#I have Arabic classes to catch up on and homework to do

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

I haven’t eaten much today

I had fruit and yoghurt and the rest of a cream bun in the morning

Ate a couple of pakoras when I got home. Had a custard bun.

I haven’t eaten like. A proper meal

I was tired after cooking dinner (grilled chicken sandwiches) but I had gotten up to force myself to eat

And then I realise

That thing that flicked onto the garden door when I pushed my cat off the bin

That I cleaned up

*was a worm writhing about that had come from his tail*

Like

A white, slimy, small parasite worm

I’m not typically that squeamish. I didn’t gag or anything, but my appetite which was tenuous to begin with, is gone.

It’s also the fact that I’m tired and very fed up with my family today, even more so now that this has happened because it’s going to be my time (which is already packed) used up to take the cat to the vet

As well as getting the bloody deworming pills for myself

[ritsahsilmi]

Day-4

Every two days in a week, Thursday and Sunday, I will go to an Arabic class with my other friends. It's only an hour class, but sometimes it lengthens to almost 2 hours. I can say that I'm the newest member of the group, and I don't have enough prior knowledge of Arabic. My first homework was to catch up on the previous classes as much as possible so I could be on an equal level compared to others. I did a pretty accomplishment on that. Yet, it's a long journey, and I'm still at the beginner level. I'm eager to learn more, and I don't want to stop by now. Until today, I still cannot even make simple daily conversations in Arabic. I remember one sunny day when some students approached me and asked something in Arabic, and my only reply was, "Sorry, I don't understand." I even answered in English, only due to my lack of understanding of the language. I felt ashamed of that. This moment reminds me of one of my teacher's advice. He advised us to keep practising and starting from things that are familiar to us. He also reminded us to keep the true intention in learning Arabic, which is to preserve the language of the holy Qur'an. Once we master the language, it brings a better understanding of learning the book. I'm so keen on English, in general. I love doing self-talk in English even though I acknowledge my grammar mistakes. Through the years, I have been able to listen to English without subtitles whenever I watch movies or TV shows. I remember I met someone who encouraged me, without knowing, to speak in English. English could be a bridge between us to communicate since both of us didn't understand the mother language of each other. He doesn't speak Indonesian, nor do I in Vietnamese. Since then, I've become more confident in speaking English to people. Back to Arabic, the language of Heaven, I need more concerns within myself. I hope there is a higher motivation to revive my willingness to practice Arabic more than English. Keep pushing forward!

#30haribercerita

[beware-of-you-98]

BAU as College Professors AU

*cracks knuckles*

Penelope

penelope is a graphic design professor

she loves teaching kids about the wonders of photoshop!!

hates illustrator and indesign with a burning passion

(the illustrator pen tool can fucking choke for all she cares)

(AND HOW THE FUCK DO YOU PUT THE FRONT AND COVER TOGETHER IN INDESIGN!?!?)

(she really hates both applications sm 😭)

is always reluctant to teach them but does it begrudgingly

(she’s just glad there’s other professors in the department that teach editorial and graphic illustration)

teaches photography!!

encourages the students to be as expressive as they want to be with their pictures!!!

she’ll be just as enthusiastic to see a close up of a sneaker as she is to see a sunset landscape shot

teaches the graphic design studio classes too!!

she always has music playing!!

half the time, her students come into the class and her glasses are all skewed, her hands are covered in paint or glue and some abstract art piece is sitting on her desk

when the students ask her what it is, she just gives the projects human names

“hey professor... what did you make there?” “oh, this?? her name is... pam.... yeah, pam”

she doesn’t offer up any further explination than that

and the students just accept it

her office light is always off

but she has multiple fairy lights in various colors hung up

her office is v inviting!!!

students come to her to vent or to talk about their problems bc the campus therapist doesn’t help all lmao

she always has on the most unique outfits but she pulls them off so well

a ray of sunshine tbh!!

Spencer

teaches major science and math courses

he teaches chemistry but only chem for majors in chemistry

it’s not that he can’t teach chem for non majors

but he sometimes gets too ahead of himself and forgets he’s teaching a course for non majors

it’s easier for him to teach for majors because the students can follow his ramblings better

he teaches upper level math courses and usually only has like three students in those classes

he’ll sit up on his desk and debate with the students for the entire hour about the riemann hypothesis

he gets excited because the students are just as enthusiastic as he is

he is two extremes

he either shows up to his classroom like a half hour early and writes out all his notes on the board so that when the students come in, he can go right into lecture

or he’ll show up two minutes before class starts with his hair disheveled, his tie undone and his expression glazed over and just be like “listen up i woke up late and just downed an entire pot of coffee i brewed with several cans of monster energy—i don’t exist on this dimension anymore”

on those days, he lets his students work on other projects for other classes because he knows it’s not fair to ask his students to focus if he’s not

he helps them with their homework

penelope brings him lunch sometimes to make sure he’s eating

he appreciates it a lot because between lesson plans and grading, he sometimes forgets to eat

he’s absolutely the youngest prof on campus

sometimes even his students are older than he is

but everyone addresses him correctly and respects him bc he’s really chill

his office is a disorganized mess

there’s files and papers all over his desk

and a sculpture penelope made for him (she named that one “roger”)

JJ

psychology professor

she really has a passion for teaching and learning about human psychology

(she may have started to become interested in psychology bc her sister was in the psch honors course before she died)

she comes across as a little hostile and unapproachable tbh

but she’s young

and she’s attractive

and she’s not conveniently what people think a professor looks like

she’ll respect her students if they respect her

she didn’t graduate the top of her class and work her ass off for the degree to not be respected

if there’s any inappropriate comments aimmed towards her or anyone in the class, she kicks the aggressor out immediately

she stands at the front of the room and lectures for the beginning part of the semester

once she’s built a good rapport with her students (and vise versa), she becomes more chill

she’ll sit on the edge of her desk and encourage discussion rather than following a book or a set plan

(she finds it’s more interesting that way anyway)

sometimes her students will show up ten minutes before class starts just to talk with her once they’re comfortable with her

she always answers her emails students send her (queen shit tbh 👑)

some kids in the psych major course playfully call her “mom” because she always asks them how they’re doing and about their week

(she hasn’t decided how she feels about it, but she also lets it slide)

always wears pants suits but cuffs the sleeves to the jackets

her office always smells like eucalyptus because she has a small mist diffuser plugged in

she also has a small fish tank with a beta fish inside (its the appropriate size too!!)

(she let a student name the fish—it’s name is sir bubbles of argon)

she also has a sculpture from penelope (“her name is maxine”)

her desk is very organized and clean!!

there’s a small couch in her office and her door is always open

sometimes, students will come in if they’re having a hard time and need someone to talk to

they know jj is there to listen and she always seems to understand (she doesn’t judge them either)

Emily

teaches three languages, both for majors and non majors

spanish, french and russian

(she’s also quite fluent in arabic and italian and can hold her own if she’s speaking in german or mandarin, but the students don’t need to know that)

she’s actually very intimidating lmao

students are so scared of her 😭

she’s serious af

(she smiles in class sometimes though!!)

(besides, she’s only serious inside the classroom)

(outside the classroom, she might even be as approachable as penelope)

always dressed in expensive black suits, polished heeled shoes with very dark makeup and a “don’t fuck with me” steely attitude to match

she also wears expensive watches

she always stands at the front of the class and slowly paces the entire hour

one time someone decided to fuck off in her spanish 101 class

she didn’t even yell at him, she glared

rumor has it the kid was never spotted on campus again after that

(BOY SHE SCARED HIM SO BAD HE DROPPED TF OUT)

despite that, her classes are some of the easiest to take

one because emily has a way of teaching that helps all students understand

and two because her voice is naturally very easy to listen to

students taking her french 101 are going to leave the class speaking fluent conversational french

she also doesn’t tolerate people being racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc in her class

if she catches a bigoted comment someone makes in her class, she kicks them immediately

she brings in her cat sometimes

he’s all black and his name is sergio

(he’s her esa that she brings in when she’s feeling really stressed out)

he’s clipped on a harness and sits on her shoulder or on her desk

if he meows, she accepts it as an answer

it’s the only time the students ever see professor emily prentiss as soft

well

other than the days she has the class watch foreign films because the students can tell emily has a fondness for them

her office is pretty organized like jj’s

instead of it being light and inviting, emily decorated her office on a more dark side

she has a few animal skulls, crystals and other gothic memorabilia on her desk or bookshelf

she has a small cat bed on the corner of her desk that sergio sleeps in

on the other corner is a sculpture penelope made her

(it kinda looks like a crow and emily named it kurt)

really, the only colors in her office are dark, deep purples and the small lesbian pride flag sticker on the back of her laptop

Derek

teaches history classes

but like modern history

from like 1940s to present

he refuses to follow most western history books bc they’re not accurate like at all

in his first year of teaching, the dean of his department made him use a book and he hated every second of it

how accurate could the information be if they portray king tut as a white guy???

he graduated under one of the best historians in the country

he also traveled a lot after he graduated and met a lot of people that had first hand experience with major historical events

that’s really what he bases his teachings off of—first hand experiences and encounters

every two weeks or so, he’ll invite in guest speakers to his classes to talk about what they went through (depending on his lesson plans)

that’s how he likes to teach and learn (bc he always loves to learn new things!!)

this is random, but also he is the type of professor to randomly box jump up onto a desk

he also sits in chairs backwards and has a more laid back style to teaching

his exams are based on what the students can learn from history rather than the information itself

he’s always dressed super casual!!

solid color, short sleeve button ups are a favorite!! (no tie)

he gets along with all the students

he’ll talk to the athletes about their games but sound just as enthusiastic and genuine talking with students who are majors in fine arts about their projects

he’s just a v down to earth professor tbh!!

he brings in clooney so much

like... every friday

it’s just another bonus of taking his history classes!!

he and penelope are dating

his office is full of sculptures she makes for him 🥺

he drops by her graphic design studio class with clooney to help out or even to just watch

he’s supportive and encouraging of penelope and her art!!

other than the sculptures penelope makes him, his office is a bit more disorganized than jj’s or emily’s, but cleaner than spencer’s

he has a few papers scattered on his desk but mostly he’s a little more put together

his office door has a small basketball hoop attached that he plays around with if he’s bored (and if penelope is busy)

both he and penelope have a dog bed in their office and water bowls for clooney when he comes in

Hotch

law professor

is the most intimidating professor on campus

like

seriously

if students think professor prentiss is intimidating, they haven’t met professor hotchner

he stands in the front of the room and goes over his lecture without pausing or asking questions

his voice is naturally low and intimidating and he actually never smiles

his attire and appearance is always so professional

suits

ties that are tied so tight, they look like they’re choking him

shoes so polished, he can see his reflection in them

hair always styled neatly

pants and jacket are always wrinkle free

his classes are difficult

not just because of the subject matter, but because he has a very organized, straight forward method to his teaching

students wouldn’t dare act up in his class—they’d be absolute idiots to

he’s quiet and reserved outside the classroom

if the others hear anyone talking shit about hotch behind his back, they’re always quick to come to his defense

they actually know hotch

they know he puts on a hardass exterior, but really he’s just a softie

he always lets them hang in his office with him

he listens to spencer’s ramblings and is extremely patient with him

he has lunch with emily every other day

even if she’s a pain in his ass 99% of the time, he likes that she sticks around and that he can trust her

he shows up to all of penelope’s art shows

and sometimes sits in on derek’s lectures when he has guest speakers

jj brings him pastries from the coffee shop on campus sometimes

he knows that he can come to her if he ever has anything he needs to talk about

(he never opens up to her but he really appreciates the sentiment nonetheless)

penelope has definitely made hotch a few sculptures

(he keeps them at home, but he does have one of her paintings hanging in his office)

speaking of his office it’s hands down the most organized out of all of them

his desk is so clean besides the picture of his son he proudly displays at the corner

he always has his lights off and his door shut

he seems so unapproachable, especially in class

but sometimes his lecture notes have crayon scribbles all over the page

or a small sock will fall out of his briefcase

and maybe, even for a moment, his serious demeanor falls when he spots them

and it almost reassures the students that he is human

Rossi

actually he’s the only one besides maybe reid i can see being a criminology professor

is a retired fbi agent

and successful author

so like that hasn’t changed from canon

but because he doesn’t work for the fbi anymore, he has absolutely no chill and tells all secrets

he’ll be like

talking to his class about a case he worked on in ‘83

and be halfway talking about details of cases that were supposed to be confidential

he’ll pause and go “oops” but keep talking lmaooo

penelope actually never made him a sculpture

instead she made him a coffee mug she made on the wheel and glazed herself!! (she even made her own glaze bc she’s extra like that)

carved on the side is “world’s best italian dad”

(this is because when emily introduced rossi to the group she was like “yeah he’s kinda like my dad” and now everyone calls him “dad”)

(he loves it so much though and proudly accepts his title)

he loves his mug so much and uses it every single day!!!

he’s the only professor besides penelope that let his students refer to him without the title of “professor”

he gives off kind old grandpa vibes

and that he’s only teaching because he really doesn’t have anything better to do during his retirement

but he’s chill and his class is interesting to take

(plus he really does love to teach)

he’ll ramble on and on about his “golden years” as an agent

he will especially talk a student’s ear off if they come up to him and tell him that they read one [or all] of his books

he writes a different quote on his board every single day

his attire is always business casual

he sits on the edge of the desk or on a swivel chair because it’s comfy

he was doing a lecture on jack the ripper and just pushed himself around on the swivel chair, slowly spinning around the front of the room

his voice kept changing in volume every few words because of him facing the wall and then a few moments later facing the classroom

his students refer to him as a “living breathing meme”

he has no idea what the fuck that means

but he take it as a compliment

his office is empty because he goes home after he’s done with classes lmao

he doesn’t do paperwork

or fuck with technology (he never fucking responds to emails smh)

so he has no need for an office

[skzhabibi]

An Old Crush (A Long, Bittersweet Personal Storytime/Rant)

When I was in Junior High, I had really, REALLY low self esteem. I was still very much in the awkward phase of puberty and all of those hormones paired with the fact I was having lots of problems at home resulted in some pretty severe mental health issues (which I won’t get too much into, because I don’t wanna trigger anyone). Not only that, but I’m naturally pretty sensitive, so any negative comments people had made about my appearance in the past, whether they were trash talking my hand-me-down clothes, pale ass skin, acne, big nose, etc., it really stuck with me. I was a mess, basically. And I’m part Arab on my mom’s side, so seeing a psychiatrist was never really an option.

Anyways, I was 13 or 14 (8th grade) when I took my 1st Spanish class. This had a bunch of the more “popular” kids in it, because they were trying to get the credit out of the way before High School and there were only 2 teachers who taught Spanish at my school, so it was bound to happen. There was a popular boy in my class, called T for the sake of the story, who sat a seat in front and to the left. I don’t know how we first started talking, but it was probably because of many factors. I laughed at his jokes, he sat near me in Spanish and English which we had right after, I was pretty solid academically at the time and he wasn’t, we had a couple mutual friends/acquaintances, etc... I guess it’s also good to mention he was known for his good looks and the fact he was A-string quarterback on our shitty little football team while I was kind of a social floater; a decent amount of people knew of me, but not many people actually knew me well, if at all.

I didn’t really pay him any mind in a romantic way at first, to be honest. I just thought he was reasonably attractive, but I figured he’d think himself “too cool” to be associated with me since that’s the vibe a lot of the other popular boys in the class had given me if I ever tried making friends with them. People really just gave me the cold shoulder in general, which hurt my feelings, so I wasn’t gonna risk it anymore. But what really made that first little crush for him start was when one day as I was rushing to get out the door first after the bell rang (which I always did because I’m impatient as fUCK and hate that huge ass crowd you had to shove through or come out last), he rushed forward, squeezing through the door around the other jocks and practically pushing them out of the way, to catch up to me and ask me to walk to English together. As an inexperienced little simp, that shit really looked like something out of a movie. It gave me such a needed boost of confidence that I actually started beaming, which was REALLY out of character for me (I’ve always been known for my “resting bitch face”).

