let's get to the meat of it

hello hello hello family and friends, friends and family.

as promised i will keep up this handy blog. thank you to matt for setting this up.

sooo... i am now in casablanca getting ready to hop on a train back to my new home city, marrakesh (!). week #1 in morocco has consisted of a whirlwind tour of morocco with my dear friend lindsay (who i sadly said goodbye to last night). the week was all sort of a blur, felt like we were spinning spinning spinning and now i'm plopped down into 'real life.' yes, the reality is setting in.

but oh, our tour was grand. full of lots of laughter, long bus rides and random adventure. i definitely impressed [amused] many moroccans with my stellar [horribly broken] arabic skills. some key phrases include, "hello how are you?" "how much for that?" and "i think you must be crazy in the head." luckily my french is coming back with a little more ease...

speaking of poor communication lindsay and i had one young suitor on the street who tried to woo us by yelling "hello scrawny! yes you scrawny come speak with me!" poor guy, a compliment completely lost in translation. you can imagine the looks he got from us.

oh! in rabat we visited my old home stay family. such loving people, we were both greeted with lots of kisses and warm welcomes. and they prepared a cous cous feast for us- complete with big hunks of red meat. i didn't have the heart to tell them again that i didn't eat meat so i decided to suck it up and down the pieces that were put in front of me. and i must say, it was good. i mean bone-sucking, finger-licking good. this may be a new chapter in the life of maura.

ok, thats all for now. i have to go catch my train.

if you are reading this it probably means i miss you dearly. keep in touch! all of you!

maura