Reflections on My First Days #2

08/11/2006
I took a cab to meet my Arabic tutor for the first time. Unfortunately I was at the wrong place but my new friend came over by taxi to meet me. The good part about this was that my cell phone was still not working; God does work in strange ways, so I had to borrow a phone. I went over to a stand that sells snacks and drinks that is by the bus station. There a man let me use his phone to call my tutor. Another man who works there, whose name is Maher (meaning skillful or professional), speaks a little English. It is very important to know that first names here have a meaning and it is very important to the individual. While I was waiting for the tutor, I spoke to him and he mentioned if I had know of Toastmasters, again it is amazing how God works, and of course I told him I did. He said that he was had attended a few times and gave me the number so I could contact them. In addition, he gave me his cell number and told me to give him a call, which I plan to do. He is an answer to prayer as I was asking God to send someone to me that could show me around. I will pray that this relationship grows. I am also hoping to make some friends at toastmasters.


Several days later, L had these observations.
I went to my first Arabic church service tonight night. It was a wonderful experience even though I did not understand a word of it. I did understand the numbers to a degree for example when they said page numbers, verse numbers, or song numbers. They sang many songs last night and even had a young person there with a little guitar. I look forward to attending again next Wednesday and I met some very nice people. I could not remember their names but will have to work on that. I also look forward to becoming familiar with Arabic so that I could understand the service.
I have been exploring more the town and shopping in the stores. I found a good place to get Shawarma (a gyro type sandwich) down in town. A funny story, I saw some signs posted on poles around town. The signs are in Arabic so I could not read them. They look like yard sale signs so I ask some people here if they were yard sale signs. They said no they do not have yard sales here because most people sell in the bazaar, that they were signs for children to sign up for school. I was much relived to think that I might have finally escaped yard sales. A few days latter, I was speaking to some other people and they were telling me that they are now seeing signs for yard sales in the area. I guess they have followed me over the ocean. Next thing you know some one is going to ask me to help them with a yard sale. I guess I will have to buy a truck now.

Posted by LR