15 Comments
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Rona Maynard's avatar

Your sister is wise. Go for it. And keep going until you get a residency.

Noha Beshir's avatar

Spent about 4 hours on the application last week. More coming this week. I really want this.

jen m's avatar

I hope you get it!

Noha Beshir's avatar

Awww thank you! Receiving your good vibes.

Negar Kamali's avatar

Thanks for sharing your experience with me, Julia. Yes, German isn't easy to learn, but for me, learning some themes was easier than others, because not only I have native-like proficiency in English, but also I had plenty of time for practice.

Julia Bahar's avatar

I am so amazed by this thing about giving 100%. That is such a relief to see it like this! 💜

And yes, who the hell cares, just try it! If you think: "it isn't going to work anyway but I will give it a shot just because" - does that relieve some of the pressure? It worked for my sister 😜

Noha Beshir's avatar

Isn't it SUCH a relief?? I was so shocked when my sister first said it. My first instinct was to go "no, no it doesn't work that way," but then I realized it DOES work that way! Which is amazing. I love that it worked for your sister! That's encouragement enough.

Maia Duerr's avatar

JUST DO IT!!!!

You are a writer and your gift of writing deserves to be nurtured, residencies are a great way to do that.

It's funny because that's been on my mind too... I've started looking through the residencies list in Poets and Writers mag. If you want to DM the name of this one maybe I can apply there too!

Noha Beshir's avatar

Maia!! Yes, apply too! It’s targeted at memoir and journalism. I’ll message you.

Negar Kamali's avatar

Yes, noha, go for it! Even if they don't accept you, you can tell yourself "I tried, I failed , but there's always a next time!". Honestly, the only thing that fills all my time is my second B2 German exam (I was able to pass my second B1 exam in February, then prepped myself for my German B2 exam in April, then this Sunday, I saw that I've failed the whole exam).

Julia Bahar's avatar

Oh, so sorry to hear that! But German is really difficult to learn, especially if Farsi is your first language. For every Farsi word there are 5 German ones, it seems! I know plenty of others who struggle with this... my husband today said that learning German is the only thing in his life he keeps failing at 💔💜

Noha Beshir's avatar

Awwww I’m sorry to hear that but I also love your attitude about it. It’s a process! You failed this time but you can just keep trying and if you do, you’ll pass.

Negar Kamali's avatar

Failures are totally normal, and they're part of the process of learning. I know that whenever I'm 90% percent ready to do sth, I'll be successful in doing it.

Noha Beshir's avatar

You have the healthiest approach to this - trying to internalize it...

Negar Kamali's avatar

Yep, you're right, and I'm glad that I've learned this through countless times, not that sb has taught me this.