I am in a Valley

I am in a valley in terms of Arabic right now. Class is kicking my ass. To top it off, in order to get all the classes done before Eid we have class 6 days a week. Every night there are pages of readings, the new grammer is not so much explained as shouted and then we are berated for not understanding, and on top of this we are supposed to be reading a novel in the cracks of time. This is good - finally a challenge. But I do feel like concentrating on class has caused my Syrian to slide.

It's also a little annoying, being the only American in class, having to answer to the teacher's tirades against American policy. This is a strange position to find myself in, based on my own political leanings, but there's some shit I just have to clear up. Like the "America wants to make Iraq the 51st state" hypothesis.

The teacher also likes to quickly quote ancient poetry (and I mean quickly), and then looks happy when, as expected, we don't understand a word. He has also told us not to complain about the novel, he could read a 100-page novel in a day. So could I. In English.