(Theatre friends, please tell me you got the reference.)
This week, yesterday in particular, has been a major turning point for me. Here's why:
Since we had our exam today, class this whole week has just been reviewing. Which was great, because I knew most of everything she was going over, and didn't feel that confused. Even though I was a little overwhelmed when my teacher decided it would be a great idea to randomly show us 50 new words on the board and speed through four pages of grammar concepts, half of which Id never seen, the day before the test, I still wasn't feeling too stressed. After finally getting over feeling intimidated and frustrated by the other students in my class, I've managed to become pretty friendly with them, and after talking with them more, I realize that I'm not the only one struggling. Like I said, Arabic is crazy hard.
Another miracle- this week, I finally got off my butt and started studying. I took the time to make flash cards and study my vocab and review grammar concepts and practice reading exercises. I went to a tutor who helped me improve the mistake-ridden draft of my final oral presentation, and practiced reading the new draft out loud until it was memorized.
What does this all mean? It means that finally I felt like I was in control of what I was learning, and finally starting to get the hang of this whole Arabic thing.
So yesterday, I took my test. It went well! I got a 75 which to me is awesome considering I was here for only 3 of the 4 weeks, or 75% of the class! Right on target! But I was doubting myself still, and tried to convince Nabeela that I needed to move down a level.
Thankfully, Nabeela, like the goddess she is, kindly but firmly talked me out of it. To paraphrase, she said Chewey, no. You are psyching yourself out. I can see from this test score that you totally got this. Besides, you're going into college and need to start getting comfortable with being challenged and confused and working harder to catch up. You aren't in high school anymore, not everything is gonna be that easy. This is the time in your life when you need to go beyond what you think you're comfortable with, and this is the time when it's totally okay to make mistakes. If you push yourself now, you'll end up far beyond other students in your year in college Arabic.
She said other inspirational and convincing stuff too, but basically, I need to get over myself and move to the next level class. Which I'm doing. It will continue to be very difficult and overwhelming and frustrating, I'm sure. But these people think I can handle it. So I'm going for it.
Seriously, never underestimate the immense power that encouraging words from a teacher/director/coach can have.
The talk with Nabeela left me seriously empowered for the rest of the day, because guess what else! We wanted to go out to eat but needed a reservation, and I was the designated person to make the reservation because everyone assumes I know Arabic the best. At first I was like guys please no, I hate talking on the phone, but my desire for food took over my fear for talking in Arabic. So, I talked on the phone with the owner of a Syrian restaurant and made a reservation
for 17 people! In Arabic! I was so
proud.
The food was amazing, too. It was typical Middle eastern food- falafel, hummus, shawarma, all of it. I was bold and ordered aseer afouka, an avocado smoothie! It was SO GOOD! It's just avocado, honey, and almond milk blended together. Here is me in my avocado-fueled state of euphoria:
I had good talks with good people and good food, what more do you need?
Later, I met up with Noa again! We got ice cream (I got pistachio soft serve 😍😍😍) with the rest of the NSLI kids and then went on our own to go to Noa's favorite juice shop.
Side note- "juice" or "aseer" (عصير) is the word Moroccans use for any drink that isn't milk, tea, or water. Juice can be a smoothie, a milkshake, soda, or a mix of all of the above.
But this juice place had every kind of juice you could ever imagine.
The waiter was so kind and friendly too. In Morocco, juice/tea places aren't like American Starbucks or Smoothie King where you wait in line and order and then sit with your drink. It's more like a sit down restaurant- you sit at a table, the waiter gives you a menu, you order your juice, then he brings it, then you drink it, then you pay. I liked that.
Noa and I caught up, ranted about our struggles in Morocco, talked about home, etc. It was nice. We walked around downtown Rabat, which I hadn't actually seen before since I've been holding up in my house at night. But downtown Rabat at night is gorgeous. It felt kind of like the Georgetown waterfront, with people and lights and families and food and all the best parts of a city. It made me realize that I honestly need to get out more, because I only have three weeks left in an amazing city that I've only barely seen. The past few weeks I prioritized studying, sleep, and saving money, but no longer. At least two or three times a week, I will go downtown or to the medina. And I only have a week left of Ramadan, which is the only time it's normal to be out at 11 or 12 at night! My favorite time of day! Gotta make the most of it!
The best part was she showed me how to take the tram, which let me tell you, is the nicest form of transportation. It's only 6 dirham (60 cents) and it's a flat fare unlike the metro, so I could go the equivalent of Bethesda to Woodley Park for just 60 cents. The tram is super duper clean and nice and safe and happy. And there is a stop right by my house :) I got home right when I told my host family I would.
All in all, it was a really good day, and a really important day for me. I even managed to get real conditioner (Before, all I could find was 2-in-1...Elle woods would be ashamed) at the store this week, so my hair is nice again!
Moral of the story: the quality of one's hair care directly correlates with the level of one's happiness, I am capable of learning and speaking Arabic, being hungry is the best motivation for practicing a new language, I will get more out of walking around the city at night with my friends than I will from reading a book at home, and avocado smoothies are amazing.
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