I set out to find someone who could teach me the Syriac language and I learned that the Syrian priest, Isaac Armala, who worked at the Catholic printing house and helped with the publishing of Al-Mashreq magazine, was a trusted mentor in this field. He lived in a one wretched room in the Syrian Orthodox Church of Khandaq Al-Ghameeq. I knocked at his door one day and explained that I was interested in learning Syriac. He was taken by surprise, as I was too young to learn a language as dead as the Syriac so I recounted my story to Dr. Hatti, and he granted me my wish. We agreed that the lesson would be on Saturday nights and that I would pay him half a Lebanese lira. Without further ado, we started reading about Eddy, founder of Christianity in the town of Edessa under the rule of King Abjar. I loved the language. Then we moved to explore a story entitled “The Seven Sleepers Martyred in the Ephesus Cave”.

Friendship grew rapidly between us and I learned from him more than I did at the American University. Shortly, and having known about my poverty and the struggles I faced during my quest for knowledge, he said: “I won’t charge you a dime in return for my services. Teaching the noble language of Christ to a diligent chap like you is more than sufficient.”

I asked for a Hebrew teacher who could help me with my request and was guided to a Jewish school near the Jewish synagogue in Wadi Abou Jamil. I headed to the school on a Sunday morning in the hope of finding what I needed. “There’s a qualified teacher from the El-Mann family. Ask him if he has the time to teach you,” they recommended. I found my way to his house in Wadi Abou Jamol and we agreed on a one-hour lesson for 75 piasters every Sunday morning. Unlike the priest Isaac, and although I was a poor Arab seeking Hebrew learning, the Jewish did not exempt me from paying. These two languages would be covered later in the context of my studies in Germany and Chicago. Fortunately, the money I spent availed and proved to be of the utmost use to my knowledge in Semitic languages.

The second year wore off peacefully and the customary worries started to grab a hold of me again: How to obtain the Dirhams for the third year?