A crowded bus, a reunion and dorm room fun... (Fes, Ain Cheggag)

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January 31 – February 1, 2013: A crowded bus, a reunion and dorm room fun... sort of.

As if grueling language classes were not enough, our schedule called us to travel to Fes for a two-day practical training getaway along with half of our original PC group. We started by packing our laptop backpacks with just enough to last an overnight stay. We opted to include our shiny new sleeping bags and that would later prove to be a very wise decision. Once packed, we trudged down to the local bus stop and waited for the bus to arrive. After a short time, we saw the bus approaching. However, this time we would not be caught off guard. Having learned our lesson from our first bus boarding attempt (and Clay’s bruised rib cage), we positioned ourselves to make a full frontal assault on the bus door when it opened. Then, time seemed to actually slow down as the bus traveled its last few feet before it would stop. As the bus slowed to a crawl, many of the soon to be passengers, that had tried to precisely judge the exact stopping point of the bus, realized that they had made some critical miscalculations and were now trying to readjust their bodies to compensate for the mistake. In layman’s terms, a whole bunch of people figured out that they were standing in the wrong spot for the door to open and began rushing to the side to try and stay in front of the runaway door. This massive shift in the throng only caused more issues. However, being one of those unfortunate souls that miscalculated, I pushed and shoved while doing my best to follow the receding door and hang on to my wife. When the bus did stop, the door was miraculously in front of our little Peace Corps crew. There were only one or two locals between us and our guaranteed seats for the ride to Fes. A feeling of accomplishment washed over us and we felt as if we had actually won this round… until the door opened. As the doors swung in, all we had to do was follow one or two people aboard and we would be riding in style. I would like to say that we were able to follow through with that plan. I am not sure exactly what happened, as it was all too fast for mere human eyes to capture, let alone follow. All I can say for sure is that approximately 20+ people were able to board the bus before Ann and myself. Twenty plus people… I may never know how the Moroccans boarded that bus before me and I am sure it won’t be the last time… I can only attribute it to the magical forces that are abundant here in this beautiful Kingdom. To keep my sanity and my ribs intact, I have resigned myself to boarding last on any future bus I may take and hope there is still room… inshallah.

When we arrived in Fes, the bus stopped at the station and the process of getting off the bus started. Now, it should be noted here, that as inhumanly speedy as the Moroccans are at boarding a bus, they are completely the opposite at getting off of it! The 70 year old lady that carried three 50 pound sacks of potatoes on the bus in 1.6 seconds flat, now takes 8.5 minutes to get them off the bus. It is truly baffling. When we did manage to hit the sidewalk, Fatima (our “teacher”) asked us if we wanted to walk. In response, we asked her how far the hub (our location for training) was from our current location, to which she answered, “Not far.” We believed her and then it was clear we had totally different perceptions of the word “far” when carrying our packs. After 40 minutes or so of hoofing around the city, she asked for directions and in another 12 minutes, we arrived at our destination. As Ann so subtlety pointed out while rubbing her very sore shoulder, in hindsight, a taxi would have been a much better choice.

Once dusted and cooled off, we had a very nice reunion! Everyone looked no worse for wear and before our classes began, we took our gear up to our assigned room, which happened to be 5 floors up and without an elevator. When we reached our lovely new space, our newly acquired Peace Corps “safety radar” began to blip like crazy! Ask us why… we dare you! Alright, you win. The reason that our spidey senses were blaring was because our room door was missing the handle. Let us explain. When we got to the room, the door was ajar. That situation was a good thing, because not only was the handle missing on the outside of the door, the WHOLE locking mechanism and the interior door handle were missing as well. Now we know that you all may be thinking that not having a handle is not a deal breaker, and you may be right. Under normal circumstances, I would just use the key and the deadbolt lock to secure the door. However, we were missing a couple of key (no pun intended) components for that plan to work. For one thing, we were not given a key to the door. We thought nothing of that fact because it seemed that in our experience thus far, more often than not, the keys were left in the door locks and when new occupants moved in and they simply took the key with them after locking up. Mashi Mushki (No problem). It was not the key or lack thereof that seemed to be an issue, it was the fact that there was absolutely no lock in the door. There was a hole in the door for a lock… just no lock. We are pretty easy going and laid back about a lot of things… but we were not about to leave both of our computers, sleeping bags and personal information in a room with no lock, period. So, we gathered up our gear and headed back downstairs to see about a resolution. Luckily, we were assigned another room without much fuss. This “new” room was located only two floors up and for that fact, we were very happy. Also, we found that we had, in our room, a western toilet and a shower, well, sort of. See photos. Seeing our very interesting new facilities, we immediately missed the comforts of our home in Ain Cheggag. Almost immediately, we realized that the toilet was not flushing. Clay played the ever so resourceful hero and using two plastic bags and a pen, he found a temporary solution. See photos. We did have 4 minutes of hot water in the “shower” but the bathroom window did not have any glass or other coverings to keep out the elements. Okay, so call us picky…. All Ann can say is, thank goodness for the foresight to carry the sleeping bag and some toilet paper, although bleach would have been nice.

During our short visit to Fes, we had really good meals (all provided in-house). Sometimes just being in the right place at the right time can provide unforeseen opportunities and during dinner we were lucky enough to be able to sign up to sit at the Friday lunch table with a US Foreign Service Officer. For those of you who know us well, you may recall that the FS is our ultimate goal and we were delighted to have an opportunity to spend time with an active FSO. When it was time to meet and dine with our FSO, we could not have asked to chat with a more wonderful and giving person. Her name is Janice and she is currently serving in Morocco. She and her husband have been with the FS, on and off, for many, many years and she was an absolute treasure of a person and a wealth of information. If one were to search the whole of the FS, we doubt seriously that you would find a more humble and kind officer as she. THANK YOU JANICE!!! We loved the insight and encouragement that she gave and will ponder her advice and act on it in good time.

Tonight (Friday) we are back at “home” and, funny to say, back in our element. We were greeted warmly by our family and immediately served food (the third of four meals). We sat with the family and tried to communicate our stories of Fes and although it was difficult, we managed to do just fine without the right words. The photos were worth a thousand words and our “mama” was NOT happy with our hotel accommodations and let us know all about it.

Tomorrow we will have an opportunity to have a lesson with the youth at the dar chebab. This will be an exciting step forward!

A quick note to all of our faithful followers, please know that we are so happy to see you all visiting our blog . It is our hope that you laugh, learn and share the wonder of this country with us and also share with others around you. Morocco is a very unique place and a friend of our country. Every day is a new challenge and a great learning experience. We love having you on our bus, your ticket is free and it should be a very interesting journey!!!

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Photos

I used the trash bags to contain the massive spray from the water valve! Hey... it worked!
Notice that the trash bags have holes in the bottom so that the spray will funnel into the tank! AWESOME!!!

The tank is the same but the insides are different.
It may look different but it functions the same. However, our shutoff valve in the tank did not work so we had to manually turn off the water when the tank was full. Mashi Mushki!

Comments

[Elise Brosch]

Wow is all I have to say. ;)

[Clay and Ann]

I always said that cleanliness was over rated... I was wrong. :)
Clean sheets?!?!? We don't need no stinking clean sheets!

[Pattie D]

What I have learned from your last two blogs!
Clay and Ann, What I have learned from your last two blogs, is how appreciative I am for my bathroom facilities, and for privacy!!!!!! :) Wow!