“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.” ~Vernon Howard

     Today I did it. I decided to take the plunge (well more of a plunging my pinky toe into a cold pool type of thing), but I did it. I began to study Arabic. I am fortunate enough to have a friend that is fluent in Arabic and today I learned the phrase that I will be using non-stop: Can you repeat that? I also learned several other basic phrases that will be key to my survival, but this also made me realize that these next ten weeks I will need to be working like crazy so that I won't be hopelessly lost when I get to Oman, but then I think about how being lost is all part of the fun of an exchange trip as long as you have the skills to somehow figure out how to get yourself out of the situation. Right now I'm working on getting the basic skills for that survival.
    The fun part about learning a new language is that you're a child again (in another culture). I have been learning the Arabic alphabet by listening to the alphabet song which the characters of a show that seems like the Arabic version of Elmo sing:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifktT2RAVtg&feature=related. I have yet to come near to being able to singing the whole song or even a ninth of it, but I am going to get it within the next ten weeks. I also found this website http://www.funwitharabic.com/alphabet.html which is very useful, and goes through everything well, but I find it easier to remember things when they are put in a song, so I will be mixing the use of this website and the alphabet song to fully learn it. Fortunately the Arabic alphabet only has two more letters than the English alphabet, and that makes me feel better about my capacity to learn it.
     Right now I'm taking small steps at a time so that when I get there I won't be completely overwhelmed by the language, and I have so much excitement that I might as well channel it towards something productive.
    I can't wait until I get there!