Ramadan:
1.the ninth month of the Muslim calendar.
2.the daily fast that is rigidly enjoined from dawn until sunset during this month.
In other words, anyone who is observing Ramadan eats a huge meal once before the sun comes up and once again after it goes down. No snack, no water, nothing is taken in during the day. This lasts a month.
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One day my language teacher announced to the class that his birthday would be the next week. Being the caring class (and cake lovers) we are, we planned and brought a cake and drinks and stuff to class on his birthday. When the teacher left during a break, we set the cake out on his desk and waited for him to come back so we could celebrate, and by "celebrate" I mean eat some cake.
Well, he came back in the room, we sang "Happy Birthday" to him in the local language, and he then explained that Ramadan had started, but that he would be happy to take the cake home with him.
Needless to say, there was no cake for Follower that day...
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I was at the first school for a month. I'll be at this school for another 5 or 6 months...
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I finished my time at my first language school Friday, and Monday I head to my last language school...
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We had a party today in language class. I'm not sure why we had a party, but who's asking? We all made some national foods and brought them to class. It was pretty cool, because of all the different countries represented: China, Russia, France, Italy, Austria, etc.
There were Chinese egg/cheese things, French tuna casserole, Krgyzstan salad, Austrian cake, French cake, and Russian fish eggs wrapped in a tortilla thing.
My contribution? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Yeah, I kind of dropped the ball for us Americans. Sorry about that, but if it's any consolation, the peanut butter actually came from America. It was some JIF brought over by some friends. PB here is a little different, but not that different.
I was going to make some sausage gravy and biscuits, a tasty treat in any country, but then I realized I can't buy any pork here. Then I realized I would have to make the biscuits from scratch. Then I realized my cooking skills and/or time did not allow for chicken or beef gravy with made-from-scratch biscuits...
To all Americans, my apologies.
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There's just something wrong with Santa trying to sell me lottery tickets. Something very wrong...
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It seems that whenever I try to go to the Google website over here (the great search site), it automatically redirects me to the local Google website for the country I'm in. This is fine, except that it's in the local language as well... =)
Any thoughts on how to get the good ol'American Google page to load?
Follower
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So, it's been way too long since I've posted anything on the blog. My only defense is that I don't have internet hooked up at my apartment yet. Thus, my internet time consists of 4-hour blocks of time once a week where I try to email everyone that I need to email. That's my excuse, anyway, and I'm sticking with it =).
Anyway, things are going pretty well over here. I've been in language school for a couple of weeks now, and it's been fun for the most part. It's a miniature UN in the classroom, which makes things interesting. There's people from France, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, Kergistan, and China.
The amazing thing is that they all speak English. I felt pretty embarrassed when people in the class (from all over the world, mind you) all spoke English as well as their native tongue. It's pretty amazing to see and hear people that can speak 3 or 4 languages. I myself, being the typical American, speak only English. Most people I know from the states speak only English. Most, if not all, of the people I've met so far over here speak multiple languages, and usually speak some English. It's not a bad thing, I guess, but something to think about nonetheless.
I respect those that know and speak multiple languages. That's a skill that is often overlooked stateside, at least as far as I know.
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Hey everybody, it's time for another random story from the past few weeks! I hope to post a little more on actual happenings and more serious things, but for now I'll just stick to this stuff.
I was hanging out with the local fruit stand guy in my neighborhood the other day. This guy's job is to sell fruit from his stand, and he sits there all day, so we usually end up sitting and talking some during the day. We were listening to the local radio, and I just heard a bunch of stuff I didn't understand.
Then as clear as day, I heard a melody I thought I wouldn't hear for a long time:
"dun.....dun dun dun.....dun dun dun.....dun dun dunnnnnnnn"
"Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive..."
Eye of the Tiger!!!!! (The song from the Rocky movies). It was pretty random, and pretty stinkin' awesome!!
It's comforting to know that peoples of all nations and cultures and languages are exposed to the inspiring rock 'n roll of Survivor.
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