So this became such a regular thing, walking to English, that we actually began waiting for each other by our desks to pack our stuff up, and we were usually around the last 2 to leave the room. At some point I finally plucked up the courage to ask him for his number, which was TERRIFYING because I’d never done anything like that. I think I made some excuse that since we had 2 classes together if we forgot about the homework we could remind each other (holy shit I was such a nerd). We texted a few times, but it never got super deep that I remember. I never really initiated the conversations because I didn’t want to make it seem like I liked him even though at this point I REALLY did; I even told a couple of my friends, which I didn’t normally do either. I was always someone to bottle up that shit and bury it so it never saw the light of day because I was so fucking afraid of rejection (Fragile Ass Self Esteem wants to know your location).

I literally thought that I was unlikeable in every sense of the word, so a bunch of the signs that he liked me back at the time never dawned on me. He could’ve literally screamed in my face that he liked me and I’d probably be like “As a Friend, right???”

I guess I’ll just take this moment to tell you about a bunch of the things that should’ve bee HUGE ASS signs he liked me:

1.) This girl on the volleyball team at our table in English that T knew would make passes about how he was really sought-after by a shit ton of girls and then look at me. He also looked at me afterwards like he was shy but gauging my reaction. She had a sort of Jade from Victorious vibe to her so I figured she saw through me and was trying to embarrass me by getting a reaction, so I kept my face straight.

2.) He would compliment me more than anyone else I spoke to (which was uhhhh never. I never got complimented.) For example: He was always calling me smart or a “try hard” to joke with me. I took it as an expression of friendly jealousy. When I curled my hair one day he noticed and literally said, “Can we all take a moment to appreciate (my name)’s hair?” It made me blush so hard, but I thought he was making fun of me. He would also insist on reading my shit or me reading his when the English teacher made us peer review/journal check and would compliment the work I did or my handwriting or how organized it looked. Living that emotionally stunted Y/N life.

3.) The Spanish teacher made us partner up any time there was group work, and she moved his seat to right next to mine every routine seat change. I was gullible as shit thinking that that was coincidental when he had other friends in class. I figured it was cuz I was good and he sucked at Spanish lmaooo. I’ve since read posts on reddit where teachers have confirmed that they can tell when kids have crushes on each other and they’ll play wingman/woman. When I read that I was like WAIT A DAMN MINUTE. Mrs. G was a real one and I was so fucking oblivious to it.

4.) Another girl on the volleyball team asked if he and I were dating. I was taken aback and said no, we weren’t (conveniently leaving out the “I wish”) and asked why she would think that. The reason she gave was that since people saw us walk together between classes, a lot of people figured we were together. I chalked it up to stupid gossip that had no roots in anything he said, so I laughed it off to keep from getting my hopes up.

5.) A similar thing happened AGAIN with a guy who was also on the football team. When he learned my name, he was like, “Wait, (my first and last)?” And I was like yeah wtf how did you know my last without me telling you? And he’s straight up like, “Oh, you’re the girl T has a thing for.” AND I WAS SO FUCKING BLIND OMFG I was just like well he’s never told me he likes me so even though multiple people at this point have said something I think that is completely baseless fake news.

6.) One of the MOST telling signs: he would always say hi to me outside of classes when I was alone. He found me outside my locker one day and started talking to me. The coaches would make the kids on sports teams run back to locker room, and one day he was doing that when he saw me at my locker (which was right by the sport locker rooms since I was in girls’ athletics). His teammates would glance at me while they ran by, and he told me to wait for him while he changed so we could walk to Spanish (1st period) together. Ngl, this really sealed the nail in the coffin for my huge ass crush on this kid. I was taken aback because I thought our friendship was just for convenience and he didn’t actually see me as a real friend he would be seen outside of class with. But in the end I still psyched myself out by saying I was just something to entertain him.

7.) One time in the library, I was working on printing out some paper. An annoying ass kid who was overly friendly and rode the bus with me was talking to me a lot, and I was pretty clearly not interested in my mind at least. T walked in for some reason and smiled and said “Hey, (my name)” pretty loudly. I wasn’t expecting to see him, so I was just like “Oh, hey, T,” because I lack social skills. He glanced at the kid and back at me and his face kinda dropped before he kept walking. I think the kid asked me to hang out with him and our mutual friend and I was basically like no thanks man I’m kinda busy.

8.) Other times he would do this as well. One time my girl friend and I were sitting across from each other at a lunch table in the morning after getting off the bus. Out of LITERALLY NOWHERE he just swoops in and sits next to my friend across from me and starts talking to me about some project in Spanish he finished, showing me excitedly what he wrote and asking if it was right. He pretty much ignored my friend, and she was hella socially anxious and knew about my crush on him so she kinda got huge eyes and shut down socially. He and I talked for a bit before it got awkward because we ran out of shit to say and it was awkward now that we had an extra person and we pretty much only talked to each other without anyone else in the conversation. He left after that and my friend and I freaked tf out.

9.) One time while I was waiting for the bus in the cafeteria after school, I was alone because my friends were taking too long. I was on my phone when he comes up and starts talking to me. I was hella fucking awkward because for some reason I‘m always a fucking stiff around the person I like. Then my guy friend who rode the same bus came up and cock blocked the shit out of T because he’s super fucking loud and just starts fucking around. He and I are super close even to this day and I guess T got intimidated by how easily we were joking around and kinda saw himself out before I could say anything.

10.) THIS LIST IS GETTING TOO LONG SKDJDJASKDJDJ BUT I FUCKIN FORGOT whenever we would walk between classes we would sometimes not even talk. Like whenever the conversation died we would just kinda stare into each other’s eyes 😂 I thought I was just being creepy, but he fucking smiled at me when it happened why am I so dUmB fUUUCK. Also sometimes the popular kids would run up behind us and fuck with him like make fun of him or make some sort of awkward pass that I wouldn’t react to before running down the hall ahead of us. My guess now is that he was meaning to make a move but my neutral reaction to whatever dumbass thing they said made it impossible to tell if I felt the same so he chickened out.

ANYWAYS I think our little friendship/mutual pining fizzled our after one time he made a more up front attempt because at this point he was probably fed up with waiting for me to get the hint but this exchange really fucking backfired:

Basically he got a girlfriend, this girl on GUESS WHAT??! THE VOLLEYBALL TEAM. I heard about it straight from him while we’re walking to English together and that shit hurted but I was like whatever I still want him as a friend and this pretty much confirmed in my mind that he NEVER liked me. So basically he’s talking about how he’s been seeing her to pass the time but he doesn’t actually like her. And I was like why not? She’s really cool/nice and REALLY pretty. But if you don’t like her then why date her? Seems like a waste of time. He’s like yeah well basically she said she liked me so I asked her out but tbh I think she’s annoying. And I’m like what did she do something on a date that was annoying? STILL UTTERLY CLUELESS AND HES DEADASS LIKE what are you jealous like in a flirty way and my DUMB. ASS. Is like.... WHATTTT PSHHH NO I MEAN WE’RE JUST BROSSS AHAHA.

Can I get an F in the chat pls?

Basically we just stopped talking after a while. I think my friend texting his brother officially knifed the shit out of that ship’s sail. Years later I confessed that I liked him back then and asked if he liked me back back then so I could stop worrying about gaslighting myself and he’s basically like yeah I would’ve tried something with you (came across really unenthusiastic). And then one time in like my freshman year of community college I was with my bio study group in the library going to where we were meeting up for a project when I felt eyes on me from the computers and literally LOCKED EYES WITH HIM AND HES JUST LIKE 👁👄👁

LMAO I PRETENDED LIKE I DIDNT KNOW THAT BITCH

OH TO SEE WITHOUT MY EYES

1 like = 1 smash of your head against the wall at my fucking idiocy

[vivithefolle]

Ron would be a great charms teacher

Teaching the Levitation Charm: “and don’t forget to make the ‘gar’ nice and long. You never know when you’re going to run into a troll in a bathroom”.

The Canaries Conjuring Charm: “They’re really soft, and fluffy. But they’ve got claws and sharp beaks and if I catch one of you using them to attack another student there’ll be hell to pay”.

When the Ravenclaw kids start debating about whether Accio counts as a variation of Wingardium Leviosa or the reverse, he’s first taken aback then he melts.“They’re all like tiny little baby Hermiones this is the best class ever”

Whenever he catches a student bullying another, no matter which House it is, he’ll storm in with his patented Protective Dad Power™ and express all his disappointment in a single Look.

Ron telling childhood stories about what happens when you mess up some Charm or another, and asking Fred and George about their own anecdotes so he can tell them to his kids

Fred: Oh, oh, once I tried to Scourgify my cauldron but I misspoke and said ‘Sourgify’ and my cauldron ended up smelling like lemons for a week!George: Oh right, it was horrible, Lee and I tried everything to block the smell. We even borrowed a book that had some Arabic spells from the library. Nothing. Worked.Ron: (taking notes)

When a kid misbehaves too much in his class, Ron gives them a detention in which he asks them if they’re feeling well and if there’s anything they want to say - and if the kid refuses to talk, then he tells them “get your homework out, might as well do something useful instead of scrubbing bedpans, eh?” and helps them catch up

Whenever the first vacation of the year approaches for his first years he enters the class looking super solemn then declares “Children, I know everything. I’ve heard the whispers. I know what you’re all thinking. You hate homework. You loathe it with a passion. Well that’s great because I hate homework and grading your homework is like the homework of the teacher. So how about I don’t give you any essay to write for those Christmas hols and instead we’re going to learn the spell that instantly creates snowballs.”

Ron’s office is, of course, violently orange and there’s a Chudley Cannons poster on the wall. The Quidditch nerds who come to his office often end up having a very long chat with Professor Weasley about the ups and down of the League, and a persistent rumour claims that he once gave a student detention for badmouthing the Cannons (he didn’t, but he likes the story too much to correct it)

Headmaster Dumbledore gave out lemon drops. Headmistress McGonagall gave out biscuits. Professor Weasley asks which one you prefer first.

[boreothegoldfinch]

chapter 5 paragraph xii

Before Boris, I had borne my solitude stoically enough, without realizing quite how alone I was. And I suppose if either of us had lived in an even halfway normal household, with curfews and chores and adult supervision, we wouldn’t have become quite so inseparable, so fast, but almost from that day we were together all the time, scrounging our meals and sharing what money we had. In New York, I had grown up around a lot of worldly kids—kids who’d lived abroad and spoke three or four languages, who did summer programs at Heidelberg and spent their holidays in places like Rio or Innsbruck or Cap d’Antibes. But Boris—like an old sea captain—put them all to shame. He had ridden a camel; he had eaten witchetty grubs, played cricket, caught malaria, lived on the street in Ukraine (“but for two weeks only”), set off a stick of dynamite by himself, swum in Australian rivers infested with crocodiles. He had read Chekhov in Russian, and authors I’d never heard of in Ukrainian and Polish. He had endured midwinter darkness in Russia where the temperature dropped to forty below: endless blizzards, snow and black ice, the only cheer the green neon palm tree that burned twenty-four hours a day outside the provincial bar where his father liked to drink. Though he was only a year older than me—fifteen—he’d had actual sex with a girl, in Alaska, someone he’d bummed a cigarette off in the parking lot of a convenience store. She’d asked him if he wanted to sit in her car with her, and that was that. (“But you know what?” he said, blowing smoke out of the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think she liked it very much.” “Did you?” “God, yes. Although, I’m telling you, I know I wasn’t doing it right. I think was too cramped in the car.”) Every day, we rode home on the bus together. At the half-finished Community Center on the edge of Desatoya Estates, where the doors were padlocked and the palm trees stood dead and brown in the planters, there was an abandoned playground where we bought sodas and melted candy bars from the dwindling stock in the vending machines, sat around outside on the swings, smoking and talking. His bad tempers and black moods, which were frequent, alternated with unsound bursts of hilarity; he was wild and gloomy, he could make me laugh sometimes until my sides ached, and we always had so much to say that we often lost track of time and stayed outside talking until well past dark. In Ukraine, he had seen an elected official shot in the stomach walking to his car—just happened to witness it, not the shooter, just the broad-shouldered man in a too-small overcoat falling to his knees in darkness and snow. He told me about his tiny tin-roof school near the Chippewa reservation in Alberta, sang nursery songs in Polish for me (“For homework, in Poland, we are usually learning a poem or song by heart, a prayer maybe, something like that”) and taught me to swear in Russian (“This is the true mat —from the gulags”). He told me too how, in Indonesia, he had been converted to Islam by his friend Bami the cook: giving up pork, fasting during Ramadan, praying to Mecca five times a day. “But I’m not Muslim any more,” he explained, dragging his toe in the dust. We were lying on our backs on the merry-go-round, dizzy from spinning. “I gave it up a while back.” “Why?” “Because I drink.” (This was the understatement of the year; Boris drank beer the way other kids drank Pepsi, starting pretty much the instant we came home from school.) “But who cares?” I said. “Why does anybody have to know?” He made an impatient noise. “Because is wrong to profess faith if I don’t observe properly. Disrespectful to Islam.” “Still. ‘Boris of Arabia.’ It has a ring.” “Fuck you.”

“No, seriously,” I said, laughing, raising up on my elbows. “Did you really believe in all that?” “All what?” “You know. Allah and Muhammad. ‘There is no God but God’—?” “No,” he said, a bit angrily, “my Islam was a political thing.” “What, you mean like the shoe bomber?” He snorted with laughter. “Fuck, no. Besides, Islam doesn’t teach violence.” “Then what?” He came up off the merry-go-round, alert gaze: “What do you mean, what? What are you trying to say?” “Back off! I’m asking a question.” “Which is—?” “If you converted to it and all, then what did you believe?” He fell back and chortled as if I’d let him off the hook. “Believe? Ha! I don’t believe in anything.” “What? You mean now?” “I mean never. Well—the Virgin Mary, a little. But Allah and God…? not so much.” “Then why the hell did you want to be Muslim?” “Because—” he held out his hands, as he did sometimes when he was at a loss—“such wonderful people, they were all so friendly to me!” “That’s a start.” “Well, it was, really. They gave me an Arabic name—Badr al-Dine. Badr is moon, it means something like moon of faithfulness, but they said, ‘Boris, you are badr because you light everywhere, being Muslim now, lighting the world with your religion, you shine wherever you go.’ I loved it, being Badr. Also, the mosque was brilliant. Falling-down palace—stars shining through at night—birds in the roof. An old Javanese man taught us the Koran. And they fed me too, and were kind, and made sure I was clean and had clean clothes. Sometimes I fell asleep on my prayer rug. And at salah, near dawn, when the birds woke up, always the sound of wings beating!” Though his Australo-Ukrainian accent was certainly very odd, he was almost as fluent in English as I was; and considering what a short time he’d lived in America he was reasonably conversant in amerikanskii ways. He was always poring through his torn-up pocket dictionary (his name scrawled in Cyrillic on the front, with the English carefully lettered beneath: BORYS VOLODYMYROVYCH PAVLIKOVSKY) and I was always finding old 7-Eleven napkins and bits of scratch paper with lists of words and terms he’d made: bridle and domesticate celerity trattoria wise guy = кpymoŭ пaцaн propinquity Dereliction of duty. When his dictionary failed him, he consulted me. “What is Sophomore?” he asked me, scanning the bulletin board in the halls at school. “Home Ec? Poly Sci?” (pronounced, by him, as “politzei”). He had never heard of most of the food in the cafeteria lunch: fajitas, falafel, turkey tetrazzini. Though he knew a lot about movies and music, he was decades behind the times; he didn’t have a clue about sports or games or television, and—apart from a few big European brands like Mercedes and BMW—couldn’t tell one car from another. American money confused him, and sometimes too American geography: in what province was California located? Could I tell him which city was the capital of New England?

