Back to the grind

I arrived back in Amman after about 24 hours of travel at around 1:30am. I was beyond exhausted and was very happy to get back into my bed and sleep. I fell asleep about 3am and didn't set my alarm because I assumed I would wake up and a random early jet lag hour that I normally do, but instead I blinked and it was 1pm.

I stumbled out into the living room and met my new roommate, Julianne. She is 25 and from North Carolina. She'll be here for the next 6 months taking Arabic and finishing up her courses from her graduate program International Relations.

My school, Qasid, assigned me to 2B class for the Winter quarter. 2B is mid-level for level 2. I moved up exactly 1 full level, however, I already moved myself out of that class and joined 2C, the lower level 2 class. I went to the first day of class last Thursday and attended the mid-level 2 class I was assigned. The entire class was filled with almost entirely all of my same classmates as last Fall. That was great because I really liked my class last term and loved being in the same class with them again. The first 1.5 hours of class, i was like a deer in headlights. NO Arabic words were coming into my brain, little speaking was happening and my professor asked me a question, which took me forever to answer. Clearly my lack of studying for 3 weeks while on vacation at home had helped me to forget everything I had learned in the fall.

The next 1.5 hours was much better. I had regained some brain power and was bale to speak pretty well and give a long introduction about myself like the professor had asked us to do. He even asked me how long I had been studying Arabic and I told him about 3/4 months and he told me he was very impressed with my skills in the language given my little time learning it. I felt very happy after that. I like my school, but I will say that is probably one of the first few genuine encouraging comments/feedback I've gotten since I have been there. Helped me remember to only compare myself to myself and do my best to be proud of my own progress and not freak out in class when people are speaking faster than me or understanding more quicker.

I liked that class a lot, but it was at a later time in the day and with my work schedule, I needed a earlier class time. I also felt that getting some more review would be good for me. I realized that the end game for me isn't to become the most fluent and fantastic Arabic speaker in the world...its to learn the language well and get work experience!
So, i spoke with the program coordinator and asked to be moved down to the lower level 2 class. I started that class today.

I'm happy I made the move! Its going plenty fast enough for me and we are starting on chapter 12. I ended in the Fall having just finished chapter 16. However, we moved so quickly, that reviewing 4 of the really hard chapters that we sped through in the Fall, it great! Its also helps take a little pressure off this week since I have a good idea of what I'm learning already so its helping me slowly break into the hectic pace and craziness that I'm starting back into. Plus, my good friend Colette is in my class so thats fun!

I'm going to do my best to come up with a schedule/routine/something to help myself use my time better and focus more. I'm back to the insane schedule I had in the fall. Class from 8-11am and then work from 1130-4/5pm 5 days a week....then go home and study. So, I'm trying to find a way to somehow fit the gym into that cause that will help with my stress and also try to have some sort of fun social life, since I pretty much didn't have that in Fall because I couldn't even begin how to figure that out. Oh man...this shall be interesting! :)