Sunday I am going to the Grand Mosque come Hell or higwater

Consdering that I have been here nearly seven weeks and have not yet gone to Grand Mosque makes me ashamed. The expats like to go to Western catering houses of shopping and food all the time and I am so tired of tagging long with them that I can barely restrain myself from saying so. I've been biting my tongue.

Sunday I will go and visit and am trying to find out if there is an english speaking imam with whom I can speak and learn from. There must be, I hope. Across the way is a historic palace and that too, I've been meaning to see ever since I arrived. Things keep getting in the way. J. can translate for me and is willing to do so, but it would be easier if I could communicate with our host as well.

I have noticed that I don't ennunciate words very clearly. J. is constantly saying, "What?" and I find myself having to be very conscious of moving my lips in order to be understood. For her part, she has the rather disconcerting habit of saying "en, eh" when an American would say "uh-huh." I think she's saying no and she's saying yes. Thus things happen like, "I thought you didn't like the movie," "no, it's one of my favourites." If you watch her closely you'll see that the "en-eh" is accompanied by a nod, but it's a very odd thing to get used to after years of training in the reverse. I have had to adopt British spelling as best I can, thus the constant use of "u's" in words like 'colour' and 'favourite' and the use of an 's' in place of 'z' in 'civilisation' and 'industrialisation.' There are other things too. Most english speakers say "can't" and "chance" as a Brit would, "Caunt and Chaunce."

I'm also told that I speak in a rapid slur. Still, there are some things I do correctly that J. and others do not. For example, one checks their "mail" not their "mails" and certainly one never has to run to the store to pick up some "stuffs." In perhaps the most hilarious and often repeated instance of unusual local phrasing came from the "natural Singaporean teacher" "H" who upon receiving a barrage of angry honks from a driver behind him complained in an Indian-Singaporean accent, "there's a crazy monkey horning me from behind." "That" I said, "is a serious problem."