But he was used to being on his own. Cheerfully he got himself up for school, hitched his own rides, signed his own report cards, shoplifted his own food and school supplies. Once every week or so we walked miles out of our way in the suffocating heat, shaded beneath umbrellas like Indonesian tribesmen, to catch the poky local bus called the CAT, which as far as I could tell no one rode out our way except drunks, people too poor to have a car, and kids. It ran infrequently, and if we missed it we had to stand around for a while waiting for the next bus, but among its stops was a shopping plaza with a chilly, gleaming, understaffed supermarket where Boris stole steaks for us, butter, boxes of tea, cucumbers (a great delicacy for him), packages of bacon —even cough syrup once, when I had a cold—slipping them in the cutaway lining of his ugly gray raincoat (a man’s coat, much too big for him, with drooping shoulders and a grim Eastern Bloc look about it, a suggestion of food rationing and Soviet-era factories, industrial complexes in Lviv or Odessa). As he wandered around I stood lookout at the head of the aisle, so shaky with nerves I sometimes worried I would black out—but soon I was filling my own pockets with apples and chocolate (other favored food items of Boris’s) before walking up brazenly to the counter to buy bread and milk and other items too big to steal.

Back in New York, when I was eleven or so, my mother had signed me up for a Kids in the Kitchen class at my day camp, where I’d learned to cook a few simple meals: hamburgers, grilled cheese (which I’d sometimes made for my mother on nights she worked late), and what Boris called “egg and toasts.” Boris, who sat on the countertop kicking the cabinets with his heels and talking to me while I cooked, did the washing-up. In the Ukraine, he told me, he’d sometimes picked pockets for money to eat. “Got chased, once or twice,” he said. “Never caught, though.” “Maybe we should go down to the Strip sometime,” I said. We were standing at the kitchen counter at my house with knives and forks, eating our steaks straight from the frying pan. “If we were going to do it, that’d be the place. I never saw so many drunk people and they’re all from out of town.” He stopped chewing; he looked shocked. “And why should we? When so easy to steal here, from so big stores!” “Just saying.” My money from the doormen—which Boris and I spent a few dollars at a time, in vending machines and at the 7-Eleven near school that Boris called “the magazine”—would hold out a while, but not forever. “Ha! And what will I do if you are arrested, Potter?” he said, dropping a fat piece of steak down to the dog, whom he had taught to dance on his hind legs. “Who will cook the dinner? And who will look after Snaps here?” Xandra’s dog Popper he’d taken to calling ‘Amyl’ and ‘Nitrate’ and ‘Popchik’ and ‘Snaps’—anything but his real name. I’d started bringing him in even though I wasn’t supposed to because I was so tired of him always straining at the end of his chain trying to look in at the glass door and yapping his head off. But inside he was surprisingly quiet; starved for attention, he stuck close to us wherever we went, trotting anxiously at our heels, upstairs and down, curling up to sleep on the rug while Boris and I read and quarrelled and listened to music up in my room. “Seriously, Boris,” I said, pushing the hair from my eyes (I was badly in need of a haircut, but didn’t want to spend the money), “I don’t see much difference in stealing wallets and stealing steaks.” “Big difference, Potter.” He held his hands apart to show me just how big. “Stealing from working person? And stealing from big rich company that robs the people?” “Costco doesn’t rob the people. It’s a discount supermarket.” “Fine then. Steal essentials of life from private citizen. This is your so-smart plan. Hush,” he said to the dog, who’d barked sharply for more steak. “I wouldn’t steal from some poor working person,” I said, tossing Popper a piece of steak myself. “There are plenty of sleazy people walking around Vegas with wads of cash.” “Sleazy?” “Dodgy. Dishonest.” “Ah.” The pointed dark eyebrow went up. “Fair enough. But if you steal money from sleazy person, like gangster, they are likely to hurt you, nie?” “You weren’t scared of getting hurt in Ukraine?” He shrugged. “Beaten up, maybe. Not shot.” “Shot?” “Yes, shot. Don’t look surprised. This cowboy country, who knows? Everyone has guns.” “I’m not saying a cop. I’m saying drunk tourists. The place is crawling with them Saturday night.” “Ha!” He put the pan down on the floor for the dog to finish off. “Likely you will end up in jail, Potter. Loose morals, slave to the economy. Very bad citizen, you.”

[halo-bish]

60-Days of Languages 💟

60-Days of Languages   💟 [ day 11/100 - Read an article aloud and explain the main idea ]

Conozcamos a Peter      ¡Hola! Yo soy Peter. Tengo 7 años  y vivo con mis padres en San Francisco. Estoy en el segundo grado. En los Estados Unidos lo llamamos escuela elemental. Yo amo ver dibujos animados y jugar videojuegos. Mis programas favoritos son Dora la Exploradora y Calle Sésamo. Me gustan porque son divertidos y enseñan cosas nuevas.

     Yo tengo un hermano y una hermana. Mi hermano tiene 17 años y está en el último año de la preparatoria. Él ama los deportes e ir a fiestas. Él nunca me lleva a fiestas pero algunas veces nos lleva a mi hermana y a mí a la playa. Mi hermana se llama Jane. Tiene 11 años. A ella le gusta leer y jugar fútbol. Lee uno o dos libros cada semana y ve todos los partidos de fútbol por televisión.  Ella se mete en problemas en la escuela todo el tiempo porque no hace sus tareas. Pretende poner atención en la clase pero lee sus libros debajo del escritorio. Mis padres algunas veces hacen que mi hermano le ayude con sus tareas. Muy a menudo, él simplemente hace las tareas de ella para poder salir con su novia.

     Yo también tengo una novia. Su nombre es Shenaaz. Ella se mudó con sus padres del Líbano a San Francisco. Ella es muy linda. Habla francés y árabe y está aprendiendo inglés. Ella todavía no tiene sus libros, entonces nos sentamos juntos en la clase y yo comparto mis libros con ella. El fin de semana, ella viene a mi casa y ve películas con mi familia y yo. A sus padres les gusta que ella pase tiempo en nuestra casa porque puede aprender inglés con nosotros. En casa, ellos sólo hablan francés o árabe.

     Cuando crezca, yo quiero ser policía y ayudar a atrapar criminales. Mi profesora dice que yo tendré que estudiar duro para ser más inteligente que los criminales. Los policías en la televisión parecen muy inteligentes, por lo que yo trato de sacar ‘A’ en todo, para ser inteligente como ellos. Mi papa es muy inteligente también. Él es mecánico. Puede arreglar cualquier carro en el mundo. Él me dijo que tuvo que estudiar muy duro también. Si yo no me hago policía, quiero hacerme mecánico y arreglar los carros de las personas. Supongo que tendré que parar de jugar videojuegos tanto y estudiar para poder ser inteligente y ayudar a las personas cuando crezca.

Let's meet Peter      Hi! I’m Peter. I am 7 years old and live with my parents in San Francisco. I am in the second grade. In the United States, we call that elementary school. I love watching cartoons and playing video games. My favorite shows are Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street. I like them because they are fun to watch and teach you new things.       I have a brother and a sister. My brother is 17 and is attending his last year of High School. He loves sports and going to parties. He never takes me to any parties but sometimes he takes my sister and me to the beach. My sister’s name is Jane. She is 11. She loves reading and playing soccer. She reads one or two books every week and watches every soccer game on TV. She gets into trouble at school all the time because she doesn’t do her homework. She pretends to pay attention in class but reads her books under the desk. My parents sometimes make my brother help her with her homework. Very often he just does her homework for her so that he can go out with his girlfriend.       I have a girlfriend too. Her name is Shenaaz. She moved to San Francisco with her parents from Lebanon. She is very pretty. She speaks French and Arabic and is learning English. She doesn’t have her books yet so we sit together in class and I share my books with her.  On the weekend, she comes over and watches movies with me and my family. Her parents like her to spend time at our house because she can learn English with us. At home, they only speak French or Arabic.       When I grow up I want to be a policeman and help catch criminals. My teacher says I will have to study hard so I will be smarter than the criminals. The cops on TV seem really smart, so I make sure I get all ‘A’s in everything so I can be smart like them. My Dad is really smart too. He is a mechanic. He can fix any car in the world. He told me he had to study really hard too. If I don’t become a cop, I want to become a mechanic and fix people’s cars. I guess I will have to stop playing video games so much and study so that I can be smart and help people when I grow up.

[ Main Idea ] -  In this short article/passage it introduces you to Peter, his family, and his ambitious

[yesceyalater-blog]

Why Am I in Jordan? + Daily Schedule

This semester, I’m abroad in Jordan. I’ve been studying Arabic for almost three years now at my university but wanted really wanted to push myself to know the language. So I’m here. I’m studying within an intensive language program that requires me to: only speak Arabic all day to everyone I come in contact with, meet with a local Jordanian for at least three hours a week and converse in Arabic, take four hours of language classes a day alongside two content courses taught in Arabic, and create a functioning life in the city I live in. Do I feel stressed? A lot of the time, yes. Do I think it’ll be worth it in the end? I believe so. I’ve been here for almost three weeks now, and I already see shifts in my fluency and ability to express myself.

I will say, however, I often get down on myself while here. I’m a perfectionist, no doubt about it. While that’s not inherently a bad trait to have, I’m also a very emotional person alongside my perfectionism. In short, I don’t handle situations well when I perform below my expectations. Not in the slightest. I also don’t handle stress well. I’ve got my own mental health conflicts that I’m managing while here (I will probably go into further detail about this another time), so sometimes things are just tough. That’s part of the reason this blog exists – to help me combat the tough times with a creative, productive outlet. Woo!

To give you a better idea of my life here/what I do on a daily basis/why I’m in Jordan, I’ve written out my daily schedule below.

5:00AM – Wake up (Yeah, it’s a little wild, but I like the mornings a lot and it’s when I’m productive)

5:30AM – Make breakfast. I typically eat some eggs with avocado or oatmeal with apples. Nothing fancy. But I always drink coffee.

6:30AM – Go to the local gym nearby. In between breakfast and this, I’m either studying all the new vocabulary from the previous days in class OR reading the NYT

7:45AM – Back from the gym. Study a bit more. Leave for class around 8:00AM

8:20AM – In my class building, waiting for class to start. If I feel like being especially kind to myself that morning, I’ll trek across campus to a nearby coffee shop. Instant coffee is much more accessible here than the drip coffee I’m used to, so it’s nice every once in a while to drink real coffee. I also bring almond milk everywhere I go because that’s not a common beverage here.

9:00AM – The beginning of four hours of language class. Currently, we’re focusing on the Shaami dialect, something most commonly spoken in everyday conversation in Jordan. It’s also spoken in other Levantine countries, but each have their slight nuances. Before coming, I knew a bit of Shaami as my professor back home studied Arabic himself in Syria. We also study Modern Standard Arabic, the Arabic most commonly used in literature, in more formal settings, and in university. It’s used in other situations too, but those are the first ones to come to mind.

1:00PM – Done with class! My brain probably hurts a lot at this point. Consistently thinking in, speaking, writing, and reading in Arabic is a lot on your head. Most of my friends here head to a coffee place at this point to start on homework, but I don’t function well if I just jump directly from class to homework. I can’t focus. Instead, I take around an hour to essentially let my mind rest, then I go meet up with people. That one hour is crucial for my own productivity.

2:00PM – Go to a coffee shop. Mostly just try to retain all the new words we’ve been given that day. There’s a great one really close to all our apartments that most students frequent. On the weekends though, there are a few great places to go to on Rainbow Street for studying/writing/reading (post soon to come).

5:00PM – Head back to my apartment. Cook dinner. Talk to my Jordanian roommate about her day. She’s also bound by the language pledge, so we also speak Arabic to one another. I find she’s helpful with correcting my speech (the American accent has got to GO) and telling me the vocabulary people our age use. You can’t be running around using the Arabic equivalent to “neat-o” or “all that and a bag of chips.”

8:00PM – Catch up with people back home. My SO and I talk most days on the phone, and because I’m seven hours ahead, this is the time that’s most convenient for him.

10:00PM – Hopefully I’m asleep at this point. However, 11:00 seems more truthful. I’m writing 10PM into existence though.

[notconsolation]

6, 7, 22, 23, 36, 54, 60 & 65💞 (or... alternatively all of them like christiana said too...)

hooooeey shall I just do them all? I think I’ll do them all but it might take a while. *time jump* k then here we go. holy shit this is long. you’ve been warned

Have you ever:

1) Self harmed?

yep. got more scars than I like but it does seem to be a very chronic thing for me.

2) Got into a real fight?

previously answered.

3) Been too depressed to move out of your bed?

hi mtv, welcome to my crib, most days it consists of these sheets. why yes, I should probably wash them a little more often and go to lectures more often. shhhhhh.

4) Tried to commit suicide?

I feel like this describes it best

5) Had to lie to EVERYONE about how you felt?

Had to? probably not.

6) Watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting?

………… is there another way?

7) Talked yourself out of serious trouble?

I’m not cute enough for that shit

8) Accused someone of using you?

nope don’t think so.

9) Shoplifted?

answered previously

10) Gotten drunk/high?

*giggles* who me? pshhhhh

11) Been to a concert where your favourite artist was playing?

answered previously

12) Skipped doing homework to play a video game?

video games not so much………. everything else absolutely. literally anything.

(Right now) Are you:

13) Suicidal?

nah thank god

14) Bored?

My brain is going too haywire to experience boredom, but I’m also not massively interested in anything I am currently doing

15) Avoiding someone?

The librarian, she hates me cause I laugh at my computer screen in the silent section

16) Avoiding some task?

An essay on sustainable agricultural development as it pertains to the international political economy and another one on the arab israeli conflict 1948-82 yay

17) Depressed?

low-key

18) Crying?

my tear-ducts shrivelled up and I sold them on the black market

19) Annoyed with a friend?

Nope, my friends are all great (yes, I am talking about you. you, reading this right now. you’re great)

20) Worried and confused about something important to you?

answered previously

Do you:

21) Get depressed easily?

see I think it’s not something that gets triggered so much as something that I remember is my state sometimes. so I don’t think it’s like how you might get a cold easily because you have a weak immune system. I know I’m avoiding the question. I’d say no?

22) Get jealous/envious easily?

Nah not in general but I do get jealous of attractive guys quite easily, but I never know whether it’s gender dysphoria or attraction. I’m bad at identifying emotions correctly. Oooh also voices. Sometimes I’ll be so in love with someone’s voice that I’ll listen to them ad nauseum and then need to take a break because I’m toxically jealous of their voice.

23) Feel listening to music can take your mind off things?

YES.

24) Worry about messing about your relationships a lot?

hi, haaaaaave you met hannah?

25) Try hard in all your classes at school?

I used to, but I’ve sort of let that go because I’m no longer interested in most of my classes. Back in school I was pretty over-achieving though.

26) Go out drinking?

Doesn’t mix too well with my meds but the culture of drinking here is insane so peer pressure gets to me regularly. yes is what I’m saying

27) Smoke cigarettes?

sí, ma non regolarmente

28) Smoke weed?

是的, but I am not a bad influence I promise, mothers of the world

29) Do any hard drugs?

again, not regularly

30) If you said yes to 28 but no to 29, Why?

doesn’t applyyyy

31) Believe in God/Belong to a religion of your own free will?

answered previously

32) Avoid people you care about because you feel you will only hurt them?

no, I don’t really avoid them, I just don’t unload on them? or talk much? I’ll just sit there and offer silence and hugs because that hasn’t yet gone wrong for me?

33) Agree that self harm numbs emotional pain?

eh? not sure I get this. for me it sharpens reality more than it numbs pain

34) Believe people deserve second chances?

answered previously

35) Agree with ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’? (ignoring the religious relation to that saying)

answered previously

36) Think things will get better?

