I am going to try my best to start writing again here at least every few days (as opposed to my lazy once a week efforts of late), but it's been really hard for me to get back in the swing of things again after my delightful trip home to DC over Christmas. Sadly, I have been spending more time this semester watching TV and fooling around on the internet than I did last semester, which also means that I have been neglecting my blog. So... here is what's going on:
1. I got an A on my Islamic Law paper (written about a few entries ago), which I am thoroughly pleased about considering I have never looked at the Quran (or a Bible for that matter) in my life. Woo hoo, I guess even a God-doubting agnostic can understand something spiritual.
2. My Arabic class is rapidly getting a lot harder this semester. I got (oh horrors) an 85.7% on my first exam! No way! That stinks! I made the dumbest mistakes, but it was a really difficult test! The other new addition to Arabic class is that we have to have native speaker "conversation partners" who we have to meet with about twice a month. I got matched up with this Saudi engineer named Ammar, who is from Dammam (Eastern Province). He's in his early 20s, and I've only met him once, when all the Saudi exchange students came to meet us in class one day last week. He's a portly little guy, but he seemed the friendliest of the bunch, even though he barely speaks English (which makes setting up meeting times quite the challenge). Our first meeting is this Friday at 3pm (I think... haha) at Starbucks so I will report more later.
3. My cough is slowly diminishing although I am still hacking away every now and then. One cool thing this semester is that I am signed up in an Islamic Human Rights seminar for the next two weeks with the (2001?) Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi, who is a female lawyer from Iran. Her first class started last Monday, and so far it's been really very good. We covered Iranian history on Monday and Tuesday, and today we discussed the Iranian Constitution and government structure. Very interesting. The reason I bring this up with my "cough" paragraph is that I had the worst coughing fit in class today. I tried to suppress the tickle in my throat because I had already coughed through a good bit of her lecture (the class only has 50 students in a small lecture room) so I already felt self-conscious, but then I realized that I really was going into a bit of a coughing seizure. My attempts to hold it in left me turning red in the face, watery in the eyes, and feeling as though I were about to explode. Putting my head down toward my backpack, I had no choice but to let the cough loose, and so I spazzed out coughing for about a good minute, just enough so that everyone sitting near me could not even hear her interpreter. I have no doubt that Shirin Ebadi now must think of me as "the sick girl on the side of the room" although she did keep talking as though she didn't even notice my gasps for breath and disgusting phlegm-like coughing fits. I did appreciate that greatly.
4. My yoga class went well, although I had an aforementioned coughing fit at the beginning of class on Sunday, when the teacher was chanting in Hindi and the class of 8 people was sitting Indian-style semi-meditating in what was supposed to be silence. I was definitely a bit of a mood breaker. The teacher finally asked me if I needed a drink of water (as if that would quell the virus emerging from my lungs) and I was forced to apologize repeatedly for ruining the mood of the class. Luckily, I got most of it out of my system and was able to get through class... I really enjoyed it although I feel certain I will never be able to touch my toes without bending my legs. I have the flexibility of a steel beam.
5. I also went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show on Saturday with some girls from my department. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I was not overly enthused about looking at rocks and geodes for half a day, but as it turned out, the show had some really cool jewelry and TONS of beads, rocks, silver, etc etc for jewelry making. I spent oodles on supplies (mostly small rocks & beads), but I figured that in the long run, I can make lots of necklaces for friends and save myself money on gifts in the future (yes, my friends, prepare yourself for my creative efforts!!). The show is set up at about 10 budget hotels all along the frontage road of I-10. Indeed, a rather weird set-up. I thought it would be at a convention center, but instead these small hotels put tents up in their parking lots and courtyard areas, and sellers also set up booths inside the hotel rooms along the courtyards. Below are some photos of the show...
This is a typical tent at the show.
Above is an example of another type of booth. Now, listen when I say that there are ALL TYPES of people at this event, from all over the world, as this is the biggest gem show in the world, and it draws thousands of merchants and buyers. However, there is one type of person that really loves this sort of thing. This person is known as "the Cherohonkee" --- here is a quick description: "White babyboomers (male or female) who are obsessed with Native American culture. They live in the southwest or west, preferably in adobe homes. Their hobbies include hosting drum circles, making chamomile tea, and dancing with wolves. They have a unique affinity for turquoise jewelry and prefer living in the country or in a liberal-minded town that hasn't been spoiled by McDonald's, the Gap, Wal-Mart, and other scourges of the white man. Cherohonkees believe that Americans have lost their undersanding of the interconnectedness of all things. They begin emulating the traditional cultures of Native Americans in protest of the post industrial pillaging of the earth." The booth above provides an example of the ultimate Cherohonkee exhibit at the gem show (the CDs for sale are of Native American music, and speakers were playing the flute-like music a la Kevin Costner in "Dances with Wolves").
Here are the girls with who I went to the show: Alana, Shauna (my god, check out that sourpuss face... I think someone really DISLIKED the gem show and just wanted to be home snuggling with her Persian lovegod), and Rachael.
Oh and finally, here is a picture from a party I went to last Friday evening at the home of the head of the Middle Eastern Studies Department here at U of A:
I found this picture particularly amusing because Shauna a) has a giant hamburger placed before her, and b) is sandwiched between the two men of her life... Dr. Talattof, her Persian instructor, on the left, and her main squeeze, Rouzbeh, on the right. Hey, wait a minute, is that a "Members Only" jacket? :-)
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