language practice part 2

Part 2: Each day after formal training, we went out into the community to visit local Arabic businesses. Here is a description of a few of them:

        AlAmir (Majnat, aka Arabic pizza): There were no girls in there like the boys said there would be, but the guy at the counter was the most helpful with Arabic out of anyone I’ve spoken with. He is Lebanese and studying mechanical engineering at Cal State Long Beach, and has lived here five years. In Arabic, I was able to greet him, order food, tell him I was learning Arabic, ask him where he was from, ask him if he was a student, and say the total price of the food. He said my Arabic was good and seemed to enjoy that I could speak it. Anything he said to me in English, he would repeat in Arabic so I could learn it.

       La Mirage: a new young girl was working there tonight. She is Egyptian, divorced, has been here 5 years, is an online accounting student, works two days a week at La Mirage, but wants another/different job. After I greeted her in Arabic, she asked if I was Arab and I said no, but asked if I perhaps could pass for Egyptian (something I’ve been told) and she laughingly said no, because she’s Egyptian. In Arabic, I was able to exchange pleasantries, order quantities of foods, ask her how long she’s been here, and tell her I am learning Khaliji Arabic, but studied under a Lebanese teacher who taught us standard Arabic, and currently am learning from a Saudi man. We then talked about accents.


      Prince Market: There is the most Arabic of the markets I’ve been in so far. I felt like this may be a good picture of what the markets will be like in the Gulf. I walked around for a while and picked up two types of tea and some playing cards (for the airplane). I walked over to the woman that works there and asked her in Arabic if she liked this kind of tea, only she didn’t understand me because she was expecting English. She asked me if I was speaking Arabic, and then realized what I was saying. When I told her I was going to Bahrain soon, she said that learning the language before I get there is smart. We talked for a while about learning Arabic and she asked where I was from. I said San Francisco, and then she specified that she meant what nationality. She is Egyptian, and encouraged me on my language skills so far. She said Arabic is a very hard language to learn. No kidding.

Oriental Magic, The Islamic Super Store: the owner is Syrian, has been here 20 years, and was extremely helpful and friendly. I told him I was looking for a gift for Hadeel, so he walked around the store with me to point things out, and describe the significance of others. I learned that those beads I’ve seen are prayer beads and that each bead represents one of the 99 names of God. They will go through them by thumbing past each one and praising God or asking for forgiveness. The men often carry shorter strands of 33 beads that they can go through three times. He also described a thing that they have in Bahrain that is sort of like a silver cage/box (with a Quran inside? It was unclear); he used to have one but it got unwillingly given away (in a misunderstanding, haha). He asked me to bring him back one when I returned. He said Bahrain is beautiful and described it as like the Middle East and Europe combined. The store has only been open a week, so he gave me a “grand opening special” where I’m pretty sure he just makes up the price.