So I'm sorry that I have been horrible with respect to posting. That is what happens when you have too much work (hehe) and not a whole lot of free time at night, which is partly because I seem to work until about 8 pm many nights and I actually have somewhat of a social life. But, it should calm down soon, or at least it better so that I can handle the upcoming visits of my parents, my Mima, my sister being here, Sasha (she arrives tonight) and the impending due date of my memoir (mini-thesis/report type thing).
So Morocco was beautiful, sunny and a true vacation!!! I've been back from Morocco for more than a week now and sadly, I'm already starting to loose some of my color. There was so much sun there and the vitamin D was working wonders for both Katie and I. It made it a lot less annoying when every guy in the world tried to figure out what country we were from and sell us something at an outrageous price. It was so incredibly useful being able to speak French and I can't imagine going without them. There were actually some vendors that were so cool and not too creepy who we actually drank the sugary mint tea with (everyone invites you in their shops for this and they can trap you forever).
The most fun part about all of these people trying to sell us stuff was the game that Katie and I created: Guess where we are from? they all tried to figure out where we were from, which became like a game. We spoke French, so they immediately eliminated the idea that we could be American, but they knew we spoke with foreign accents so that confused them. Then, Katie looks Irish, English, German and I look a little more southern European, especially with some sun. In the end, they could guess Quebec but rarely American, which was probably good since American tourists don't have the best reputation. Despite the state of the dollar they still view Americans as more likely to spend money then Europeans. The few times when they did guess American, they got excited to talk to American girls and partly because they thought they could jack up the prices more.
It seems like our days consisted mainly of these games because everywhere you walk, unless you end up in the middle of nowhere, this happens. Fortunately, we met this awesome French couple (featured in a video), and we did some wandering with them so we weren't just two western girls alone and we could wander alone (that was more in Essaouira).
Marrakesh was just completely crazy. We couldn't take out a map without getting accosted with offers for "directions and accompaniment", which meant harassment and paying them money. This lead to us getting lost in some interesting places and usually finding our way back to tourist central, sometimes after a few hours called Place Jamaa el-Fena (also featured in a video) where all was good. Well, I'm off to an interview so maybe I'll get to write a little more later. If not, I'm sure I'll share more about our adventures later!
Until next time....
M'aaselema
