Today, Tomorrow, Forever

[jmfargo]

I feel as though my brain is full. Like a glass full to the brim of red wine over white carpet, another drop spells disaster, and for a moment it hangs on, but you know what's going to happen, and then...

But thankfully when the brain gets full you don't have a mess to clean up, or not a visible one at least. The one left behind as all your thoughts come tumbling out over the edge can be pretty messy, but usually easily cleaned.

I'm taking college-level Arabic, and today was the first class.

The second I repeated the words the teacher would say, they were forgotten. Immediately, as though swept away, the words I was trying to remember were gone. I turned to my paired partner, and didn't know what I was supposed to say.

I can't ever remember feeling stupid. In High School there were plenty of concepts I just didn't grasp, but I never had to really work to remember the basics. This, today? This was horrifying.

The fact that two of the students are native Arabic speakers also seems unfair.

Add to that one of the female students coming to me before class and asking if I was the teacher, and now I feel old on top of everything else.

Today is not a happy day, but I'll survive.

Comments

[angielabrie.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish I looked older than I do. When I was a supervisor and trainer, I got a lot of pushback from employees who thought they were above learning from someone who could pass for their daughter/granddaughter :o/

[kauricat.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I think I know what you're feeling. I had the same kind of experience my first day in German class. I was totally freaked by the end (the instructor wouldn't speak anything but German) and wanted to drop. I got talked out of that and went on to really enjoy the class. I SO hope you have a similar experience.

[kmg-365.livejournal.com]

The fact that two of the students are native Arabic speakers also seems unfair.

Ummm...what the hell are they doing in an Arabic class?

When I took a semester of German in college, I was a fish out of water. The teacher didn't speak to us in any English to begin with. All of the other students were practically fluent, having lived in Germany for years. I could barely string a sentence together.

I was told by my guidance counsellor that I had to take that class at that level in order to graduate. I did not. I think I may have managed a B, but it was really, really difficult. I have no aptitude for foreign languages.

[blood-of-winter.livejournal.com]

Wow.. learning Arabic is impressive. Learning any foreign language is challenging really but when you add in a completely different alphabet, that just doubles the fun :) Good luck!