bidee aNAM!

Wow.

Okay, no more complaints about gender segregation or praises of hookahs for a while: it's time to hit the books! I mean I know that I am in an "intensive" Arabic program, but I haven't been under so much academic pressure since I took Arabic 101 and 102 in a single summer in 2005, and what I'm doing now is even MORE challenging.

We took the placement test Sunday (as Friday and Saturday are weekend days here due to al-Jumua) and I must have done okay as I am still in the advanced level! I am really ashamed of myself for switching into self-deprecating mode, previously known as first gear in my little perfectionist mind, by saying that I would be at the "bottom" of the class. I would definitely say I'm at the middle to upper end of the group, which makes me feel pretty good given that about half the kids in our class are from Harvard (which they all pronounce with an extended raspy Hhhhhhhh). In fact, several of the ones who were acting all high and mighty about their Arabic skills ended up excelling in certain areas like 'Ameea (dialect) but aren't particularly outstanding in FusHa (Modern Standard Arabic). We have courses in reading, writing, conversation, listening, grammar, and of course, dialect. Naturally I'm floundering a little in 'Ameea given that I've only studied in the U.S. for 3 years with ZERO study abroad, but I'm catching on pretty quickly. And honestly it's probably my favorite class, particularly given that the professors here seem to enjoy marking each of their words, no matter how casual, with case endings. Even in conversation class when we had to talk about "medinatee" (my city), our prof would correct us if we didn't say "medinatoon" or failing to acknowledge whatever the appropriate case. All but one of my teachers are very engaging and work at an extremely fast pace and give us absurd amounts of homework, but in just 2 days of classes my working vocabulary has expanded exponentially.

Again, for the most part I'm liking the people in my program with the exception of a select few whose egos are bigger than their super size Hans Wehr dictionaries (with which I would really like to hit them over the head when they start doing that Hhhhhharvard thing aka "dropping the H bomb"). And what American enunciates the "t" in "Seattle" with a British "t"?? Apparently modesty is quite the commodity in some of the Northeastern schools...suddenly I'm thankful that Yale rejected me.

Anyway, away from the topic of waspy rich kids, I'm looking forward to going to Umm Qais this weekend and possibly Amman as well. Amman especially, since Irbid is a town completely devoid of nightlife, and with the 6 or 8 hours of homework and 4 hours of classes we have around here one really needs a night of dancing! Although I shouldn't complain because there are ways to pamper yourself around here- for the girls, there is a Thai-owned salon which is pretty good for practicing your 'Amea. I told the lady who did my facial the other day that I would come back when I could speak something besides FusHa. I've already learned a ton of different phrases and different pronunciations which I'm eager to put into use in the cafes and mata'ams. A friend of mine told me that supposedly that women say "ah'weh" while the men say "gah-weh" here when refering to coffee (qah-weh in FusHa) because the harsh "g" is considered unseemly, but I haven't tested out that theory yet. I guess I should start practicing cutting off my qafs...I've got enough trouble appearing unseemly as a Western women who isn't muhajjiba!

Ah well, on to more playing the foreigner in a vastly different but fascinating land!