Arabic in Missoula

No time for writing, but yesterday we slogged from Fes to Marrakech by bus, and here's what happened along the way: Promising to actually write soon, Ustaz

Camel head in the souq, only a few days old. The tanning pits, where pigeon droppings provide the ammonia and the smell. Candid shot of the tulaab with Fes in the background. Underground jam session in the medina, plus my new leather jacket. Camel burger with sweet ketchup to round out the night!

Mrahba and mesalkheyr! We're currently in Fes, the cultural capital of Morocco and home of the iconic red hat ( tarbush  in Arabic), mostly soggy and exhausted and full of couscous. The internet is just molasses slow, so I was only able to upload a few photos. So here's the gang at the Roman ruins of Volubilis: And here's the casbah of Rabat, with a wave from زين to say goodbye! See you with more tomorrow inshallah, once I find some decent WiFi. Ustaz

Mrahba ya jamee3a, I'm writing to you from the salon of the Moroccan House Hotel, where a man is praying energetically behind me and some frankly cold air is blowing in the front door. We arrived six hours ago, after nine hours from Salt Lake City to Paris and a further two from there, sleep-deprived and calcified into seated positions...only to find out two of our bags had been left in Paris! So we stuck around another two hours, popped apple chips and watched dozens of djellabas pass by until the missing luggage came rumbling down the carousel and we taxied into Casablanca. The surrounding country is greener than you'd think, the architecture is confused, and the traffic is unnavigable. Since it was dark and I was dead t3baan, I don't have any pictures to share at the moment other than the view from my balcony: Tomorrow I'll have the energy to embarrass the students by posting their pictures here, and relate some stories of Rabat, Meknes, and Fes! Mnshuufkum

ورحمة الله وبركاته! Welcome and marhaba  to all Arabic students, parents, and interested readers! My name is Brendan Work and I'm the Arabic teacher for the three public high schools in Missoula, MT: Big Sky, Sentinel, and Hellgate. I'm setting up this blog as an electronic resource for my students and colleagues, as a place to post pictures, videos, and other multimedia of varying educational value to the great lifetime goal of understanding and appreciating the Arab world. As an exciting first taste of that world, five students and I are embarking tomorrow on an eight-day tour of Morocco, the western-most Arab country. It's the first time I've ever traveled abroad with students, though my third time in Morocco, and I can't tell you how excited I am. The educational travel company that put our tour together, Explorica, has been nothing short of excellent so far and I'd like to thank them right here for helping us out so much.  Here are the c