My relentless, reckless optimism is probably the character trait that is most surprising given the rest of my personality. so yeah.

37) Feel afraid that you have done wrong and will eventually be punished?

answered previously

38) (be honest) Do you judge people who think differently to you? (seriously, be honest)

answered previously

Preference in partner:

39) Long hair OR short hair?

answered previously

40) (For Girls one) nice smile OR nice abs?

how creepy would it be if you had abs on your face and a mouth above your navel

41) (For Guys one) nice smile OR nice chest?

imagine if your nipples had teeth

42) Shy OR open?

hmm, shy? maybe?

43) Eyes OR body?

answered previously

44) Religious OR non-religious?

I’ll be honest, this is probably the only one I actually have a preference for: non-religious. that is not to say that it’s a deal breaker or even something that bothers me really unless they try to change me. beyond that it really doesn’t bother me.

45) Caring OR non-restricting of you?

jesus. this is some partner you’ve got here. abs on their face, nipples with teeth, binary personality. probably non-restricting, though.

46) Straight edge OR non-straight edge?

hmm, maybe non-straight edge because then we can both make bad decisions

47) Piercings OR no piercings?

I Like Piercings

48) Tattoos OR no tattoos?

tattoos or non-tattooed but without objection to them (i find that people with no tattoos seem to be the ones that most often get personally offended by you having them)

49) Quiet stay-at-home type OR party type?

goodness gracious this really is a polarised person. I’d say probably party if i had to choose one because then they can drag me out. i have fun when I go out, but given my way I’d probably never leave the house.

50) Has friends you get along with OR has parents you get along with?

Friends

Would you:

51) Drink alcohol until you were drunk?

ask me next time I’m hungover

52) Smoke weed?

I feel like we’re beating a dead horse with some of these

53) Smoke cigarettes?

answered previously

54) Get even with someone who betrayed you?

how to bake a revenge cake: step one *chants* egg egg egg egg egg (their house) wait what hmm did someone say something

55) Forgive a partner who deeply hurt you?

probably. but also i am more than terrified of serious relationships so all these boyfriend/girlfriend ones are highly speculative.

56) Attempt to kill yourself if everything fails you?

I feel put-upon with these decisions. I hope not.

57) Keep your faith (any religious view) no matter what?

we’ll be keeping the faiiiiiiiiith, yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll be keeping the faith *dumdadaDadadaDUmdaaDun*

58) Join a band as a part time activity?

catch me on my t-rex riding into the sunset singing about assholes playing the ukulele (it’s my first EP)

59) Feel sorry for someone who is being affected negatively from alcohol/drug abuse?

Yes.

60) Stand up for your beliefs if someone strongly goes against them?

Yeah, I think so. Not to the point of futile argument and insults, but to stand my ground.

61) Go vegetarian for a month to see what is was like?

Sure thing. it’s nice.

62) Fight someone who was harassing your friends/family?

fisticuffs will be traded if you besmirch the honour of my loved ones

63) Edit photos of yourself before posting them online?

who, me?

64) Put up with friends who constantly hated against something you believed in/supported?

you know, they don’t sound much like friends to me. no.

65) Be friends with someone who was nice to you, but a cunt to other people?

what other people? I mean I think I could be friends with someone who was constantly rude to Donald Trump.

66) Not like someone simply because your friend(s) didn’t like them?

I don’t think so. I might have my opinion of them tainted by my friends’ judgement, but hopefully not to the point where I can’t draw my own conclusions about them.

67) Lie to someone close to you because you don’t want them put up with your problems?

wait haven’t we had this one? I think it’s a bit like question 32. short answer: yeah I guess I tell people I’m fine all the time when I just don’t want to talk about it. But I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t do that.

68) Starve yourself so you fit some certain clothes?

see: this song

69) Get surgery on any part of you? If yes then which part of you?

answered previously

70) Sleep naked?

yep.

you’ve reached the end. congratulations and I thank you for your dedication what a trip it’s been.

[whichchick]

Notes from the Buck Brannaman clinic I attended in 2012, here for my own personal reference.

October 12th, 2012

Here are the notes I took (for personal use, no warranty made or implied) from the Brannaman clinic in West Virginia.

Brannaman Clinic Notes

Morning sessions were “Foundation Horsemanship” and afternoons were “Horsemanship 1”.

Morning 1: This class grew out of seeing horsemanship students needing the colt-starting skills. It's ground skills to bridge the gap between colt starting and horsemanship. It's also one of the most useful classes offered.

Even green people can see tight-bothered horses. This class presents things to do on the ground as pre-ride ground work, skills can also refine a horse and improve your riding skills (as seen in the afternoon class.)

Afternoon class will have homework to improve.

(It would be nice if he repeated people's questions before answering them.)

Giving a horse things to do helps distract him from being herd bound.  Busy horses do not have so much time to be herd bound.

Horse bucks – control the HQ. It's a symptom of a larger problem, though. Many things go wrong before bucking happens – it's just the most visible signal of the issue.

Control of the HQ is untracking. This derails the horse on the issue, gets trouble stopped first. Awareness is key. Stay fixed before the issue gets way out of hand. This is not a catch-up game as much as a prevention game. Rider awareness helps a lot.

Prepared vs. paranoid. People are not observant enough. (Olivia – Punch gets her head down before Olivia sees it, thus she's always correcting AFTER the mouthful of grass and not before. This makes her job harder.)

Horse doesn't like to lunge. Lead rope work may help. Lunging is boring, though, going round and round w/o attention, horse being an ass. This is not a productive conversation with the horse. The horse gets more fit, takes longer to “fix” (tire out) via lunging. Lunging is not productive. Rope work is a positive conversation with an end goal beyond “make the horse tired enough to behave”.

What do if a person is tight? Get horse OK so that he can fill in for the person. Relaxed enough colts do not be nervous.

Average person has no business trying to fix issues with a horse while aboard that horse. Ground work is safer and easier, has less stuff to go wrong.

The goal here with ground work is to have the horse comfortable and enjoying his job.

(Note the infinite patience on the dark grey that Brannaman has, so subtle and quiet with the rope.)

All horses are keen on who moves who. Horse should BE moved, person should demand and get respect for her space. Pushy horse when you're leading it is pushy horse when you're aboard. Same way, respectful horse on the ground is more likely to be respectful horse when you're aboard.

This is work time. No eating without permission. You should have a bubble of space. Many people in the class have their horses right on them. Horses should stand back a bit, not crowd the handler.

Buck prefers a flag to a rope for creation of movement. (I wondered why. He explained later: More an extension of your arm, more control, less floppy than rope, easier for novices to swing successfully.)

Mule is “lazy”. This is in the riding/training, not in the animal itself. How dull you let things get before you step it up is how dull you will wind up riding. It has to do with how consistent you are. Offer the better deal (this is a recurring theme), ask nice first. Get into a pattern where you never have to nag the horse.

Goal not for a crabby or disrespectful horse, but give him the chance to have a better deal. People tend to shortcut the steps to “what worked last time” instead of always offering the good deal first.

If it took a kick last time, people start with the kick every time. People get lazy and skip the steps. This shortcuts the good deal. People need to be consistent in the way they ask. It is not OK to settle for dull and dullness is largely a lack of discipline in the rider.

Follow a feel on the rope – no dragging. Driving (from behind, with a rope or flag) is way better than dragging with a lead rope. Driving is easier, takes less force, and works at a distance, where dragging does not.

If a horse gets anxious, pays no attention to the rider, then offer the horse a job. Get the horse with you. Horse should not tune you out. Occupy the horse. Quiet horses get quiet people. Horses that fuss get more activities.

Many people try to hold down an anxious horse. This is like putting your thumb over a pipe. Not good. Spend the pressure doing meaningful work.

Going in circles without a plan is NOT USEFUL. Horse needs to be accurate and thinking. Pressured horses need to do meaningful work, not just zooming around and around.

Trail riding mostly uses the “herd effect” – you've got one or two people actually riding and the rest of them just follow along. People do not take their horsemanship along on the trail.

“My horse isn't this bad at home” – you need to support your horse wherever you are. “He's really good for me at home” means “He is comforted by his home environment” and not “You have real support and control of your horse.”

Bridling and unbridling issues. Use of setting head down can help with that. Better prepare the horse for this skill. Rope halter can come off and on with bridle in (he demonstrated this).

Impatience: If your horse needs a job, give him one. If the horse is unable to bear the prosperity of just standing still, then he can have more work instead. (This is not vengeful punishment work, just work on stuff that the horse needs to improve at anyway.) Offer respite from work and see if it's taken. If not, more work.

Horse is interested in whether they move your feet or whether you move their feet. A horse's balance point is about where the cinch lies on a western saddle. Stand in front of the balance point and the horse is “blocked” from forward motion. Stand behind the balance point and the horse is free to move forward.

When you are using a flag or the tail of your lead, a horse should be Not Afraid but Responsive.

Flag behind the balance point. If horse needs to go, he should step forward. If he steps forward without being asked, put horse on a corner (yield HQ). The leading hand is in neutral when you put horse on a corner. The flag is used as an extension of your reach/arm.

How to get a horse moving on a feel

1. Offer leading hand first (do not remove all slack from the line – that is pulling)

2. If no forward movement on the offered feel, driving from behind within 1.5 seconds

Remember to offer the better deal first.

(His reversals are so smooth – he rolls HQ 90 then FH 90.) Beginners may need to do more.

FH turns away first. Horse feet move, not people feet. Interesting.

Move to left, drive RT side shoulder over to yield FH. Untrack HQ, horse goes around full circle.

This method of starting a circle adds (1) bubble of space and (2) same respect that yielding HQ in untracking does. More useful.

Big bend in neck during untracking, NOT A PULL, a drape.

Can use lead rope tail in place of flag but needs to land SOFT. Flag has better control (and offers opportunity to feel rather than to be hit)

Throw, startle, corner. The rope has to land soft, not wrap around horse to whap him in belly.

Important, offer first the good deal.

Horse's responsibility is to put person behind the balance point at the girth. Horse must step through (with HQ). Not trying to hit horse, trying to get to not-hitting. Use the “air cue”.

When untracking, the leading hand comes back to the chest. If there is trouble, keep untracking until the horse lets down.

Sweeping the front quarter establishes the bubble, bends horse, gets horse to untrack front, which is an otherwise neglected rope skill. This adds a yield front skill.

(Observation: Many people have very ineffective body language. Leading hands are ineffective. Postures are unclear. People are not asking for or getting personal space from their horses.)

People are having trouble with the sweep of the forehand.

To get horse to go left, person GOES LEFT first, bends head/neck in direction of travel, then pressures RIGHT shoulder to sweep through. People do not get using their body to direct the horse. They are all about dragging the head.

People also do not demand. He is very clear about where to be. Horse always has a great big door.

Things for homework:

1. Yield HQ

2. Yield FH (step forward and left, send FH over, bend-before-send, aim at shoulder)

3. back horse – hold halter by knot, thumb down, back and forth with nose band, looking for

1. flexion (tuck chin)

2. backing

Tip head away from you, back in circles/steer

4. ways to put head down: knot / side / hand on head behind ears

5. Bridling practice – familiarity with mouth/ears

Day 1 Afternoon session

Largely mounted, with some overlap with the morning session's material. Questions first.

If a horse is busy with his mouth, the problem is not solved by being in a hackamore. The problem is symptomatic of a larger issue.

Making a bridle horse

1. Snaffle

2. Hackamore

3. 2-rein setup

4. bridle

This is a progression. Each step has clear goals that should be achieved before you move on.

Your horse's ears, tail, mouth are indicator lights. They can tell you about issues but they are not the issue themselves.

Once a horse can do movements and understand them, the mouth may quiet down on it's own.

Lead issues. Know your “lead” at the walk or trot before you cue to the canter. Also work the bad side more than the good side. Lateral evenness is key to getting both leads.

Classical riding – looking at engagement in pursuit of collection after a classical frame. This happens by elevating the withers and the HQ come forward and engage.

Exercise: Head around to both sides (while mounted) You are looking for three things:

1. Ears level

2. poll higher than withers (with Arabs, this is not a problem)

3. vertical flexion (hardest)

If poll not above withers, do not pull head up. Makes horses into llamas.

Green horses are optimum because they have less to unlearn.

Soft feel (review from AM session)

elevation is poll above withers. Lots of elevation is for lots of collection. Less elevation for less engagement. Flexion takes place between atlas and axis vertebra (1 and 2 vertebra)

Proper lateral movement originates from the center. Horses need to be balanced to start.

Position of rider's pelvis. Three positions to look at:

1. like to jump or scoot in front of a cow

2. ordinary riding. Sit on seat bones, with floating seat

3. stopping and whoa position (on pockets, heavy on the horse)

Going forward, the good deal is position 3 to position 2, open thighs slightly, horse should roll up into a walk. The good deal is one without physical pressure.

The lower down the leg your cues are, the less of a horseman you are. Higher up the leg makes for a more sophisticated aid and a better rider.

There should be 1.5 seconds between the good deal and reinforcement. It's very difficult for people to keep offering the good deal.

Timing is crucial and this can make aids invisible on a good lively horse.

Horse should back in diagonals, with rhythm, like a trot in reverse. When you ask a horse to back, you should take the gravity away from the horse feeling your legs.

Horse is in a rectangle of your control. You can move the FH, the HQ, or both at the same time. The horse's job is to stay within your rectangle. This (again) is body control for humans.

In the beginning, you use a leading rein and a supporting rein. As you progress in skill, try to use less leading rein and ride with one hand.

Riding with legs. 1000 times. Green horse needs practice. Leg may be exaggerated if needed on a green horse. There should be NO random steering. Steer left when left front is off the ground. Steer right when right front is off the ground.

Legs are offered first as the good deal. The thing with legs is that they will enforce seat bone, hip steering which is more subtle and effective.

On turning the head, remember Ears Level, Poll above Withers, Vertical Flexion.

(Most of the class can manage to bring head around, but their ears are unlevel. How to fix?)

Aim for 90 and 90 (vertical flex and horizontal bend) on these turns. Do not pull straight back, lead out to the side and back to ribcage.

Point of rein coil on mecate is to help people manage their rein lengths. Many people do not manage rein length well anyway.

Exercise: Short serpentine. This looks like ribbon candy that you make with your horse. Bend horse 90 degrees each time. At the directional change is where you can see weakness. If horse moves like wheelbarrow (Thyme turning), he is not engaged.

Time your steering with the inside front foot leaving the ground. This exercise is to build engagement.

The serpentine exercise needs better engagement of rein length. Make sure your outside rein is loose. Use a real short or narrow track, about two horse lengths, maybe 12 feet.

A horse should walk, trot, and lope reliably on a loose rein before you start asking them to come up into your hand for collection.

Do not ride like a monkey on a football. Sit up straight, you bunch of honyockers. (honyocker: old north West cowboy slang for a failed homestead farmer. Almost as bad as calling a cowboy a sheep herder.)

Many horses showed improvement on neck bending, etc. but most people did not work the front leg coordination effort (pick up rein with inside front leg)

Exercise: rolling 180's (HQ and FH rolling)

Bend head to 90 (rein to left pocket), roll over HQ to right (left leg, slightly behind girth), leading rein only.

Transition to FH by moving rein straight out from hip, about 8”. Change to RIGHT LEG near front of girth.

Also following rein picks up to do FH.

HORSE STAYS BENT THE WHOLE TIME, BENT THE SAME AMOUNT.

Problems with this exercise:

1. Neck not bent

2. loss of forward motion

3. hand not moving from pocket

English riders are having too much contact and not trusting the horse to operate on a loose rein.

The interesting thing in this exercise is the switch from moving HQ to moving FH, wherein the HQ come up and take weight so that the FQ can elevate and move.

Next exercise: Teardrop

½ circle back to the track at a walk. T his is a teardrop shape. Forehand needs to reach more than HQ. Better 1 way than the other, then do bad way more. Long on reins is better than short. Offer leg-only first as the good deal. Match rein timing with front inside foot off the ground.

