Starting today, please don’t be surprised if I like and dislike your post at the same time. Or if you catch me me follow a conversation I have no idea how and when I get into. Or if I subscribe and then unsubscribe to your blog.
Oh my … I am pretty sure things like that have happened before, but honestly that’s mainly because of a lagging internet connection or a frozen screen. If this happens today or tomorrow, or even already did, my sincere apologies!
So starting now, hopefully for just a few days, I might be a bit clumsy because I am using a new device. Every time I switch to a new one, funny things happen. Sometimes I wish I had kept the old one as there was no thing wrong with it. But my sons want to get me a special gift for my special day, and here I am using it. It’s actually great, but my brain needs time to befriend it.
You know the most annoying thing right now? It is Jetpack app. I can’t find the Reader icon as I used to on the other device. So I’ve switched to using WordPress in the browser, and I’m trying to navigate my way through it.
So, as I spent a few days coughing and sneezing, I decided to pause writing until I felt better. My decision was not approved by my mind. We started a fight–I insisted on pausing, while my mind, full of rage, making my headache even worse, kept pushing ideas into my head even invading my dreams. I ignored it, and when I turned my attention to other things, it surrendered.
First, I began with my French lessons. I noticed that I had been awarded a three– day Duolingo Max trial for my hard work. It offered real–life conversation practice which turned out to be such a great fun. Do you know why? Because when you’re having a bad cold, all your letters sounded hilariously different. In my case, with this terrible, awful cold, not only my pronunciation was affected, but also my hearing. So, the real–life conversation practice turned into a comical episode. We would start talking about one thing and end up talking about something totally different, with many words lost in between.
However, I was shocked by my poor performance during this real–life conversation practice. I thought I was doing very well–which is true for reading, partially true for listening, and average for writing. But when it came to actual conversations, my Arabic, English, and French clashed with each other. The outcome was so funny, so poor.
Next, I checked my reading challenge progress, which is moving at a turtle’s pace. But I don’t really mind as I am not planning to break the Guinness World Record for reading speed. So, I decided to finish the book I started at the beginning of this month: Sixpence in Her Shoe. I came across this book while reading another. Piqued with curiosity, I wanted to see how it tackled the topic of being a housewife.
The book turned out to be good and enjoyable to read though, to be honest, I skipped many parts that had so many details– sections about furniture, houses prices and locations, housekeeping, food recipes, kitchen equipment, and more aspects of life from the sixties of the last century. However, overall, it provides both amusing and expressive arguments about what it is like to be full-time housewife and why it is considered the best profession for women. Thank God the book didn’t disappoint me.
By the way, if you decide to switch off your social media accounts, say, for a few days, do you think you’d miss much?
I wouldn’t, and this exactly how I feel about being a full–time wife and mum. I believe I haven’t missed much, but I know I would have if I hadn’t.
Having a well- furnished mind is usually interpreted within academic qualifications. But is that the only method to furnish and nourish our minds? Take your time to think about it. I did take mine while reflecting on my own experience
You have to go to school to learn, then to universities to earn a degree, and if you can afford it, pursue the higher level of postgraduate studies. At each stage, our minds are expected to grow and develop — and they do, unless incidents like cheating and plagiarism are involeved. That’s why education has become the most powerful weapon both nations and individuals strive to possess. And, this is how I have been raised, following this strategy. Still this strategy is not the only method to effectively furnish your brain.
How did you feel when you finished your academic studies and stepped into the real world? Did you feel as if you had entered a new phase of practical education taught through real life experiments in real life labs? Did you feel this confrontation shaking you to the core because, in most cases, you were not ready to learn more or to abondon what you had already spent years learning. That’s exactly how I felt after my graduation.
I have learned and am still learning more from life — with its people, its places, its changes, and its ups and downs. I’ve learned from reading, imagination, writing, and blogging. All of these things and more have nourished and furnished my mind. You know what? I really feel blessed to be a full — time mother, because it has given me more time to become the person I truely like to be.
How would you feel if you receive this message first thing in the morning?
Elated! That’s how I felt after I had finished an entire French unit on my Duolingo app with only a few typos. I really felt that I deserved it. It’s not becuase my French is perefct. I hope it will be one day, but my current level is high B1 level on the CERF scale, which means I can handle most daily situations.
The main reason, I felt I really deserved this compliment is that I made the best of my time early morning. During the weekends, I usually do just one lesson on Duolingo because it’s the weekend: my family’s gathering day. However, today I got up at four o’clock and couldn’t get myself to sleep again. An hour later, I decided to do my lesson. But when the first went smoothly and perfectly, I did the second, third, fourth, and so on. Actually, I think I did more than ten lessons.
Don’t I deserve “You are flawless” compliment? Of course, I do.
My French learning journey started many years ago at high school. Back then, I didn’t like it because I found it too hard to write what you don’t pronounce. But my marks were good. At university, as I was studying for my English degree qualifications, I had to learn another foreign language. Though French would have been a perfect choice since I had already studied some of it, I decided to study Spanish instead. It’s really disappointing how I can hardly remember any Spanish, but if you don’t practice a language, it will fade away from your brain. But then, why this didn’t happen with my French? Honestly, I don’t know why.
I started my Duolingo sessions during the lockdown, mainly to encourage my daughter to keep on her French lessons. Surprisingly, I found out that my old French lessons were still stored in the back of my brain, waiting to be revived and used.
