Farsi Lessons...

With the signing of our new contracts and plans for an extended stay we have hired a "farsi" teacher to give us intensive lessons at home. 21 year old- Rahmad Ali, is enthusiastic, loves teaching and loves us. "Mature" people being revered in this culture he angles for more time and dinner when ever he can. He shouts his lessons at us as if in a room of 50 students, cracks corny jokes and admonishes us to practice and study. After a couple of three hour lessons where Norm and I found ourselves chanting our verb conjugations in unison using the traditional Afghan rote method of learning I managed to organize our lessons around two principles. I will never study so make use of the time with me. And If I am thinking about what I am doing and I am creative I will remember the lesson. Rahmad was gracious and organized the lessons differently and then was astonished at how much we retained.

Norm is learning very fast but I had enough pidgeon-farsi to get along so I am struggling to relinguish what I know and relearn. Norm has the grammar and order of sentences much better. I have learned enough to be dangerous. After I greeted Mahbouba saying "May you never be alive"....informed her that I was going to "Buy Mr. Atoi..." and that "Women Parliamentarians play cards with the people of Afghanistan" She has forbidden me to use my farsi until I am more versed in it-especially given the high profile work we are doing. I am allowed to say "Salam" and "Khoh" (good) in public settings. However, I still have my good comprehension and I can understand most of what is going on around me-even to the point that I heard two little boys plotting to set off a fire cracker under a poor, sleeping dog and I was able to shame them and chase them off.
I am however, highly motivated to learn now, as Mahbouba is finding too much humor in my mangled attempts to speak.