See more 7 Quick Takes Friday contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.
Work continues to be crazy busy, and as I write this I am sitting in military lodging in Prague, Czechoslovkia, where I am attending a conference. Perhaps I will start with that and work backward through some of the more interesting ways in which I have spent my days and filled my mind since the last 7 Quick Takes.
1.
I have been fortunate enough
to see Prague twice. The first time was great: 1990 on May 1, the 45th
anniversary of the freeing of Czechoslovakia in WWII. There was no hotel
space, and my contact at the US Embassy forgot
to reserve me a room. I found a hotel with one room for one night, and
for the next week, I had to change rooms each day. The maids helped, and
my Czech improved, learning room and moving words. I came there with a
Czech teacher from Germany and visited his family the first day, and my
Czech improved, learning kitchen talk. I ran around town, visiting
landmarks, including this bridge, Karluv most (Charles Bridge, pictured here), with the friend of a Czech instructor who worked for me at the time
and spending evenings at her house, listening to recordings of Czech
political jokes which she would not move on from until I understood each
joke, and, since she, like the others, spoke no English, my Czech
improved, learning geography, landmark, tourist, history, metro, bus,
walking directions, and political words. My job that week was to get the
State Publishing House to sell me the books used in schools so that I
could use them with Czech students in the USA. The interpreter was
called away right after our talks started, and I was left with 12
officials,
speaking only Czech, and my Czech improved, learning
educational, publishing, and negotiation words -- and the officials were
so impressed with my efforts that they gave me a copy of every single
book used in the schools for free and transported them to the embassy
for me so that they could be sent back to the States for me. I
remember a lot from the last visit, especially the Soviet veneer over
the town. The veneer is gone now, in the people, the culture, the look.
It is like an old European town come alive, as seen from the view outside my window. A good place to visit!
2.
My 20th Language. That is the title of a book I have begun writing just recently. I had been writing
Babel No More by Michael Erard (anyone familiar with this book), who talks about hyperpolyglots, which he defines as someone who knows more than six languages. He is fascinated by how they learn languages, and the book is based on his interviews with them or, in the case of the deceased, with researching records about them and, where available, by them. It is an interesting book in some respects. However, most of the hyperpolyglots have learned languages for the sake of studying the language itself. The majority have not used the languages for work, travel, or purposes of interacting with native speakers. Those who have are interesting indeed. I did not find the book helpful, however, for language learners because the author has focused on what is different or unusual about each of the learners, whereas most people trying to learn a foreign language, like me, are not unusual at all. Since with all my travels I have had to learn a number of languages -- 19 that I have formally studied to date, although there are about 60 I can read and understand -- I have found shortcuts and ways to make language learning more rapid and successful. In fact, before coming to Prague the first time I spent only 52 hours in study, yet I was able to exist in Czech alone while staying in Prague, conducting negotiations, and having fun with the people of Prague. Needless to say, my Czech was much better upon return, and I felt comfortable having all sorts of discussions about comparative social phenomena with the Czechs in the US. So, now, I figure I might as well start another language, 19 being such an odd number. Before and during the learning of it, I intend to include useful information for language learners -- what actually might work for them and the real shortcuts I have found for learning and for remembering words, grammar, and sociolinguistic aspects of the language.
3. Speaking of books, my friend Omar Imady, Sufi poet from Syria, living in Jordan, where I met him, has written his first novel,
The Gospel of Damascus. I don't think I am just being partial to Omar and his work to say that the book is very well written. Those who have read it really like it. It just came out April 1, and he is looking for people to review it. If anyone is interested in reviewing it and putting a review on line at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, please let me know (elizabeth.mahlou@gmail.com) because Omar is willing to send a free copy to any reviewer. Otherwise, if you are just interested in reading it, you can find it in the usual places, all the online bookstores and in some brick-and-mortar ones, too. Omar has also set up a
web
page about the book on Facebook. He also wrote a book earlier of Islamic short stories that has been quite popular with my friends. Even our priest used one of the stories in his homilies he was so taken by it. That book is called
When You're Shoved from the Right, Look to Your Left: Metaphors of Islamic Humanism. And yet one more of his that is available in the United States and through the regular channels, for sure, at least, through the online bookstores is
The Rise and Fall of Muslim Civil Society, an interesting read for anyone with an academic interest in the subject. I think the book is actually a revamping of his doctoral dissertation.
