I’m beyond excited to begin this blog, which is a new and momentous step in the current chapter of life’s journey. In the post, I will introduce myself in brief, explain how I came up with the idea for this blog and what you can expect to see here, and include a few additional notes (dedicated readers will come to notice that I always list things in groups of 3). As this is the first post, I’ll keep it short and sweet, no need to bore you yet!

My name is Barak, and I am, at the time of writing, 26 years old. I’m a first-generation American (my origin is an interesting story, but we’ll get into that later).
At this point in my life, I am pursuing my long-time dream of learning Arabic.
In about two months’ time, I’ll be traveling to Jordan for a few days and then to Vermont, USA, where I will be working a seasonal job at a resort for six months. After that, I’ll be going back to the Middle East, beginning with Jordan.

The idea behind this blog is to share my observations on the very wide-ranging topic of Arabic and the Middle East, as I continue my journey. Last year, while in the States, I realized that many of my fellow Americans have not had the opportunities I have had, and will have, to experience the Middle East and Middle Easterners. Hopefully, this blog will be a step forward in that direction and will also keep you entertained.

For the next month or so, I’ll be posting intermittently. After I leave for Jordan, my goal is to post two or three times a week and to share pictures and videos from my travels alongside the observations.

I’m also an amateur short-story writer, and I may share some of my work with you here, if it passes muster.

In addition to the blog, I will be posting YouTube videos from my destinations, in Arabic, in order to expose viewers from the Middle East to destinations little-known in that part of the world.

This blog is a work in progress, and I will be constantly working to improve it as we move forward.

Finally, as to the blog’s name, my name is derived from the Semitic root-word meaning lightning, and to a certain extent, I’ll be wandering!