Casablanca & Rabat April 2014

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2014-04-20

- We finally have arrived in Casablanca, Morocco after 21 hours of travelling (Calgary-Montreal-Paris-Casablanca). We took the train from the Casablanca Airport to Casa Voyagers station. The infrastructure here is quite shocking. You see some places that are nice and livable but you also see others that you think are condemned, as they look like they are going to fall down with the slightest breeze but people are still living in them. We got off the train and we were going to walk to our house we rented but could not get our orientation so we decide to take a taxi. It was even a bit tricky for our driver as not one street (that I seen) had signs identifying what road you are on or crossing...not sure how they do it here but man, without road signs I am lost! We met the security guard out front of our rental house and he gave us our keys, I swear the same guy never leaves. We dropped our bags and cleaned up and went out to find some food. We could not get the WiFi to work so we could not research where to go and eat. Walking looking for a place to eat was not easy either... we were not staying in a touristy area but instead in residential with lots of locals. A super market, convenience store, bakery, gas station, cafe shops (very popular but only serve coffee) and finally a "fast food" type of place. Jill ordered a margarita pizza (kind of) without olives (which it came with) and I ordered a egg and shrimp tajine. We were both not stunned with our food. We were expecting much more flavour. Jill and I have noticed in our short time here that the culture is very diverse here. You see people wearing full veil, people that look as if they are very European to people that are dressed in fancy suits, none the less very diverse and the ones we spoke to were very nice. We turned on the tv, laid on the couch and out like a light we were (19:30, LOL). Woke up at 21:30 and went to bed. Slept like a rock and got up at 09:00. Now to find breakfast...oh boy, back to the streets... we decided to go to the supermarket and buy jam, yogurt, bananas, and orange juice. Then we went to the bakery and got a fresh small loaf of bread and went back and toasted our bread on the stove (good thing I'm a camper). After breakfast I was gazing out from the patio and couldn't help but notice how many satellite dishes are on the rooftops of structure...wow...hundreds and hundreds (typical Telecom eyes). We did a small load of laundry and realized that an apostrophe (') is how Moroccans identify minuets. There was a quick wash which was 15' (15 min). It is twice that we have noticed this and now understand what it means. Check out time was 12:00 (noon) so we got ready to travel to Rabat via the train. We now have our orientation figured out so we walked to the train station. We got some WiFi so we touched base with our families to let them know we made it and wished them a Happy Easter. We also wanted to confirm that our times were correct as we were unsure...well we were behind by one hour, so going back up to the times noted above, we fell asleep on the couch at 18:30 and got up at 10:00....blame it on jet-lag. We then headed to Casa Voyagers train station and got our tickets to Rabat. Upon waiting for the train a guy came up to us as he noticed our Canadian flags on our backpacks and said he had a friend that used to live in Canada, so we asked him were in Canada and he said "Calgary". We were quite surprised how small of world it is. He went on to tell us that his friend used to live close to the Calgary tower and owned a pizza shop (which we never found out the name of). He also told us of his friend who owns a Riad (Hotel) in Fez so he provided us with his contact info which Jill and I will search the next time we have WiFi to see if it is a place for us or not. None the less the short time we have been in Casablanca has been quite an experience thus far and we look forward to the days ahead to bring us many more memories.



2014-04-21

- We arrived yesterday afternoon at the train station in Rabat. We met the Nadya-our volunteer coordinator at the train station and she introduced us to our stay home sister Fatima, who we will be living with for the next week while we volunteer at a child care facility in Rabat. Our walk from the train station to our placement home was very neat. We walked through the Medina (market) and through the Kasbah of the Udayas and into the residential area to our stay home. Upon arrival to our stay home we were quite shocked. The house has 2 front doors, one to get into the foyer and then next to get into the house. The rooms are individual rooms just like any house but the "hallways" or "common areas" of the house are open air. That right, you sit in the living room with a fixed ceiling above your head but one of the three walls is the sky. And not only that but it is right on the ocean! It is quite amazing as Jill and I have never experienced any living spaces like this. The total house size is probably around 1200 sq. ft. The kitchen is probably 100 sq. ft., and the main bedroom is probably 300 sq. ft. and our stay home family all lives in one room. Our stay home family consists of an older sister Hadija, younger sister Fatima and the older sisters 5 year old daughter- also named Hadija (she is so cute). They are wonderful people and like to feed us beyond what Jill and I could ever eat. We have never ate so much in a 12 hr period but we are never going to go hungry. The language barrier is quite a challenge for myself, Jill is not only my wife but now my translator. She can speak to the adults in french to translate to english for me, but little Hadija only speaks arabic, so the daughter just responds to us saying "oui". She also can say "Welcome"!



We had our volunteer orientation today and also were shown our placement (where we will be volunteering). All went pretty smooth today. We met some great people who are also volunteering and have been for a few weeks already so we got some ins/outs of Morocco. Jill and I got back to our placement home and decided that we would go out and take some photos as the infrastructure is quite amazing. While out taking photos we got a bit lost in the narrow confusing streets/walking paths (not sure what to call them as there is no vehicles just foot traffic) and finally found our way back to our stay home. While on our way home the rain came down with huge rain drops just as we got to our first door of the home. We rang the buzzer to get in but it must have not been heard inside as the rain was torrential downpour. So we rang again....and again...and finally we were let in! So much water running in the walking paths and we were a bit wet. We had an amazing dinner made in a tajine tonight. We will be off to bed shortly as we continue our volunteer program tomorrow morning at 09:30 and are excited to lend our help here.





حتى في المرة القادمة (Until next time)



Tyler

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Comments

[Sarah P]

Super stoked to read about you trip guys! Have fun!