when the Choc Nut and Christmas islander blogs within the breeze of the Gulf

Our basic Arabic course is over. Now, it is time to find and practise the ways to improve it. I am thinking of:

(a) Watching the Arab Channels, at least the news and not the teleseryes.
(b) Reading the broadsheets (which I have already started). Nosebleed!
(c) Talking (more) to Arabic speaking friends and colleagues.
(d) Reading Arabic comics, if available. I remember one of the better means that improved my reading before I enrolled to gradeschool was the comics, particularly the ones in Filipino. How can I forget the hahaha (ecstatic, laughing), hehehe (plainly happy and sometimes on a mischievous tone), hihihi (female, sometimes in flirtatious tone), hohoho (for Santa Claus), huhuhu (crying), hik-hik-hik (drunk), etc. Even the foreigners who want to improve their Filipino read comics.
(e) Buying a CD and book-guide for intermediate Arabic. I already did (the same day with a set for French).
(f) Reading the Twilight Saga (at least the first book, with the apple on the cover just like in the photo) which is written in Arabic. I am doubtful though that it will be effective because maybe I have memorized the English version.

(My copy of the limited edition “Ickle and Lardee’s Grand Adventure”, debuting in this blog together with my newly set up 5-foot Christmas tree. I almost gave up finding a fine tree for this season in the Gulf).

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Reading this book was like watching certain episodes from Tom Hanks’ Cast Away. Except that there’s a clever twist of representation from each character, especially of Piscine Molitor Patel (who’s nicknamed “Pi”; that of 3.14159 value in our Physics class) who is the sole human survivor in a cargo ship that sunk in the blue Pacific (Manila was mentioned on page 131*). It’s an uplifting and amusing story of how a 16-year old survived on the same boat with a hyena, zebra, orangutan and 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

Given that the story is really inventive, hence bagging the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, one of my favorite chapters was pre-ship tragedy when he was exploring and experiencing test of faith. Although it’s not the actual case, but I felt the particular chapter was talking to me. As you probably know, I’m based in UAE wherein several religions are observed by different people (it’s a fact everywhere).  But in this part of the world, most of the people are Christians/Catholics, Muslims and Hindu.   I was nodding and non-maliciously smiling as I read this part:

Note: Without his parents and religious leaders knowledge, Pi embraces three religions and on that fateful day they coincidentally met in Salai seaside esplanade. That his secret exploded like a bomb.

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I’m currently reading The Adventure of Sherlock Homes (free ebook) through my mobile. I wanted to download other titles from the Apps Store but there’s a cost involved. Why spend when you can get it for free? So I’m a happy soul when I learned about the 4th Annual eBook Fair. Since July 4, free access to 2 million titles of ebooks was made possible. This is one of the things that consumed my weekend.

Not everyone is a fan of ebooks. Of course, it’s still better to have the real book. But in case you are or anyone you know is interested, free download is still available until August 4.

I’m going gaga I don’t know which one to get first. Lol. Shop (read: download) till you drop!

(h/t: princessM)

It is a world of impulse. It is a world of sincerity. It is a world in which every word spoken speaks just to that moment, every glance given has only one meaning, each touch has no past or no future, each kiss is a kiss of immediacy. – Einstein’s Dreams

Einstein’s Dreams is one of my all-time favorite books. This novel is a collection of fictional dreams that Einstein had when he was working on the Theory of Relativity.

This is my entry to Oodles of Goodles’ Birthday Giveaway.