Cheikh and I -

just had the best night.  The activities were ordinary - we walked to Tangjia, ate dinner at the Muslim noodle place, bought some fruit in town, then walked back - but I can't believe how much we are talking now.  We had conversations the whole time.  Like, real conversations, about things that normal people talk about.  It makes me feel so normal to talk to him.  And like actually, maybe he's not from Jupiter.  Every single day I pick up a word or phrase that I can use, or I understand something that he has been saying, and every day that we are able to have a conversation I learn something about him.  Funny situation.