Happy Things

• The light going on when my student(s) realized that the Persian kings we studied about in Greek history yesterday were the same ones in the Book
• Telling my Arabic teacher, "C'est facile" and having her respond, "D'accord."
• Figuring out that the root for the Arabic name of Egypt comes from one of Ham's son's names
• Developing more confidence crossing busy streets
• Spending most of the afternoon cooking and baking--tuna casserole, zucchini-like squash/carrot bread (only because I went through the whole recipe and realized at the last that I didn't have enough zucchini--improv!), and oatmeal bread
• Successfully riding the debab myself now
• Kind locals
• Going to a movie night with my students and listening to them carry on a verbal Athens/Sparta feud
• Being able to use my one Russian phrase with a girl here who speaks Russian
• The fan that I run all night almost every night
• Knowing how to tie my scarf now
• Quoting the man who told T that he was a local but pronounced the final "i" in the adjective to describe himself in a way that rhymes with Jedi and is not the local way of pronouncing it. Now I like saying, "I'm Y----- Jedi!"
• Lunch with the two other teachers I work with
• Knowing enough taxi words to get around: Left, right, keep going, stop here, XYZ Street, junction of XYZ
• My language teacher suggesting that I marry a local man in addition to looking at business opportunities. "You could kill two birds with one stone," she told me, "He could be the sheikh of coffee!" Um. "Insh'allah," I told her, honestly.
• Random sights I see as I'm out and about: a grandfather or father sitting in the entrance to his shop, helping his granddaughter with her homework, one debab driver making change for another out their windows as we were stopped in traffic