Hi everybody, I am a Catalan currently learning the Arabic language. It's true that Arabs live in a conservative society, it's true that there's a lot of close-minded people in the Arab world who don't understand why women are human beings -and not like, literally, a rose you can smash when you want, true that in Arab societies homosexuals are harrassed and even killed (Irak), true they are not the most welcoming societies for atheists or, simply, seculars, they are quite racist societies along with being chauvinistic (we might remmember how Saudis treat their maids from Philippines or their builders from Pakistan, no to mention what peoples like the Amazigh or Nubians suffer, for instance). Then, why am I interested in learning a language linked to such an evil society? Without denying what I have just stated, I can state by experience that the Arabs I have come to known are among the most welcoming people I have ever met. Eastern, of course, more or less when it comes to religion and everything it influences, more or less westernized, but also open minded -when it comes to accept me as gay, atheist, westerner-, sweet, sensitive, lovely friends, good listeners and conversationalits, funny, inteligent, cultured, interested in other cultures (ie. non chauvinistic), not racists. Should I say a heaven within a hell? Yes, but they are, without a doubt, a first big change in the Arab society, just like the Lebanese indie pop band "Mashrou3 Layla", and this is the main reason to make me interested in learning the language of those who build true brigdes with the rest of the earthians.