My name is Eva.

October 5th

9:00 am. It's almost too late to go for a jog. Even though it cools down quite a bit here in the evening, the sun is still burning with full force in the morning. But since I definitely don't want to go out on the street in short sports clothes, I'll have to endure the heat now. In addition to the sun rays, I also have to deal with my jogging route in general: I still have to get used to the extremely steep streets. With a bright red face, but still very satisfied, I return about 40 minutes later. One side effect that I like about jogging besides releasing energy: wherever I go jogging, I have a feeling of not being a stranger anymore, but of belonging there.

After a pleasant shower, I have to leave already: today is the first time I have my Advanced Arabic course, which takes place every Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm. Since I am the only one from our Würzburg group who has signed up for this course, I am now making my way to the university alone. I want to emphasize that I left our apartment on time. Really! Only my sandwich, which I wanted to quickly take with me on the way, took longer to prepare than expected.

So as always, I arrive late at the university. Completely sweaty from the stairs I ran up and with my warm Zatar sandwich in my bag, which you can smell a kilometer against the wind. I have never been in the room where the course is supposed to take place according to the schedule, and I look a bit unsure into the lecture hall, from which I hear an Arabic voice. A man sitting at the front desk looks at me and asks me a question that I don't understand. "Fusha?", I ask, which is the Arabic expression for "Advanced Arabic". Since there is no reaction from the lecturer, I am about to turn around again when I see a young man sitting in the front row nodding his head. So I enter the room where besides the lecturer, there are seven other students sitting, I sit down in the middle of the room, and try not to look too exhausted.

I have interrupted the introduction round, which doesn't surprise me. What surprises me much more is that Ibrahim, who is sitting in front of me, is introducing himself in fluent Arabic. I look around. From the reactions of the others, I can tell that unlike me, they understand what he is saying. In any case, it doesn't seem like I'm here among international students. Mr. Ahrez, the lecturer, asks Ibrahim questions in Arabic and talks to him for a long time. The only thing I understand is that Ibrahim is from Iraq. Native speaker, therefore. It's one of those moments where I feel out of place. After an never-ending dialogue in Arabic, all eyes turn to me. I'm next in the introduction round.

"Ana ismi Eva.", I say. And that's pretty much all my Arabic skills allow. I can also say that I'm from Germany and studying social work. Two days ago, I also learned to say that I speak a little bit of Arabic, which comes in handy right now. But then I'm at the end of my Latin. Or rather, my Arabic. I don't understand any of the questions the lecturer asks me and now realize that everyone else, except for Ibrahim, is a native speaker. Almost everyone. The lecturer says something to the student in the front row who nodded at me in the beginning, and he turns around and speaks to me. He's from Hamburg. What a stroke of luck. He can understand Arabic well and speak well enough to translate for the lecturer for me, that I hardly speak any Arabic yet and probably didn't end up in the right course. Mr. Ahrez now translates back that he is happy about my presence and wants to support me as much as he can. I wonder a bit how that can work if he doesn't speak English himself, but for now I am relieved that my part is done.

The other girls now introduce themselves one by one and I do my best to pick up a few vocabulary words that I already know. However, I don't understand most of what is being said in the next good hour. They just talk too fast. Native speakers, after all. I do catch that we should get the book by next week. Then, after an hour and a half, the first introductory lesson is over. If I want to take something away from this course, I really have to sit down and study hard. I'm one of the last ones to leave the room when Mr. Ahrez offers to give additional tutoring for both of us German students, and Ibrahim, every Saturday after the course (for some reason Ibrahim, as a native Arabic speaker, needs Arabic tutoring). Well, let's see how next week goes.

I run a few errands in the city and then wait in the apartment until Rebecca comes with Lea, who has now made it to Amman after an exhausting summer school in Greece. Our shared apartment is now complete :-) In the evening, we follow an invitation from Bayan, whom we know from the summer school, and who has invited us to her farewell party. She also studies at GJU and will spend the coming semester in Würzburg. It's always nice to see the faces of the summer school again.

... considering today's day, I should maybe come up with an additional strategy for my 5-vocabulary-word rule.

Salt- ملح

Month- شهر

Minute- دقيقة

Quarter- ربع

Language- لُغَةٌ