Be Careful What You Wish For

Tuesday, March 16

Today was not a good day for Arabic. I was very close to taking a mental health day from class, but I knew that it would stress me out even more if I didn’t go to Arabic, so I went. I’m glad I did, but damn, it was a struggle. Like always, we reviewed our assigned homework. I had to read aloud in class—fun. 

In the thicket of midterms, my professor assigned us a quiz for next week on Thursday. I honestly could have started crying right then and there. However, I held onto the hope that Thursday would be the only time we have class next week, since the university has given students and professors Tuesday off as a “mental health day” (one of the five days we were given off in lieu of spring day). But providence was not on my side. My professor wants to make-up the class that she had to cancel a few weeks ago due to personal reasons. So now instead of having class next Tuesday, we have a class next Monday during Common Hour. (No classes are scheduled during Common Hour so every student and professor is theoretically free during that time slot on Mondays and Wednesdays.)

After class ended, I went straight upstairs and held the first cat I could find. Bean always makes me laugh when she growls at me. 

Thursday, March 18

Things were already a little bit off when class started. For one, it was very rainy and windy here in Ohio. You know, the kind of weather that makes you want to go back to bed, not go to class. Secondly, we were missing half the class! Class opened with my professor, myself, and the two other female students. One guy did eventually show up ten minutes late. But things only got weirder and sadder as class continued. 

As we were going over the new vocab for the new lesson, my professor got an email saying that a dead cat was found in her neighborhood… and it looks exactly like her cat that has been missing all morning. As you can imagine, my poor professor, while she didn’t go into hysterics, paused class for a moment and turned off her camera to deal with some things. Finally, she came back, apologized to us, and wrapped up class, assigned us homework, and then ended class forty-five minutes early. 

As this was all happening, we students were in our group chat worried about our professor. She truly is a wonderful teacher and person, and we all were in agreement that pets are like family. I am now praying that her cat is very much alive and that he makes his way back home. 

I always wish that Arabic class would get cancelled for the day--but not like this!!!

Arabic Word of the Week

letter / risala / رسالة