Hotel Belere Rabat

... sure they get it right. He’s a direct descendent of the Muhammed, and the people love him for it. He also is astutely balancing political, cultural, generational, economic, and religious pressures while he maintains the kingdom and expands Moroccan opportunities. Because our cars have diplomatic plates, the drivers can take a shortcut to the embassy through the palace grounds. If the world’s best hotel is a 6 star, the palace is a 10.

... you have to make it your own - it can and will be different for everyone. The cliche 'you get out of it what you put in' is 150% true for this program. I did my best to make it my own, and just hope that I can process everything I experienced over the last few weeks!

Stay tuned. I'm already thinking about my next CCS adventure. So many places to go . . . see you on the flip side.

Shokran bezzaf!!!

Patty

... After our test, we got our oreintation about the school and Morocco, about how things work here and such. Four of us got out in the last week of the level one class (which is for people who speak no Arabic at all) so we can begin the level two this week. This is because apparently we need to work on the grammer that is covered at the beginning of level 2. The level one class was not that great. i didn ...

... game going. I was pitcher and a little boy created a "bat" by lacing his hands together, using his arms as the bat, and holding the batter's stance. I pitched, he swung, and got some good hits (a few strikes as well). About 5 minutes in, it occurred to me that we just created a baseball game out of nothing more than a ball of yarn. And we had a blast! The ball of yarn then became a soccer ball, and a couple of the smaller boys ...

Salaam! Well, let me preface this entry by saying that I haven't slept since leaving Chicago - I've been up for 33.5 hours so if I sound a little "off" that's why. Spent last night flying to Paris, spent this morning on a lay-over, and arrived in Rabat this afternoon on time at 1:30pm local time. Several members of our group were on the same leg from Paris to Rabat so we met up at the gate - there were eight of us coming in together ...

... away, 1st of the trip. Distance covered today = 294 km Total distance = 453 km 18th - Came back to the Marjane (supermarket) to try for the Mauritania visa, a few of us have remained on the truck whilst the rest have gone exploring. Still waiting for our last group member to turn up. 19th - Spent half a day in Casablanca, a sprawling European-style city, which is ...

... called it a night. Still slightly hungover so looking forward to a nice long sleep. Oh we also got our Mauritania VISA's today so all good there. It's just for transit so unfortunately will not be able to drive through the massive sand dunes but nevermind. Sure we'll have some fun doing that in Namibia. Now we just have to get insurance....

... plenty today. I wish I had a recording device of some kind so I could record the noise outside at the moment. Between sundown (when everyone breaks their fast) and 8.30 nothing much happens here. Then bit by bit, the Medina fills up with people selling their wares. There are people selling food such as snails, popcorn, shwarma along with a Moroccan version of a hot dog. There are lots and lots of patisseries, they really like their sweet things here. Then there are women ...

... into centuries past-like the unfinished mosque of Tour Hassan whose uncovered pillars stretching over an area of a football field suggest the ambitions to greatness in historic Rabat. You'll see the crumbling remains of an Chellah, an old Roman city from around the turn of the century, which, like the great Kasbah (fortress) overlooking the coast, swayed to the needs of a variety of different conquerors and dynasties before settling into the modern landscape of Rabat. Amidst the ...

... oldest speaks French well, and so is key to helping me get acquainted with the family and the area, and the youngest is a crazy little bundle of energy that is determined to teach me darija, and gives me a playmate when the conversations in the room are unintelligible to me. With this family, and the constant relatives and friends coming in and out of the house, the family has a fantastic liveliness. It is pretty clear to me that they are sure to introduce me to entirely ...