Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Living is Learning


This might be the cheesiest post in the world but I was thinking about this topic and well the purpose of this blog is for me to channel my randomness into something productive and less socially awkward.

Here we go.

Kids say the darndest things, right?

Well, the other day I was in Costco and I heard this little boy ask his dad what this word( that is escaping my memory...it may have been perservative) meant and it got me thinking about my study of Arabic. The studying of other languages allows people to return to their once child-like curiosity of new words and meanings. I have been feeling kind of down and out with my Arabic studies. I have the greatest room mates and they are always teaching me the best stuff to say in Arabic but I can't help but feel my averageness kick in from time to time.

I want to be great at Arabic right now and it is hard for me to swallow the reality that with every new verb, grammatical concept, and cultural idiom I learn, I discover how much I really don't know. I think self-discouraging habits are what keep many from completing Arabic and consequently sucker people into giving up. My good friend Sami al-Jamal is one of these kids. Fact: Arabic is hard.
Fact: The pressure of actually making to the study abroad almost makes you want to puke.
Fact: Arabic is an obstacle like any other and it is completely mental.

I want to achieve and I want Sami to achieve. We both just need to start believing in ourselves.

Sami, stay in Arabic! Go to Egypt. Please.

3 comments:

  1. I hope he reads this. Every time he talks to me he always asks if I liked Arabic, if I ever wanted to quit. I always tell him that at times I hated it. It was really hard. I'm glad I stuck with it.

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  2. Layla, Everyone loves him in the program and wants him to go to Egypt! He is a great kid and I know he works hard. He understands everything. He just feels like he isn't as good as he should be but everyone feels like that.

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  3. Come on, Sami Al-Jamal! I think it's dumb that the two Arabs, the two who had the personal connection and should have made it, didn't.

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