Le Soundouss Hotel Rabat

... like Moroccan pot roast), or cous cous (with seven vegetables) on Friday. There is also a kitty at school, named Mish-Mish (which means "apricot"), and she doesn't think she is a kitty. She thinks she is a puppy. She's really sweet, and of course, I like to love on her! After school, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they have excursions to different places within the city. Last Tuesday, we were planning ...

... trying to process it. We were preparing our materials for tomorrow, and she asked me if I'd ever worked with kids before (which I haven't really). She said she thought I was really good with them, and that I should be working in a children's hospital full-time! I told her I thought the same thing about her, which I do. I've been trying to model from her behaviors - especially working with the older kids. I think we both have our ...

... to let them know. We were wondering why they couldn't just hand the pamphlet out to everyone en masse, but I guess there's something to be said for the personal touch. Our driver, Abdu and the program director, Mohammed, were waiting for us at baggage claim - our bags were the only ones left in the place and there was literally a woman sweeping the floors around us! We made a mistake letting the airport employees help us with ...

... for us while we are in Rabat is the Marjane, which is a large Shopping complex near the centre of town. This is where we are of to attempt to get the Mauritanian visas. The application forms came back with all sorts of complicated and useless questions on it. Nobody on the trip is fluent in French so we all had some troubles filling everything out. Some people are very creative when it comes to their occupations on the visa application ...

... arrived at the bus station two of our friends, Pat and Nick, were waiting there to catch the bus as well. However, only one of them was able to buy a ticket so we were faced with the fact that our two man traveling team would have to accept the addition of Nick for the weekend - a 6'6'' blond man from Laguna Beach. All of our efforts to avoid looking American in the Muslim world were crushed when Nick joined ...

... and checkout the city. Compared to Tangier, Rabat feels a little more cosmopolitan and a bit less intense. We realized we had been in Morocco for 24 hours hadn't eaten anything authentic so we found the closest Moroccan place and dug into a pile of Couscous and Tajine chicken...yum, Morocco was getting even better. We spent another hour walking the new city and then the old. The cafe's, which are on every corner, were packed with men, no women ...

... out it's the latter, no bother, after all that is what we signed up for. Oliver tries to encourage us by mentioning it has a bar, restaurant, pool table - the works... all good in theory we think but pretty much a dreamt up utopia. Needless to say when we arrive to a campsite on the beach with bar, restaurant, pool tables and tents already set up a massive cheer erupts and we jump off the bus elated to check out our new home. Good choice ...

... key to the terrace where we did our washing and hung it up to dry, which took all of about 10 mins. Ramadan is still in full swing so we toddled off to the market and bought some avocados, apples and yoghurts, that would have to suffice until later in the evening. There really isn't much to do in places like Larache, so once you've had a look at the market etc, it's best to conserve your energy and go lie down with a good book. When the Muheddin does his ...

... seem out of place against the modernity, I can't help but think they blend so much more smoothly with the blue of the surrounding ocean and sky.) It really is enough to make you dizzy. But that is just the beginning of it. One could say that veiling of sort is a stylistic tradition in Morocco. The old city of Rabat, the Medina, is concealed behind the towering veil of its historic city walls. What goes on inside is clearly separated from that of the ville nouvelle and constantly ...

... how many different influences have existed just in this one little part of Morocco for thousands of years and filled it up with a sensory overload of art, architecture, food, language, traditions, and people. I can pick up on some of the more superficial signs of how much change Rabat and Morocco are going through right now, like Moroccan girls in tube tops walking next to women in full hijab and constant construction and development on almost every street. But I'm still very ...