host family, Heba

This posting once a month thing is not how I envisioned the blog, but oh well. I'll try to be better about it.

First, a general update. The host family situation just keeps getting better and better. I help my sisters with their English homework; they make fun of me for chatting with Ruba (host cousin, friend in the program) when we should be studying. I watch the news with my host parents and Star Academy (think Big Brother + American Idol) with my sisters. My host mom makes fun of me for going to bed so early (i.e. before 10pm), but also makes me sandwiches and cucumbers for breakfast. I am progressively finding it easier to contribute to family discussions, a result both of feeling more comfortable and of speaking colloquial better. It occurred to me a few days ago that I will genuinely miss my host family when I leave in a couple months.

In terms of school, probably the most significant aspect of this semester is my language tutor (we'll call her Heba). Heba is in her final year as an Arabic language major; as a result, her colloquial is as close to Modern Standard Arabic as I have ever heard, making it much easier for me to understand. Heba and I meet about three times a week; sometimes we focus on grammar, sometimes on colloquial conversation, sometimes on my homework (if I'm feeling lazy). We can spend an intense hour going over a text for Modern Standard Arabic and I'm prepared for the next three class periods. At the end of each hour with Heba, my brain is fried from concentrating so hard, but it is so beneficial. My friends say sarcastically, "oh, how thrilling!" when I report that Heba and I spent a week on hamzas (a fine point of grammar), but working with her makes me feel like I'm really making progress in Arabic. Moreover, she is considering studying further to become a teacher; tutoring me is useful for her too since Arabic grammar is almost as hard to teach as it is to learn. For example, I emphasized that American students usually learn Arabic grammar in English; therefore, we may already know the concept but still completely miss the explanation in Arabic for lack of terminology. So, I guess this is my little tribute to my language tutor. Although I am, at times, bored in MSA class, I feel like tutoring hours are absolutely never wasted on account of my amazing language tutor, Heba.



PS- for anyone reading this who's tried to contact me via Facebook, it's been getting harder to get on the website since the university blocked it entirely and I rarely ever go to internet cafes. I will try to find one soon though!