Alexander and the Terrible-No-Good-Very-Bad-Day

I think I may have figured out something. I don’t think I have such a major problem on basic communication skills. I think my problem may be with regular conversation skills. I literally encounter at least 7 non sequiturs in any one day.  I’ve realized it’s not as much the words that people are saying; I just can’t follow the logic of the conversation. For example:

Person:  Ah, Alyah, you’ve been gone for a while. You disappeared! (I get this about everyday, “I disappeared,” and I always think, ‘no I didn’t, I always know where I am.’)

Aly: Yes, I took a test near Fes, like I told you I was going to two weeks ago.

Person:  Did you do well?

Aly: Yes! I did just fine thanks. 

Person: So your mother’s name is Audrey?

Aly: What? Did you just say the word ‘Audrey?’ Wait, what does this have to do with what we were talking about?

Then I usually proceed to look flustered and go glossy-eyed because all of the sudden I realize I feel like I'm making mouth sounds and we have come to the impasse of: nous ne comprenons pas les uns les autres (we don't understand each other).

Here’s another linguistic anomaly I’ve noticed. People repeat things about 4 times in a conversation with me. Honestly I can’t blame them. I can barely speak their language so my conversation partner generally tries to make sure I understand what’s happening. On the other hand, people repeat things to me about 4 times even when they understand I’m not confused. For example:

Aly: I’m leaving for a week to go take a test and get technical training.

Person: Oh, alright. Will you take a bus to get there?

Aly: Yes, I’ll take a bus and return the Sunday after this.

Person: Great, so you’re taking a bus, right?

Aly: Yes, I’m taking a bus.

Person: You’ll be gone for the whole week?

Aly: Yes.

It’s definitely been one of those tear-your-hair-out sort of days. Do you remember the book, Alexander and the Terrible-No-Good-Very-Bad-Day? Well, if you don’t, it pretty much helped make sense of why the world was a not comforting place some days as a young child. In fact, it’s probably one of the big reasons why I want to go to Australia. Alright, I admit that does seem like a non sequitur, but trust me, read the book and you’ll get it.

For tomorrow, I’m going to do some yoga and then I’ll be all hearts, stars and rainbows until I realize I have to go figure out how to wrangle a classroom of 15 super stoked teenagers.

Yella! (Let’s go in Moroccan Arabic)