It’s raining in Vermont, and cold.
Yesterday after school Kim and I tried to learn how to pronounce properly the name of our Iraqi classmate, Sabah. Success was partial.
[flashvideo filename=wp-content/video/arabic.flv image=wp-content/video/arabic.jpg /]
This is my Russian classmate, Tatiana, who seems to be feeling a wee bit less homesick. I’m very glad.
The photo was taken by Bill, the only student older than I. We learned today that he has withdrawn from school. Sad to lose someone we were getting to know, with all his foibles, and sadder still for me to be the oldest person within hectares.
I’ve been making up Turkish words. I can get to “one, two, three” but then I get carried away: “humvee, no-doze, sickos, febreeze, yeti.” And when called on in class, Greek, of all things, comes back to me. Po inne to meros? Epharisto para poli. And then my one word of Tibetan came back unbidden: Tashi delek. But in class this morning my very tired partner for the day, Sabah (see above), outdid me on the absurdity front. She hadn’t slept since midnight. —“Do you have any 61 lira stamps?” I asked in Turkish (sort of). —“Oooyoo guhlooboo!” she replied spontaneously. I couldn’t stop laughing and almost had to be disciplined.
Ginna, you have enrolled in a school of gibberish. This is awesome!