Learning My 'alif, baa', taas'

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Three years ago in Tunisia, I read my first word in Arabic. It was written on a wall and I sounded it out. Shukran, which means Thank you. A guide overheard me as I said it out loud and praised me. I was quite happpy.

The next time I figured out an Arabic word was Saturday. It was the letter miim' next to some numbers on a road sign. Miim means M and M next to some numbers on a road sign means meters! I was on a role and read my third word just yesterday. It was written Baa'...Alif'...Ray'. Yep, I figured out the word for bar. If I was't in a country where a woman drinking alone in a bar is considered a prostitute, I definetly would've gone in to celebrate with a beer.

Actually, my Arabic word count is still at one since my recent achievements are just transliterated from English and not really Arabic. I am proud of my Arabic skills anyway.

Sorry. No USB port so no pics. Please leave comments anyway!!

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Comments

[anonymous]

How do you spell Guinness? Not that it would matter as you couldn't have one anyone. The one in my hand is quite tasty by the way! If you were with a male could you drink? Or would that make him your pimp?

[Steve S.]

Allah willing...
Allah willing, the Arabic language will fall upon you not unlike the words of the Koran did to Muhamad (PBUH).

[Angela]

There you are
No wonder I couldn't find ya.... friggin too busy learning arabic..... :)

[Mark]

I was going to leave something witty in Arabic, but the characters freaked out the comment page. The gist was: I was drunk and forgot to sign the Guinness comment, but figured you'd figure it out.

[batgrl]

Not a Pimp
If a male and I went in for a drink, I can't guess what they would think. It wouldn't matter because no one would bother me then.

[anonymous]

ins(h)allah
If there are two women in a bar would that negate the prostitute premise (ie. we'd cancel each other out)....or would we create a mini-brothel? Good work on finding the word for bar!

[George]

I'm leaving Morocco Tomorrow
Hi. Have had a quick look at the blog - sorry if my joining you for a drink in Taroudannt was cramping your style and bad for business. Hope things have picked up since I went off to Essaouira!!! Sorry I didn't pick up the message in Marrakesh - would have been good to meet up. Good luck with the rest of the travels