أشوفكم انشالله

I have a little break in the action, so to speak, as I wait for our last load of laundry to dry so I can pack it up. Our wardrobe is empty, as the drawers and the cabinets, stuff is piled everywhere - whatever clothes escaped the cotton-chewing insects which plagued us as well as souveniers and books and little scraps of memories. Perhaps, looking at all the things in the latter categories, it's better some of our clothes won't make the return trip!

The last couple of days have been full of sweet sendoffs from our friends here. Friends from different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and situations who all gave us something during our time here. Lessons, support, tips, rides, meals, family, faith, perspectives, a seat in their homes, a place in their lives. We have one more full day in Buraimi, Oman and then it's an early day on Saturday when we'll head to Abu Dhabi and wing our way West.

الله يلوم when we'll be back (God knows), or if, but they have a saying here when you leave, even for the day and it's been used more than a few times the last few days: أشوفكم انشالله, which means, "I'll see you, God willing."

Home Hell-uah Home

Arabic word of the day: Hell-uah
Meaning: Sweet

After 36 hours of travel literally around the world we made it home. From Buraimi to Dubai, Dubai to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Detroit and Detroit to Indy, we had only one small hitch and a few extra hours, but still, we made it back!

In addition to my mom, brother and BFF being nearby, some of Jacob's family came up the next afternoon to join my family and our friends in celebrating our return and the day of mom's "double nickle" (55th Bday).

So, here's the quick update on all things Haramicana (my new name for things that are typically American and that might also be shameful - haram - or otherwise unavailable in the Middle East) so far:

Day 1- Mom, Dog, Pizza (with pepperoni, ham, sausage - all porky).
Day 2- More family, lots of friends, Bratwust (read: pork), and BEER and WINE (also, cruising in our '68 GTO to pick up ice cream cake that didn't melt!).
Day 3- Egg casserole with real, porky sausage, various outdoor activities with the families to take full advantage of the 70-some degree weather (whee! outdoor activities!)

Still on the docket:
Hair cut and style - yay, more family to be visited, lots of friends, outings, foods, drinks, sights, relaxations and otherwise fabulous times!

FAIL: Me and the Culture Guru

Arabic Word for the Day: Shoo Hadtha
Meaning: "What's this" or "What's going on here"?
Used to express surprise or to lightly call attention to a displeasing situation.

C'mon. After I decided I should let it go, of course it wouldn't just go away. I fail: at letting it go. He fails: at being reasonable in a diverse group of people (ironically).

The culture guru strikes again. Today in class, while discussing, in Arabic, places we'd traveled, our class listed most of Western Europe, some Eastern, several African States, Antarctica, America (North/Central) and the Middle East. The instructor inquired after one of the missing continents: Australia.

"Moob Australia?" (Not Australia?)
"Naam, arreed zart Australia," I said (yes, I want to visit Australia), while a couple of other voices stated the same.
Then the culture guru himself, "La. Ma arreed zart Australia." (No, I don't want to visit Australia).
"Laish?" asked our teacher.
"Oh, come on. It's just the same as America. Same as South Africa," he responded.
"What?" I said. "Really?" (thinking he must be joking).
"Oh of course it is, the cultures are very similar."
Whatever. I exchanged looks with a couple classmates and let it go (until I got home, of course).

Did I mention that his job is to educate people about cultural sensitivity here?

Shoo Hadtha?

Gimme Some (Cultural) Lovin'

Arabic word for today: Ma'sh'allah
Meaning: Whatever God wills, or thanking God for what you have in life, not coveting things you don't, etc.

I've been trying for days to write this blog post about a guy in my class who initiated a major lecture on me regarding how I was moving toward cultural hate in my insistence on finding the "correct" spelling of a word that, it turns out, is essentially slang.

I really have. I've been working it through my head and trying to find the best way to communicate the story in a funny and concise way. It just hasn't been coming. I decided today was deadline day and sat down again to compose it.

Well, it still wasn't going on and after I'd sat here working on it and written several paragraphs of prose that looked strangely like several paragraphs of argumentative and sarcastic (one-sided) banter, I decided to give it up.

Do I think that I'm really on a matrix of cultural hate, inevitably bound on my already-begun downward slope of insisting on "proper" grammar and spelling? Well, no.

