Random Thoughts...

As the tenth month in Maroc comes to a close and I head into one year I was think today on the long train ride back from Rabat all the things here that are different...

Things I have accepted now as the norm... but some I still dislike or will never understand.
Putting six passenger plus the driver in a taxi and driving break-neck speeds and disregarding all rules of the road... now I have been in a taxi with 7 passenger, have seen 8 and have heard stories of 10 or more... but like the Loch Ness or Bigfoot, I will need a visual confirmation other wise it is just an urban myth.

When asking for the total or price of something... the numerals will ALWAYS be in French the first time, when ask to give the numbers in arabic... you will get French again but maybe in dirhams versus ryals or franc... asked the third time and jeez I have no idea what they are saying now...it is daija/french yet back to ryals... WTF.... Stop it!!!

When walking down a street a moroccan (actually mainly the women) will NEVER make room for you to pass... they will walk three abreast as large as down linemen and run you over... beware... I usually forget myself and give are you kidding me look as they bowl me over. To me it is beyond rude!

"Bon jour"... Why the children have to stare and yell this is way beyond my mental capacity, they are not being polite, they are being little punks who need to be made to understand that there are people outside of Maroc and they are not all French. Now when and adult "Bon jours" me in a greeting I understand that he is trying to speak what he thinks is a common language between us and accept and response in kind or with salam...labas.

That I live in a fish bowl and get stared at every day I walk around... I just do not know if the cultural is unaccepting of foreigners or if in general Moroccans have a hard to understanding that other people in the world may want to visit their country... Having recently traveled to Porto and not looking as if I live there i was not stared at as if i had a third eye in the middle of my forhead.... it was nice.

TRASH... Morocco could be like California, it has it all (well maybe too many mountains) but the citzens of Morocco treat the land as if it was one huge dump... trash is everywhere and there is no end to it. This country needs a Waste Management Program... it would put thousands to work... plastic bags are EVERYWHERE... this paradise is flithy. I could get into a long discussion on what the heck the Peace Corps has been doing in the environemntal area... but that would just be a waste of breathe.

Public urination... defecation. Ok every place has this where there are a few crazies or a drunks peeing in the streets... but in Morocco it is accepted, if you have to go... then by all means go, right now right here. I have seen business men pull over their cars and get out to pee... men, women, children... all ages. I find it disgusting and wonder where it comes from, or why it is still happening.

Waiting in line... next. Not here, it is a free-for-all and once again the women are the worse, it is as if it is they right to go to the front of the line... if you learn anything here the first few months it is stand your ground and hold it firmly... elbows are out, take a wide stance and bring it on berber women... HAHA!!

Why is everything built so cheap and lousy... everything breaks nothing is built to a standard... I look at the workers (DPW) who are ill-equipped in both tools and dress, men doing ditch-digging wearing flip-flops and capri pants... again WTF, give this people the proper tools and safety... shit they work hard give them the chance to come home at night with both feet.

I could go on and I am sure I will... my last point here will be personal
Why does this damn language have sooooo many "R" in it and why in the name of Allah do they insist on using them... I never have and if I can convince them that "R" in the middle or end of a word is just not that important then maybe I will be able to speak Darija!
INSHALLAH!