can i tell you a secret?

so it's been about a week and i've got the consonants pretty much down (except for the one that looks like a big backwards "3" that i can't really say with any accuracy, but maybe with a little more practice...) and we just finished the short vowels (so it's maybe another week or so before it's time to start on the Quran!)

my friend-- and nearest peer-- just started reading the Quran yesterday; i'm hoping to catch up so we can recite together. (i think the shiekh is hoping this as well, he seems a little swarmed at the moment: there are so many of us crammed into that little room reciting at him, crowding around his desk, leaning forward, intent...)

so there's this group that i kind of watch out of the corner of my eye while i'm copying out my lessons-- it's a woman, a boy, and three girls, all reading together. the woman caught my eye because she wears niqab and i'm sort of fascinated by how you can tell the look on her face by the look in her eyes-- smart, friendly, outgoing. (i'm kind of rooting for her.) so a couple of days ago i was sitting off to the side while they were reciting and i was trying discreetly to read over her shoulder (she reads with her finger on the page, so it's easier to follow) and the sound sort of got stuck in my head; it was a short sura with a very distinctive ending to each line.

at night now, when i read the Quran just before bed, i've been trying to find the words i recognize (God, names that they spell out) on the Arabic side of my bilingual edition, trying to say them to myself, to hear the sounds. sometimes i try to sound out a whole line, if it looks simple. last night i flipped to the back to try out something short and i found the sura they've been reciting! it's the last one, al Nas.

okay, maybe that sounds a little small for a secret, but considering i knew about three letters of the alphabet a week ago, being able to recognize something written in Arabic is a big deal for me. only a couple of days ago i realized i could read the little sign that says "halal" on my food and the little sign with the "BismiAllah" over the cash register at the Pakistani restaurant. it's only been a week but already there is something very different, like the opening of a whole new world that was incomprehensible not that long ago.

but i don't think i'm supposed to peek ahead, so i'm going to keep this little discovery a secret.

madrassa

so i'm on vacation for two weeks. while is desperately need the sleep, i get fidgety when there's nowhere to go and nothing in particular to do. i'd been thinking about heading out to Arab area of the city to get my hair cut (badly needed!) and to check out the shopping and planned to stop by the mosque to ask about learning Arabic, as i figured there would be more native speakers there than at the other mosques around town. so i picked up a couple of cute scarves, had a nice halal lunch, and wandered over to the mosque, where i was told the sheikh would show up fairly soon.

there is a little room on the second floor of the mosque where the sheikh sits behind a big desk. there is a collection of chairs around the room where mostly women and children sit, moving from seat to seat as their friends come in, mingling. the sheikh speaks no English and i can only say my prayers so when it's my turn one of the women has to translate (all of the women speak at least three languages, two of which are Arabic and English, the third may be French but there are several i can't identify.) meanwhile, the children come up in little groups to recite and the sheikh corrects them without ever looking up from the copy book where he's writing out the alphabet for me or some simple words that at this point are only a collection of sounds for me to practice.

then i take up one of the little desks and practice making the sounds, writing the letters. i try to pick out the sounds from the buzz of Arabic around me, to pick out letters and sometimes words i recognize in the signs around the classroom. the women help me with the letters i say funny, making the sounds over and over while i watch their mouths, listening to me try again and again. i've got two weeks and i'm serious-- i have two weeks to learn to make the sounds, to learn which ones go with which letters-- two weeks before i am swallowed up by the hospital with its endless hallways lined with lights that never go off, with its rooms that fill again the moment they empty, with its waiting room spilling out into the street...