Morocco is different than Duluth

Our hosts Rachid and Rita

First let me apologize for the lack of quotes and apostophes. I can find neither on this bizzaro keyboard.

The title of this blog is not as much meant to inform or shock you, but it is more to remind me of what is going on here. I am starting to feel a little culture shock here and for me that always takes the form of sitting in the house and watching TV. It can also result in me smeeping more than average.

This morning I did both.

Rachid woke me from his living room floorat 1130 and told me that 1: Breakfast ( lunch) was ready and that 2: There was some live soccer on. In this case it was bread and tea while watching Iraq and South Korea duke it out in the bizzarely named Asia cup.

Watching Soccer

After that it was Cous cous and Saudi Arabia vs. Japan. What I really found strange about this is that the chmpionship match for the Asia cup will be the Saudis and the Iraquis. Then Rachel Ray came on and TaHa came from upstairs and decided that it was time to hit things with a hammer.

Queen Jenny and the Cous Cous

Whether it was a screwdriver or a pop can, TaHa hit away. Ironically, this is also the time I picked to go to the cybercafe and update everyone. Over the last seven days I have gotten almost 150 hits and I can see from the map at the bottom that it is from all over Minnesota. ( Even one from Montrose MN) which reminds me of the movie drop dead gorgeous.

The wedding is on Friday and Jenny and I are thinking about checking into a hotel for a couple nights over the weekend. However, we want to do this without insulting our hosts (who have really been great by the way). A hotel here is only about 30 dollars a night and I think not sleeping on a floor, throwing in some air conditioning, and a pool would be a fun break for us and our hosts.

The wedding is going to be a big affair and our bedroom (their livingroom) will be full of people Friday and Saturday night. Having to stay up as late as the latest person and having to share the room with a few other people is enough to get Jenny and I talking about moving on for those nights.


A two night wedding sounds a little strange. Well really, one night is women only and one is men only. So really it is just one total. When I asked Rachid what I should do for the all woman part he said Oh, you will stay with me as a guest. I love to get stared at and whispered about as much as the next guy, but I think I am going to pass.

However, Friday and Monday only make up 2/3 of the wedding. On Monday we will be going out to Rachids parents. They live on the edge of Marrakech and we visited them on Sunday. They have a small house with no electricity. We have stayed there before, and they all remembered us and were happy to see us again. They fed us a great dinner of fish and bread and we slept under the stars on their porch. I know the stars were out because I was awake for about an hour in the blackness. It turns out that roosters do not just crow at dawn and dogs and flies both do not appreciate the importance of sleep.

Rachids House in the Country

We had to get up early the next morning to catch the cab that might or might not meet us. Luckily that turned out to be a non issue because we got up too late anyway and to get back to where there were cabs we spent about a half hour hitchhiking, eventuqlly being picked up by a big rig.

Hitchhiking

We made it back into town and dropped Jenny off at the hospital (our thin excuse to come back here ) and Rachid and I went to pay bills, have an avacodo juice, and buy some meat for the next couple of meals.
The Meat Market

All that energy spent was taken back with a 3 hr nap through the heat of the day. It would be better to just call it heat. My clock has a thermometer on it and last night it read 85 degrees. When I woke up early this morning it said 79. The good news is that 79 feels great now!!

I am going to go now and figure out how to

1. Buy a candy bar and a diet coke (coca light)

2. See how Jenny can post here so she can relay what is happening in the hospital ( not the cleanest place I hear).

3. See if I can remember how to get home.

Ciao

Down Town Marrakech