Morocco

Well, I made it to Morocco and so far it has been fairly interesting and fun. I posted a link on the right side of this blog where I will post all my pictures over the next 7 months. I really need to get to bed since I have class in the morning but I wanted to share a couple of random thoughts about my first 2 days in country.

1. It is a lot colder here than I thought it would be. I have no idea what the temperature is outside but according the various web sites it gets down to the lower 40's to upper 30's at night and up into the 60's during the day. Granted that doesn't sound cold but the buildings over here aren't insulated and don't have heaters. Now ALIF (the Arabic Language Institute in Fez) does have heaters in the rooms where I am staying but they are small radiators and are just kind of warm, not hot. And they don't do much to warm up the rooms. So at night it gets pretty chilly in here.

2. Shopping carts. OMG, how are you supposed to steer these things? We went to a supermarket today to pick up some food and other things so we got a cart. But these carts are more like hovercrafts because all 4 wheels turn independently of each other. So you can go straight, sideways, diagonal, whatever you want (or don't want in our case). Then to top that off the floors were slick so steering was next to impossible after the cart got heavier. It was quite comical and frustrating at the same time.

3. Moroccans definitely have a sweet tooth. When you order coffee it's not quite like we have in the States. I think it is just espresso and then they add steamed milk to your cup after they bring it to your table. But then they also give you a ton of sugar to put into it. When I was on the train there was a guy who ordered a coffee and it couldn't have been more than 4oz of coffee but he added this giant packet a sugar and then drank it. Then you can order this mint tea which is apparently quite popular here. I must admit that it is quite good though. It comes in a scalding hot teapot with crushed mint in the pot. You open this thing up and that's all you can see. But it's very sweet and very good.

4. I haven't met very many Moroccans yet but the people here in the dorms (called the Villa) are all very nice. There are only maybe 10 of us here but I think it will be a fun 6 or 7 months with this group.

That's all for now. Hopefully my next post will be more organized and coherent after I get some sleep :)