Arabic!

I started taking Arabic classes last week and I’m walking on the moon. I’m the kinda gal that has to be progressing toward something to feel fulfilled. I need a goal, tangible or otherwise that I’m working towards.
My overall sense of well being and contentment comes not from whether I’m having fun, but if I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile. I’ve always been like that, I have to stay busy or I get reclusive and down. Up until this point I’ve enjoyed my time in Yemen, I’ve done many interesting things, and had some marvelous adventures but I’ve made limited progress towards my goal; to learn Arabic. I have some relatively lofty life goals and nearly all of them involve a proficiency in the Arabic language. This was the rational behind moving to a third-world, lawless, developing nation on the cusp of civil war- one year immersed in an Arab culture would be the equivalent of 5 years living and working at home and studying on my own time. Living here, battling extreme boredom and the stagnant social scene, dealing with marked cultural differences and gender inequality, getting robbed, getting sick and not progressing toward my goal has, at times, made this Yemeni adventure feel like a bit of a train wreck.
I’ve been trying to take classes but I’ve been brutally rebuffed. There are myriad language institutions and private tutors in Sana’a and Taiz and Mukullah, basically everywhere but Aden. Aden only has one place that teaches Arabic classes, it gets mixed reviews at best and costs hundreds of dollars a month- in a land where the average yearly income is $700 , this is an extremely exorbitant price. One of my students approached me and offered up her older sister as a possible tutor. Right now we are having some scheduling difficulties- as is to be expected in the pandemonium that ensues during the final week of the session, but I have high hopes that it will all work out and I’ll start dominating this language!