Do I think it's really helping me to steam about some one else's view of my "cultural matrix." No.

So, I'm letting it go. Maybe I'm supposed to be spending more time thinking about the good things I have around me: God, a wonderful husband, food, shelter, friends and family. Ma'sh'allah.

I Dream of Kelbi

Arabic word of the day: Kelbi

Meaning: Dog (of course)





I figured going into the intensive summer course would help the last bit of time pass before we got home. I figured it would keep my mind off all the things we are looking forward to (yes, seeing my dog is one of them). What I didn't figure was that, when I go to relax and sleep at night I can't stop the Arabic! Phrases, words, all these things I've heard repeated over and over and which I haven't understood are like the banished balls, files, clothes, brooms, books, knicknacks and other shamefully-shoved contents of a closet filled to bursting and held suspended behind a closed door. And these Arabic classes, well, let me tell you, for six hours a day it's like someone is chiseling away at the lock on the door and splintering off little pieces of the hardwood that holds everything in. And every piece chipped off lets things get a little closer to an explosion.

Or maybe the explosion is already happening?

Last night I awoke, startled, in the middle of the night. Jacob, I sensed was awake, too. "Sorry," he said. "Did I wake you up?"

Confused, but not completely so (we both talk in our sleep and are prone to knocking into the other - each occurance can sometimes stir the other, so we've gotten used to it and generally accept a no-fault waking policy), I said, "No, I was having weird sleep, I think I may have woken myself."

"Yeah," he responded. "You were talking in your sleep...in Arabic."

"NO, I was not," I said.

"YEAH, you were," he said. "You said, 'ma ayn-di kelbi."

Then I knew he wasn't lying. What I'd said?

"I don't have my dog."

Weekend!

Weekend (and holidays, as we've learned) are a completely different animal here. Partially because of the days (Friday-Saturday is our weekend). Partially because of how we spend them (malls, malls, malls, church). We'll be missing the diff'rent strokes of spending Independence Day abroad this year, but we'll let you know how it goes (ice cream social, anyone?).

For now, though, Arabic phrase that pays (thanks, Rick Dees and other random, assorted radio personalities):

Ee-jaza sah-ee-da

Happy Weekend!

To Be or Not To Be

Vocabulary Word of the Day: Al Humdul'allah
Meaning: Thanks be to God
Uses: Response to everything

From: Self-described Grouchy Grammarian
To: Self
Re: Loosen up and embrace it, it's not changing (and if you don't embrace it, you're going to be wrong!)

The time that I began teaching English to native Arabic speakers correlated roughly to the time that Jacob's own Arabic studies were beginning to really flourish and he'd come home from class with interesting little tidbits about grammar and vocabulary. One factoid was particularly disturbing: there is no "be" verb in Arabic.

I know, I know, it sounds trivial and silly (and you're probably thinking, "110 degree heat and kitchen gnomes and you're thinking about "be" verbs?!"), but such is the nature of my disease.

It wasn't such a big deal when I was teaching--surely they could see the benefit of "be" verbs, right? No, they aren't just confusing add-ons to myriad tenses full of irregular conjugations. They are a defining element of who and what you are and about what you are communicating! Spanish has two "be" verbs (lucky) and lots of hybrid tenses just like English so that each minute detail of a situation can be aptly and complicatedly described if that is so the desire of the writer/speaker.

Of course I was foiled in nearly every instance of quiz or test in which they were on their own to remember this phantom verb. I was surrounded by fragmented sentences and incomplete tenses (horror!).

On Sunday (our first day of the week), I was, of course, faced with the ugly reality of the stripping of my [Arabic] literate and communicative self of all "be" verbs. I swear I almost had a panic attack as we studied the first few conversations and sentences.

"Whain cuub?"
I insisted on translating in my head "Where IS the cup?" (WRONG!)
"Kaif Halek?"
"How ARE you?" (WRONG!)
"Shoo hadtha"
"What'S going on here?" (STILL WRONG, EVEN IF YOU DON'T WRITE THE WHOLE THING!)
"Shoo isme?"
"What IS your name?" (WRONG!)

Are you getting tired of me being wrong? Because I sure am. And hey, most things can be said without the be verb anyway, so maybe I'll adopt their method. It's certainly simpler. But, then, simplifying things, well, that just wouldn't be me.