Hotel d'Orsay Rabat

... song came on. In November. In Morocco. It was that song about the holy infant so tender and mild. I am fairly sure it was a horrible rendition by Shania Twain. People here LOVE her. It is so strange the music that is played here. Black Eyed Peas, Shania Twain, reggae, Jason Mraz, and so much other American music. Actually the first two are Canadian so I will simply say music in English.<br><br>FRIDAY:<br> <br>Well it looks like one of the other students here is taking ...

... I neglect to recognize or if the previous owner was the Dutch embassy (as the school seems to be in embassy row), but you can imagine my confusion nonetheless. To preserve my feelings of self worth I refuse to take my camera into the bathroom, and because I am afraid of copyright laws, I drew (or traced) some Dutch children for you.<br><br>Apparently Hafeetha (I have no idea how to transliterate that correctly- in Arabic it&#8216;s &#8220;&#1581;&#1601;&#1610 ...

... to bed fairly early so that we could get up early to head out of Rabat to the Rif Mountains. After another extremely filling breakfast we got in our van for a 3 hour drive up to a remote village in the Rif Mountains. Though the drive to the village was fairly uninteresting, once we arrived the views were spectacular. We were escorted by our translator up to a small house on the edge of the village where we met with a family that has lived in the village for more than 4 ...

... br> <br>4) What Exactly IS the Definition of a One Lane Road?<br> <br>There are quite a few one lane roads. But as one could surmise from past entries, one lane is a vague term applied only when there is construction. (P.S. There is a true one lane road in front of the Bayt.) You would be amazed at the things that Moroccans do. I consider driving an art form and I recognize that it is not a pandemoniac free-for-all. I stand at intersections looking ...

... is worse. He can always think, &#8220;Thanks for making me look good.&#8221; Then mutters something like, &#8220;Idiot.&#8221; Of course this is done with the best intentions and done in an attempt to comfort yourself and make you feel a tad less lame. YOU ARE BETTER THAN SOMEONE. Of course it comes and bites you in the ass later. <br><br> <br>I remember being in class and we were talking about race. My teacher said something along the lines of, &#8220 ...

... well,&#8221; he informs me.<br><br> <br>We pick up another woman. You share cabs here. He then tells her the predicament. She doesn&#8217;t know where I live either. She asks me in English where I live. I tell her what&#8217;s near by. She translates for the driver, from English to darija (which he didn&#8217;t need, considering he speaks fusha and English). He says he knows. <br><br> <br>By this time, we are in Agdal (where I went Tuesday with Zineb- not the teacher ...

... were closed - Tuesday - huh??<br> <br>There are also lots of other cruising yachts here - Brits, Kiwis, Aussies, Irish, Americans, Canadians, Swiss, German, French - a real united nations - most of which are also intending to cross the Atlantic this coming season. It 's been great getting to meet a few other sailors and discuss cruising plans, oh and not to forget the odd discussion abou engines and toilets!!<br><br><br>

... before this program ends. Suffice it to say, I didn't leave home base all day, except to go to the hospital in the morning. I was excited about learning the words for colors, because it would be so helpful to talk with the kids about their coloring at the hospital! My nerd flag is waving proudly, but I was really geeked out to go in and impress the kids with my ability to recite colors to ...

... for a traditional Moroccan meal and live music. The architecture of the riads and Moroccan restaurants is breath-taking. Lots of intricate mosaics, marble work and moldings, as well as high vaulted ceilings. A guide from the hotel even escorted us to the restaurant, to prevent us from getting lost. I'll explain more about that in the next post, but suffice it to say, Fes is a city of 9,500+ winding streets. <br><br><br><br><br><br>

... a shopping area this afternoon, got local currency, which is called Dirham, made copies of our passports, etc. Tonight we went for ice cream. :-) Our placements start tomorrow, so the two of us at the hospital spent some time reviewing notes from previous volunteers to get a feel for what's worked in the past, etc., and prepped materials for tomorrow. We're not sure if we'll actually ...