low down dirty shame!

there is a joke and it goes like this:

Q: what do you call someone who speaks two languages?
A. bilingual

Q: what do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?
A: trilingual

Q: what do you call someone who speaks one language?
A: AMERICAN

What a pity. What a shame. Tragedy that most of the 365 million Americans can only parlez vous en Englais. Both my parents speak foreign languages. By today's standards they aren't super common or super useful, but they are foreign languages nonetheless. My dad, a son of  Greek immigrants from Chios, Greece and Constantinople, Turkey speaks Greek AND Japanese.  My mother, speaks Norwegian. Pretty good for a white girl from Houston right? Do you think they bothered to teach a word of any of these tongues to my brother and me while growing up? Big fat no. Disadvantage. For years, I've been bitter about this, seeing my comrades growing up bilingual without having to lift a finger.  It wasn't til I became a quasi adult that I realized this among many other things in my life is up to me.  Own your own destiny.  Quit blaming others for your failings.  At the age of 26/27 when your brain is way past that "sponge" stage my brother and I signed up for Greek lessons at the church.  How embarrassing not to be able to speak with your own family???!!!!@#$$%  I love my parents no question.   But I don't love the fact that they didn't share their knowledge.  Basic skills that could make a huge difference later on.  When applying for a job with Sotheby's in London early in March 2010, I was immediately disqualified because I was not fluent in another EU language.  How do I know this? They told me so.  No lie.

My point...listen. observe. fine tune yourself. discipline your  nogen to learn something new even if you don't already know it or it seems hard.  keep your eyes, ears, and brain open.  alert. soak it in.

While in Cairo, I tried to pick up as much Arabic as I could, even if it was just fragmented words. Here is what I learned in three weeks time:

Marhabbah - hello/welcome
Maasalaamah -Goodbye
Sabah al khair - good morning
Inshallah -If Allah wishes
Naam - yes
yammen- right
ala tool- straight
fatouta- slang for little guy
shukrun- thank you
afwan- your welcome
jellah- let's go, come on
maya kabir- large water
laa- no

If you are into Islamic Art or the Arabic Alphabet, this shop on etsy makes some really fun artistic prints. I was thinking about getting one for myself.  I was also thinking about getting one of these great language shower curtains from urban outfitters. You know, so I can "wash and learn"