oh man.

i'm struggling through the last week of my hardest semester yet. two days of classes left, and then five days of finals... everything feels a little chaotic, and the arabic program, i believe, is trying to kill me off. seriously. i'm getting no sleep, and i writing papers, doing assignments and studying in every spare minute (except right now cause i'm celebrating finishing my last project for political science!) and now, before i get too comfortable on this blog of mine, which i miss so much, i must go study for my ballet final, which is tomorrow morning... lots and lots of french words. thank you canada.

Raqas al-Beladi: Part 1

رقص البلدي

A little piece of history:

The origin of the term belly dance comes from the Arabic term: Raqas al-Beladi which means "dance of my country." Westerners, sadly, have taken that phrase and mushed it up to be beladi dance, which then morphed into belly dance. Hollywood got it's filthy paws on it, it became westernized, glamorized, and is now looked down upon by most conservative folk. I have taken it upon myself to reverse the trend, support Arab culture, and promulgate the beauty (and intense fun) that is...

The Belly Dance.

It all began in a Persian restaurant called Sholeh in Los Angeles. I was a missionary with only a few weeks remaining before the end of my mission. My Persian friend took us out to dinner and was humiliated when suddenly, the lights dimmed, and the delicate clamor of finger-symbols could be heard in the distance... I turned to see a woman clad in gold (though scantily) perform an amzing belly dance routine. I'd never seen a belly dancer before, and although she was the type of belly dancer that many of us would disapprove of (including our poor friend that had brought us there... she really felt like she was corrupting our missionary minds) I could help but be impressed. I didn't know people could move like that, and I determined right then and there that I would learn how.

I started that night in my apartment, trying moves I could remember, but it was so hard. I decided to wait till I got home.

I got home. I went to the public library and found a DVD, it was a weird DVD. It was a workout / tribal fusion / belly dance dvd... not exactly what I was looking for, but it was all they had. Not a huge selection... Imagine that.

I practiced every day throughout the summer, and I found it to be so stress-relieving, such a good work out, and a really good excuse to listen to my collection of Persian songs all day.

I went to the middle east, where I learned that belly dancing's origins lie in Egypt. There are even carvings of some of the first belly dancers on some of the walls of the ancient Luxor Temple, as seen below...

(photographed by me)

and here they are up close:

It was here that I also found out that belly dancing is one of the highest paid professions in Egypt, and Egypt is very proud of it's heritage. Our tour guide talked a lot about belly dancing, telling us that everyone in Egypt belly dances: men, women, children and even grandmas. You don't need to show your belly, or any skin at all for that matter. He said his little three-year-old daughter is already learning how. (One day I will teach my babies).

If anything, this intensified my desire to learn.

A) I wanted to assimilate more and more into arab culture, and

B) I could make some seriously good money...

One of the highlights of my time in the Holy Land, and even in my life, I dare say, was the night before we hiked Mount Sinai.

I belly danced around a fire by a beduin tent.

It was so amazing. Probably a once in a life-time experience... well, actually, not if I can help it.

I stocked up on jangles and bangles and sorts of lovely things in Egypt, as I knew I'd need them one day, and I am certainly glad I did...

*

to be continued...

Where have I been?

This is a view I'm becoming rather accustomed to... it's what I see whilst walking home from the library night after night.

*

And this is the room that owns me. The JKB (Jesse Knight Building) is really my second home. Much Arabic is studied here (by all of the arabic students... all day, every day).

*

Wow, I haven't posted on my blog in almost a month. That makes me sad. I miss it.

This week (for the first time in about a month) I feel like I can breathe again... but not for long.

Finals begin in just three weeks, and then... ahhh. I will be finished forever with Political Science 200 (rumored to actually be called Political Science 666... I'm believing the rumors...).

Life is good. Thanksgiving is just one week away, and I plan on catching up on this little web-log of mine during that time.

I feel there's just so much to post about... belly dancing, ballet, indoor camping, setting a flaming barge afloat upon a lake, halloween, poor eating habits, free food, sneaking pizza etc. into the library, sleepless nights full of studies (I probably won't write about those) and perhaps even a new man in the picture...

So, stay tuned.