(People's timing sucks.)

Leave the horse alone a bit after movement. This is better than continual nagging. Horses would like peace.

Six or so plates in the air – lesson planning for your horse. Don't just drill one thing over and over, work on it a little bit (until improvement) and then go do something else for a while and then you can come back to the first skill again.

Exercise: rating at the walk

2 goals: position 2 means stay forward, soft feel of your seat.

When backing, soft feel is inseparable from rhythm. Each halt, a horse needs to be ready to do stuff. Backing after a halt is helpful.

Control of speed at walk. Soft feel and seat, not just pulling. Slow your body first, see if the horse gets with you. The good deal, here, is the soft feel of your body.

This exercise is about getting and releasing feel/contact at the walk. Seat responsiveness at the walk is a goal.

Down and up transitions at the walk, off the rider's seat. People need help learning to reward and get out of the way.

Be able to differentiate between soft feel at the halt and “back up”.

Soft feel at walk-slow exercise cues horse that body of rider is going to do something interesting.

DAY 2

When backing, poll or feet, which comes first? Odds are good that the feet are going to engage first. Once moving the feet works OK and reliably on a soft feel, then ask for poll bending. If you get poll first, then work on feet next.

Soft feel: Not just a horse tucking his chin. Starts at mouth, rolls through horse to feet. It's a whole body thing, not just the head.

Get out when you have something to reward. Don't burn the cue.

People keep hammering away because there is no release or they release wrong. This is very frustrating to the horse.

Gate problems (ring sour)-- there is benefit to sending the horse forward.

Regimented exercises provide a framework for learners, but checking out skills can happen whenever you think about it.

Elements of proper flexion: ears level, face vertical, poll above withers

The bending-from-the-ground exercises (“what reins do”) for green horses, does more with it than we do. Maybe there is more to get out of this than we currently get out of it?

Exercise: Rock forward and backward with slobber strap to teach lightness like one-step rockers. Horse fanning to left and right is wrong. If there's an issue, flag to drive. You should be able (when good at this) to shift horse's weight without having him move a foot.

Respect starts on the ground.

Backing:

1. Hold onto slobber strap or hold onto halter knot.

2. Mecate rein shake or halter rope jiggle (not a shake like we do, a gentler jiggle)

3. rein back with mecate, left hand to block (mimics “back up” while riding)

For all of these, having rhythm in the back-up will help.

“Every time I back him up, he comes forward again” – This is a lack of respect. Set a boundary and enforce it.

Horse structured for a herd environment. Ears forward: I got no problem with you, man. When horses interact with people, it changes the horse's status.

Exercise: Half Circles

When you do full circle, we can check out the HQ movement, by stepping close in and working the hind. In the half circle, there's more of a balance between HQ and FH movement. The person walks straight forward, horse does a half circle in front of him and reverses.

Hind, front, hind, front. Rhythm, many more reverses, many more repeats, smoother. This exercise also helps with the horse crowding your space.

People are doing the ½ circle exercises on the track. People tend to give ground rather than taking ground on this exercise.

People are putting on snaffle bits. Elements of flexion with snaffle bits. This is “intro to reins” like we do with our green horses. Ask for bending left and right. Work the side you're on, first. Get the lateral stuff working towards you before you work the over-the-neck side. If horse walks off, then stay with him until he stops walking.

Take the bend to 90degrees and then wait for ears to level up. Make sure you are working with only one rein at a time.

When using a mounting block and horse, the HORSE should move. The mounting block SHOULD NOT move.

Mounting and dismounting. Smooth and nice is better. Left rein is made shorter, mane hold is taken, barely use stirrup (foot should not be perpendicular to barrel).

Some horses can be taught to pick you up from a fence. There are steps to making this happen. Send horse between you and fence (you are on ground), have horse break over behind as you step forward. Once that is working pretty well, then stand on fence, bring horse alongside fence. Sack horse out at fence location. When HQ swings out, left lead/rein should bump rope gently and annoyingly. Wait for horse to move your way, then stop. (This will take some time to teach.) Once aboard, move head left and right at the halt, looking for elements of proper flexion. Horse should stand still quietly.

Homework for foundation class:

1. Short serpentines

2. walk straight with half-circles

3. roll out (in time with HQ) 100x each side

Horse that cannot stand still needs active work. Use a variety of exercises, different things that are non-forward (NOT running in circles), spend the horse's energy on useful exercises.

Use the principle of Do Less Sooner. (Stop little issues before they become big.) Also make sure releases are fully released.

Afternoon class (riding group)

Bridle horse is shown in working cow horse or similar. Skill set should include (but is not limited to) the following items:

1. Jump 3' to 4' over fences

2. showing 4th or 5th level dressage

3. reining

4. cow work

5. good to rope off of

6. nice enough for a kid

There is not an age-based time line for this. Horses are started to ride a lot at 4 or 5. The progression is an ability-graded program, not a time schedule. Skill sets are critical.

He is a fan of redirect before issue.

In the exercise for short serpentine, bend in the neck is critical.

Lead at the walk and trot – what does this mean? He practiced trotting in “straight” to a lope to see what lead the horse was going to pick up. Horses are not ever truly straight. If you can tell which way the HQ are canted, you know what lead the horse is going to take. Most people use a diagonal cue for lead (inside rein, outside leg). The horse's HQ shifts to the inside to take the lead. Long trotting outside may help you learn to feel what lead the horse will take. This can be done sitting or rising trot.

Sitting trot could use help for most people: Less pelvic thrust. Floppy ankles are ugly.

On moving forward – our kids (and we) can offer a better deal than the current deal. Not necessary to start with the heel. Look up. Open chest. Pick up legs. THEN offer heel.

All horses should be offered the good deal at the outset and each time you ask for stuff. Time between the good deal and the reinforcement is 1 to 1.5 seconds. There must be follow through.

You need life in order to direct the horse. You need to direct the horse at all before there is timing. If the horse is standing still, your timing is not useful yet. FIRST get life. THEN direct, THEN work on timing.

Starting rig is a 3/8” snaffle mouth. He starts 2 yr olds with catch, saddle, ride a little at the walk, trot, and lope. Swing a rope a little. Then wait until horse is 3. At 3, do fifteen or twenty rides on them. Four year olds get more skill sets. A five year old horse is ready for adult work.

Things your horse needs to do in the snaffle:

w, t, c on a loose rein (on course, controlled, steady)

soft feel in all gaits

perfect simple changes of lead

start on flying changes of lead

leg yield, half pass, shoulder in

walk-canter transitions

rope work

cow work

gentle

This takes (ideally) about a year and a half of steady, productive riding. (Most normal humans do not ride their horses anywhere near enough or with anything close to the level of skill/consistency that is needed.)

Hackamore. This is a bosal (bow-sal) Point here is to separate all the flexions. Spend about a year or so in the hackamore, do much more riding in one hand.

2-rein setup. This is a small, narrow bosal plus also a halfbreed bit. This is largely a one-hand setup. The hackamore is a backup tool. 2-rein takes a year and a half. Do not be in a hurry here.

Halfbreed with a neck rope. Bosalita is traditional dress for a bridle horse, not appropriate to do without one.

There is nothing wrong with riding in a snaffle but the goal of classical western horsemanship is to have a bridle horse. This takes substantial effort and ongoing commitment.

Horse requires physical and mental development in order to carry himself properly as a bridle horse. This development takes time and it's why you can't rush the stages.

Is it appropriate to try the hackamore and revert to the snaffle if there are issues? Yes. Particularly when you are learning how to do this. Once you have some experience, then you will be more able to know when the horse is ready.

Horse is able to go back to “lower” grades just like you could still do 5th grade work even though you passed 5th grade ages ago.

4 methods for operating HQ

1. Bend and offer minimal leg. Move HQ. Take leg off and wait for horse to stop while keeping bend.

2. Roll into soft feel. Then leg over nicely (neck straight). Roll into soft feel means “gather up into light contact”

3. No reins, no feel. Use just leg to send horse over, not forward.

4. No legs. Pick up hand and wait for roll over. (This is using your butt. He doesn't say so, but when you take your hand around, it shifts your butt bones.)

He can make his horse's butt dance with weight shifts. We need to learn that level of finesse.

Hobbles: Uses a 3 way rig (includes a back foot) because he wants a horse to stand still in hobbles. Horses can go a pretty good ways in just front-feet hobbles. Horse should stand still in hobbles. Start with fetlocks, move to cannon bones when horse is solid in a 3 way rig. Horses feet need to be OK with ropes and stuff before hobbles can be started.

Exercise: Short serpentine to start, after several turns, trot out on a loose rein and then bend to a stop on the inside rein. Work both ways.

Exercise: Pick up a brisk walk and practice getting a soft feel, then releasing the feel. Keep a good, cadenced walk. DO NOT hold the feel at this point. Just practice getting it and releasing it.

Walking out via ruining the jog. (Brannaman is not a fan of the jog.)

1. Be bad at jogging (flop around like a sack of potatoes)

2. ask for jog and suck at it

3. eventually the horse will not-jog but instead offer a big walk. Yay.

Retry at the walk via seat, then pick up soft feel until the feet come through. Practice rating your horse off your seat and feel at the walk, it will do wonders for your canter.

More. Walk to canter transition. RH RF LH LF is the cadence. If you can call out the foot, you can select the proper moment to ask for a canter departure.

Feet can only be directed when they leave the ground.

Movements at fast walk with soft feel on and off. The breaks in feel (rests where the horse is trusted to keep walking briskly by himself on a loose rein) are important.

Exercise: 180's with HQ FH

HQ: Rein at pocket

FH: Rein out to side, add a supporting rein as well.

LEG CHANGES when you switch from HQ to FH

Break into a soft feel, forward walk between efforts.

This is helpful with a wall.

Use timing. When the right hind is leaving the ground for rolling the HQ over to the left... when the left hind is leaving the ground for rolling the HQ over to the right.

3 ways to leg-yield.

1. leading FH

2. leading HQ

3. even front and back

Be distinct in which one you want and you can then get the one you ask for. Which one you want is determined by where your pushing leg is when you ask for the yield.

Lesson planning: Change it up and don't hammer on one thing all day long.

Horse should stay cadenced and rhythmic on a loose rein. Should NOT surge forward when feel is released. (The reason you gather up and release feel all the time is to reassure horse that you will release feel and that it will be OK to come in because he can go out again shortly.)

Exercise: Working at soft feel with the trot. Get it, release it. Get it, release it. Horse to stay cadenced and relaxed without change in speed or attitude.

Stop, go back, respect the halt. Do NOT stop, go back, and lunge forward like some sort of out of control yahoo. That's not the point here.

Get feel, get out. Don't get feel and then hang onto it for dear life.

Exercise: Trot-halt transitions.

1. establish a soft feel

2. move butt from position 2 to position 3

3. take hold IF NO STOP ALREADY

4. if not soft at the halt, teeter back.

5. Dwell in the halt. Do not immediately go forward right away.

Not seeing proper posture shift on the people doing this exercise.

The stop-n-roll backwards teaches a proper halt. Halt should come from the HQ, not from jamming the FH into the dirt.

Exercise: leg-directed serpentines at the walk.

Use rein if no success (be sure to time rein efforts with inside leg coming off the ground). This figure is more open that the ribbon-candy shape of Short Serpentine.

The leg guiding on the open serpentine is to help you refine and improve your leg aids so that when you put them together with rein aids, you can get more out of it.

Always try to improve the better deal you're asking your horse.

On the 180 HQ-FH exercise, people need more bend.

Two elements of soft feel

1. elevation of horse

2. atlas/axis flexion

A gathered-up horse is about an inch and a half taller than a non-gathered-up horse. This height change is at the withers, not just in the head.

Exercise: Rolling forward and backward (back ten, walk forward 10, back 9, walk forward 9)

Prepare to position for the transition. Stopping: soften in 2, then move to 3, then (if no stop) hands. Stop should come from the seat.

DAY 3.

Sooty buckskin and light palomino have divorced. Sooty buckskin looks happier.

Lady with chestnut and sheepskin saddle has changed to a snaffle bit, much improvement.

Offer the good deal first but reinforce if nothing happens. When you offer the good deal first, and are ignored, that is NOT ALLOWED.

Use timing instead of retaliation. There is no place for temper in this. Getting a horse to move out when he is refusing to move: Leg, show, tap, repeat. Set up the good deal again. Position 2, show, tap. There's a second and a half delay between the good deal and the reinforcement. Tap on hip, not flank or you might get more response than you really want.

Sometimes the devil you know...

Amount of life needed is directly related to the amount of life you can direct and control. As rider gets better, rider needs more life. But you gradually get this.

Every time you move a horse out, it is an opportunity to improve.

Vengeance has no part in this. People get tired of asking nice first and they go right to the bad deal. If all you ever show the horse is the bad deal, why should he try harder for the good deal. VERY IMPORTANT to offer the good deal.

Rope might be informative for horses. This afternoon, work some with rope.

Horses need to be able to separate “deal with this” from “respond to a cue”. Horse needs to be “used to legs” but also responsive to legs.

You're teaching the horse to read rider intent. The tool you use is not all that important.

Follow a feel is the goal, here.

Ground work for these folks is not good enough. Better ground work = better safety. Get a green light before you get on. (Horse to be with you, calm, relaxed, stepping over with near hind, etc.)

Key concept – horse moving on a feel. This is a pressure-free offering of direction, NO PULLING.

Leading arm offers a feel. No more. If there is not a response to the leading arm, THEN drive from behind. You do not benefit the horse by pulling on him with the leading arm. That is NOT what we are trying to teach with this ground work.

When horse spooks like a watermelon seed, get where they are going. Ride where they are at BUT get ready to block and reassert your rectangle. Getting used to the scary thing is NOT as important as respect. There is always another scary thing.

Your horse's job is to stay in the rectangle.

If horse blows through legs/rein, you can spend your whole life riding around scary things. Horses that blow through legs do not respect the legs.

If blown through leg, be very firm about maintaining the rectangle. Rider (not horse) is in charge of the rectangle.

Fidgety horse for mounting.

1. Soften on slobber strap

2. if feet move, do some work on the strap until horse is ready to stand

3. do not get on a moving horse, there is disrespect from the start

4. work on standing still first

Maintain personal space with the horse. Stop earlier. Do not wait so long to correct. Don't let it get that far. More aware of what is going on so that you can do less, sooner.

Set boundaries for the horse. These rules are “all the time”. Boss horse is always boss horse. You cannot have “sometimes” rules and be successful.

Be firm when you need to be, light when you can. Backing on a slobber strap is a wave back-n-forth thing, not a straight-back-to-chest thing. Straight-back-to-chest leads to more brace from the horse.

Nice rhythmic trot on a loose rein is good for the horse mind. People need to do more of this.

Box as metaphor for the aids.

Stopping with one rein – let horse find the stop. Turn head, leg until the hq rolls over. Take leg off. Soften body (to position 3) and then just wait for the horse to stop.

On backing up

1. Get a feel first. Gather up your horse before asking for reverse.

2. Feel the horse's weight start to shift.

3. Cue should be concise and not confusing. He prefers “open your leg” to applying leg pressure b/c it feels different than asking a horse to collect.

Collection is driving in with legs while horse is in a feel with the hands. The back up cue that most people use is very similar to that. The legs-off backup differentiates this better for the horse.

Backing through terror is not cool.

Exercise: Short serpentine to trot out and stop on inside rein. The trot is to be on a loose rein. (Many people have trouble with concept of loose rein.)

Don't ride a horse into trouble. Steer in advance of the wreck.

On the one-rein stop, use your leg in time with the hind foot on the inside coming off the ground to roll the inside leg over. Timing and smoothness will help.

Seat position for one-rein stop is 2 when you start. Once you have rolled the hq over and have taken your leg off, go to 3 to signal “stop moving”. This got a “good question” from Buck.

