A day in the life

I gave my first 7-minute Arabic presentation in class today or maybe even ten minutes, given the pace of my primitive reading skills. The content itself was nothing fancy. I took a page out of my research and said something about the relationship between religion and democracy in U.S-Arab relations. When the Q&A portion came, I experienced the feeling of somebody who could have anything he/she wanted if only he/she asked. The problem of course was answering in Arabic. It wasn’t really much of a big deal since classes here are quite relaxed, but for a fleeting moment, I felt the extreme frustration of not being able to fully convey one’s idea. All the confidence that comes with being a grad student just flew out the window. My afternoon teacher was very encouraging though and he said it will get better as one practices more and more. (This is the same teacher who thought a fellow Asian student was my mom! Yikes. It’s certainly not a compliment to her, but I don’t think it’s a compliment to me either!)

On a more funny note, it would seem like we are in a competition of finding the cheapest and tastiest meal within 300 meters of our residence. The 60 Dh meals at the nearby McDonalds is certainly out of the question. The regular meals we are having are nothing fancy. I, for one, had fried fish, bread and soda (a la biblical times minus the Sprite) today for dinner for a measly 15 Dh (approximately 1.50 USD). My friend had the traditional harira soup which was quite filling for 4 Dh. We would normally go for a cake (4 Dh) or a fruit smoothie (16 Dh) afterwards. Food quality though has been a regular topic in conversations. Since we have not really come across any mind-blowing meals thus far, we have come up with a food rating system of 1 nam to 5 nams, sourced from the word na’am, meaning yes in Arabic and Cookie Monster’s incomprehensible sounds when he’s chowing down cookies. And it actually sounds funny when you speak it consecutively.

Lastly, I can’t believe I am down to the last 500 or so missing words of my chapter and I am still not finished. Arabic homework has taken a backseat to this for the past two weeks and I really want to get this done and over with before rewarding myself with weekend trips around the country. The loud and happy conversations outside my room provide further distraction, not to mention, source of envy. Aaah – non-PhD students. Sometimes I wish life is still more carefree.

Anyhow, I signed up for a trip to the Sahara desert this coming weekend and I will post pictures of my day trip to the neighboring towns of Meknes and Volubilis last Saturday by tomorrow. Hopefully, the upcoming trips will help me appreciate being in this country more. Right now – I feel like I’ve just been plucked out from Cambridge and dropped on another country but with the same sort of people around me and still working on my dissertation.