I promise to deliver next week.

midterms and a funny picture

i haven't written on this ol' blog of mine for a long time. that's because it's midterms week(s) here at BYU. last week i had midterms on wednesday, thursday and friday. this week i have midterms on monday, tuesday, and friday and a huge research paper due on wednesday, just to keep me on my toes i guess.

i took my history test on friday and was shocked by my grade (62%). turns out everyone in the class did really really poorly. our teacher realized this and saw that he had messed up on the answer key, so our grades will all actually be a lot better, alhamdulillah.

my teacher is a funny man. he sent out an email to us all, apologizing profusely and sent us the above picture so we could take out our anger before meeting him again face to face in class.

*

a little unexpected romance...

yesterday my roommate (ginny) and i went to the library to study.

on the way there i started saying, "ok ginny, our goal tonight is to study very diligently for two hours straight." but instead i decided to be so funny and say "ok ginny, our goal tonight is to get asked on a date."

she laughed (i succeeded in being so funny) and we continued up the hill. we went to the infamous "no shhh! zone" which is a section of the library where you can talk, listen to music, and even socialize if you're bold. we found an empty table and sat down.

behind us was the most interesting thing. there were two boys and two girls sitting at the table which was covered in a lovely, lacy tablecloth, with a candle in its center (the battery operated sort). the candle was surrounded by chocolate kisses, and romantic music floated around them all. it made our table look so lame.

before we could get our books our of our over-stuffed bags, shawn (as i later learned he was called) came up to us and asked if one of us would be willing to be his friend's date for the night, as his had left. ginny didn't want to, but since i hate to turn down the opportunity to serve, i said i would. i went and sat with them. shawn felt bad for ginny, so he went and found her a date too.

there we all were. three dates. it was oh so romantic. shawn and his date (maddie) had been friends for a while, but this was their first date. they were studying together. they had sat at a table already occupied by nathan (my date) and had subsequently found him two other dates before me... they apparently didn't enjoy it. ginny's date was a boy named john, who i think was just 19.

it was all very random, and luckily ginny and i got a ton of chocolate out of it. none of us got a ton of homework done, but we all quickly became (facebook) friends (where we made all sorts of connections through the "friends in common" feature) and had a lot of fun trying to make each other feel awkward.

(yes, we are all holding hands. we had to.)

all in all, it was a good date. i'd do it again.

ginny and i are about to head back up to the library... and what shall i set as my goal this time...?

i am canadian

(photo from here)

today is canadian thanksgiving.

sadly, it's come to mean little to me. we don't get the day off here, so it usually goes by without me even noticing. however, i thought that since i did remember this year, i should, in commemoration, do something. there's a canadian boy who i've become friends with recently who brought some canadianisms to my attention that i had not yet thought of, and so, i share them. please join me in this brief comparison of canada and the usa... mainly in reference to language.

usa canada

canceled, traveled cancelled, travelled

color, humor colour, humour

judgment judgement

check cheque

realize, apologize realise, apologise

defense defence

theater, center theatre, centre

mold, smolder mould, smoulder

civilization civilisation

licorice liquorice

*these are examples from a textbook i'm reading called A Writer's Refence by diana hacker. no wonder i've been so confused for so long. i just thought i was bad at spelling certain words.

this little pronunciation oddity was brought to my attention twice in the last month. strangely i had never heard it in my eight and a half years living in america.

say this word: resource

if you're american, you likely pronounced it like it's spelled: re-source. if, however, you are canadian, you probably said it like i do: re-zource. ask your friends. weird huh?

oh, and how about this:

grammar rules say that you keep all punctuation outside of parenthesis (if you're in america, that is).

if you're in canada, you keep punctuation inside (which has thrown me off many times in papers and things.)

i'm sure their are many more, and maybe some of these aren't completely true. many are things i've just heard from people. i'm sure their are several... not to mention cultural phenomena like the removal of shoes in canadian homes, and the fact that canadians all have dogsleds, and live in igloos with lamps that use whale blubber... oh canada.

on this day of thanks, i am thankful to be a canadian.

*

three years ago today...

i got my mission call to los angeles. wow, time flies.

it's been an amazing three years.

*

fall and some things

i love fall weather.

is it just me or are fall clothes the most fun to wear?

i love so much that i can now delve into my collection of scarves, leggings, gloves, jackets, long socks, leg-warmers, arm-warmers, hats, sweaters and most lovely of all... tights. i have many of all of them.

oh it's wonderful. i untangled all my tights yesterday and i was so pleased with the assortment. summer's heat had caused me to forget i even owned some of these. i wore the ones on the far left to church today.

i think i'll start wearing skirts more this fall.

my feet and legs feel like they're in some sort of dreamland (hence the blurry, dreamy edges on the photograph that i added fro a dreamy effect).

