Ana tekie Arabia shwaieh (I can speak arabic a little bit)-- by Clara

About a week ago, I was in the kitchen making cake batter (mmmmm.) and Eli comes running into the kitchen saying, "CLARA!!! THIS GUY IS SPEAKING ARABIA (Arabic) TO MOM! COME SAVE MOM!!! I ASKED HIM, 'DO YOU SPEAK ENGLIZE? (English) AND HE SAID NO, SO I THINK HE SPEAKS ENGLIZE.(still using the Arabic words he can.)" So of course, I ditch the cake batter (of course after taking one last finger full) and run downstairs to "save my mom".


SO, I'm walking down the stairs and this guy says,
"tekie Arabi?" (do you speak Arabic?)
"shwaieh" ( a little).
"Wain baba?" (wheres your dad?).
"Baba fii Kenya" (my dad is in Kenya).
After I say that, he goes off like a bomb. Talking really fast. Now, I try to listen to the sentence as a whole, not just as a bunch of words, most of which I don't know. He was telling me,
"Bookra fii bait" (I'm coming to your house tomorrow)
and I kept telling him,
"La! (No!) We don't need Gardner! (apparently, that's what he wanted to be)"
Then he said Misr (of course I was listening to the sentence as a whole. Had I been doing otherwise, I would have realized that this meant EGYPT...) He kept saying stuff about "Shejur" (trees) and wanting to come and rinse of the driveway. I kinda spaced out there for a minute not listening trying to figure out what "Thursday" was in Arabic. The way I learned the days of the week started on Saturday, so I had to start there. When I finally figure it out, interrupting him mid sentence, I say, (almost yell)
"BABA FII BAIT (pointing to the house) ALKHAMEES" (my dad will be home on Thursday)
"OHHH, okay, Tiab. Shukran" (Ohh, okay, okay, thank you).
Bouncing back up the stairs, feeling very triumphant, I say
"Afwan!" (your welcome!).


Of course, when the guy came back on Thursday to talk to my dad, he told my dad that our regular gardener had gone to EGYPT (yes, MISR) because his dad was not doing well. He was our "substitute". He told my dad about the whole thing that had happend between me and him.... So of course, in the end, I end up looking stupid for something I thought was fantastic. I WAS SHOOING HIM AWAY SAYING, DON'T COME BACK, DON'T COME BACK! (I'm laughing, not crying)


clara

Maybe this whole Arabic thing isn't so hard.