Being born into a well-educated family can be something of a cross to bear for a young woman whose handwriting resembles something written while riding a roller coaster, and infinitely worse for someone whose life and studies have always been, in her own words, “super-neat and well-organised.” Classic scrivening, or a form of writing on paper, has now been enthusiastically embraced by young Omani student, Balqees Said Abdullah al Bimani.
Whether in English, the medium of most of her studies, or Arabic, Al Bimani always found it “slightly weird,” that, as a well-performed, basically high-achieving student with parents whose handwriting was immaculate, hers was barely decipherable. She explained, “There are a lot of things in our lives that we keep complaining about but do nothing to implement change, especially when it comes to skills like critical thinking, listening attentively, speaking impeccably, communicating effectively and personal interactions. If you just wait for things to be fixed, well then you are only ‘waiting for Godot’, and as we all know Godot never arrives!”
“To cut a long story short,” she said determinedly, “nothing changes if nothing changes, so I needed to step out of my comfort zone and make something happen. So, in year eleven I made a decision to improve my handwriting and make it look neat and beautiful. I mean, my closet, my bedroom, and all my school things have always been ‘tidy as’, and it was strange that my handwriting wasn’t, which made me wonder whether it is a gift that I should have been born with, and just expected that it would ‘come right’ one day. So I did something about it. I googled pictures of beautiful handwriting, and I started imitating them. Starting it was the hardest part, but it really was as easy as that!”
My parents examples, not only in handwriting, have always inspired me, and with Dad having a Masters in Policies and Strategies, and Mum a Bachelors in Islamic Studies, I’ve always had role models, and in a way, idols to look up to, as well as having the support of a family and faith. The other thing is, as an elder sister with five siblings, I feel I now have to provide a good example for them, so there’s no chance I’m ever going to slip back into bad (handwriting) habits. Of course, some teachers have unique ways of ‘pushing buttons’ too, and have very different ways of motivating their students, which I really like.”
“At the same time, the many different cultural and educational philosophies we are exposed to in higher education take your awareness of strengths and weaknesses to another level, and their comments have been a source of constant encouragement. As a consequence, I have taken great care, and pride in my writing and am often recognised for what I now see as a real strength, my immaculate handwriting.”
This Bahla based translation student is interested in learning English, reading books especially about space and astronomy, drawing, writing good articles, meeting international people, being independent, and has ambitions leaning towards a Master’s degree in applied linguistics/ TESOL thus indicating educational objectives as a career option later in life.
“I’m just very happy to be realising and recognising what I like and don’t like, what interests me and what doesn’t. I don’t seek to be famous at all, I just want to be happy, be financially secure and independent, read thousands of books, be good and loyal to my family, speak English like a native speaker, worship God in the best way, be more confident, while I also dream of working in NASA, and I have a wish to ride the “vomit comet”, the near-gravity fixed-wing aircraft used to introduce astronauts to the concept and reality of weightlessness.”
We rarely see the child with a scrawl emerge for even an unguarded moment, indicative of someone who has too many dreams to be explained in just a few lines or sentences, too many life goals and objectives to mention, yet one feels, with a definite sense of order and priority. This charming and articulate young Omani with a self-confessed weakness for smoothies is yet another example of a young woman who has direction, motivation, and only one genuine area of ambivalence. “I like and hate my phone.” She told me, “I like it because it makes life easier, and I hate it because I, like everyone, waste time when I’m only chatting. Also, I feel sometimes that maybe my phone has kept me away from reading, and that’s not always a good thing, is it?”
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