(please note my amazing cable-knit sweater-like leggings)

i think part of why i'm so excited is the fact that my last real fall was 3 years ago. 2006.

i was in los angeles in 2007 and then in jerusalem in 2008. i hardly realized how much i missed it till it came this year.

here's something weird too: so you know how memories are induced by smells? or tastes or other random things? i've realized that it's true about weather too. as i walk around on campus lately i keep finding myself reminiscing and and getting lost in memory - but all my memories are coming from the last time i felt weather like this! fall 2006. it's so bizarre. i keep thinking random things about the boy i was dating at the time, the kids to used to nanny, favorite music of the time, the house i used to live in, and even clothes i used to own. it's just very weird, yet, kind of intriguing.

oh fall. how mysterious you are.

*

self-portrait contest

you may have heard about his already here, but i guess i should advertise as well...?

there was a self-portrait photo contest a couple weeks ago, and i didn't plan on entering it, but on the night of the deadline i got an email from brooklyn with her entries, and her suggestion that i try it.

we sent a couple emails back and forth laughing kind of at the awkwardness felt of actually entering a photo contest with a picture taken of yourself, by yourself... it's a little strange... but i decided i might as well, right?

so i got home from campus around 1o (the photos were dues by midnight) and our power was out. i laughed as i lit a candle so my picture could have natural light instead of using a ghastly flash. i took several, and for some reason i look very forlorn in all of them. likely a result of my cold, dark house.

we were allowed to edit our pictures a little, so i made it almost black and white (it's was very red previously... remember, candle light). so i entered it into the contest, and she (the sussy) went and posted them all over her blog (much to our surprise and dismay...it makes you feel very vulnerable).

anyway, i guess the winner needs to get the most votes... so you should go vote for me. or brooklyn. or whoever's picture you like the best. some are awesome, some are funny, some are awkward. mine's probably awkward.

vote here.

or don't, but take a look at least. votes need to be in by midnight tonight!

*

i love it so much!

ok, it sounds and maybe looks disgusting, but i am in love with this meal. seriously, i sometimes can't believe how amazing it tastes. i'm eating it as i type and i can't help vocalizing my approval. good thing i'm home alone. oh my goodness! SO good!

so, when you don't have a car, and you do most of your shopping at costco once a month, you tend to get creative as food supplies run short, and thank goodness! this little concoction of mine has been a favorite for some time now, but tonight i just enhanced it significantly.

first let me say, i love rice and i love beans (black or kidney... preferably black). i gained this on my mission. i could eat rice and beans every day and be oh so happy. one day, when it was rice and beans again for dinner, i decided to try to spice it up a little. i was wishing i had some sour cream, or, even better, this stuff that hermana salgado used to give me in LA called crema i think. mmm, so good. anyway, all i had was cottage cheese and i figured, "it's made of the same stuff, right?" so i added it to the warm rice and beans, threw a little salt on there and was nearly overcome with delight.

it was incredible.

i couldn't believe it. i kid you not when i say that this is now probably the most common meal that graces my table. my roommates think it's gross, but they have yet to taste it, so to them i say, well, nothing. i just laugh inside as they eat cereal and quesadillas.

tonight i cooked up some chicken, so it was chunks of chicken mixed with rice instead of beans. i added some edimame to the mix, and as i went to put the leftovers in the fridge, i saw the lonely little can of black beans sitting there next to the lonely little carton of cottage cheese... "No," i kind of gasped to myself in wonder, "could I do it?"

i had to.

i added black beans, to the chicken, rice and edimame, microwaved the thing ('thing' being bowl of heaven) and when it came out it was much too hot to eat. (here's another reason i love this meal): i added too big forkfulls of cottage cheese, mixed it all up, and the temperature was perfect for eating, which i did. (i've now finished the bowl). it is so satisfying. i would invite all who enjoy cottage cheese to change it up a little, and try it in a warm dish. and to those who don't: maybe it's time to give it a chance? might i add, these meals are healthy too. maybe brown rice would be better, but i just love basmati rice so much (and i'm still going through a costco bag of the stuff that i got in january... i think it'll last me till next january too).

well, that's all. maybe i'm crazy and i'm the only one who will ever love this, or even try it. i'm fine with that. it makes me so happy.

