A Well-Timed Compliment
I’ve sort of stalled, with regard to my weight-loss, since about the second week of August, rolling back and forth within a five-pound range, generally between 202 and 199. As one of my WW friends might say, I’ve been learning how to maintain…I just wanted to maintain a bit lower than where I am at now.
So, I’ve been kind of down recently about it, and trying to figure out how to get it jumpstarted DOWN again, and this negative thought and that negative thought…blah, blah, blah.
So, tonight, I stop at Starbucks to get a latte. A couple of the guys with whom I’ve become friendly were there. I had not seen either during Ramadan, so they had not seen me in over a month. One’s a well-educated Nepalese guy, the other a Saudi kid raised in Florida (who would love to go back there).
Both of them, at the same time, see me and say, “You’ve lost so much weight!!” They went on and on about how much I’d lost, how good I looked, how much smaller my stomach was now than it used to be. Man, I just let them go and soaked it ALL up.
Perspective. Although I still want to lose another 20 pounds, I am so much healthier and healthier looking than I was this time last year it is not even funny.
Sometimes, a well-timed compliment can do so much for you.
The End of Ramadan 4
My fourth Ramadan is coming to a close.
The Muslim holy month comes to a conclusion this Saturday, and Eid begins on Sunday. Things start getting back to normal after that. A lot of the restaurants and stores will be closed on the first day of Eid, as most Muslims will find their way to the Mosque – and spend the day with family – in much the same way we Westerners spend Christmas or Thanksgiving with our families. Eid lasts three days (five days in Saudi Arabia), but most non-Saudi Arabs I know only observe the first day, then return to work. The Saudis go for the gusto. In fact, the government workers have been on holiday since Tuesday. If things go as they have the past three years, King Abdullah will extend the holiday by an extra week, and it takes them a day to get through greetings upon their return before they actually get back to work.
For the Westerners, the primary change comes with being able to get coffee on the way to work in the mornings, as well as being able to go to lunch and not have to pay an exorbitant price at some hotel – where they hide you deep in the dark center of the structure so no one can see you and the other infidels ignoring the Ramadan fasting strictures.
I say that Eid begins on Sunday, but that actually depends on if a group of religious scholars see the new waxing moon Saturday night or not. Each country has their own group who defines the start and end of Ramadan. Usually, all the countries agree on the start and end; but, last year there was controversy, and both Iraq and Syria said that Ramadan started and ended one day after all the other Islamic countries said it started and ended. This year, there has been no such controversy.
The first year I experienced Ramadan, I did so with a some trepidation, having never been through it before then. But, after four of them, it’s not that big a deal. There are ways to make do if you’re intelligent about it. I haven’t starved, yet.
If you’re interested, or simply don’t remember, you can do a search on this blog using the key words Ramadan and iftar to read what I wrote about the past three Ramadans. I go into more detail in those entries.
Eid mubarak!
The Language Learning Curve – 2
I apologize for taking so long to get back to this subject, but a few events have intervened. Plus, I realized that I have way too much info to devote only one post to online language learning resources. I’m going to have to use several such posts on that subject alone.
I want to highlight the Podcast101 family of sites today, which are partial-pay sites. That is, they rope you in with substantial free resources, then get you to pay for an expanded set of resources.
Let’s start with the site to which I subscribe, ArabicPod101.com. Don’t be put off by the fact I’ve highlighted the Arabic language site…there are eleven (11) different Pod101.com language sites operated by Innovative Solutions. An individual can learn Arabic, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, English, or a slew of Survival Phrases in any of these languages. I came across this organization via their Survival Phrases podcast, which is available in limited numbers for free on the iTunes website, as are the podcasts associated with all their language courses.
On the website, a student can download all of the podcasts (both audio and video) for free, as well as a PDF document associated with the lesson. The video podcasts are also available via YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. With payment, the student gets a line-by-line transcript page with audio, a vocabulary word bank, the ability to create flashcards based on the saved words in the word bank, a voice recorder, and the ability to obtain all of the podcasts (both audio and video) via a single, customized feed in iTunes. The latter is very handy.
I’ve never used the voice recorder, and it did not work when I tested it for this post. I plan to contact their customer service group, which was very helpful when I had a problem getting the video podcasts to download via my customized feed to iTunes.
The lessons generally cover one theme, and the vocabulary is small enough to retain easily. The lessons run from about 7 minutes (Survival Phrases) up to 15 or 16 minutes for detailed themes. The audio is professional – more so, perhaps, than the video – but, the video is pretty good, too, except for the volume level of the music. There are also cultural notes provided for download, which are very interesting.
Be careful of regional differences in the target language. In Arabic, there are many regional dialects, though the most common would be Egyptian due to their ubiquitous movie and TV industry. I have found it necessary to double-check some things I learned in the ArabicPod101 lessons with my native-Arabic speaking friends here in Riyadh, who speak yet another version of Arabic. The original lessons were in Modern Standard Arabic, which is formal; but, they’ve now settled in with Egyptian Arabic. We’ll see how that goes.
On the whole, I am pretty happy with this approach to Arabic, which functions as just one of the many prongs in my efforts to learn the language. Your mileage may vary.
Next time, we’ll discuss Livemocha.com.
Signs of Feline Life in the Stark Desert
A thin veil of dust lays across my car like
gauzy muslin across an end table.
Sliding in behind the wheel, I see
paddy-pawprints on my windshield,
and my lips curl upward into a smile
- signs of feline life in the stark desert.
copyright 2009, Greg Hubbard
Whoooooooosh!
We’re 1 1/2 weeks into Ramadan (#4 for me), and I met a friend for Iftar last night.
I get on the highway to the restaurant, and it so quiet. No traffic. Empty. Nice quiet trip. Little danger of an accident. Wait…what’s that in my rearview mirro?!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!
The wind shakes my care as I roll down the freeway. Some sort of white car has just rocketed by me – left me sitting still. I looked down at my speedometer, and I am doing 120kph (75mph). He was going at least 200kph (125mph) or faster. I’m glad the freeway was empty.
For a full discussion of Ramadan, search this blog for “Ramadan” and “Iftar.” Feel free to post any questions you may have.
