007, and they're expecting a baby girl in the next few months. Beter enjoys humoring his classmates by practicing his well-honed English cockney accent, and complaining about the waa-jib (homework) that we're assigned by Ustaadh Amr. Beter and I have gotten into a number of spirited arguments related to international politics. He most affectionately labels me as a neo-con, while I liken him to a soul-less Marxist, haha. Beter and his wife are currently in the process of moving to a new house here in Amman. He's promised to invite us over once he gets settled into the new place.
Ustaadh Amr: Amr teaches the first half of our MSA level one class. He teaches the language in a distinctly Arab way...If you don't understand me the first time, I'll just say it louder the next time! Beter has referred to him as "Malik bil Waa-jib" (King of the Homework"). Amr is typically pretty serious but also matter-of-fact in a way that's endearing. He tends to be very demonstrative, and emphatic in the ways he teaches the class, sometimes to the point where I've nearly fallen out of my chair laughing.
Amr's Best: One of the basic tenets of noun-adjective agreement in Arabic grammar is that all non-human plural nouns are described using the singular feminine form of an adjective. As Amr once proclaimed to a previous class:
"You may have 50 tanks....But you treat it like it is 1 girl!!!"
Dr. Ali: Ali teaches the second half of our Level 1 MSA class. If the "Good Cop/Bad Cop" analogy applied to the way the class is taught, he would be the former. Ali has an easy laugh, and loves to humor his students with cheesy jokes. He's caught on to the fact that I sometimes get visibly annoyed when being corrected and loves to give me a hard time about it. He also gets the biggest kick out of learning American slang.
Ali's Best: A few weeks back, each person in the class was assigned to learn a set of new vocabulary words, then recite them in class. When it came to Cody's turn to recite his words, I implored him to "rattle 'em off!". This has since become Dr. Ali's favorite American slang, using it at every chance he can.
All for now. Looking to do the update post tomorrow. Stayed tuned.
Before I get into updates, I thought it might be helpful to provide some background on my Arabic class, specifically my classmates and teachers. Since there're only four of us in the class, we've become especially close over the past couple months.
Classmates:
Cody: Aka "Kaaf-Waaw-Daal-Yaa", recently shortenened to "Kaaf-Waaw". The nickname is simply the transliterated spelling of his name, Cody. When we first arrived he liked to spell out his name for Arabs. As of a couple weeks back, I decided it was time to start giving him sh*t about it, ha! Cody is here on a Fulbright scholarship and will be researching the ways in which forensic investigations are conducted in the Arab Muslim world. He's become my best bud since I've been here, and we've had lots of good times. He hails from Bloomfield, Nebraska, and as such is a die hard Cornhuskers fan.
Veronica: Aka "Veron", is a grade school teacher from NorCal, and arrived in Amman this past November. She was originally teaching Kindergarten in Damascus, Syria, but was unfortunately evicted from the country by the Syrian government, along with the other teachers in her school. In any case, she seems to be enjoying Amman a great deal. While she is currently in the Level 1 MSA class, her Ammiyya (colloquial) language skills are pretty solid, owing to the amount of time she lived/worked in Syria. Though I do thoroughly enjoy making fun of her Syrian accent, I've actually picked up a good bit of Ammiyya from hanging out with her.
Peter: Aka Beter (Arabs can't pronounce the "peh" sound since no "P" letter equivalent exists in the Arabic alphabet, instead "P" sounds are replaced with "Bs"), is a self-titled Cultural Anthropologist, who hails from the South Coast of England. Beter has lived in Amman with his wife Sara since July 2007, and they're expecting a baby girl in the next few months. Beter enjoys humoring his classmates by practicing his well-honed English cockney accent, and complaining about the waa-jib (homework) that we're assigned by Ustaadh Amr. Beter and I have gotten into a number of spirited arguments related to international politics. He most affectionately labels me as a neo-con, while I liken him to a soul-less Marxist, haha. Beter and his wife are currently in the process of moving to a new house here in Amman. He's promised to invite us over once he gets settled into the new place.
Ustaadh Amr: Amr teaches the first half of our MSA level one class. He teaches the language in a distinctly Arab way...If you don't understand me the first time, I'll just say it louder the next time! Beter has referred to him as "Malik bil Waa-jib" (King of the Homework"). Amr is typically pretty serious but also matter-of-fact in a way that's endearing. He tends to be very demonstrative, and emphatic in the ways he teaches the class, sometimes to the point where I've nearly fallen out of my chair laughing.
Amr's Best: One of the basic tenets of noun-adjective agreement in Arabic grammar is that all non-human plural nouns are described using the singular feminine form of an adjective. As Amr once proclaimed to a previous class:
"You may have 50 tanks....But you treat it like it is 1 girl!!!"
Dr. Ali: Ali teaches the second half of our Level 1 MSA class. If the "Good Cop/Bad Cop" analogy applied to the way the class is taught, he would be the former. Ali has an easy laugh, and loves to humor his students with cheesy jokes. He's caught on to the fact that I sometimes get visibly annoyed when being corrected and loves to give me a hard time about it. He also gets the biggest kick out of learning American slang.
Ali's Best: A few weeks back, each person in the class was assigned to learn a set of new vocabulary words, then recite them in class. When it came to Cody's turn to recite his words, I implored him to "rattle 'em off!". This has since become Dr. Ali's favorite American slang, using it at every chance he can.
All for now. Looking to do the update post tomorrow. Stayed tuned.
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