Trotting on a loose rein. If this does not work, one-rein stop and then halt, teeter back, WAIT, and then try again. Each time you'll get a little less trot until your horse can loose rein trot at a speed you want and stay there. Trust the horse, but reinforce.

Use the upper leg (thigh) sometimes to pre-cue. No need to use the lower leg if the upper leg works.

2 reins creates stress for your horse. 1 rein does not create stress.

On the one-rein, take your hand to the same place every time (front pocket) and do not forget to use leg.

With the short serpentine, you need to get the front feet to reach and cross over, not just the hind feet.

People are backing the whole way around the ring on foot, one hand on outside slobber strap. Need flexion at the poll. Back and forth under jaw, not pulling toward chest.

Many repeats of trot on, get soft feel, release fully. When that's working good, hold on feel and ease down into the walk (trying to work off of seat) Many many halt/back10/forward sets.

Position 2 to position 3. If you are backing without softness, keep backing up until there is proper flexion with the backing. Once there is backing with flexion, release pressure every step. Roll the horse forward and back using your seat.

Afternoon session.

Carry the soft feel through the teardrop (and back to track). Then try the teardrop exercise again, with soft feel and flexion into leg yield back to track. Goal here is to change flexion without loosing the feel.

The change in flexion happens at the half circle point of the turn. (I really need illustrations here.)

You hit the rail with the proper bend and then you will get the correct lead every time.

More advanced – teardrop and then leg-yield, maintain lightness in leg yield then strike off in lope. This gets horse into habit of picking up suggested lead on a straight line.

The leg yield on these teardrops should be shoulder-forward. You can also do the teardrop at a lope. It's more advanced. Canter into the teardrop, complete half circle, drop to trot at that point, pick up new bend, and leg yield at trot to rail, then strike off in canter on new lead. Avoid horse's butt end spinning out on these teardrops.

On a green horse with looking for a soft feel, you are using an infinite amount of distance to get it. A more capable horse can do this in a shorter distance.

One handing a snaffle bit. Put four fingers between the reins with the loop. The loop goes over the back of your hand (for easy reloading). Coiled loop is for extra length when you need it. Coil can be reloaded with one pull. How often you reload the coil will let you know how well it's going. (You need to slip the coil for a more leading rein, can work off a more-constant coil for a more indirect rein.)

Coil exists to use direct rein properly when needed.

It is not appropriate to steer a snaffle bit on a short roping rein because it's a yank yank thing. (When you are direct reining to the right, you're short enough to be yanking on the left. Bad.)

Exercise: Yin-Yang Circle direction change

Start exercise 2 handed, progress to one-handed by upending the palm at the middle of the circle. In the beginning, there is no leg yield, only a change of flexion. Once the change of flexion is working OK, then you can start looking for a leg yield.

If horse braces before giving, it might be because of the feel you are offering. Abrupt is not the way.

A horse needs to soften on the short serpentine.

Walk rating, speed through soft feel. Slow but straight, with feel, then transition upwards to faster bigger walk with feel. Horse should clean and quick transition from up to down. Ask with your body first and then use hands to reinforce if no response to body. Remember the good deal.

Exercise: Walk transitions up to trot, soften, back to walk.

1. Move from walk to trot on a loose rein.

2. Establish soft feel at trot.

3. Carry soft feel downward to walk, walk 3 steps, then throw slack.

4. Walk on for a bit. Then re-establish soft feel at walk.

5. Move up to trot

6. Hold soft feel 3 steps at trot, then throw slack.

Soft feel cannot be carried until it is instant on gathering the reins.

Heat: just block it out. Focus is critical.

Exercise: Teardrops

This is the half circle to the inside. Use your legs in between half circles, work on soft feel. The soft feel will come first on a straight horse with no flexion. This is the easiest place to get it and the place where you should start working.

Stop: Soft feel. Move body to position 3. THEN if no stop, take hold.

Clinics are not fun until Sunday/Monday.

Exercise: 180 HQ-FH swaps

1. Short on rein to get HQ

2. LONG on rein to get FH

3. remember to move your hand when changing HQ to FH

4. Use your legs!

Exercise: Soft feel while trotting. Establish, then leg yield toward the rail and regular trot toward the infield. Lather, rinse, repeat.

While trotting, get soft feel and release without a change or surge in speed. If horse insists on surging forward, stop, back, rebalance, and then go onward. DO NOT get angry.

Make sure your release is full and real. Give a real release or your horse will not help. Trust the horse to do the right thing.

We are looking for forward, straight, calm, accurate on a loose rein. Your horse can do this.

Downward transitions with a soft feel.

Ensure everyone is trotting on a loose rein (many people still have trouble with what is “loose” and they're not really letting go. The English seat riders in particular need to work on this.)

Then open serpentine at the walk on a long rein. Offer legs first to steer, then rein reinforcing if not responsive. Time rein to lift of inside front leg.

Exercise: Leg yield to rail, go straight and soft for a while, drift back to infield, go straight and soft, then leg yield to rail.

Many people are not good at this leg yield exercise.

For moving laterally: One rein is for lateral flexion (inside) and one rein (outside) is for longitudinal flexion.

When doing leg yields, switch it up. Do forehand leading, HQ leading, or midsection (even) leading.

*** Haunches-In. Leg yield out to rail, remove inside leg, drop outside leg back, step hips over a couple of steps, and throw slack and move on. This is a progression of the leg yield. Remember to keep the bend the same from the leg yield to the haunches-in.

Now do this leg-yield exercise at the trot.

Body positions, review.

Position 1: jumping position, very forward

Position 2: regular forward, balanced

Position 3: halt, back on your pockets.

Exercise: Backing a half circle. Note that lateral bend on horse is opposite direction of the circle bend. Swing rein in time with the (inside bend, not 'inside of circle') front foot to sweep that foot out. You can also do this in sections, like a quarter at a time. Back-n-swing sets very valuable for balance. (This is called a Reach Offset) Be smooth and relaxed. Back-two-three-four, roll the front through.

Trot on, soft feel, pos3 halt, back half circle to other direction.

Watch on teardrop to half yield example, see that horse does not anticipate the change in flexion.

If you are feeling a brace when transitioning from the trot to the walk, ride on at fast walk. It will take lots and lots of transitions. Use soft feel down into walk. Trot on loose rein, get soft feel gong down. Get soft feel downward first because it is probably easier.

Horse gets stuck on backing – soft feel is not just in head/neck. It is to go through to the feet. It is to be meaningful, not just “tuck your chin”.

Backing with effort

1. soft feel 100% of steps

2. start slow

3. speed up out of rhythm

4. need good timing

5. release is critical

On life: You can bring it up, but can you shut it down? You need to be able to work that dial BOTH ways.

On a horse dull to your leg: Offer a good deal but then do what it takes to get a result. Always offer the good deal first.

On feel: We need to be looking for the feel and the proper weight. Horse should weigh no more than the rein.

Monday, Day 4

Engineering a divorce

1. When near buddy horse, more work

2. recheck back to make sure it's still good

3. herd bound horses are not tolerated

4. eliminates insecurity

5. makes first ride with colts a lot easier.

The deal here is that you trot around. Horse does not have to leave his buddy, but he does have to work to be near buddy. Has to trot circles around buddy. Can only stop away from buddy.

The benefit of cows: Maybe we should explore this. We have cows.

Do not rope bears.

The deal here is that it does not matter how well you can one-rein stop if you get too far behind the game. Do little sooner. Get on the problem when things START to go south right away, then try again. Right away. People get paranoid and expect terrible. It's hard for the horse to do the right thing. Hand over the loose rein.

People ask for “forward” and then are like “whoa, not so much”.

In the one-rein, HQ has to roll over first (90 to 180 degrees worth) THEN take the leg off and shift butt to position 3. Keep holding the bend until the horse stops.

When practicing stops, throw the slack. See if horse honors the stop. If not, one-rein the other direction, roll over, throw the slack. Horse needs to respect the stop.

Many people one-rein-pause instead of one-rein stop. (Nick needs this exercise.) Shut down bad stuff more quickly. Be exact and consistent.

One rein stop on the ungratefuls, too – the only tool you have to help a colt is the lateral stop.

If horse has a head of steam, your one-rein stop may have to taper in before you can have the HQ step over. You need that clean break (the step over) on the HQ.

Exercise: Half Circles on the ground, person walks forward.

This exercise will help you isolate the FH and HQ on your horse.

HQ first, then FH. Easier to settle and relax the HQ before you start looking at FH movement.

Horse is NOT to crowd you with a flag or ground work. Get them off your body, with as much vigor as is necessary.

A horse moving up to trot is reacting to more life in the rider. Offer the good deal. The good deal is NOT KICKING. It is not “Kick a little”. It's more of an “open your leg/seat and see if that works” The goal here is to do AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE and still get the result. Kick first is NOT a good deal.

Bringing life down is difficult for people. More than bringing life up. The dial-it-down skill is crucial, particularly for our critters.

Dialing down comes from feel. You need to quiet your own self. Throw some slack, trust horse to behave. Rest space is important.

Mecate coil, recall, is to allow for adjustable rein length. This is to help people figure out rein management, like when they need both long and short rein distances.

Snaffle horses need both long (clear lateral cues) and short (feel, longitudinal flexion) rein lengths.

The “hop down reins” is also rein management. These nuances will help people to do better at riding mostly because they improve the people's own skills. More constant, more exact, more useful.

Pig farmers ride with halters under their bridles.

Buck uses parachute cord and makes a lot of his own gear for using.

Mecate is 22' or thereabouts. That's probably longer than we need for our critters. (I should measure with Nick.)

Exercise: Short serpentine. Much practice is needed with this and it's an exercise that keeps giving. On the serpentine, the fronts should cross. Both ends should work for the turns. Better timing on the inside front leg && rein coordination. Remember to use your legs, keep neck bend more than 90 deg.

Exercise: 180 HQ/FH swaps. Keep bend in horse throughout turn.

Using a flag to move horse around – helpful if legs are not that effective.

Half circle to the inside, should have less bend and a floaty front end.

The half circles on the ground (with advancing human) will help a lot with the 180 HQFH stuff in the saddle.

Maintain same bend for HQ and FH when you move your hand out to the side.

This 180 exercise needs a free and forward walk. People are stalling out in the middle.

Exercise: Rating at the walk. Slow down with soft feel, then loose rein walk out. The walk rating exercise works on several levels:

1. slow down and pick up soft feel – people kind of turn off their seat and quiet their bodies when they're doing this

2. walk out on loose rein – people look up and relax, kind of go “OK, that's what I want”

Strive for more control, more finesse.

Exercise: Back and forward. Look for straight and precise. Back ten steps, come forward ten steps. Back nine, come forward nine. Stay straight. This is good rectangle practice.

A horse will not be light to your hand if it is dull to your leg.

Two hands and going forward straight does not help the tight horse. Go to ONE REIN and bend, bend, bend. Bend the horse a lot, enough to exorcise the demons. More bending.

Constant pulling on the forward horse is not bloody well helpful. (I need to work on this.) Throwing the slack to a horse is an underrated skill.

Basic half circle to the inside, help by timing your inside rein with the inside front foot.

Loose rein trot to one-rein stop, to bending at the halt. Repeat, repeat, repeat. MOAR TROTTN.

The hind breakover is important because of balance.

Trotting – get the soft feel and then get out.

Note that soft feel exercise comes at the trot after we've done loose rein trot for rather a while. Horses are not super-fresh or forward at this point.

Human evenness helps with horse evenness.

Takeaways for the morning class:

Practice on foot.

More ground work.

There's a book. On ground work.

Personal things to work on: Slack rein. Relief of pressure. OK to throw reins to the horse. Self-rating. Get out of horse's way. Less bottling up of pressure.

Afternoon session.

On back foot, unweight the foot you want before you go to lift it. (This is for picking up feet) Olivia and Punch could use this. Peake and Te already know to do this.

Pick up and hold for longer and dink around or move foot into simulated shoeing positions. Uneven hips are not comfortable for the horse.

Short serpentine is more hands-based and the open serpentine is more legs-based.

In the teardrop exercise, legs work on the bending, etc. Hands work more on the lat/long flexion.

Remember, the teardrop exercise builds to flying lead changes.

He starts with the complicated advance-the-horse exercises when the horse is fairly fresh. Short session of new stuff and then done. End on a good note.

Perfect is not useful to pursue in the short term. Be more happy with incremental progress. Asking for perfect discourages the horse. Ask for IMPROVEMENT, not perfection.

Failure to give attention is disrespectful.

Teardrop exercise he does is at a finite distance because the horse is more ready to get in and get soft. Beginner horses may need more space to get r done.

If you cannot pick a soft feel at the trot on a finite distance, do more work on an infinite distance and a straight line.

You need to be able to go from a loose rein to a soft feel at all gaits before you are ready to ask for collection.

The one-rein stop shuts down trouble when you are looking for a straight, loose trot, easy and relaxed.

Also, the long trotting is to start the concept of self-carriage for a horse.

When you pick up a rein, have in mind what you are looking for. Keep in mind incremental improvement.

I think more ground skills for the ungratefuls. Backing in circles. That arc thing.

Make straights straight and bends bendy. Be exact.

Let horse have some responsibility for staying straight and steady.

You need to not let the idea “steer every single footstep” rule your life. Horse does not get responsible without the opportunity to BE responsible. This takes practice.

“Don't ever let anyone see you train a horse.” Adjustments should be small and barely noticeable.

Rider expectations before the hackamore. They're quite solid before he moves up. Hackamore is for longitudinal flexion, not for beginner skills.

Exercise: Short serpentine to 180 HQ/FH's. Smooth on HQ and FH.

Leg position controls leg yield position. Leg more forward makes a shoulder-lead leg yield. Leg more backward makes a HQ lead leg yield.

Trot and establish a feel, leg yield to rail, ooze back over, soft leg yield in softness. This should not be yanky.

On the straight sides, lope the straight but not the corner. Use a diagonal aid for the canter.

Backing the circle on a green horse. Legs are not much used for this. Horse is bent opposite the bend of the circle, legs are off, leading rein only. OPEN inside leg (inside of horse bend) to move the door open.

HQ movement is a forward move, and so is the FH movement on the 180 swaps. Horse does not shift weight backwards for either part.

This mounted backing-a-circle builds off the backing-on-slobber-strap exercise you do on the ground. If horse can do that on the ground, he can do it while you sit on him.

Tip nose outside the circle, do not bend horse in line with the circle.

Going backwards is sort of an outer bend. Going forward there is not much space for a counter bend – only in very specific cow-working conditions.

On the 180 swaps, you do not NEED a roll backward between HQ and FH turns. When you roll the HQ over, the horse is ready for the FH swap.

Different exercise: Back to right, as right front leg leaves, sweep across and teeter back. Back quarter circle, sweep FH across, teeter back. When you shift to sweep the front, use front leg and leading rein together, put rider leg on at girth. NO LEG while backing.

The 180 swap exercise does NOT have a rock back between the HQ and FH sweep. Rocking back in the middle of an 180 swap makes the front foot step BEHIND the other front foot, which is dangerous and bad.

This (new) exercise, the quarter-circle backup and sweep FH over, is called “outside turn”

Check lateral flexion before the FH sweep but it should be there from backing already. DO NOT over turn.

When backing arcs, only do until you get a nice and pretty arc. Do not set out for half a circle or whatever. Set out for “correct”.

The back-a-circle thing is preparation for the turn. As horse progresses, less is needed. Use feel, not pulling.

These exercises are not stuck in the arena. Do things outside. Go out and do stuff.

Exercise: Mirroring the “cow”. Make one person the cow and one person the horse. The “cow” does stuff. The “horse” follows the cow. Use this to try to make the horses better. Mirror each other.

People who ask questions are not very solid on what they want to accomplish with their questions.

Backing the circle is a small tip to the outside, about 30 degrees. Overbending on backing the circle is nonproductive.

