lost in translation

I've taken up a job in the afternoons and evenings. I'm teaching at an English language school. A British school. They don't mind having Americans, but they ask that we (ok, I) emphasize the British over the American, which normally isn't a problem. (Most of the kids don't even realize I'm not British, which also tells you how much they are speaking English if they can't hear a difference!) Then one day I came to the lesson on the short "a" sound. The page had a box in the middle with various words in it, and on each side there was a column. One said "bag" and one said "bath". The kids were supposed to separate the words into the bag and bath column based on the short a sounds. Are you confused? Don't worry, I was too.

When Americans pronounce the words bag and bath, they sound the same. They both have a short a sound. So how are you supposed to separate the words when they have the same sound???? Then it hit me. In England, it's not bath, it's baaaath. With a stretched out a! So it's a different sound! Normally there is a CD with this book, but of course, today the CD wasn't working, so I was stuck trying to put on a British accent to distinguish between the a sounds for the kids. You can probably imagine how awful this lesson was going. I have no clue what the right answers are, I'm putting on a horrible fake accent, and all the 9 year-old kids are looking at me with blank or confused expressions. I tried in vain for about 5 minutes to get the point across, but when the frowns of confusion got worse instead of better, I decided I was doing more damage than good. I guess you can't win them all.

a sneak peek

Yesterday's high: 45*C

Translation: 113*F

and it's only May

cucumber revelation

A few weeks ago, I was sitting with my Egyptian friend at lunch. The two of us have formed quite the unique friendship this year. She speaks fairly good English and of course I am soaking in all the Arabic I can get, so most of our conversations turn into language lessons, but we get along really well and most often end up cracking up about one thing or another. Well, on this particular day, she happened to reach into her bag, pulled out a whole cucumber and gave it to me. I stared at it somewhat confused, but took it and thanked her. Inside I was thinking, what in the world am I supposed to do with a whole cucumber. I soon got my answer. After a few more minutes, she grabbed her own cucumber and without hesitation, took a huge bite out of it, like a banana. Again, I struggled to contain my shock as I watched her chomp on the cucumber like a banana. Finally I said, I've never seen that before. To which she replied, what? A cucumber? I laughed and quickly filled her in that we typically cut up a cucumber and eat it in slices where she eats it whole like a banana. She laughed and shook her head in her characteristic "Oh Jena" fashion. Of course this is how you eat a cucumber! she replied. Then she went on to explain it makes so much more sense to do it her way; then you hold your sandwich in one hand and the cucumber in the other and alternate bites. Seeing my face she just laughed again. You don't get out much, she concluded.

What an ingenious idea.

Today I took a whole cucumber in my lunch.

souq art

a while back, Morgan and I went on a little tour of the souq (market) looking at some art work that was on display. I took my new camera and felt like quite the little photographer (yeah right, I can barely work the thing!) But I do like these pictures.