Friday, November 25, 2016

Taouk Without the Taouk Please

I had to laugh today when I looked up the meaning of taouk on Google. It is a chicken shish kebab which is typical of the Middle East. Why did I laugh? Because I ordered a taouk sandwich for lunch and was surprised to find it came with chicken inside. Once again, lost in translation.

I'm very excited that, though slowly, I'm learning words here and there in Arabic. When a friend got up to leave the table at lunch yesterday, he waved at us and said Bel ezen and I nearly jumped out of my chair with excitement. I understood what he said! Bel ezen means excuse me, or pardon me, and can be used when you accidentally bump into someone with your shopping cart in the store, or in any number of situations.

Learning a language opens up a whole new horizon, I'm learning. Though at first I'll admit it was somewhat discouraging, as I'd imagined that every time I said Marhaba, angels would sing and all the Lebanese would cheer, now the excitement is beginning to grow. Sure, some of my friends are not impressed with my baby steps in language learning, but I've found that there are many more who are supportive and encouraging. Of course it helps that I have a really great Arabic teacher.

Ebtissam, the women's dean, decided two months ago to offer an hour of language learning once a week to those who were interested. In the middle of her very busy schedule, as she is also assistant librarian, she managed to type up study sheets with both English transliteration and Arabic and to have a lesson plan for each time we met. We started with the very basics. How are you? I'm fine, thanks. We repeated, we practiced, and eventually we progressed to vocabulary and short sentences of greeting. Now, when I look at my vocabulary, I'm amazed at how much we've learned!

It's small victories, that I am learning. On Wednesday at the Independence Day luncheon, I overhead someone use the word akel and I was so pleased that I knew they were talking about the food. Previously, I had no idea what that word meant but now that I did, I could build and expand my contextual understanding.

When I stepped to the counter to order my sandwich this afternoon, the young lady said kil chee? and I nodded. Yes, I wanted all the fixings on my sandwich. I thought it was somewhat pricey to pay $3 for a french fries and coleslaw sandwich but I was really hungry. I watched them rolling up the sandwiches behind the counter but didn't pay close attention to the fact that each one had chunks of meat stuffed in. I was too busy concentrating on listening for my number to be called.

Finally I heard something something ashrah and I knew it was my number. I claimed my sandwich and peeled back the paper, eager to quiet my grumbling stomach. Then I saw the huge chunk of something sitting on top that most definitely was not a mushy french fry. Disappointed, I told the manager I wanted it without meat. He very kindly fixed me a new sandwich which I happily took and enjoyed. All that time, I was convinced that they had made a mistake. After all, the order board said that a taouk sandwich had french fries, pickles, coleslaw, and garlic. Nothing else.

Then I came home and googled taouk. I have a feeling this isn't going to be my last embarrassing moment when I attempt to speak the language or imagine that I understand everything completely. But it makes for a good laugh and I'm excited that as I continue to learn simple words, slowly I will learn to put them together and hopefully one day I will feel that I've unlocked the key to not only understanding a language but to hearts. 

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