No More Classes!

Today I had my last Arabic class. I brought a ricotta rice pie since my classmate Claudia has been reading my blog and found out I brought one to my Italian class. Plus, I like making it. Next I am going to try making the ricotta pie with pineapple. I have a can of pineapple here waiting for me to open it. Yum! I love pineapple and cheese.

There were not many students in class today. It seems that most of them have given up. Romina and I were the first ones there, and after Ybti arrived, Fernando came. Claudia arrived a little later (and as always brightened things up) and Cynthia came after the break. That was it. We went from 12 students on the first day down to five survivors. I am so relieved that I don't have to take the final exam. I would be panicking since I am not at all prepared for what we're supposed to do on the exam.

I was making good progress, but it seems like lately (maybe since I decided to not take the exam), I am moving in reverse. I can read some phrases if I know the context and already know the phrases (which is how literacy works, right?), but new words that I have never heard before, are nearly impossible for me to figure out. Somewhere there is a lesson in this for teachers of Arabic, but since I am not an Arabic teacher, I'm going to just hope this lesson will become clear to me when I am in my classroom and I have students who are unable to read English words. Right now I am too tired to think about it.

So, I basically sat in class today and faked my way through it, trying my best not to nod off because I was really tired. I'd call out a word when I knew one, so that Ybti thought I was paying attention and following along, but mostly I was lost as she had us read dialogues and wrote tons of stuff on the board. I dutifully copied what was on the board, but had no idea what I was writing. I copied it because I knew she was going to come around and check with we wrote.

I'd like to continue with Arabic and at least get a basic understanding of it. I have a little bit of a foundation now and if I take another Arabic class I should be a little more confident.

After class I met Carlos, my conversation partner, but I was really tired and it was hot, so I didn't enjoy our exchange much. I'm feeling really exhausted by the 4 months I've spent here now made more difficult by this oppressive heat. It will be nice to have a little vacation, and when I return, maybe I'll be glad to be back in my familiar surroundings again (like when I got back from Uruguay) and then on the 21st of December, my friend Diane comes to visit and will help distract me from the heat until I finally leave on December 30.

I am looking forward to coming back next year in cooler weather, and I think that 3 months will be better for me than 5. We'll see.

For now it is nap time and then I need to start packing and getting ready for my ungodly early trip to the airport.