Beirut Day 30 – July 23, 2009

We were given our first real assignment in dialect class on Thursday. We have to go to a place (bookstore, restaurant, service taxi, etc) and film ourselves having a conversation in Arabic with someone. I had originally picked the grocery store but realized today that it would be a bit awkward so I switched to going to a bookstore, especially since I want to get a book by Lebanese author Amin Maalouf in Arabic anyway.

In class today we had our Khalil Gibran presentations. Suleiman and I presented on his life and politics. I basically gave a summary of his life. I think it went well but I read from my paper too much, as I tend to do. The other students did presentations on his prose (from The Prophet, largely) and his paintings.

For the first time this week we actually had our Thursday club on a Thursday! We all went to Suleiman’s apartment to cook lunch. After class but before cooking Stephanie, Teresa and I went to the co-op to pick up the vegetables needed for the fattoush and then walked over to Suleiman’s. It was nice but without air conditioning, so a little hot, even with the balcony doors open. Everyone from class was there including both teachers, Sara and Hussein

Sara (teacher) and Emily basically took over the kitchen and directed everyone. Emily apparently almost went to culinary school but perhaps wisely chose Princeton instead. There were some conflicts between them about the food but it was all in fun. Our fattoush was sort of a fattoush that wanted to be a tabbouleh because the vegetables were chopped a bit too finely for fattoush. I was scolded for peeling the cucumbers by Sara but Emily, who had told me to, said she wanted it done so that no one would get sick because the peel would be where any bacteria we are unaccustomed to would be. Suleiman and Hussein, the only two men, were largely given charge of washing things and then Hussein was constantly being teased by Jessica and Sarah for being a typical Arab man and doing no work in the kitchen. It was great fun and for desert there were traditional sweets and watermelon (batik) which made my day.

After lunch was over we were told that we were going to have one-on-one (two really) meetings with them. It was originally going to involve going back to CAMES but we were settled and having such a good time that they just co-opted one of the bedrooms for the meetings. We were all really nervous about it and wondered if we were being scolded. It turns out we weren’t and it was just to see how we felt about the class so far and if we had any suggestions. I was described as one of the more serious students which gratified my inner nerd. My only real suggestion was for more grammar explanations. As much as I hate grammar I’ve found that Hussein explains it really well; much better than the book.