Scientifically, learning a different language is so beneficial for your cognitive health. It’s like challenging your brain to speak, read, communicate, and understand in more than your mother tongue. In this way, your brain becomes more alert, flexible, and smarter. And, socially, it’s a credit to your social status, professional opportunities, and literary creativity.
Have you ever read the concept of a dead language? It refers to the language that is not widely known but locally practised. However, I don’t like it, becuase even if a language is not widely known, it’s still honoured by its own people which means it’s not truely dead.
How many languages do you wish to learn or have already learned? I’m just curious to know.
‘I still have an accent,’ an acquentence said one day, as we were having tea and cake at a café.
I told her that I didn’t notice that at all, as her English was so good, but she didn’t seem convinced. ‘I can’t wait to get rid of it,’ she insisted, making it seem like a big problem. I couldn’t help but wonder why it was a big problem.
Do you think it’s a big problem to have an accent?
Honestly, I don’t mind. Why would you mind if your mother tongue is different from the language you’re using for communication in your new place? In fact, I find it interesting, different, and even special. Isn’t it the same when a native English, or French, or any other speaker speaks Arabic with an accent of their own tongue?
Over the years I have found that it’s hard for English native speakers to pronounce the ‘H’ in my name because it’s followed by ‘L’. Therefore, they drop the H, and instead of Nahla, they pronounce it Nala. I understand the difficulty, and don’t mind. We are created with different tongues, aren’t we? Isn’t that encouraging to learn and understand others?
In another context, a few years ago, while we were on holiday in Tunisia, I found it so interesting how their Arabic has a French accent. I really liked how different and unique it sounded. This is the same reaction I have when I meet Arabic speaking people from the Gulf region. Sometimes, it takes me a moment or so to understand, but I like how it sounds. I wonder how common it is to find people speaking the same language with different accents. Isn’t that what they call the tapestry of linguistic diversity?
The only exemption from this phenomenon is children. They are so quick, so ready to become bilingual with a fluent accent. I’ve noticed that in my own children, as well as other bilingual children. Perhaps, that’s because children don’t force it or overthink it. It just slips off their tongues so naturally and easily.
Whatever the thing you like, you will lose yourself in it. A book, a song, a recipe, a sport, a picture, a movie, …. . You’re losing youself because that thing makes you feel better, makes you happy, and, in some cases, makes you be yourself.
Do you know that some people lose themselves in talking. Oh, yes, some have the ability to talk nonstop. They lose themselves and others, and even if you interrupt, they don’t intentinally ignore you but just could not hear other voices.
But, that question also reminds me of my daughter a year or two ago when she found it hard to fell asleep. My advice was to think of pleasant thoughts. Lose yourself in reverie, I told her. Reverie is like a pause that can block unpleasant things and open a winow for pleasant ones, and that’s all free and for just a few seconds.
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?
Can we make a slight change to this question because I’m really wondering whether an animal would like to be compared to a human?
Animals look happy and content in their world. Have you ever heard of an animal turning into a human being? Of course in fiction and myths everything is possible but in real life I believe it’s impossible. A leopard won’t change its spots. Cats won’t like water. A fish won’t live without water. Any four-legged animal will only walk bidedally when it’s been forced and harshly trained to do so.
We watch animals and we learn a lot from them. Why, we are using them to describe either our good or bad traits; we say as loyal as a dog, stubborn as a donkey, slow as a snail, fast as a cheeta, …..
A person can have as many traits of animals but an animal won’t do the same.
If there is a second part to the tortoise and the hare story in which they will decide to go for another competition, who do you think will win?
While she was thinking, i said in my head the Hare. Surely he would have learned the lesson. He would never think to have a nap under the same tree. No way.
The tortoise, my daughter said and i looked at her surprised.
How? I asked believing the hare would never repeat the same mistake.
The Hare will copy the tortoise and crawl all the way next to her.
Why? I asked still surprised
Because she had won the first race and he thought if he followed her pace, he would too
Any why do you think it did not work with him?
Because his legs hurt. He got different legs to those of the tortoise. So he became very very tired and had some rest under the tree and fell asleep again.
Oh poor hare! Surely he was very disappointed, i said
No, he was not, my daughter said
Why? I asked.
Because he wasn’t himself in the race this time, my daughter said
Don’t understand, i said
He was pretending to be the tortoise but this can’t be. He should be himself, the hare, to win, my daughter said.
I have learned about it, recently. I didn’t even know how to pronounce it. I practised several times, but it’s hard. When I looked it up, I found it’s a German word, more precisely a combination of two German words; Bildung and Roman.
Bildungsroman is a genre of a novel that shows the moral and psychological journey of the protagonist throughout the development of the story. This genre is also known as Coming-of-age which is popular in English literature.
Today I found out that many of the books I like are classified as bildungsroman; for example; Jane Eyre, To kill a mockingbird, Ann of Green Gables, and The secret life of Bees, Bridge to Terabithia, and the Alchemist.
This topic is worth investigating, especially if you are interested in postgraduate studies.
I was just sitting, thinking about something to write when 2+2 just came to my mind.
2+2= 4, and this answer will never be different, but these days things seem more confusing.
A person might pop on on TV, social media, or anywhere and argue for hours, for example about Cain and Abel, and says that Cain was not evil and didn’t intend to murder his brother. He will explain the psychological, philosophical, or whatever, and the interviewer will keep nodding. But, the story in the holy books will never change; Cain was evil, jealous, and arrogant. He planned the first murder in the history of humanity and killed his brother. So, no matter what s/he talks, Truth can never change and 2+2 will always = 4
Pure and Simple 