New Year's Resolutions

It's so cliche, but as K can attest, I am someone who loves setting goals. Last month when we went to see The Secret Garden - a lush production full of gorgeous voices and overflowing with personal nostalgia - I declared smilingly that "We should set a goal to attend a play or concert every month." K groaned, good-naturedly, and reminded me that I always do that. It's true - I find something I life and try to set a goal to add it into my life more often!

So in the officially-sanctioned season of resolutions, I am in my element. I revel in it. I try to think hard and carefully before making the commitment, but couldn't stop myself from spewing out goals and breaking them down into SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound) objectives.  Okay, I didn't go that far. But that just makes me more ambitious for next year!

As part of my accountability, here they are:

Contribute to my community

• Educate myself on issues that people of color face and amplify their voices and perspectives
• When I hear racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist and other unacceptable language, I will speak up whenever I am safe to do so
• Participate in at least one march or rally about a cause that is important to me
• Engage with people who voted differently than me in order to exchange ideas, build empathy, and find common ground
• Practice ways to recharge, stay safe, and take care of myself and make a list of what works best for me

Music

• Play the piano once/week minimum and memorize at least two entire pieces
• Join a choir
• Listen to a new music playlist or a new album once/week
• Listen to the weekly classical playlist on Spotify

Art and Culture

• Attend at least 10 plays or concerts in 2017
• Attend the State of the Arts concerts whenever possible
• Take more photos - and - extra credit - take a photography class (yes, I’m giving myself the chance for extra credit here!)

Professional Development

• Attend at least three lectures/discussions about work topics per month to gain fresh perspectives and meet people working on the same issues
• Meet with someone outside of my office at least once a week to build networks and learn about different ways we are all contributing to solving problems
• Travel to Morocco and Algeria at least once this year
• Take refresher Arabic lessons and practice/study for at least two hours/week outside of lessons

Read more books

• Goal is 25
• Choose fiction books written by people of color or women 
• Non fiction books on five topics - Middle East/North Africa, New Zealand, Marriage/Relationships, Having a Baby, and Race/Class divisions in America  - make a concerted effort to choose books that are written by people from diverse points of view (not just white native-English-speaking men)
• Read one book in French

Fitness and Weight Loss

• Take off 20 pounds
• Reduce body fat percentage 
• Increase body water percentage 
• Track every day, even if it’s just one meal. Try to stay under 40, ideally maximum 37/day
• Walk a minimum of 10,000 steps on work days and 7,000 on non-work days
• Work out a minimum of 30 minutes 5 times a week

Rabbit rabbit rabbit

Happy December 1st!

Can't believe it's already December.
My big news is that I started my new job on Monday!!!

I will be coordinating, monitoring, and doing strategic planning for assistance programs in Morocco and Algeria.
I am so excited and happy about the opportunity. The team is great, the work is interesting, and I feel that as soon as I get my feet under me, I'll be able to make a solid contribution.

In the mean time, I'm reading and listening and having meetings and asking questions.

Also, I'm doing all the important mundane tasks like adjusting my desk chair so that it doesn't tip me backwards when I sit down in it. I'm setting up hanging files to keep the reference documents I'd like to have a hard copy of. I'm running around getting badges and computer logins.

Ahhhh.

It feels so nice to have a job again.
Don't get me wrong - I know that at some point I will be tired of being in the office and wish for a vacation - but for now, it is great to have somewhere to be everyday. To get out of the house for a purpose, not just a whim. Doing 10,000 steps a day is a breeze when I'm working. When I was at home, sometimes getting 5,000 steps was a struggle! (Alphabetizing the spice drawer just doesn't require walking around very much)

Ramadan

I arrived in Beirut during the month of Ramadan, a Muslim religious celebration that includes strict fasting from dawn to dusk - from not only food, but from anything that passes the lips including water or even cigarettes.

Once the sun has set and evening prayers have been said, families and communities host huge meals called Iftar where people of all ages gather to break their fast together.

