First (full) day of class

So yesterday we just had one class after our test. Today was our first 5-hour day! I can already tell that I'm going to love the teachers. They are incredibly nice and patient, and so enthusiastic. Our reading (and I think writing) teacher in particular is just a bundle of energy and she really made the class fun. We also have a discussion class 3 days a week, and our teacher for that class was hilarious today. Honestly, I'm surprised with how much I already know. I thought our homework was really not THAT difficult. I'm going to give it a week or so and then I might try to move up to the advanced class. I hesitate to do this just because one of the guys in Advanced just demoted himself to our Upper Intermediate class and he said he understood very little (and he's had 3 years of Arabic just like me). I don't know, we'll see how it goes.

I'm getting more confident in speaking a little Arabic in stores and restaurants. Hopefully after we take a few more dialect classes I will be able to say more full sentences! I've come to the conclusion that most of the Arabic I know is completely not useful in everyday life. Like, I can drone on about elections and politics, but I can't order food at a restaurant. These things are problems. For now, I'm at least greeting people in stores, I can say "I would like" when buying things or ordering food, and I definitely know how to say "I don't know". I think "I don't know" is going to become a very overused phrase for me here.

I didn't really do much yesterday because I wasn't in the mood for going out to do anything. I went to the grocery store with a group of the other girls, and on our way back to the apartment we also stopped at a small fruit/vegetable store where the owner gave our group a very helpful list of fruits and vegetables with their English and Arabic names, and there were even a few fruits/veggies that we apparently don't have in America that just had descriptions in English of what they were like. I've been craving some fruits and veggies after a few days of eating a lot of fried food, so I'll go back soon to the greengrocer and be able to order in Arabic, hopefully!

Aside from that little trip, I basically just hung out, did my homework, and watched the Simpsons with Arabic subtitles. It made me feel a little more at home. One of the girls mentioned that a group is trying to go down to Amman this weekend, so I might get in on that. I PROMISE to take more pictures if I do. No telling when I'll be able to post them, but I will try. I feel awkward taking lots of pictures in Irbid because I have to live here, you know? I feel like such a tourist. But I will take more Irbid pictures, and definitely Amman pics.

Perhaps I'll do something more exciting tonight. You know I'm not a very exciting person in general, but the whole trip has been pretty exciting for me, personally! So, basically, if I have things worth updating on, I might update tomorrow. If not, I'll just wait for something fun. Ma'a salaama (I hate doing English transliterations of Arabic)!

--K