[emir-avci-blog]

Dubai

Although I was born in Baghdad, I do not have much memories of it because I left Iraq at a very young age due to the war. My family decided to move to Istanbul, Turkey where the rest of my relatives lived. I spent around 2 years there until I was 6 years old. My father then found a job in Dubai, UAE and decided to take a life changing decision and move there, and he took us with him. I have since spent the majority of my life living in Dubai, until I moved to Vancouver 2 years ago. 

Initially, moving from Istanbul to Dubai was a challenge for both my family and I because we were living away from all our relatives and close family members in Turkey. This however did not stop us from visiting Istanbul every summer. Living in Dubai was like a dream come true. As I grew up, I realized how lucky I was to live in such a beautiful and multicultural city.

#dxb #skyline

Many people who live outside the Middle East think that Dubai is a country. I have been asked countless times as to which city I lived in back in Dubai. First and foremost, there are seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, and Dubai is one of them. Dubai is an emirate as to Vancouver is a city. Although I have been to several places in my life, Dubai is the most developed in terms of architecture and innovation. I used to live in an apartment building which was quite new when we first moved to Dubai. It looked like a modern building as it was completely covered in glass and it was always shining. 

#downtown #dubai #burjkhalifa

I used to live in the city centre of Dubai, meaning that it was always crowded and noisy. However, thanks to its relative location, it had many benefits such as the close proximity to shopping malls, grocery stores, my soccer club, and even my school. I used to live in a building which was 15 floors high. My family still live there. Back when I used to live with them, we constantly had family friends over at our house. There were countless gatherings, food preparations and card games involved. It is a part of our culture to have family and friends at our house and serve them the best meals and give them the best hospitality. I have not come across the warm and family oriented culture here in Canada yet. I also visited shopping malls quite often to hang out with my friends and to relax. Unfortunately, shopping malls were places where we spent most of our free times because of the unbearable Dubai heat. However, the location of my house made it slightly more bearable because we lived on the 14th floor which made us prone to cool winds because we were not far from the ocean. I also impacted my house in many ways, one of which was helping serve the guests. It was crucial to serve your guests in the best manner so they could leave satisfied, and so they would do the same when you went over to their house. I helped around the house and made sure the guests were content with their visit. I am trying to integrate my culture here by inviting friends over to my dorm room so we could have a small gathering and play card games. Besides my culture impacting me and teaching me to be a good host, it has influenced me to be kind and giving, too.

#citycentre #deira #home

Most people in Dubai usually need a car to travel from place to place. I say usually because not everyone can afford a car in Dubai. The public transport runs mainly through the inner city, and not the suburbs. Dubai’s public transport system is basically seen as a low-class means of transportation. This is because most of the minimum wage workers use the public transport. Compared to Vancouver, Dubai has massive traffic problem. This is because of the amount of cars there is on the road. During rush hours, it can take you up to 3 hours to get to work or school, and unfortunately I had to go through that for the 12 years I lived there. Sometimes, tragically, there would be an accident, and that would make EVERYTHING worse. The [already long] 1 hour commute turns into 2, then 3. At that point, you start questioning life and wondering whether all this stress and hassle is worth it. In the moment, it probably wasn’t, but now it definitely is. My school was close to my home in terms of distance. It was approximately a 15 minute drive on a weekend, when there was no traffic at all. However, this time increase to one and a half hour in weekdays. I think that I used to hate going to school because of traffic. It would have been much more different if I lived in a place where I could walk to school. Luckily, I could catch up on my interrupted sleep in the car, that is until I started driving. My father used to drop us to school, and no, he did not like the traffic either. I mean, at 6am in the morning, who does? He could definitely have sent us by public transport, but even he felt bad for us because taking the metro on a Monday morning would be worse than being stuck in traffic for hours on end. My father was very excited that I got my license, probably more excited than I was. He was quite relieved that I could now drive to school by myself and he wouldn't have to drop me off. Although he stopped driving me to school, he bought me my very first car and this meant that there was one more car on the road which contributed to the traffic problem in Dubai. There is no doubt that car culture exists in Dubai. The main reason people buy cars in the first place is convenience. Secondly because Dubai is mainly based on a highway-style infrastructure, meaning that a person usually needs to use the highway in order to get to their desired location. Cabs are quite expensive and public transport isn't as reliable. Therefore, people opted to spend their money on cars. Quite honestly, I prefer the public transport system that Vancouver has easily adapted to because for me, it is more reliable and hassle-free, and cheap too.

#traffic #rushhour #stress

Growing up, I loved soccer. It was a cultural thing because I learned from my father and uncles how fun it is to go to matches and have passion for the team you support. I played soccer every weekend since I joined the soccer club in Dubai. I still play on weekends here in Vancouver, even if its just kicking around for half an hour. I feel the urge to play soccer because for that time being, your mind is focused on something you enjoy doing and passionate about. Joining the soccer club in Dubai changed everything for me. It was called Al Shabab Club (which, from Arabic, translates to The Youngsters Club). It was very close to my house, and not very far from my school so I used to take a cab with my friends after school to go to training, or just walk if I were at home. It was the best way to escape my studies and homeworks after a long tiring day in school. It just made me feel relaxed. I made a lot of friends in the club and enjoyed going to tournaments and winning trophies for my team. It made me feel good because I felt that I was giving back to my soccer community because they accepted me to play and showcase my skills and passion for soccer. I still keep in touch with my team mates from the club and we sometimes tease each other about the mistakes we made and the opportunities we missed in important matches. Al Shabab Club also helped me develop a healthier lifestyle because of the way we trained and ate. I started eating healthier foods and exercised more regularly. In doing so, I also benefited from the healthy food options our whole food grocery stores had to offer. I also learned about discipline and respect. They told us that we could only be better players if we had these two traits and that our skills didn’t matter if we were disrespectful to others. 

#team #club #soccer

I attended Al Salam Private School in the Nahda district in Dubai. I studied there for 12 years, meaning I attended only one school in my life. In Dubai, the education system is such that a school can consist of pre-school, primary school and secondary schools all in one building, belonging to one owner. Al Salam was a place where I made many special friendships which I still cherish today. I keep in touch with most of my teachers and make sure I am in contact with them, because again, they have known me for many years. I have also served as the Sports Captain of my school, and have represented the school in many sporting events such as soccer tournaments and sports days. I was also the soccer team captain for many years. This made me quite popular amongst teachers and students and I earned the respect I wanted mainly because I wanted to leave behind a respectful school career. Younger students were always asking me questions about sports and how they could become better athletes. This made me realize how much I impacted my school community and probably even helped students follow their passions and dreams.

#school #12years #lastday

Dubai has a bright side, and a dull side too. Not many people talk about the latter. In fact, it is kept away from people so that the media only focuses on the luxurious and lavish life in Dubai. The city has many expats. They are mostly from the Middle East and South Asia. Some people from South Asia come to work dirty and risky jobs such as janitors and construction workers. The majority of these workers send a part of their salary back home to support their families. Many of these workers stay in their designated areas of living, which is on the outskirts of the city. These places are quite far from the ‘bright’ side of the city, making them almost invisible. They are roughly 20-30km far from the downtown area. Some of the things my school taught me, that no one else did, was that these people were the ones helping build Dubai and developing the country as a whole. Ironically, they are the ones who make sure the lights are working and the city is brightly lit, and they are also the ones who live the in the dull and dark areas on the outskirts of the city. In school, I learned that these workers were as important to us as any other person making a change for a better Dubai, and a better world. Therefore, we were continuously encouraged to give them food and water so that they could at least save their minimal salary to support their families back home. Even giving a cold bottle of water to a worker working a long shift in the heat would be counted as help, because you are telling them that people actually recognize their effort and appreciate their work. If it weren’t for my school, I would not have seen the darker side of Dubai. My school helped me appreciate the workers’ efforts. I gave back to my community by helping the workers. Thus, this made me a better citizen and a far better person.

#workers #midday #break

#construction #speed #workers

My life in Dubai was quite comfortable, to be honest. This was mainly because I depended on my parents for everything. These included my basic needs such as money, food, gas (for my car), and some of the things I wanted too, such as clothes. However, here in Vancouver, I am a self-dependent type of person now. Well firstly because I work and earn my own money, and second because I learned to be independent through the difficulties and challenges which moving to a new country, at the other end of the world, gave me. My daily routine back in Dubai consisted of me waking up early in the morning, getting in my car and driving to school. Then, I would go to my soccer club if I had any practice sessions that evening. Later, I would go home and have a descent home-cooked food made by my mother’s precious hands. We would of course sit at the dinner table as a family, and started eating only until everyone was seated. This is the culture and routine I was used to. I was a part of that family routine for over a decade. I helped around the house, supported my father with his work, and sometimes even cooked. However, coming here to Vancouver, everything changed. Firstly, and sadly, I do not own a car (I am saving up for it though). Secondly, working and earning money at a reputable pizza shop is now a part of my weekend routine. Last but not least, I have to eat alone most of the time, unless my friends are available to join me. These experiences have made me a stronger and more independent person because I learned to cope with managers, professors, and, of course, life.

#mustang #mycar #memories

#pizza #work #job

Ultimately I think that I have impacted the world in many ways, and the world has shaped me in many ways too. Moving from one country to another, learning to communicate and write in new languages and adapting to a new culture and being a part of it adds to the society and culture I live in and the new ones I visit. This becomes even more impactful when I start behaving and compromising to the cultures’ expectations. I also believe that joining the soccer club has had an impact on my society. This is because my club taught me not only to be a better soccer player and team mate, but also a better human being, which ultimately spreads into the larger communities in the long term. Although my contribution to the community has been insignificant in terms of size, considering the world is a place with over 8 billion people, it has developed my sense of the world and how to be a better citizen. Being a member of my house, living with my family, being present in family gatherings and social events has also impacted my community because I believe that I also influence younger people to be active and get involved in such important life long relations. Being a part of my school was also a huge impact, because I had been studying there for over a decade. This showed my commitment and respect to the school because I would eventually leave my comfort zone to take my first step into post secondary education. I believe that this showed the younger people in my school that stepping out of your comfort zone is good and helps you be independent. I still visit my school every time I go back to Dubai, just to keep in touch with my teachers and talk to younger students about my experience living and studying abroad. Overall, I think that I still have lots more to learn and take in what the world has to offer me, and I am not going to spend a single second living in boredom or disinterest. I live my life to the fullest, and will continue to explore and visit new places once I get the opportunities to do so.

Image References

https://www.theweek.in/youzone/triptease/triptease-dubai-a-land-of-superlatives.html

http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/transport/dubai-s-traffic-travails-in-depth-look-1.2140259

https://fanack.com/migrant-labour/migrant-construction-workers-in-the-uae/

The team photo and my school’s entrance picture belong to me.

I retrieved the GIFS from Tumblr.

Map References

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/United+Arab+Emirates/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x3e5e48dfb1ab12bd:0x33d32f56c0080aa7?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj11e2S9pXaAhUKw2MKHaykCVwQ8gEI_QEwDg

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Deira+-+Dubai+-+United+Arab+Emirates/@25.269022,55.2905838,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x3e5f434f37cdae93:0xde756363a1b78491!8m2!3d25.2788468!4d55.3309395

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Al+Salam+Private+School+%26+Nursery/@25.2888215,55.3675683,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x3e5f5c68a9949ae1:0xf4dc2489cdaef1b6!8m2!3d25.2888215!4d55.369757

         All images and maps were retrieved on March 30th 2018

[foundtheworl]

New Post has been published on Found The World

New Post has been published on https://foundtheworld.com/importance-learning-languages-traveling/

The Importance of Learning Languages for Traveling

Within our world there is approximately 7.4 billion people, there are 7099 languages spoken according to the “Ethnologue: Languages of the World”. Being able to speak these many languages is something no one is able to do. However, when it comes to traveling, being able to speak the language of the new country is a huge advantage. Communication builds an automatic trust between locals and visitors. Travelers are less likely to have fear in a new country when they can easily ask for directions and make conversation. The gap between the different cultures doesn’t seem as large when people are able to understand each other. Learning a new language will only benefit you greatly because it will connect you with another part of the world.

Locals respond really well to people who speak their native tongue, it is especially fun to be able to speak something that people assume you wouldn’t. Due to my German heritage, I usually receive surprised looks when I open my mouth and Spanish flows out of it. But I love this and always use this to my advantage when I am traveling.

The world is more connected and it is not unusual for people to speak multiple languages that they learned from either their families, for work, or from traveling. An important lesson to be learned is never judge a book by its cover and assume someone won’t be able to understand you. Sometimes when I am in a different country, at first I purposely will only speak English in public places such as the grocery store. In Hispanic countries people assume that I am North American and that I don’t speak Spanish, and sometimes I catch people talking about me.

There was a grocery store in the Dominican Republic that I went to every week, and the same man would always talk about me to his coworkers in a joking way. How he was going to propose to the “gringa”, but how she would never say yes because she can’t speak Spanish. One day as I was picking out produce I turned to him and said ‘…you know I can’t understand you, right?’ his mouth dropped and his coworkers and I started laughing and laughing. After that day, every time he saw me he would snicker and make note to ask me about my life in Spanish.

It can be really intimidating to go somewhere new and try to understand what’s going on. Not only is it scary but it is a very humbling experience to be thrown out of your element. Without the ability to communicate the independence of a person is instantly taken away, because they are completely dependent on a translator to convey their thoughts and wishes. Ideas can easily be lost in translation and this form of communication can often put people in an overwhelming situation.

One of my friends who spoke Spanish was traveling in Colombia, and had complete dependence on her travel partner to help her with every part of her day. From translating menus, ordering at restaurants, to asking for directions, she would require assistance. She told me that it was really strange to not be able to do basic things. As her month abroad progressed she learned new words and was able to pick out words on menus and understand simple conversations, however it was frustrating not being able to freely communicate the way she wanted. When she did learn words it was hard for her to practice them because she felt afraid of how locals would react to her.

The truth is that it really doesn’t matter how bad your pronunciation is, or if you mess up new words, saying something is better than saying nothing. Locals will not laugh at your for trying, instead they will be happy that you are trying. People will always appreciate the effort, and body language is a huge part of communication. Even if you say a word in a sentence completely off, there is nothing to worry about because most likely a local will still respond positively. Sometimes accidentally saying the wrong word can create a hilarious situations and you will always remember to never make that mistake again.

One of the cringiest mistakes I made, is when I tried to translate the English phrase of ‘you suck’ into Spanish. I meant it as a playful, friendly, and innocent statement to one of my male friends because he was teasing me about being clumsy. However, this did not come across as I had hoped and instead I called him a blowjob. To make the story more awkward, I was standing in a church and many members of the congregation heard me. To this day, I am very cautious about translating English slang literally into Spanish because I understand how wrong it can sound.

A lot of people would like to learn a new language but understand that it isn’t their strong suit, there are a lot of tips that people can use which will make learning easier. The first one is knowing what your learning style is, know how you retain information and then try repeating new words 7 times over, draw pictures, write it down, use the world in conversation, listen to music and videos, or create a memory map. A memory map is using a familiar place, such as the layout of a house or a familiar route, they attaching words to an area or scenario. Usually the more strange you make a memory map the easier it will be to remember.

Often people are not motivated to learn a new language, and I am really guilty of this, I always say that I want to get better at French or German, but months go by and I haven’t picked up a textbook or done anything. Classes are a good way to force yourself to be motivated, knowing that you have specific hours dedicated to learning every week people are more likely to learn. Then there is homework on top of that to retain the information of the class better.

For a more organic way of picking up useful phrases, go to a new country and hangout with locals. Purposely put yourself in situations like dinner parties, where you will understand almost nothing, but constantly listening to a new language will shape your ear to be attuned to new sounds and rhythms. Becoming conversational takes time and a lot of effort, it is important to be patient and wait for language skills to develop.

