Wednesday, April 23, 2008

On the Road Again...

My stint in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is coming to an end, in about two weeks. I have a few last adventures, and then its back to the Western world for Alex and I. Admittedly we are more than looking forward to our return, but of course I am leaving with great memories and a desire to return sometime in the near future.

Our last two weeks are jam-packed with plans and here is a brief run down of them. First, Alex and I were accepted to attend a conference in Rabat run by the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). It is a cross-cultural and political forum for Western and Moroccan youths. Alex and I decided to do a home-stay, or stay with Moroccan individuals instead of a hotel, during the conference to get a little taste of Moroccan life. I will definitely let you know how it goes.

The final ceremonies of the conference are on Saturday night, and we plan to stay in a hotel overnight so that we can join our mutual friend from ALIF for a Mormon gathering in Rabat on Sunday morning to afternoon. We will meet many of the American embassy families staying in Rabat, and will join them for dinner after the Mormon church service.

We only have two days of study and rest next week before we head out to Ifrane, a Moroccan town that looks like it was modeled after a Swiss village, for my birthday. The town has the only university in Morocco modeled on the American education system. It has a sister high school, which is rumored to be switching from the American system to a French education system and Alex just wrote a story on it for Executive magazine.

On May 1st, Alex’s boss is traveling to Morocco to do a bit of sightseeing and business. Although we will not be hosting him right away as he is traveling to Marrakech alone, we will meet up with him the weekend after he flies in. We have plans to visit Chefchaoun and show him around Fez, and then we will finish up with one day in Rabat and another in Casablanca. For Alex and I, it will be our last sightseeing opportunity in Morocco. I will miss Chefchaoun the most.

Our time in the MENA region may be ending on May 9th, BUT the fun doesn’t stop there. Alex and I just finalized our travel plans from May 9th to June 4th and our plans would make even Kofi Annan jealous.

From Morocco we are flying into Venice, Italy. We may spend a full day there, but our real goal is to take the ferry from Venice into Croatia. We are arriving to Eastern Europe with only a backpack and lots of suntan lotion. We have no concrete plans except to eat well, enjoy as many beaches as possible and do a bit of partying in Serbia’s well known clubs. Who knows what will happen.

Then somehow…we haven’t figured this part out yet…we are going to travel from Serbia to France. We will make our way up to Paris, where we will meet Amy and her cousins Kevin and Fabrice for a relaxing week in the City of Love. Paris is, of course, the most exciting part of our month of backpacking through Europe and I cannot wait to see it!

Undoubtedly it will be hard to depart from Paris, but we won’t be giving up much as we are going straight from Paris to the beautiful countryside of Portugal. Alas, we only have a few days to indulge ourselves in delicious Portuguese food and activities before hopping on a plane back to Casablanca.

Now, I know that I just said we wouldn’t be returning to Morocco after May 9th, and it was a bit of white lie. However, it only counts as half a lie because we are just flying into the airport for a layover on our way back to America. We spend about half a day in Casa, and, if everything goes well, we will arrive in America on June 4th.

So, I know what you are thinking and yes, we do know – in fact, we have a list of what we want to do as soon as we land in the amazing red, white and blue. They are:

1. Drop $100 in the most quality and price efficient store that has ever existed…Walmart.
2. Find a restaurant with pork steaks and potatoes.
3. Get American coffee.
4. Buy normal sized cups.
5. Listen to American Radio.
6. Get phone plans.
7. Shop for normal American clothes.
8. Literally talk in the English language as much as we can.
9. Take a jog on residential streets (without the fear of being yelled at).
10. Alex will probably burn his Al Kitab (Arabic Texbook).

On the last note, Alex and I are working diligently to set up internships and jobs in Washington DC so that we can set up shop there immediately after our return. We both already have interviews with a few places. If anyone knows of any job openings or any opportunities please let us know. Or if you know of any vacant apartments for rent. Thanks!

1 Comment:

Unknown said...

$100 dollars at walmart???