1st week

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The first week of classes are now finished and I am exhausted. I am studying at the Ali Baba Center which is a small school that runs group and individual programs. It is near the University of Jordan campus, but not affiliated it with it in any way. My program was set up to be three hours of MSA Abrabic and one hour of Ammiah Arabic every day. I don't know if I was lucky or not, but definitely drew two great teachers. My main instructor is a PhD and from the moment she comes into the room it is non stop instruction for three hours.

Since I have been more or less a self taught student so far this sort of instruction has been very useful to fill in the holes in my understanding of the many, many grammar rules in Arabic. The one thing that makes communicating in Arabic so difficult for a non native is that you learn Arabic one way and the language that is used in day to life while certainly similar can be very, very different. More so then you would find in the regional differences in the U.S. or even between different English speaking countries. Also, most books and programs you can take in the U.S. are more survival travel oriented as opposed to truly learning a language.

As far as Jordan an Amman go it is a great place to visit. It has been interesting since we have been in the last week of Ramadan so I have seen one side and with Ramadan ending on Sunday or Monday things will return back to the normal rhythm early next week. So I haven't been able to par take in the normal daylight activities and travel to the outer areas has been limited. What has been great is all of the free language training that I am getting at my hotel. Since things are so slow right now the staff in the lounge helps me with my homework, Ammia(local) phrases, and we watch TV and they ask me what I heard and help me translate.

I need a few hours away from the books so off to see the desert castles to the East of Amman today and I think that I have a driver lined up for tomorrow.

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