Pashto, week 10, complete

Only 5-1/2 weeks left and then the OPI (oral proficiency interview, though sometimes it sounds like an oral proficiency interrogation :-). I listen to others' OPIs and sometimes feel encouraged, and sometimes like I'll never make it to their level. Granted, most of the others have had 50 weeks to learn it and we're doing it in 16.

They've provided some graduated examples, starting with a 0+ (minimum contracted goal) on the ILR scale, followed by several higher-performing students. The "0+" example was difficult to listen to, because the student was clearly having difficulty with the most simple of questions (appeared deer-in-the-headlights, probably very nervous). The "1+" had a few gaps for us but was generally doable. The "2" was a little harder since many words we haven't learned are being used, though we could generally follow the conversation with small gaps.


The culture-centric conversations are certainly interesting. Just as I often find language barriers (they don't understand the question as asked), I find that as they try to help us become more acquainted with and open-minded about their culture, they are often not very accommodating with ours. I'm certainly not throwing stones as it is foreign for both sides, but it's certainly an interesting dynamic.

Not certain if this is related, but my spelling of english words is starting to slip a LOT more these days. I guess in re-wiring those portions of the brain to accept a different language, occasional short-circuits should not be surprising. And ... occasionally a french answer will jump to mind first (e.g. "il etait un longtemps que je ..."). If that weren't bad enough, mid-french-sentence I slipped right back into pashto. Talk about confusing (to me and to whomever is listening).

We still haven't been paid properly for our per diem and housing costs. So far I've paid out over $10.5k in rent alone and received much less than that (which doesn't come close to covering per diem). Apparently what Millington thinks is happening with their money and what PACC is doing with it are two drastically different things. Great.

Ciao.