Today was my 2nd day in my new 3rd level class. The majority of the class (11 out of 13 actually) came from my 2nd level class so we know each other and everyone's idiosyncracies which makes lessons fun since the teacher, Anita is pretty strict and rather rigid. She reminds me of my discipline mistress in secondary school, Mrs Veronica Siaw. Well at least Anita is not mad about Rocco Barocco and doesn't wear nightgowns to school.

We aren't allowed to talk or help out classmates who are stuck in a question. She keeps saying, 'Jag prata inte på dig, eller hur? Jag prata med honom. Bara honom.' (translated: I'm not talking to you, am I? I'm talking to him, only him.). Oooh..tough lady. Not to say that she doesn't smile or laugh but just like Mrs Siaw, the smiles and laughs come from her own jokes (which other people don't necessarily find very funny).

There is an Iraqi man in my class called Muthana and he was the source of all our humour today. I would say that Muthana is a special sort of man, found mostly in the Arab world and certainly amusing to the common man (unless you're his teacher). Muthana is a man who will tell you things whether you want to know or not. He wants you to know he understands and he adds on to whatever the teacher says just to show how clever he is. Unfortunately, he is not all that clever and most of the time, his additions are inappropriate or simply do not make sense. I'm not sure if it's his thick accent when he speaks Swedish or just that he can't put a proper sentence together but I honestly can't understand 80% of what he says. And he usually repeats what he says (which are usually singular words or 2 word sentences) twice in a row.

Anita was trying to go through a piece of text and explaining difficult words to the class but of cos Muthana being the way he is, cuts in so often that Anita has learnt to ignore his sudden bursts of something, which hasn't stopped him. He likes referring to his dictionary and showing Anita the word she was trying to explain to show that he got it. Hai...at least he's the comic relief in class.

During one of our breaks, I was sitting with Vlasta, Knut and Nadine in class when Muthana came up to us with textbook in hand asking what the answers are (at least that's what I think he was asking). We tried to tell him that he's not allowed to write in the textbook and we haven't done any of those exercises cos it's not even the right chapter. But all he said when we told him he has to write his answers on paper and not in the book was, 'Jag vet. Jag vet. blah blah blah....' (translation: I know. I know. ..gibberish..). Then finally Khaldoun, another Iraqi in our class (whom I think is pretty attractive looking), stepped in and told him in Arabic that he can't write in the textbook. Guess what? Muthana still kept on saying, 'Jag vet. Jag vet...arabic blah blah...'. Finally Khaldoun couldn't take it anymore and went off saying he didn't understand what Muthana was saying either. And once again he flew down on us and once again we tried telling him to write his answers on paper (more people got involved this time) when finally..I think a lightbulb went off in his head and he turned to us and asked, 'Jag kan inte skriver här?' Jag måste skriver bara där?' (translation: I can't write here *points to textbk*? I can only write there *points to workbk*?)

Finally the man got it!! And he went away.

After the break, Anita went on to a different exercise where we had to fill in the blanks and she called upon us one by one to give her the answers to the various sentences. But everytime she called on Muthana to give the answer, he not only gave her the answer to his question but also the rest of the answers which of cos made the rest of us laugh since Anita had reminded us at least twice before to answer just our own question. One could see the exasperation rising in her eyes but even though she got even more strict with us, at least she doesn't raise her voice...well maybe just a little.

Once Muthana gave her the right answer but pronounced it wrongly. Anita tried correcting him but standing in front of him and getting him to repeat what she said which in itself is a challenge.

Anita: Titta på mig. Pen-väs-sare. Sa pen-väs-sare. (translation: Look at me. Pe-cil-shar-pener. Say pen-cil-shar-pe-ner.)

Muthana: Jag vet. Jag vet. Pen-vas-säre. Jag vet! (t: I know. I know. Pencil-sher-pa-ner. I know)

Anita: Nej Muthana. Väs-sa-re. Inte vas-säre.

Muthana: Jag vet. Vas-säre. Pen-vas-säre. Och rak-nä-re *answer to the next qn*. (t: I know. Sher-pa-ner. Pencil-sher-paner. And culcalator.)

Anita: Sigh...Muthana (by this time the rest of the class have started laughing and some tried helping.), pen-väs-sare. Titta på mig. Pen-väs-sare.

Muthana: Jag vet. Jag vet! Pen-vaas-säre!

Anita: Hai...Nasta fråga, Tatsawan *girl sitting behind Muthana*? (t: Sigh..next question, Tatsawan?)

Muthana is a man in his own little world where his way is the best way and everyone should just accept that that is the way Muthana is. Not many things in whichever language can really go into him cos he's so stubborn and sure of his answers.

So we let him be. So long as he doesn't write in the damn textbook!