Do you take US dollars?

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Hi! I hope all is well. I made it to Morocco safely. I had a 5 hour lay over in Paris and decided to take the train into the city for lunch. My smile was huge walking the streets of Paris and I had a yummy panini in the Latin Quarter area, which is surrounded by little shops and beautiful old architechture. What a lovely place Paris is. My smile evaporated when I went into my purse to find my debit card wasn't where I keep it. I'm sure I was a site--my entire purse dumped out in the middle of the restaurant floor with my only means of money missing saying over and over "it's got to be here"! But, it wasn't. Luckily, the nice French man let me pay with US dollars. I couldn't believe it was gone. I took the hour long train ride back to the airport saying a prayer to St. Anthony the whole time (my grandma taught me to do this) that i left it at the store at the airport where I bought water. Well, it wasn't there so, with tears all down my face, I started asking around about a lost and found. Finally, a guy with a walkie-talkie said he would help me and he walkie-talkied some other guy who walkie-talkied a lady who's beautiful voice came over the radio and said, "Neecolay Scearbroach"? "Wé Wé!! That's me"!! And she magically appeared with my debit card. I wanted to kiss them both. I certainly hope that whoever turned in my card has been feeling the massive amounts of positive energy I've been sending his or her way! What a relief that was! Hopefully, that will be my first and last mishap of the trip.

Now I'm in Casablanca, Morocco. This city doesn't have much to offer a tourist like me, so I've been killing time walking around, people watching, and reading until my friend Kelly gets here tomorrow morning and we can move on. Since this is a predominately Muslim country, many of the women cover from head to toe. I had a really hard time packing because of this. I didn't want to show a lot of skin, but this is Africa and it gets very hot! From what I have seen so far, I'll guess that about 2/3 of the women cover and the other half don't, but they dress conservatively for the most part. Everyone speaks French or Arabic and not much English. I don't know any of either language, but believe it or not, I've been getting by using some Spanish. I haven't been able to figure out much of the food yet since I can't read the menus, but there are tons of different types and flavors of olives served everywhere and I've eaten tons of them!

Anyway, I hope you are all having a great week!

Love,
Nikki

p.s. happy birthday to my dad who would have been 66 today

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Comments

[Matt]

Math
You said 2/3 of the women cover and the other half don't. That's more than 100%. Is that because of the exchange rate?

[Nikkilovestotravel]

you always were the math wiz of the family

[Kelly McCarthy]

Happy to hear....
Hey Nikki! So happy to hear you found your debit card!! I found a woman's wallet in a grocery cart at Kroger on Monday and did the good deed of turning it in to the customer service desk. It does give you a positive feeling knowing they might find it and you may have saved someone's day!! Have a fabulous trip!! Take tons of pics -- hopefully you have a good camera all worked out! Happy Birthday to your dad! Look forward to more adventure entries! Love, Kelly

[walter]

Great to hear from you!
I was glad to see you made it overseas safely. Your talk about Paris reminds me of our trip. I loved Paris - especially the Canadian bar that we were in for close to 8 hours watching the Tigers winning the AL championship. Enjoy the rest of your travels... BTW - thank goodness you took care of the mental and social issues of our students and not their math...2/3 + 1/2 = 1????

[Kelly]

Have a Safe Trip
Great to hear that you still have the traveling bug. Hope to catch up soon when you get back to the states.

[Meg]

Nikki! I'm so glad your trip is good so far, minus the debit card incident. I bet its hot there. Anyway, I miss you already, I find stuff I want to tell you, mostly probably just cause I CAN'T tell you. Anyway, I am sure you'll come back with amazing pictures. Keep us updated =) xoxoxox

[Katie]

Holy Crap!
Man, you must have been crapping your pants with the debit card mishap. So glad for the happy ending. So all next week, could you send blogs to my [e-mail] account? We'll be on vacation up north without access to work email, but I want to hear all your stories as you update. Much love! XO KT

[Mandi]

Im so happy that you found your debit card. There are some good people out there. I hope the rest of your trip only gets better and better. Enjoy your till exploring Africa. I hope to see you before you leave in August. I still wanna watch that West video. Lets make a for sure DATE when you get back? Dinner, drinks then watch the video? Have a great time but most importantly a safe time. XoXo, Mandi

[Bobbie]

Relief
So glad you made it safe and your "Prayers" were answered. The lady had your debit card safe and sound! You can use that prayer anything time! I love you! Have fun and be careful!!!!

[Aunt Vickie]

Hey pretty.....
i sung happy b'day to your dad :) yes for grandma's prayers..... have a blast....be safe....love you

[Sarabeara]

Luck be the laday.
Man you were lucky Nikki. St Anthony came through for you girl. I need to start doing that and so does Jake with his OCD. Glad to hear it all worked out.

[Steph]

Nikki, I'm glad your positive mental energy helped your through Paris...so glad all ended up ok! Have an awesome trip and I hope Kelly makes it ok! Steph