I find that there are very few people worth talking to. I keep telling myself that I need to get out and talk to more people to practice my Arabic, but as soon as we get past the formalities (how are you, how are you doing, etc.) I want to get the hell out of the conversation. Yesterday for example, a guy tells me a joke. “What do you tell a woman with two black eyes? Nothing, she’s already been told twice…” It takes a certain skill to pull of jokes like that. You have to either assume a persona that thinks that is OK (the humor being in the irony), or you have to go in with the idea “This is a terrible joke,” a la South Park. This guy did neither, he just thought it was a riot at face value. I didn’t stick around for long.<\/p>\n
I have been accused of being antisocial before, and if that’s what I am I guess it’s true. Like so many other things that I enjoy, I have high standards for the people I spend time with. I can assure you that I love the company of the people that I hang out with, otherwise I wouldn’t bother. It’s really frustrating here, the locals are really underwhelming as far as conversation goes. A large part of it is just education I’m sure, but even the college graduates are disappointing. Inevitably they will pull out a gem like, “Our water shortage is caused by a secret Israeli pumping station under the Red Sea, they’re stealing all of our water,” or the ever popular question, “Do you think Jews control the world?” Of course that last question is a trick to see where my sympathies lie, the truth of that question isn’t in any doubt to them. Combine jewish paranoia with a general distrust and dislike of women (but of course they are fascinated too), a healthy heaping of Bush hate, and a general impression that living in America must be hell what with all of the whorish women and rampant crime and you get wonderful conversations.<\/p>\n
The best conversations I’ve had here have been with other students deconstructing our experiences here. Most of it is just bitching of course, but there have been some interesting talks as well. I’m sure that the fact that I can talk with women has nothing to do with my appreciation of my fellow students… \ud83d\ude42 So I guess part of my “problem” can be chalked up to being antisocial, but I like to think of it as having high standards. My standards help me from going insane, but they may also hinder my spoken Arabic….<\/p>\n
Isaac<\/p>\n
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