Nothing

Nothing happened, nothing, I spent two weeks, studying. Something happened, I'm sure, I just forgot. I gave a presentation; I always give presentations in Arabic Class. I was supposed to give a presentation on my friends from back home. I didn't have any pictures of friends with me, so someone joking suggested I take pictures of cats around campus and say they were my only friends. Well, so that's what I did. I think half the class thought it was funny, and the other half was just concerned that I might be serious. Good times.

I have more presentation next week. I'm going to talk about the future of cinema in the Middle East. I've been reading articles about American movies and the reaction by Arabs. Specifically, I was reading about the movie called "The Kingdom" in an Arab magazine. I haven’t seen it, but from the previews it looks like a crack commando team from America goes into Saudi Arabia to straighten out some terrorist or something. I read the review of the movie in Arabic in an Arabic magazine. I was surprised, I was expecting some sort of backlash or resentment from the idea of Americans fighting in Saudi Arabia, but no, the review is exactly what I would expect from an American review of the movie. The article talked about the action, the actors, the special effects, and good and bad parts about the movie. The point of view of a Middle Eastern movie critic is strikingly similar to the point of view of an American movie critic. It makes sense when I think about it, I just guess I assumed that a Middle Easterner would have some mysterious insight into a movie that takes place in the Middle East. Not so far as that article was considered, at least not anymore than an American has mysterious insight into a movie that takes place in America.

Anyway, I'll try to have more interesting, camel riding, belly dancing adventures in the future!