*

bulls-eye... well, almost.

(me & boy)

"do you want to go shooting?"

"shooting what?"

"GUNS."

"um, where?"

"in the mountians."

"...uh..."

"i'm not joking."

"...yes?"

"like right now?"

"well, okay."

and so we went. it was amazing. i had never even held a gun before (well, one that had bullets in it). i shot three different little pistols. my favorite was the silver one. i didn't hit the middle of the target even one time, but i'm okay with it.

*

did you get dressed in the dark this morning?

yes. i did.

-

(our power's been turned off due to negligence {not on my part}. plus, it was twenty degrees colder than usual today and frankly, i didn't care how i looked).

farewell summer

i realize its been fall for about a week now, but today really felt like it to me.

i love this little path that i walk down when i feel like taking the long way home.

-

it was so beautiful in the summer, but i think it's improved with age.

*

cash money throw down!

Four hundred and eleven dollar bills were thrown off of the Joseph F. Smith Building at BYU today at 12:30 PM. They were inside pink balloons, some of which also contained bubble gum or coupons for local restaurants. There were over eight hundred balloons. It was beautiful.

I got one dollar, four pieces of gum and two coupons.

(you can watch it here)

*

in other news...

President Monson came and spoke at BYU this morning. Derek and I got somewhat decent seats too.

it was so good to sit there between stressful classes and listen to him put life in perspective, and realize that i don't need to get so worked up over schoolwork, and that there more important things in life.

and now, here I sit blogging when i should be stressing over this political analysis paper that i have to write on why states provide sensitive nuclear assistance.

yeah, about that...

*

frog feet

check out these shoes that my friend was wearing at school today.

i was fascinated. i just couldn't stop looking at them. they're so weird! he said they're for running. supposedly they kind of hurt your feet at first, but then they're awesome and super comfy. i don't know... is it worth it? really?

i'd be interested in trying them on at least.

don't knock it till you try it, i suppose?

*

graduate studies.

i talked to one of my arabic teachers today. she's from egypt, and i love her a lot. i was asking for advice on what to do with my life, you know, just small talk... and she had a brilliant idea. i was asking about what grad schools she would recommend for studying arabic.

see... originally i wanted to go to law school, but then i realized that that would giving up three years to study law. (aka, no arabic. at all). after all that i've put into learning this language, and all that i will put into it over the next little while, that's just not something i'm willing to do. plus, i would never be able to pay off law school, as i want to stay home with my babies. so, i've been thinking about just doing a masters program in arabic. i've been looking around on the world wide web over the last week or so, trying to figure out where to go and what to do.

my dear teacher informed me that BYU has an arabic masters program, something i did not even know. i hadn't found it cause it's actually a language acquisition program, with an emphasis in one of like seven languages (so basically a masters in teaching arabic). how awesome is that? i think i've finally found what i want to do (although i keep saying that...). but really, after attempting to learn italian, french, hebrew, spanish, arabic and farsi, i think i'm finally coming to know a little bit of what it takes to actually acquire a language.

this program focusses on linguistics as well, so i may need to take some classes in that area before i graduate. anyway, i'm very excited about this new idea of mine, and i've already made my interest known to the people in charge. i wonder if i'll spend my whole life doing this? i don't know that i'll ever settle on one thing. i don't think people should. maybe that's just me justifying indecision.

how to combat stress

i've figured it out. 

sign up for a belly dance class with your best friend,  

belly dance for an hour with 20 middle-aged women, 

go for ice cream,

then come home and listen to mostafa qamar's song 'hayati' ('my life').

sing along and practice all the moves you learned in class. 

*

i promise it works. couldn't be happier. 

happy 9.9.09!

*

a day to recover...

today was so nice. 

i had time to recharge and to recover from the stressful first week of school. i did the things that i love to do... i cleaned my house, did laundry, got (somewhat) caught up in studying, and made banana bread. i'm feeling very much more like myself than i did on saturday. i wish every monday was a holiday. 

it was oh so lovely. 

*

day of rest...

