I have been hone for 26 days officially. My semester ended on the 17th of December. I have been enjoying time with my family. It is the weirdest feeling, my coming home until I leave. I have been living my life on a semi-permanent hiatus. I am all prepared to leave on my internship to Saudi Arabia. I have clothes, and my suitcases. I just need the visa and I will be there. I have had copious amount of time to ruminate on my life plans among other ventures. I went from the "prestigious" title of college student to shopping buddy to my mom. The adjustment has proven difficult. My most recent discovery is that I have the propensity to have a purpose. Some kind of mental exercise to help distract me from the obligatory waiting associated with international visas. I never thought I would miss having class or any of the work that corresponds with being a student. It is kind of shocking to say I miss my 30+ papers and over a thousand pages of reading. I miss teaching English. I decided to have a project for myself so I thought I would get a jump start on learning Arabic. Let me just say this for Arabic: If you want a mental exercise learn this language. There was an article I found that said to be completely fluent in Arabic one must use it for at least three hours every day for seven years that's right I said 7 years. It takes the life time of a second grader to learn this language. During my studies of different languages which include Spanish, German, and French. (I am no where near fluent in any of them) I have mostly learned Indo-Germanic languages. Which since they have similar roots can be easier for someone who speaks one of those languages as their primary language much easier. English has borrowed some words from Arabic. Arabic has a different grammar structure. A different alphabet. A different everything pretty much. My goal is to not completely embarrass myself and to be able to communicate at the very least that I want to understand. I think it is really important that as a visitor in someone of another country I should put forth the effort to communicate in their native language. I know I probably won't be more advanced than the average kindergarten aged child but I can try. Here is to a new year of trying new things!
On another note: My visa is at the embassy in New York waiting to be approved. All prayers would be appreciated!
