Hotel Bouregreg Rabat

... Spain. The latter is detailed in similar sandstone decoration, converted to a cathedral bell tower after the Jews and Muslims were thrown out of Spain in the 16th century. The Rabat mosque was intended to displace Cordoba, Spain as the center for western Islam. Al-Mansour's plan included schools, gardens and meeting spaces, the center of a new and grand Rabat that was to have been a magnificent world Capital.

... week, since so many of us have been preparing to leave. We had a speaker come on Monday to discuss women's issues in Morocco. It was good, but could have been better. The speaker was very young and modern and spoke mostly from her own perspective. She didn't seem that comfortable with public speaking, and it didn't seem like she was very educated on women's issues in the country overall (she mainly just spoke from her own experience ...

... required.

A couple nurses have started visiting us this week, and they're really nice. They're young - I'd guess early to mid-twenties and they speak very limited English. They like speaking in French with Olivia and practice English with me. I asked them what happened to the girl in traction and they said she broke her neck. They tried explaining more details to me, but only knew the clinical words in French, so I just had to infer ...

... in Chicago, but there is a part of me that would love to live abroad, doing this type of work full-time for a NGO. Becoming fluent in an exotic foreign language. Immersing in the culture. How cool would that be?? Anyway, dare to dream. I'm just thrilled to be here now. I'll be in Fes and Meknes this weekend, and will be back in touch next week. Have a great weekend! B'esselama, Patty

... what's the word for 'that's enough!'? I ran to find my phrase book, looked it up, yelled it over to her, she said it to the kid, and that was that. It was so ridiculous - if anyone saw us, they would've cracked up. All in all it was a great first day, but overwhelming. We were wiped out!! Tonight we spent about an hour putting together ideas for tomorrow. Hopefully we can gain a bit more control of the crowd. This afternoon we had a debrief session ...

... attraction seems to be the view it has of the beach, which do to the clouds was not very impressive. Also the beach is kind of dirty and appears to mostly be used by the surf school and for football fields. Later we tried for the tower again, and again ended up at another Mosque with a tower. Maybe one day we will learn to use a map and not just walk towards the first big building we see. Not today though. Anyways back at the hostel we were invited to join ...

... stay behind with his foot up. After lunch it was back on the truck this time passing through dry barren rocky land with some parts covered in SNOW! I thought we were in Africa - it doesn't snow in Africa!! Lucky I bought my Jelaba as I have a feeling it's going to be a cold few days. Continued.... (written next day) Oh my goodness never before have I been so cold. Not even in Everest . Probably because ...

... completion of the day.   We admit that we came to Morocco prepared for a more closed society and streets filled with more hustlers harassing you at every corner with everyone out for your money.  We have passed by a couple of hustlers, some places attempt to double or triple their pricing because you are a foreigner, but for the most part the people here are incredibly friendly and we were blown away at the generosity of these university students.  They not ...

... framed quotes from the Qu'ran. Taking in the scene, I was not doing a very good job keeping an eye on A'isha, especially when we entered the main lobby of the mall. Here the children had swarmed around small electronic rides and video games. A little girl in a beautiful golden keftan with henna all down her arms and hands was giggling inside of a small, vibrating toy helicopter painted a glaring red white and blue with "US ARMY ...

... I'm a little worried about fasting for the whole month. It can be a little exhausting adjusting to an entirely different culture and language and trying to take full advantage of the experience, while trying to learn three different languages on top of other courses. And I'm not sure if it was explicitly clear in my description of Ramadan, but fasting means that I can't drink any caffeine during the day. For me, this is kind of a deathblow. It ...