L'Amphitrite Palace Skhirat

... not a beer in sight!

The marina we are in is also cheap - 50 Euros a week. It is very new and is on the Sale side of the Bouregreg River. We have had a couple of excursions across to Rabat. To cross the river we use the little "ferries" - small wooden boats that sometimes double as fishing boats judging by their smells that are rowed standing up - they take up to about 6 persons! Their souk is much more posh than ...

... outside a supermarket where to put his rubbish the security gaurd just told him to put it on the floor. Different.

Something you can laugh at us about: we thought Morocco has the same time as Spain (one hour ahead of England). It turns out its one hour behind England. It was only today we realised this. This means that we had been getting up at 6 in the morning thinking it was 8. Idiots. you can probably imagine all of the other implications that go along with it!

... assignment was to discuss it with us, practicing vocabulary, sharing opinions from personal and cultural standpoints, etc. It was pretty interesting. Everyone in the group was adamantly against plastic surgery - except in cases where someone is disfigured from birth or in an accident. One girl brought up Nadia Solemon (the Octomom) so it was fun listening to her opinions on that situation as well!

The CCS van was in the shop ...

... be replaced in 2012, but I will be gone by then since the State Department policy is that all diplomatic personnel rotate every 2 years. We don't want any of our nationals to go "local". Morocco was the first country to recognize the US after the Declaration of Independence. In the late 18th century, the Barbary pirates, generally harbored at fortified Rabat, were so successful that Britain ...

... the rooms. Mohammad also told us about how this club, along with clubs in Britain and France funded pipelines to get water to people out in the country more easily. We saw people on the roads carrying water in jugs, as some families without running water how to travel several kilometers to have access to it. He said some of these families earn less than $1 a day. He also said they are trying to get water out to one of the local schools. Because of the work Rotary did, almost ...

... quiet offseason climate they would just make an accomodation for us. Not so. Unsmilingly denying any reservation existed, the manager then denied that they had a triple available and then also dismissed us using a double room for the 3 of us. Quoting 450 DM for a double and 320 DM for a single was unacceptable, so out I walked, with the other 2 reluctantly following me. Fortunately the driver knew a place and after checking out the room ...

... favour, as Gabriel spoke several languages, including Italian, Spanish, and more French than we did, making him an excellent translator between us and the local Moroccan's that filled our train cabin.   Moroccan's seem to all speak Arabic and French, having formerly been a major French protectorate.  The areas that were formerly under the control of the Spanish speak Arabic and Spanish of course.  This, while making some things difficult, is a refreshing ...

I sometimes forget just how forgetful I am. I can never seem to get a good reference point by which to judge where I'm at, because I'm constantly forgetting where I've been. Maybe that's why I need to write these blogs. But I had the good luck tonight to get a surprising, and very interesting reminder of myself last winter break. Shortly after returning to the States from The Gambia, I could find myself, nose in a book called The Caliph's House, curled up by the fire ...

... bandeira, não fosse aparecer la a vigilia da floresta para me foder a cabeça. Saltei o muro e senti-me um grande intruso em espaço inimigo numa missão de resgate. Estava tipo Chuck Norris no Asa Delta. Logo ao entrar encontrei uma figueira e dei-me de figos. Depois fui procurar um bom spot para me instalar e não levei muito tempo até encontrar o local ideal, escondido pela folhagem de 3 arvores. So me poderiam encontrar se soubessem que ...

... talked about our placements and had lunch. Me and two other girls went to the market to get some water and some crackers. I took a little nap and then we had tea time. Anna, 18 (who is from Wisconsin and so far my favorite), Sevie, 30 (another one of my favorites, she is from Yugoslavia and working in Chicago for the moment) and Ozlem, 33 (from Australia and one of my roommates) we all ventured down to this shopping center- its ...