Arrived in Rabat, Morocco

So I've finally arrived. I am finally in Morocco.  And as expected, I'm having extreme mood swings that sound like "Holy crap what I am doing here, I don't want to leave the hotel (when is the next flight back!?)"....to...."This is going to be amazing, I can do this!"

It's pretty exhausting, and I also developed a snuffy/runny nose.  Very annoying in a warm climate.

So here's the run down.

Gus and I left Holland yesterday and the flew with Royal Air Maroc and it was fine

The only thing is I realized I didn't have the phone number for the director of the school OR the name of the hotel. I know..very stupid of me. When we got off the plane we went through border control which was very easy.  I got my nice new stamp and we went to baggage claim.  After waiting 45 minutes, and seeing a lot of running around and yelling between airport staff and people, we were able to find someone who spoke english.  The reason we were waiting for our luggage for so long is because  the chain had broken on the run way and that's why our luggage wasnt out yet.

 

 Also, very very few people speak English which has been a struggle.  We keep looking in our guide books and french dictionary for everything.  Probably look so silly. So once we got our luggage we were met by a man with an AMIDEAST sign. He didnt speak any english and only a little french. Gus knows a little french but not much more than me.  I wanted an adventure though!

 

So of course I didn't have the name of the hotel but I assumed he did.  You know what happens when you ass-u-me things!  Well he did not.  And there was no service to call and no internet.  Great!  So it took about 1 hour 1/2 to get to rabat from casablanca airport and once we got to Rabat, the fun began.

 

 

When we get into the city, the driver just starts calling out names of hotel

 

"Sofitel?" he says

"NO!!!" we say

"Hilton?" he says

"NOOO!!" we say

 

So after going to 2 hotels that I found in the guide book and neither having our reservation, we finally get to a hotel with wi fi. We used Gus' phone with wi fi to go to my email to get the name of the hotel and the phone number of the director, we called him, he gave us the name of the hotel and we finally got there around 11pm.   We were so exhausted we just went straight to bed

 

So then this morning, I continued my crying "What was I thinking" to "I'll be fine" routine and finally made it out of the hotel.  

After we left the hotel, we went to Maroc Telecom and I got a sim card so now I have a phone so that made me feel better

 

The only saving grace I've had here is that although its been very difficult to communicate with the little French i knoweveryone has been very patient and nice.

 

So after I got the phone and went to the ATM we paid the bill for 3 more nights at the hotel. I called Kenn, the director and decided to meet at 2pm.   We got some water bottles and took a taxi to Agdal, the area in Rabat where the school is. So we found the cafe Kenn has instructed us to meet at, Kenn told us to tell the taxi "the McDonalds in Agdal", I guess there is only one and it was very crowded.  Next to the McDonalds is a cafe and I had a cafe crema and croissant almondand 2 stores down is the AMIDEAST office!! So it's definitely real :) Thank GOD!!!

 

Kenn took us on a tour of the school which has a library, copy machine, teacher only internet cafe, and classrooms.

very nice. I felt sooooooo much better after actually seeing the office and meeting Kenn.  He's from Scotland and has been here 12 years. He gave us ideas of where to go in Rabat and some cities to visit nearby too.

 

On Monday we will meet at the office with a few of the other new teachers, 3 women from the U.S., Canada and England,

and then Thursday, we will meet allllll the new teachers, 10 of them from US, Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand

and having a training.  On Friday, the 10 new teachers and the 10 returning teachers will meet.

 

So that's pretty much all the news I have for now.  I'm thoroughly exhausted, elated, nervous (less than last night), tired, and excited.  Pretty much what I expected but still very intense.