tharwa in the sky with diamonds

so i've been studying arabic for about 5 months now. before i came, i didn't know much of anything. i started at level 0 but i'm now on level 7, alhamdulillah. you can really tell if you are improving with your conversation when people in the market think you're arab. just the other day, i was at khan-al-khalili and after much bargaining and winning, the seller asked me if i was algerian! HA! i was quite flattered that he thought i was an arab! maybe it's because i was arguing like an arab. but when i told him i was indian, he was quite shocked. he said i spoke arabic quite well. but then i realized i was only saying numbers in arabic so i don't know if i should think anything of what he thought.

but naveed's friend, fatima is visiting from england. when i told her i started studying arabic 5 months ago and didn't know much of anything when i first arrived, she was quite surprised. she thought i had been studying arabic for a long time 'cause she heard me speaking to the locals and was impressed. that made me happy. but maybe to the untrained ear (she doesn't know arabic), my arabic is impressive. so perhaps i should get my head out of the clouds.