It's Friday evening and the work week is done... well, not exactly. The Center is having an event tomorrow so I only get half a weekend this week. That's ok, I guess. Everyone likes to work 6 days a week. The event is a training on survey techniques and research methods, so it should actually be interesting/informative. And... I get to write up a summary of the event and they will post it on their website, which is cool.
The work is going well I think, it's the first time that I've done a research position but I do a lot of reading and finding information and writing bibliographies; things like that so far. I think it is good experience and I already put it on my resume so, you know. I think I might do the summer Arabic program here, but it doesn't start until the beginning of July. Which is good because it's intensive, but I would like to learn some for the next three weeks, I feel very strange now because I go into stores and say a word or two in Arabic and that works because the person doesn't speak English or I say it in English and they speak perfect English! I want to try more Arabic but I don't know with whom it is easier to just speak English. Maybe this is wrong, but I assume the people with higher education levels are more likely to speak English. But how to you know who has more education? In any case... that's about it, my week was kind of uneventful. Hopefully I will meet some more people soon (though, I don't know where) so I'll have more interactions to talk about.
Interesting things:
1. I remembered that when we went to lunch last Friday, Chinese as you remember, I was in the car with two guys from the Center, and the one guy asked me if I had been to the Middle East before. And I kind of went, umm... So he said, "If you've been to Israel, don't say..." So I said "Ok, in that case, I haven't been to Israel, but I have been to...." The guy is Lebanese I think, but he grew up in either South America or Connecticut, I was told both. I think he was kidding, half. Honestly, if I lived in a country whose southern neighbor had bombed it continuously for a month in 2006, destroying the airport and roads and bridges and killing over 1,000 people, I wouldn't necessarily have warm feelings about it either. I would really like he hear what people have to say about it. It's too soon for me to ask yet, but I want to. Since I was in Israel during the war, I'd like to know what the experience was for people here.
2. The director of the Center came into my office the other day and asked how it was going, how I liked it dot dot dot. And I said, "yeah I like it, it's going well, it's very beautiful in Lebanon." And she said "Well, as you can see I am fishing for compliments," and we laughed and then she said, "what do you think of it here? Is it what you expected?" I was in the war, but don't worry, I only kill people who attack me." Ha! Again, I don't know what percent of that was a joke but I think most of it. She laughed when she said it, so it was obviously a joke, but I don't know, maybe she did participate, not in the 2006 war, but maybe the 1975-1990 civil war. She would have been pretty young then, but who knows? It was funny and made me curious.
3. The guy I share an office with, whose name I heard once and can't remember, and now it's been a week so it's that awkward we've known each other long enough that I should know his name. Well anyways, he asked if I'd had Lebanese coffee yet. I hadn't. And I said "Is there anything special about Lebanese coffee?" And he said, "Hashish. It is mixed with Hashish." Then he said, "No, I'm just joking." But I really believed him for a split second! I wasn't expecting a deadpan joke like that. And as you all well know, I have been accused of having the same voice for both sarcasm and serious talk, but even I was fooled.
Also, I applied for a job at Human Rights Watch yesterday. It would be sweet if I got it.
Ok, that's it.
Jake.
The work is going well I think, it's the first time that I've done a research position but I do a lot of reading and finding information and writing bibliographies; things like that so far. I think it is good experience and I already put it on my resume so, you know. I think I might do the summer Arabic program here, but it doesn't start until the beginning of July. Which is good because it's intensive, but I would like to learn some for the next three weeks, I feel very strange now because I go into stores and say a word or two in Arabic and that works because the person doesn't speak English or I say it in English and they speak perfect English! I want to try more Arabic but I don't know with whom it is easier to just speak English. Maybe this is wrong, but I assume the people with higher education levels are more likely to speak English. But how to you know who has more education? In any case... that's about it, my week was kind of uneventful. Hopefully I will meet some more people soon (though, I don't know where) so I'll have more interactions to talk about.
Interesting things:
1. I remembered that when we went to lunch last Friday, Chinese as you remember, I was in the car with two guys from the Center, and the one guy asked me if I had been to the Middle East before. And I kind of went, umm... So he said, "If you've been to Israel, don't say..." So I said "Ok, in that case, I haven't been to Israel, but I have been to...." The guy is Lebanese I think, but he grew up in either South America or Connecticut, I was told both. I think he was kidding, half. Honestly, if I lived in a country whose southern neighbor had bombed it continuously for a month in 2006, destroying the airport and roads and bridges and killing over 1,000 people, I wouldn't necessarily have warm feelings about it either. I would really like he hear what people have to say about it. It's too soon for me to ask yet, but I want to. Since I was in Israel during the war, I'd like to know what the experience was for people here.
2. The director of the Center came into my office the other day and asked how it was going, how I liked it dot dot dot. And I said, "yeah I like it, it's going well, it's very beautiful in Lebanon." And she said "Well, as you can see I am fishing for compliments," and we laughed and then she said, "what do you think of it here? Is it what you expected?" I was in the war, but don't worry, I only kill people who attack me." Ha! Again, I don't know what percent of that was a joke but I think most of it. She laughed when she said it, so it was obviously a joke, but I don't know, maybe she did participate, not in the 2006 war, but maybe the 1975-1990 civil war. She would have been pretty young then, but who knows? It was funny and made me curious.
3. The guy I share an office with, whose name I heard once and can't remember, and now it's been a week so it's that awkward we've known each other long enough that I should know his name. Well anyways, he asked if I'd had Lebanese coffee yet. I hadn't. And I said "Is there anything special about Lebanese coffee?" And he said, "Hashish. It is mixed with Hashish." Then he said, "No, I'm just joking." But I really believed him for a split second! I wasn't expecting a deadpan joke like that. And as you all well know, I have been accused of having the same voice for both sarcasm and serious talk, but even I was fooled.
Also, I applied for a job at Human Rights Watch yesterday. It would be sweet if I got it.
Ok, that's it.
Jake.
Love the joke. Made me laugh too--It's kyle btw:)
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