(this is a long, potentially boring post. it's purpose: to inform friends, family and distant relations of my current situation, and to give reason for my seeming disappearance from the world.) 

i love sundays when i'm in school. by the time today (sunday) rolled around, i thought i might die of exhaustion. how blessed, this day of rest!

i honestly do not know how it is physically possible to do all that i'm expected to do this semester. it's only been a week and i feel like i'm in way over my head. 

here's what i've been up to:

ballet

yes, i'm 24, and yes, i bought a leotard, tights and pink ballet slippers last week. i have always wanted to be a ballerina. i was planning on auditing this class (meaning i get to take the class without having to take tests, do assignments, or even show up if i don't want to... but i also don't get credit, which i'm okay with since i probably have too much of it) but i recently learned that i won't be able to move onto the next level of ballet (and the next, and the next...) unless i take this class for real. that means i have to fully participate, and attend a ballet, and learn about a hundred french words. and since i plan on actually becoming a ballerina finally, i have to ensure that i can take the next class. 

political science

i've heard people call this class "Poli. Sci. 666" which frightens me. apparently it's hard. it's a writing class combined with political science and statistics. we write, and write, and write, and write, and analyze things. my first paper is due this wednesday, and there's one due every week after that. i think i've read more about grammar in the last week than i have in the rest of my life. it's going to nearly kill me, and i can't wait. i'm scared, but i've heard this class makes you a dang good writer. a writer that knows better than to say stuff like "dang good."

arabic 

the second year begins... this class takes a new approach to learning arabic. now they basically tell us that the responsibility to learn arabic rests on our shoulders. we don't have to turn anything in. ever. but we have at least two hours of homework to do each day. we're graded on the time we put in, and how effective it is (based on our speaking ability). it's completely up to us though. no one cares how many assignments i've done; all that matters is that when i get off the plane in cairo next summer, i'll be able to get myself an apartment... in arabic. (by the way, we were planning on a four-month study abroad to Amman, Jordan next summer, but they have gone and switched locations on us, and now it's Al-Qahira (cairo)! i can't wait. as far as personal interest, this class is by far the most important to me. i love it, and i love having an egyptian teacher this semester. 

middle eastern history (till 1800)

this class is taught by a man who speaks arabic, greek and latin. i love it, but there's a lot of reading. i was late in registering for it, and subsequently have an entire book to read before tuesday. history isn't my strong point, and i'm nervous about this class. i have a hard time retaining historical information when i read 100 pages of it in a day, and i'm not too keen on writing research papers, which this class also consists of. so, hopefully i'll at least find myself a good study group or something. 

farsi

also known as persian... farsi is spoken in iran, afghanistan, and tajikistan. i fell in love with persians (iranians) on my mission (namely koorosh, farnoosh, afsar, and soraya) and even begged my mission president (on my knees) to be able to learn farsi on my mission. he consented, and then i realized it would take more than a farsi book of mormon to learn it. but alas! i now have the resources! it's been a long time coming, but here i am. apparently byu offers 4 classes in farsi, and i plan on taking all of them. i wish i could just learn languages as a major. why must i learn history and politics? this class is amazing. it's taught by a persian married couple (mary and hooshang). they're probably in their 60s and they are hilarious. i seriously laugh through the whole class. oh, and they bring us snacks so we don't fall asleep. i love them. luckily, the alphabet is similar to arabic (there are four extra letters in farsi) but as far as vocabulary and language structure... completely different. farsi is indo-european, whereas arabic is semitic. interesting, isn't it?

writings of isaiah

i registered for this one late too, but i'm just auditing it, so i'm really not behind. it's taught by ann madsen, and she is a brilliant woman. i'm so excited about this class and can't wait to get back into the old testament. it's been a while (since jerusalem) since i've really gotten into it, and i miss it. 

-

besides byu classes, i'm also taking a "middle eastern dance" class (think belly dance) through the covey arts center here in provo. my friend from the jerusalem center (stephanie) is taking it with me, and i am so excited! i'm mainly looking forward to the recital which will be held on november 4th. it should be very funny. i'm also an officer in the middle eastern studies and arabic club here at byu. i'm excited about that too. we get to plan awesome functions, such as hosting The Honorable Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Jordanian Ambassador to the United States next wednesday. he's giving a lecture on campus about US-Jordanian diplomatic relations. should be good. i'm also hoping to become an arabic tutor through this club, and getting a more advanced student to be my tutor. give a little, get a little, right?

-

well, that's the update on my life as of now. it's insane. i have had a couple days where i honestly had no time to eat lunch or dinner... i've learned now to have like four granola bars, apples and oranges in my bag at all times.

my main goal this semester? find the truth in the statement, "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." it'll be a long semester. w'al-hamdalallah! 

i'll see you all at christmas.

*