Ana phir Maghareb!

so many things have happened in the last few days, I know I cant tell them all… but I will try to hit the highlights.

Lesson 1 getting into Morocco as an American is rediculously easy.  We arrived in Casablanca, Morocco around 8am Sunday the 2nd, and were leaving on a train by 10 am.  They checked our passports before we even got our luggage, and when we did get our bags, we sent about half of them through some sort of xray scanner, but carried the other half around… The hardest part about leaving the airport was actually moving our luggage, which leads to lesson 2…

Lesson 2 never travel with baggage that weighs as much as you.. In our defense, we were moving Drissia home after over a year in the states, so she had alot more stuff than if she had just come for a visit.  We decided that between the two of us we had at least 200 lbs of luggage that we had to lug to and from the airport in New York, through the airport in Casablanca, onto a train, off the train and onto another train (going across the tracks, down stairs and back up the other side.  She was pulling one bag as I pushed it up with my knee, cuz I was using both hands to drag the other big bag up behind me).  After the train we piled ourselves and half our luggage into a petite taxi, dumped the other half on the top, and hoped it wouldnt fall off.. after all the work we had done to get it to Meknes, it would be a shame to lose it now!

Lesson 3: Culi, Culi, Culi: This means “eat, eat, eat!” in Arabic, and is probably the first word I learned here.  At least it is the one I hear the most.  As soon as we arrived at Drissias, we were greeted by a flood of people and immediately fed dates with almond and sweet marzipan flowers stuffed inside, and milk: the traditional Moroccan welcome food.  Soon after we were fed alot of other amazing food that I dont even know how to describe just yet, but anyone who has eaten food made by Drissia will know it was all awesome.

After alot more eating and some cleaning up, we finally made it off to bed, and that was my first day in Morocco.

Hello Friends!

Now that I have accepted the fact that I am a world traveler, I decided it was time I started a blog.  However I don’t want to confuse anyone with my intentions:  I did not begin writing because I believed that my travels would be so spectacular, or my writing so brilliant, that everyone would be itching to read this.  Rather, I am lazy enough to believe that writing a blog will help me keep in touch with all of you, all over the world, without having to repeat myself too much when we actually do have a chance to talk… And I hope that is how you read it as well.  As I am attempting to model this blog on a conversation, I hope you also feel free to chime in, and contribute your own thoughts to the dialogue.  Much love to all of you, and thank you for joining me on my journey!

We are rockstars!