"Now we're talking."

I just had a fifteen minute conversation with my host mother – in Arabic. Funny how when you stop struggling with the language and just let it happen, you find yourself saying words without thinking about what they mean in your native tongue. Something clicked today when conducting bilingual interviews, and when I returned home exhausted and anticipating an all-nighter for my case study, I found myself chatting and laughing over a late dinner with Khatm. I'm still far far far from fluent, of course, but I am feeling more hopeful about communication with my family. She seemed pleased, and I was truly glad. We cleared up some misunderstandings, I think, and I’m looking forward to the next several weeks. I feel like I’ve been restored to them and to the culture, somewhat, a refreshing development after the complaints in the previous entry about “coconuts”.