I was particularly lucky to be able to attend a Ramadan festival that recreated the beauty of the Old Souks. 

Whirling Dervish statue

I found a camel!

Themes of each night portrayed on the skirts. 

Abaya fashion show

The lantern (fanous) of Ramadan - a traditional symbol, made kid-friendly :)

Wedding dress fashion show

Camp UNITE .... in Arabic

In class, we've been working on short presentations on health, the environment, and education for the past few weeks. So one of my chosen topics was Camp UNITE. I recorded myself and added some photos from past years in order to make it more interesting. and voila!

Enjoy!

And please note that The UNITE Foundation is hosting a very exciting event on May 9th to celebrate the start of a new Camp UNITE in 2015 and to gather all of our supporters together to have some fun. Stay tuned for more information.

EDIT:  Just listened to this again and found 3 grammatical errors in the first sentence. oh well! It's the effort that counts, right? My apologies to anyone who actually speaks Arabic!

Learning a language is like learning to play the piano

As I face only 24 more weeks of language study before my test (and presumably/hopefully before I have functional use of Arabic  إن شاء اللة ), I have sought out guidance from every corner of the language study world to aid me.

Thankfully, the language consultation service at FSI is excellent and they host seminars on proven effective study techniques regularly. It's been quite a learning experience just hearing about all the work that is being done around how adults learn, retain, and employ new languages.

Last week, the session was called "On the Tip of your Tongue: Speaking Strategies for Fluency". Being far from fluency myself, my interest was more on tips and tricks to get my tongue to sync up with my brain - to start actually using the knowledge that I have about grammar and verb conjugations and have it come out of my mouth correctly!

We talked about how learning a language is more like learning to play an instrument than learning a subject like science, mathematics, or history.

Right now, I need to focus on the basics – learning to read, identifying differences between the notes, and beginning to connect them like chords.

I have nothing complex, my best sentences are:

My name is Rose, but in Arabic my name is Werda. I work at the foreign ministry and study at the foreign service institute. (editor’s note – my Arabic keyboard isn’t working well right now, I will try to insert later.)

And anything more complicated tends to be memorized rather than impromptu.

I am developing an ear for the sounds and the rhythm. But most importantly, I am beginning to love it.

My instrument is piano and I love how the piano sounds, even if, perhaps even more, if I am not currently capable of producing that sound.

I began learning to play piano when I was 7 or 8 – I never became a professional pianist (or even close to that!) but I know enough to enjoy playing, accompany myself when I sing, and play Christmas carols for my family.

If I can get that far with Arabic in the next 24 weeks, I will be delighted.

I have important news... and other (hopefully useful) phrases I am learning in Arabic

I have set up my iPhone and newly acquired iPad to type in Arabic, but I haven't figured out how to use that gorgeous script on my actual computer yet, so I won't be able to share all of my exciting phrases with you this time. But I have a new goal of updating my blog at least once a week, so you will see some phrases soon.

I'm certain that all 5 of my loyal subscribers will be extremely excited about this new intention.

In case you are not connected with me through social media or I haven't seen you in person (and yet for some reason you are reading this blog, hm?)  I have received my very first assignment as a Foreign Service Officer!

I will be going to Beirut, Lebanon as the Cultural Affairs Officer!

This means that I am currently in full-time language training and I will be until mid-April 2015.

For those of you in the DC area: I am still around and up for brunching!

For those of you not in DC: I probably won't be able to see you for another year at least.

Full-time language training is amazing and fun and brutal and discouraging all at the same time. I had a bit of a meltdown today - a combination of too little sleep and too much going on.

But a tasty empanada from my new favorite cafe Boccato and a bit of a venting session with some of my favorite new colleagues helped bring my mood back up.

Plus, the chance to use my new iPad to review my vocabulary makes me feel justified in my birthday present for myself as an investment in learning (despite a certain looming credit card bill).

P.S. check out the engraving.