Weekly Update

Happy Sunday Everyone! I really do enjoy Sundays and now that Sunday is typically my only day off (except for holidays) I really, really love Sundays! This week was a good week. I am taking a class after work and I definitely go home with a headache on the days we study the language! It is a lot of memorization which I never have enjoyed. I always want to know something and not have to go through the process of learning it. Perhaps when my year is up I will know how to say more than just the common greeting. I really enjoy the days we learn about the culture though- we switch off every other day between culture and language. So, here are a few things I learned this week: · Pork is forbidden simply because a lot of people were getting really sick or dying because it wasn’t cooked properly. · 99.9% of Arab men have a mustache… to them an Arab without a mustache is like a cat without a tail! · Tradition still holds to light a fire on a hill after dinner so anyone lost in the desert can find their way back. · Hospitality is very important here… if you knock on their door needing food, drink, or rest you must stay for 3 days and 2 nights and they will treat you like very special. They will not feed you from the same animal they are eating from, no, another animal will be slaughtered just for you. Extremely generous! · The singing that can be heard across the country 5 times a day, every day, is simply a summons reminding people to pray. · I found it interesting to learn that the first Sheat Mosk was built in New York. · The language is similar to Spanish in the sense that it is gender specific and you conjugate verbs in the Past, Present, and Future and put a different prefix or suffix on the word depending on whether you are talking to or about “I”, “You”, “He”, “She”, “We”, “They”, etc. The word “Bil Isin” in Arabic is used the same way as “Permiso” in Chile (Sorry Jess and Marcela, I don’t know if my Spanish spelling is correct). It basically means “Excuse me” in the sense of “I’m sorry” or “Move”, or “forgive me for what I am about to do”. On Monday this week my co-workers had a water drinking contest. I participated, but wasn’t really a contender for the title of Water Drinking Champ. My 5 bottles of water was nothing compared to the 24 bottles of water that the winner drank and the 21 bottles the person in second place person put away. So, in a 3 hour period the winner drank over 3 gallons of water! That’s a lot of water!!! This week I also met a Senior Executive Service (SES) person who is a 2 or 3 star equivalent. Even as cool as that is I am much more excited to meet Elder Holland when he comes in February(hopefully)! That will be awesome! Okay, that is my fun for the week. Take care!