I would like to share an amusing incident that occurred a few days before. I was in an examination hall giving my last exam of the semester. After an hour, I asked the examiner about the time
. She was an Arabic speaker and so were all the students present in the hall at that time. I was the only non-Arabic speaker, she looked at her watch
and answered "khamsa wa us" which translates as 5:30. She didn't realize this at first but when she looked at my outfit, I was wearing a traditional Pakistani dressing. She felt that maybe I didn't understand what she said but when I replied "Naa'm shukran" "OK thank you" I could see a sudden smile on her face. She couldn't stop herself from asking me "Do you understand Arabic" I thought to myself, after spending 22 years of my life in a country and still couldn't understand the language of that country than probably I should drown myself. So, I replied "Naa'm ana ifham Arabi" "yes, I understand Arabic" and she seemed very happy with my answer.


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