Past the last weekend

It was a really nice weekend! I spent the first day, Thursday, finishing up Yom Qatl al-Za3im “The Day the Leader was Killed” by Naguib Mahfouz. This is the first time I’ve finished an Arabic novel, and it’s a great feeling. We certainly picked a tough book to read – it’s not longer, shorter than 100 pages, but Mahfouz is infamous for his broad vocabulary and often dense writing style. So my book looks like a blue print with all the scribblings in it.

Wednesday night I relaxed with a couple American friends and a PF who spent the weekend with them, and we watched some movies on TV. Thursday evening we went to Church! My friend had found the times for Arabic services and so we joined a group of Egyptians at worship. It was a tiny side room on a low, modest steepleless church and it reminded me of Beth Tikvah in Westborough in that it was unassuming. The Egyptians were absurdly friendly and welcoming and spoke English well but were impressed and delighted to speak Arabic with us. I understood all the parts of the pastor’s sermon that I was focusing, probably because it was in Egyptian Arabic and while I have little trouble understanding Gulf Arabic I’m simply better wired to recognize Egyptian cadence or something deeper in its flow. We attended a small reception afterward and met some cool youth – a Sudanese brother and sister who spoke American English remarkably well and who had only studied it at international school in Oman. An Iraqi girl, whose parents live in Oman, about to enter her second year studying Christian studies at a university in Tennessee. Wild world.

Last night it was left over Indian food and move TV movies after an understimulating day. All that remains is a Fosha presentation and an Amiyyah skit, so I did a very little amount of preparation this weekend. After those, we have a party at the Crown Plaza later this week and with it a talent show. And Friday evening we take off.

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