A large portion of speech is displayed through actions making it a lot easier to understand what is going on by watching people around you interact. Through body language and tone of voice we are able to sense what the theme of a conversation is, whether it is serious, playful, angry, upset, or friendly.

While it is still perfectly acceptable to travel to a country that you don’t speak the language, understanding even a little bit can make your experience in the country so much easier. Morocco was really difficult for me at times because my French isn’t strong enough to be conversational and I knew zero Arabic. I felt completely lost for a large majority of that trip because I needed my friend to translate a lot for me. I still had a really good trip, yet I can imagine how much more in-depth the trip would have been for me if I had been able to talk to locals and ask them about their days.

So many people travel with only knowing one language, and this is perfectly okay to do, however do not make the mistake of being a linguist elitist. English is one of the most common languages in the world, yet the idea that everyone should learn how to speak it while an English speaker is exempted from the work to studying a new language is absurd.

In many expat communities around the world that I have encountered, there is a theme that some internationals have. They believe that instead of attempting to speak the national language that locals should just learn English. This is so backwards for many different reasons, the most prevalent being that these expat communities are residing in a different country and not willing to learn about the culture that they have chosen to live in. Many expats do learn a local tongue and make an effort to be a part of the culture surrounding them.

If learning a new language isn’t an option for you, the next best thing is having a travel buddy that is multilingual. Not everyone has friends that are fluent in multiple languages, so then at least pick up a guidebook and learn how to say ‘hello’. Languages aren’t everyone’s strong suit, but don’t fret, it is true that in most tourist hotspots locals are fluent in English. It’s not mandatory to learn a new language as a traveler, but I suggest it because it will only help you abroad.

[yearinthejournal-blog]

January 9th

2013

So much has happened I’ve been overwhelmed and intimidated by all there is to write about. Easy stuff first. I started school at the local college here on Wednesday the 2nd, a week ago, and I LOVE IT! And I’m doing well. I read the book, preview the lectures before class, take copious amounts of notes, study, do the homework, preview the labs. I’m understanding it and retaining it. I’m trying to make friends, especially with other POC’s, which make up like 75% of my class. Lots of Arabs! Today I gave my info to someone named Kristen. 

I hunt out with Andrew on NYE. We smoked weed and talked, watched things, listened to music. Andrew is one of my favorite people I’ve ever met and one of my best friends. He’s deeply sensitive and feeling, I think, although he doesn’t show it. What a lucky circumstance being his roommate at the stumphouse. He stayed the next day and Esther hung out with us. We got burgers and dressed up and then Andrew and Esther hooked up which was awesome. Andrew’s been really lonely and Esther too, so I was happy about that. Esther is going up to see him this weekend!

I have a crush on my roommate Jenna. I think I have ever since I found out she’s a writer. She’s introverted and reads and she’s personable. It seems obvious to me that there’s a lot going on under the surface and it’s intriguing. I’ve been trying to talk to her more and relate to her. 

After I went to see Lauren, we’d been texting back and forth every day. She would say sweet things to me, like how she went to that sushi place and it didn’t feel the same (we went there together). When I stayed with her, we watched Reno 911 while we were high, and I did that on 12/31, so I texted her and told her and she was being really mean about it, said she was judging me for being high “all the time” and when I said I was trying to be nice, she said “I don’t care.” So I said, “Everyone was right about you.” And that’s when it started. She said the meanest things to me. She said I don’t have my shit together and to act my age. Also, someone was sending me anonymous messages on tumblr telling me to kill myself and I thought it was Lauren so I sent her an email addressing those, and the texts, and that led her sending me a barrage of texts, and posting something on her tumblr with my full name that said I was abusive to her, coerced her into sex, manipulated her into being with me, and isolating her from her friends and family. It was fucking ridiculous. At first I was in so much shock that it shattered my sense of reality and made me feel like my life was ruined. But then Nikky and Heather reached out to me and I found all this support. Nikky told me so many stories about Lauren, and she has done this to a lot of people. She has the same abusive pattern. Lea and Jenna were talking about beating the shit out of her. Nikky is getting together all the people they know that Lauren has harmed and we’re going to have some sort of meeting I guess. I’m waiting to hear back from them. I was feeling a lot better that I’m not alone, and validated. Nikky is lovely to talk to. They really know how to be respectful. Lauren told me Nikky is the worst person she’s ever known, which is just fucking asinine. 

But then I talked to Heather on Monday night and was feeling worse. They were together for 9 months and everything Lauren told me about Heather was a lie. Heather insisted on being polyamorous from the start and was completely honest. Eventually she found out that Lauren had been slowly isolating her from her friends and verbally attacking them behind her back. She finally sent her an email breaking up with her and telling her not to come home. Lauren started attacking Heather too, but also begging her to take her back. Lauren didn’t want to be with anyone else, she didn’t even want to have friends. It was much different from our situation, where I was the one who wanted to be monogo and was codependent. 

I find myself being jealous of Heather! Ugh! Like I want Lauren to want me back. I want her to cling to me, and to not have wanted to see other people. I think how much longer our relationship could have lasted had I not been so clingy. And I feel so awful for feeling this way, what the hell! How fucked up that I want that, that I want such a fucked up relationship with such a fucked up person. I feel like such a freak. I feel like everything Lauren said about me is true. She knows all my faults, all my insecurities, all my triggers, and she used them all against me. She has really affected me, and I try to tell myself that she’s wrong, she’s just a mean irrational person, but I think she’s right about me and it makes me feel hopeless and depressed. I am not okay. I am dysfunctional as fuck.

But I made a promise to be optimistic and also not dwell on things, but get to work. I was thinking about why I want these things, and I think it’s simply that I want someone to care about me in that way. But I never learned how to healthily care about someone, so I don’t distinguish between healthy want and unhealthy want, I just want someone to want me.

I need to not be so desperate for want though. But I’m so scared if I don’t settle, nothing better will come along. But also if I am healthy and don’t allow unhealthy things, I think I will find someone. I’m mad that I do this over and over and over - sabotage every fucking relationship with my codependence. 

Also I feel like I deserve what Lauren is doing to me because I did use to be abusive. And even though I’m not anymore, this is what I deserve perhaps. All my past catching up with me.

For Christmas I went to Marie’s sister, Arlene’s house and we ate food and went to see the Hobbit. It was a joyous day. I love Marie so much. I love having someone to talk to about my deep feelings and thoughts and she validates me a lot. Sometimes I get annoyed because she is constantly asking to borrow money, but it’s helping me to be better at setting boundaries, which is something I need to practice.

[alexstrick]

Language Learner's Journal: Deepening My Studies

[This is a continuation of Taylor's blog series where she details some of the week-in-week-out lessons that she learns through her Arabic studies and coaching work together with me. For other posts in the series, click here.]

An encouraging friend said to me recently that learning a language is like peeling back the layers of an onion. I’ve been studying at Qasid for a month now, and her comparison helped me take stock of what’s happened since then – on a given day, often I can’t call up a specific new fact to tell you that I learned and mastered that day, but indeed I am learning, a lot. This week I gave a twenty-minute presentation to my class that I doubtlessly would have been incapable of doing before I started this program.

Speaking has been my biggest hurdle, and I’ve put a tip of Alex’s into practice over the past two weeks — to find five minutes a day to speak without stopping. I’d like to do even more than that, and Alex also suggested prompting myself with a picture and talking about it for an additional five minutes. But for the time being, the former is all I’m capable of fitting in between class, work, and homework. I’ve been meeting with one of my fabulous Qasid teachers and try to recap the day’s news for her, since I write a global newsletter each day and those events are fresh and relevant to me. We’ve gone over the Gambian electoral standoff, Donald Trump and the #MuslimBan, and the Chilean wildfires in recent days.

In general, I’ve also been taking up anyone on the opportunity to speak — the same teacher asked if I’d be a practice student for her to become an oral proficiency certifier, which meant we had a 45-minute one-on-one conversation, while another instructor offered to stay with students after our evening ammiya course to have a purely conversational section. To strengthen my speaking muscles, in the presentation I mentioned above, I went with Alex’s “planned spontaneity” approach rather that write it word-for-word ahead of time. I chose a topic that is easy for me — the history of Arab migration to Latin America — and wrote down a list of words I wanted to use during it, like تراث (heritage) and بارز (prominent), and glanced over my list between my powerpoint slides of pictures.

The next step I’d like to put into practice is getting more comfortable using the verbs I know and conjugating them correctly without having to pause and think them out. I see that I have my go-to words that I use the vast majority of the time that I speak, and I’d like to resist getting into a rut.

As per the advice of a teacher, I’ve also been incorporating an extra nice exercise into class — I keep a running list of the vocabulary I come across in class that are new to me (on my list now: مطابق, identical, الفرد, individual, مرادف, synonym) and, when our teacher prompts us to write a few sentences using whatever new grammatical concept we’re going over, I glance through my list and try to use a word or two. It helps me resist the tendency to rely on my go-to words. It’s nice because I have an easy time learning obvious picture vocabulary — like animals, food, etc — whereas I need to pay better attention to words that are a little more abstract.

Also, very nicely, since I have a midterm coming up that will cover five chapters worth of vocabulary, I’m feeling appreciative that Anki’s spaced repetition methods means that material is still in the cards I see each day. As per Alex’s encouragement, I’m pausing to come up with mnemonic devices for words that don’t stick easily for me. This is something I did routinely when I studied at a more leisurely pace and that I’ve left behind as I feel a little breathless.

Alex has also been helping me think about my next steps after Qasid and finding the balance that’s right for me between speaking/dialect and reading/writing/fusha. I’ll share more about that once I finalize my next plans.

I’m still as pooped as I was when I wrote my first entry, but whenever I catch myself veering into a self-indulgent pity-me territory, I do stop to remind myself: I may be having little in the way of leisure time these days, but, indeed, I did live in Rio de Janeiro for six years. And when I was in Rio, I dreamed of the day I'd be able to throw myself into my studies.

[foundtheworl]

New Post has been published on Found The World

New Post has been published on http://foundtheworld.com/importance-learning-languages-traveling/

The Importance of Learning Languages for Traveling

Within our world there is approximately 7.4 billion people, there are 7099 languages spoken according to the “Ethnologue: Languages of the World”. Being able to speak these many languages is something no one is able to do. However, when it comes to traveling, being able to speak the language of the new country is a huge advantage. Communication builds an automatic trust between locals and visitors. Travelers are less likely to have fear in a new country when they can easily ask for directions and make conversation. The gap between the different cultures doesn’t seem as large when people are able to understand each other. Learning a new language will only benefit you greatly because it will connect you with another part of the world.

Locals respond really well to people who speak their native tongue, it is especially fun to be able to speak something that people assume you wouldn’t. Due to my German heritage, I usually receive surprised looks when I open my mouth and Spanish flows out of it. But I love this and always use this to my advantage when I am traveling.

The world is more connected and it is not unusual for people to speak multiple languages that they learned from either their families, for work, or from traveling. An important lesson to be learned is never judge a book by its cover and assume someone won’t be able to understand you. Sometimes when I am in a different country, at first I purposely will only speak English in public places such as the grocery store. In Hispanic countries people assume that I am North American and that I don’t speak Spanish, and sometimes I catch people talking about me.

There was a grocery store in the Dominican Republic that I went to every week, and the same man would always talk about me to his coworkers in a joking way. How he was going to propose to the “gringa”, but how she would never say yes because she can’t speak Spanish. One day as I was picking out produce I turned to him and said ‘…you know I can’t understand you, right?’ his mouth dropped and his coworkers and I started laughing and laughing. After that day, every time he saw me he would snicker and make note to ask me about my life in Spanish.

It can be really intimidating to go somewhere new and try to understand what’s going on. Not only is it scary but it is a very humbling experience to be thrown out of your element. Without the ability to communicate the independence of a person is instantly taken away, because they are completely dependent on a translator to convey their thoughts and wishes. Ideas can easily be lost in translation and this form of communication can often put people in an overwhelming situation.

One of my friends who spoke Spanish was traveling in Colombia, and had complete dependence on her travel partner to help her with every part of her day. From translating menus, ordering at restaurants, to asking for directions, she would require assistance. She told me that it was really strange to not be able to do basic things. As her month abroad progressed she learned new words and was able to pick out words on menus and understand simple conversations, however it was frustrating not being able to freely communicate the way she wanted. When she did learn words it was hard for her to practice them because she felt afraid of how locals would react to her.

The truth is that it really doesn’t matter how bad your pronunciation is, or if you mess up new words, saying something is better than saying nothing. Locals will not laugh at your for trying, instead they will be happy that you are trying. People will always appreciate the effort, and body language is a huge part of communication. Even if you say a word in a sentence completely off, there is nothing to worry about because most likely a local will still respond positively. Sometimes accidentally saying the wrong word can create a hilarious situations and you will always remember to never make that mistake again.

One of the cringiest mistakes I made, is when I tried to translate the English phrase of ‘you suck’ into Spanish. I meant it as a playful, friendly, and innocent statement to one of my male friends because he was teasing me about being clumsy. However, this did not come across as I had hoped and instead I called him a blowjob. To make the story more awkward, I was standing in a church and many members of the congregation heard me. To this day, I am very cautious about translating English slang literally into Spanish because I understand how wrong it can sound.

A lot of people would like to learn a new language but understand that it isn’t their strong suit, there are a lot of tips that people can use which will make learning easier. The first one is knowing what your learning style is, know how you retain information and then try repeating new words 7 times over, draw pictures, write it down, use the world in conversation, listen to music and videos, or create a memory map. A memory map is using a familiar place, such as the layout of a house or a familiar route, they attaching words to an area or scenario. Usually the more strange you make a memory map the easier it will be to remember.

Often people are not motivated to learn a new language, and I am really guilty of this, I always say that I want to get better at French or German, but months go by and I haven’t picked up a textbook or done anything. Classes are a good way to force yourself to be motivated, knowing that you have specific hours dedicated to learning every week people are more likely to learn. Then there is homework on top of that to retain the information of the class better.

For a more organic way of picking up useful phrases, go to a new country and hangout with locals. Purposely put yourself in situations like dinner parties, where you will understand almost nothing, but constantly listening to a new language will shape your ear to be attuned to new sounds and rhythms. Becoming conversational takes time and a lot of effort, it is important to be patient and wait for language skills to develop.

A large portion of speech is displayed through actions making it a lot easier to understand what is going on by watching people around you interact. Through body language and tone of voice we are able to sense what the theme of a conversation is, whether it is serious, playful, angry, upset, or friendly.

While it is still perfectly acceptable to travel to a country that you don’t speak the language, understanding even a little bit can make your experience in the country so much easier. Morocco was really difficult for me at times because my French isn’t strong enough to be conversational and I knew zero Arabic. I felt completely lost for a large majority of that trip because I needed my friend to translate a lot for me. I still had a really good trip, yet I can imagine how much more in-depth the trip would have been for me if I had been able to talk to locals and ask them about their days.

So many people travel with only knowing one language, and this is perfectly okay to do, however do not make the mistake of being a linguist elitist. English is one of the most common languages in the world, yet the idea that everyone should learn how to speak it while an English speaker is exempted from the work to studying a new language is absurd.

In many expat communities around the world that I have encountered, there is a theme that some internationals have. They believe that instead of attempting to speak the national language that locals should just learn English. This is so backwards for many different reasons, the most prevalent being that these expat communities are residing in a different country and not willing to learn about the culture that they have chosen to live in. Many expats do learn a local tongue and make an effort to be a part of the culture surrounding them.

If learning a new language isn’t an option for you, the next best thing is having a travel buddy that is multilingual. Not everyone has friends that are fluent in multiple languages, so then at least pick up a guidebook and learn how to say ‘hello’. Languages aren’t everyone’s strong suit, but don’t fret, it is true that in most tourist hotspots locals are fluent in English. It’s not mandatory to learn a new language as a traveler, but I suggest it because it will only help you abroad.