4. Well, I might as well stay on the topic of books and the Imady family. Omar's sister, Muna Imady, has also written a book, her first. It is called simply
Syrian Folktales. The book is a delightful collection of fairy tales and recipes associated with the various regions of Syria. Reviewer comments that I have seen have all been positive. The only negative thing I have read -- and it has been repeated by several of the reviewers -- is that the book is too short. They liked it so much that they wanted more. Unfortunately, there is a limited number of provinces in Syria, at least officially! If you are not familiar with Syria but have heard a lot about the country on the news, you might like to take a look at this book -- I think there are already used copies in circulation -- to get a different view from what the news media constantly supplies.
5. Well, what the heck. Since I have gone on and on about the Imady siblings and their books, I might as well share information about another Imady and her book: the mother. She has actually written two books. One is about her mother, who is an American who lived in Pallisades, New York. I read that book and as a testimonial to her mother, it is interesting. Far more fascinating, however, is Elaine Imady's own book, a memoir of her meeting and marrying Mohammed Imady while both were students at Columbia University,
Road to Damascus. The marriage of Elaine and Mohammed is one of the only American-Syrian marriages I have known to work out, especially after the couple moved "home" to Syria. Elaine gives in-depth, emotionally touching reminiscences of her acculturation to Syrian society, assisted in great part by her acceptance into the Omady family by all its members. She does not bypass the difficult moments but tells how she was able to overcome them. Then, too, if you have read Omar's and Muna's books, it will be just sheer fun to learn about their childhoods from their mother. The book has been praised from many sources. It has been out for a couple of years now, but I don't think it is as well known in the USA as it is in the Middle East and Europe even though it is readily available in the US, especially through the online bookstores, as well as some brick-and-mortar ones (all can order it and get it pretty quickly).
6. I suppose I should provide an update on health. Things are so much in just a short time. A comment made by the doctor who released me from the hospital after concluding that there was nothing wrong with my heart was very helpful. He said that the MRI pictures taken showed a thickening of the esophagus and thought I should be taking Prilosac, which I am now doing. He did not know, however, that I have had a hiatal hernia for years, ever since Doah was born some 30-odd years ago. It seems that Doah was the cause of it. In any event, the hernia has slowly grown over time so that it is now rather large. Once I realized that the hernia might have been the problem, it became clear that the chest pains were from the hernia, not from the heart. The complicating factor was the seriously high blood pressure, which is now also under control, thanks to a change in medications. So, I am healthier than anyone thought, it appears, thank God!
7. And speaking of health, I have also been able to track down the source of my aching back on air travels. I would arrive in pain wherever I went, get better, then arrive home in pain. It was easy to blame it on my broken back since I did break my back (T-5 compression fracture) in 1980, but I should have realized that if the only time my broken back gave me problems was during air travel, then something connected with the air travel must be causing it. I usually get upgraded to first class, complimentary from United, since I travel so frequently on that airline. You would think that those extra-comfortable, large seats would be a wonderful way to travel, but some experimentation, including my current very long trip to Prague in which I was not upgraded, has shown that my back does not like the first class roomy seats. They are too big for me and do not provide adequate support to the T-5 area. I will have to figure out how to bring along some additional support because I enjoy the other amenities of first class. In the interim, it might just be that I am
not first-class material, as stewardesses sometimes indicate they think when they try to send me to the back of the plane for the bathrooms there. (Happens so often that I think maybe I should start wearing high heels and lipstick -- not my style -- whenever I end up in first class!)
Wishing you all a GREAT weekend! (Mine started early since Prague is several hours ahead of the USA. Oh, I guess that means it will end early, too. Hm...)
A week ago Wednesday, I had a 9:00-12:00 meeting at headquarters that I hoped would not last all the way until noon, since noon is the time of Mass at the little chapel near my office, about twenty minutes from headquarters. I squirmed as one hour turned into two. After all, I don't sit still readily, so these three-hour meetings, of which I have had many recently, are killers. Then, two hours rolled over into the start of the third hour. 11:00, 11:10, 11:15 ticked by. It seemed like all we were doing at that point was wrapping up AND wrapping up AND wrapping up. Of course, I could not sneak out of the meeting. I was supposed to be leading it! However, I was working together with our Human Resources folks, and, of course, I could not ride ramshod over their input. So, we continued to wrap up. 11:20, 11: 25. At that point, I just assumed I would not make Mass and starting to plan on lunch over the noon hour, followed, sigh!, by another 3-hour meeting from 1:00 - 4:00.
