10 Days In

I am on day 10 in Casa, which means I've had enough time to situate myself here. I'm trying to think of the best way to characterize my time in Morocco, so here is my lame attempt.

First off, if you want to sound like a local, refer to Casablanca as just "Casa". Then run to the nearest cafe, seat yourself down facing the street, take out a cigarette (don't worry mom, I'm not talking about myself here), order a noos-noos (sp?) or a tea, and spend the remainder of your day sitting and watching people pass by. Traffic lights are not a common sight here, which makes the act of crossing the street akin to the old computer game frogger, where you have to cross the street while avoiding getting hit. I usually wait until I see a local crossing and then I follow them.

Hicham and Basil have a maid name Khatija. She comes on a daily basis to cook and clean the apartment. It's surprisingly too easy to get used to having someone cook and clean up after you. She doesn't work on the weekends, which means the apartment is a disgusting mess in her absence and we do the bare-minimum to keep it clean. The upside to her not working weekends means that we actually get to cook our own food and the group here seems to like to cook. Last weekend's menu consisted of an Indian lentil recipe for me and fresh sardines for the boys.

Our days here vary but usually begin with a trip to the local Cafe, Le Claverole, for a petit-dejeuner. Basil and Marc have theirs with fresh squeezed orange juice, noos-noos (cappucino), and malawi (rolled up crepe of sorts), while i take mine with fresh squeezed orange juice, cafe noir (esspresso), and a croissant (don't tell the vegan gods that i'm eating butter).

I'm working on creating an itinerary for travelling around Morocco. I'm curious to learn more about the country and culture that I am missing. I'm trying to arrange it so I can see the Sahara and possibly the coast -- it's unfortunate that they're not located within close proximity to one another. I'm also working on a better way of documenting my time in Morocco and increasing my understanding of the country.