Tonight's title references Tim McGraw's recent hit. In the song, Tim falls for a Latina babe. For me, no such luck. Instead, I'm talking about McDonalds and Starbucks, which I treated myself to earlier this evening. When I came here I was bound and determined to not be one of those people who travel abroad and don't embrace the local culture, including the cuisine, especially since I am not a tourist, but actually live here. And I have done so at every opportunity. I love me some tajine and pastilla. My new favorite condiment is harissa, (ha-REE-sa) a very spicy peppery paste. However, I have needed some American comfort food, and one of the world's biggest malls is 5 km straight down the road. Giddyap! After my McNuggets, an iced caramel macchiato enjoyed sitting oceanside hit the spot. I took out a school vehicle for this road trip. No cab this time. Last weekend I was getting impatient waiting for a gran taxi and got into what I knew was a gypsy cab. Mistake. Fortunately it only cost a couple of extra dirhams. Then I took a petit taxi for the next stretch and was subjected to a lengthy stretch of Arab pop music. Remember when it came out that the Arab terrorists at Gitmo were blasted with American pop music to break them? I know now exactly what it must've been like...
Getting a late start on the blogging tonight as I watched our Mustangs lose a nailbiter to Casablanca American School in boy's varsity volleyball. It was hot and sweaty in that multipurpose room. Good thing I had me some bottled water. Everyone knows to never drink anything else. Here's a random pic of a bottle of Sidi Ali, the dominant brand.
That Arab writing. Tough. Speaking of languages, funny thing happened tonight at McDonalds. I approached the counter knowing what I wanted and rattled off my order in flawless Spanish. ?! When I realized what I'd done, I then repeated my order, a little slower, in French. I guess my brain knew I wasn't supposed to speak English, but went to default mode and used the foreign language it knew best. You had to be there...
That supersized McNuggets value meal cost about $5USD. Funny how the largest paper note in Morocco is only 200 dirhams (currently about $22-23USD). Always have to carry around a big wad of dough. Hey, how about some pics of the bills in Morocco?
Included are a (top) 10dh coin and a (bottom) 5dh coin. There are a 2dh and 1dh coin also that resemble our quaters in size and shape...
On the subject of money, it's amusing sometimes to listen to people around here talking about flying off to this country or that. Hey, if you got it, spend it, right? Though, I have to remind myself that it's very cheap and easy to jet around Europe, given our location. I got a roundtrip ticket direct to and from Milan over the Christmas holiday for $133USD. Ka-ching! I will be traveling about Italy (including to Rome, Venice and Florence) for a week. On the itinerary includes The Last Supper, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Speaking of holidays, there is a huge one here next week. Should be interesting. Details next week...
Getting a late start on the blogging tonight as I watched our Mustangs lose a nailbiter to Casablanca American School in boy's varsity volleyball. It was hot and sweaty in that multipurpose room. Good thing I had me some bottled water. Everyone knows to never drink anything else. Here's a random pic of a bottle of Sidi Ali, the dominant brand.
That Arab writing. Tough. Speaking of languages, funny thing happened tonight at McDonalds. I approached the counter knowing what I wanted and rattled off my order in flawless Spanish. ?! When I realized what I'd done, I then repeated my order, a little slower, in French. I guess my brain knew I wasn't supposed to speak English, but went to default mode and used the foreign language it knew best. You had to be there...
That supersized McNuggets value meal cost about $5USD. Funny how the largest paper note in Morocco is only 200 dirhams (currently about $22-23USD). Always have to carry around a big wad of dough. Hey, how about some pics of the bills in Morocco?
Included are a (top) 10dh coin and a (bottom) 5dh coin. There are a 2dh and 1dh coin also that resemble our quaters in size and shape...
On the subject of money, it's amusing sometimes to listen to people around here talking about flying off to this country or that. Hey, if you got it, spend it, right? Though, I have to remind myself that it's very cheap and easy to jet around Europe, given our location. I got a roundtrip ticket direct to and from Milan over the Christmas holiday for $133USD. Ka-ching! I will be traveling about Italy (including to Rome, Venice and Florence) for a week. On the itinerary includes The Last Supper, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Speaking of holidays, there is a huge one here next week. Should be interesting. Details next week...
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