Learning and Commitment through Arabic

I returned to term 3 of my Arabic evening class on Monday this week. Several weeks had passed since the end of the previous term and despite my best intentions to revise and study all the material we'd worked through so far, I went to class without having opened the satchel-bag I use to carry my study material. I also happened to be running late.

A quick chat with a couple of my fellow students reassured me that I was not the only one hoping our teacher would go easy on us and as it happened we spent most of the lesson going over what we had studied previously. Given her experience as a teacher, I'd be quite surprised if our lack of diligent studying came as a surprise! Long story short, I survived and lived to post about it on Facebook.

I had reason to regret my lack of study the very next day. On Tuesday, I went along to a networking event organised by the PWC Muslim Network hoping to gain information and advice which might help in my efforts to start a Muslim network at my current employer. After the customary introductions and speeches reviewing the world economy and the state of the Middle East, there was a brief Q&A session with the guest speakers, followed by a buffet dinner and the networking.

Having eaten and drunk a decent amount of caffeine, my initial post-work lethargy had receded and I was in a networking state of mind. I chatted to some strangers and played the ethnicity guessing game (which is always a nice ice breaker), I made some new acquaintances and had some traditional Oxbridge banter with an Oxonian I came across and also sought out the PWCMN committee members from whom I was hoping to acquire valuable information and insight into the challenges of setting up a professional network. 

While doing my rounds, however, I stumbled upon a group who were chatting merrily away when I heard one of them mention Arabic classes. My interest aroused, I elbowed my way into the conversation and said something like "Ahlan" in my best arabic, hoping to dazzle them with my linguistic brilliance. It turned out the group was mostly Arab and fluent in Arabic. They were very gracious and we glossed over my very limited Arabic and rapidly moved on to more conventional networking conversation.

All in all, a fairly productive evening as I did made some good connections which should help in my Muslim network effort. But mostly I came away feeling that my awkward encounter with Arabs had highlighted my novice status and that any sort of learning should be done with serious intention and serious effort and serious commitment. Anything less and I'm doing myself a serious disservice. 

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For most of today I was avoiding the details...

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Yesterday, I went along to the Oxford & Cambridge Club in Pall Mall, London to a networking/social event held by the Oxbridge Muslim Alumni.