my first 24 hours in morocco!

I've been here exactly 24 hours---what a fun day it has been.

The trip here was long and a bit tiring, but fine. My flights were both delayed and I was lamenting carrying around about 40-50 lbs of books my backpack, but arrived safely and with all my luggage. It was actually a bit crazy in the airport in Casablanca because there were 100s of people returning from their pilgrammage to Mecca and 1000s of family and friends there to greet them. It was quite a frenzy-- lots of folks in airports who had never traveled before, lots of folks in ceremonial and traditional dress, lots of cars decorated, lots of crying and exclaiming. Of course, until I found Sadek (the dad of the baby to be born), I didn't know this was an unusual atmosphere for the airport and was just thinking, "wow, this is a bit crazier than I thought". But once I got through customs, and wound around and I saw Sadek there waiting and recognized him right away-- he didn't even had time to pull out his "Welcome Christy" sign. He actually had had to talk to the police to let him in to meet me as they weren't letting anymore folks out of the airport. I wish my hands weren't so full as I would have taken pictures b/c it was quite a site.

Sadek and Aurelia live about 30 minutes from the airport, during which I started practicing my Spanish as they both speak Spanish and English (as well as French and Arabic--felt the usual monolingual shame of the typical American). I walked through the door and found myself in their bohemian, artsy, paradise they've created here, including a beautiful enclosed garden forest. So colorful and full of life, light, love. I've already gotten a bunch of ideas I'm going to adapt for use in my house!

We all exchanged hugs and kisses and excitement and had a lovely dinner of several local Moroccan dishes that their cook had prepared especially for me! A spinach dish with olives, a pureed eggplant with lots of herbs, most notably cinnamon, and Moroccan salad-- bell peppers and onion and something else I can't remember. Also a mushroom quiche. And lovely homemade bread and good cheeses. I'm going to have to be careful or I'll gain about 20 lbs eating here!

I was happy I hadn't slept much the few nights before I left, and not that much on the plane either, as I was more than ready for bed around 10pm (5pm EST). I have a lovely room here that will be my "city home" for the trip, and my own bathroom too. The toilet is a separate room from the shower and sink-- the shower and sink are right off my bedroom but the toilet (there are 2) are down the hall. In the middle of the night last night I walked into the shower and was all confused looking for the toilet!

Got up at 9am and so I think I'm already pretty much on Moroccan time. Drank a lovely banana lassi Sadek made, chatted a bit, did a half hour of yoga. Then I unpacked all the birth stuff and showed Sadek and Aurelia what I brought with me. We tried out the birth pool-- the pump I brought worked with an adapter --thank God-- and they jumped in. They are so excited! I then checked out her lovely belly-- baby is in a great position (LOA), she's measuring right with her dates, good BP, all is well. The funny thing is that she said she was 37 weeks, whereas I thought she was 38 weeks. I got a bit worried as it is not unusual for first time moms to go a bit past their due date. But then later on the beach, I thought to ask how they calculate due dates here as I was thinking maybe she means 37 weeks post-conception, in contrast to 37 weeks from her last period. Sure enough that is the case, so she is actually around 39 weeks by American convention-- this is great news as it is more likely she'll have her baby in the first half of my trip!

We went for a lovely walk on the beach and then to the old medina of Casablanca to a cafe where we had two kinds of traditional Moroccan pancakes and three varieties of the famous mint tea. And I've started to learn some key Arabic and French phrases to make my traveling more fun and help me to bargain in the market.

Tomorrow we'll go to the central market in the morning and then to the beach town I'll be staying at during the weeks and meet Trish Gorman, my friend Carrie's friend, i.e. the woman who contacted me about this trip! It is crazy being on my i-book with a wireless DSL connection, listening to music on an Ipod, etc while in Morocco--I look forward to getting out and about more this week!