My fitful Arabic

I'm only starting to become comfortable enough with Arabic that I'm not intimidated by casual experiences. The process, which has been extremely fun and has made me lots of new friends, has been one of humility and been I think most valuable in understanding how hard it is to learn a language and how hard it is to be an immigrant. A day or two after I arrived, I looked out the window, and my first thought was "Holy shit. What have I gotten myself into?" Progressing fitfully, the last three weeks have also made me eternally grateful for the overwhelming effort that strangers have put into making sure I was comfortable. Everyone immediately tries to speak in whatever English they can manage, wants to relate to me any connection they might have to the US, and wants to be friends.

Yes, of course, there are other, mostly benign, motivations besides a warm hospitality, but for the most part it comes with a pure heart. There is sometimes the unrealistic or subconscious hope that the friendship might somehow help get them a visa to the US. There is the subtle prestige that comes with having a Western friend. There is the rare opportunity to practice English with a native speaker. However, it is very rare that a Jordanian will exploit the relationship for any sort of monetary gain.

More than anything it makes me want to go out of my way to help the innumerable immigrants in the US when I get back. To see American in the idyllic light of opportunity where democracy is real and the only thing holding you back is your will, while only relatively accurate, still makes me want to work harder to help us to live up to that dream for Americans and immigrants. Of course I recognize that it is not to the benefit of the country to open wide the gates of immigration. So, the goal is not only to live up to that dream domestically, btu to support the developing world in meeting this dream themselves.