Color Coded Itinerary Tour (The last days in Morocco)

(December 25 Christmas Day – Fez)

Today was a slow day in the way of a story. All we did today was travel. It is a 2 hour bus ride from Essouria to Marrakech where we went to take the train to Fez. We had bought our tickets before leaving for Essouria so we already had them. It was an uneventful bus ride and once we got back to Marrakech it was time to hop on the train and head to Fez. It was more than a 7 hour journey through the country to Fez from Marrakech. There wasn’t much to see during the trip either. We did see some cities pass by as we made our way up the country side. As we passed by one of the towns it is highly possible someone threw a rock or something hard at the train. That I remember. We rode second class on the train which wasn’t too bad. The cars were like that of the train I took once from Moscow to St. Petersburg only not as nice. You are in a compartment with 7 other people 8 in total. You are all sitting in a private car facing each other so its 4 on 4. There is a table next to the window which is probably the best seat in the house. You put all your bags over top so that you can have some kind of leg room. The seats are cushiony but they don’t go back so sleeping is difficult for the sleeping straight up challenged.

We reached Fez and took a cab to our hostel. We were so glad that the cab drivers knew where we wanted to go. We got dropped off outside the walls of the Medina and the rest of the way would have been on our own but some nice local gentleman showed us the way…of course! And we paid him…of course! It wasn’t far from our drop off point but we would have never found it. We are actually living in the Medina this time. Inside the labyrinth of walls. It is like one big maze and we are the mice looking for some cheese!

We were hungry of course when we arrived having been on a train all day with only oranges to eat so we asked our hostel guy to tell us where to go. He did one better and took us there. It wasn’t far from the hostel but it seemed like we kept turning corners. I was unsure I would be able to find the way back. It didn’t matter though because he secured a guide for us for the return as we walked in. The restaurant was called Le Scorpion au Desert. It was a cool place with really cool staff. We were one of the only ones in the restaurant. We had the norm which was good and some tea. Our guide showed us the way home and we went to sleep in our lovely warm beds.

(December 26)

The next day we got up and went out to find our way. We had no idea what to see here either so we just went. We were using Amy’s kindle as our map since she had downloaded a copy of lonely planet Morocco. It was ridiculous trying to use the map on her kindle but it was all we had and it worked out quite well considering. We covered a lot of ground but we really didn’t see much except the castle that is right outside the walls of the Medina. We got lost in some neighborhood and had to use some kids to get out. They wanted money but we told them NO. I felt bad but you can’t give money to everyone you’d be broke. After a while we went back to the hostel and found one of the hostel owners. He was here on vacation. He is from here but recently moved to Australia. He is married there but here for the winter. He agreed to show us around since from what he heard of our story we had no idea what to do or where to go.

He showed us some cool spots including the museum that looks over the whole Medina so you open the window and you can see the whole city. It was beautiful. We took a bunch of pics. Then he took us to his carpet seller friends. We swore we weren’t going to buy anything but we did anyway. SUCKERS! What we got was actually beautiful and none of us paid that much for anything. I bought a blanket and so did Steph. Amy bought two. Apparently they are made from cactus and they can’t catch on fire! After that we took a tour of the tanneries and leather shops. We didn’t buy anything there. We wish he had taken us there first they had some really nice leather bags and jackets but we only have enough money for one pushy salesman tonight.

Tonight is a live Moroccon band at our favorite (and only) restaurant we know in town. We go there again to have dinner. The band comes on at 730pm. There are more people in the restaurant tonight. The band comes on and it is awesome. It is strictly Moroccon music with the drums and some light singing but it is great. It is clear that I am having a good time so one of the staff comes over and takes my hand and makes me dance with him in front of the band. It was great. This goes on for the rest of the time the band is playing…maybe 2 hours. Stephanie gets up there too and then several other foreigners that are eating in the restaurant. We had a great time. We are talking to all the people around us and having a ball. We start drinking wine and smoking hookah. It is great. Later that night we are asked to join them in the “Berber tent”. We don’t know what a “Berber tent” is but we go. Basically it is a tent on their terrace with comfortable couches along the wall and a few tables. I guess you could call it a “Berber tent” because there were Berber people in it. Quite a few of us go up there. We continue drinking and all of a sudden random people are going around the room and rapping. Amy even busts out some rhymes. Apparently one of the guys we are with is some famous rapper in Morocco…who knew? We do this for a few more hours and then our guide takes us home again. The end.

The next day we leave for Spain. Goodbye Morocco it was fun!

Color Coded Itinerary Tour (Part V & VI)

(December 22)

We wake up and have our breakfast as usual. We have been in Marrakech a few days. Crystal said we would own this town after 2 and I think she was right. We are waiting patiently for Amy to show up. We are still not even sure she will show up but we are hopeful. We are planning what we will do when she arrives. We think it would be best to show her the Siouk and the museums in the Siouk that we never went to. We were holding out until she came.

It is a little after 10am when all of a sudden she arrives. GREAT! We were going to send out a search party but we weren’t really even sure you were in the country. In case you forgot there was a mix us with the hostel. They didn’t have her registered until tomorrow so the fact that she came today is a surprise. So we put her stuff and take to the streets of Marrakech for one more day.

We head to the Siouk once again. We look around a little before trying to make our way to the museums. We enter the “spice square”, it bears that name now because of a certain carpet salesman. We enter the square and a man approaches us. He isn’t interested in selling carpet he wants to speak English. I think it is our friend from the other day. It is. I finally see him up close and he is gorgeous. I talk to him for a few minutes and he asks us to come back and have tea with him so he can practice English. We decide we will do that but first we want to go to the museums. He tells us how to get there and we go.

We check out a few museums and an old school. Not much to see really but we look around. After we get hungry and we start looking for a place to eat. There are several cafes in the siouk they are just hard to find. We run into a local who wants to show us a place to eat. He takes us around for a long time and then settles on a restaurant that we saw the other day. We walk inside and we realize this is a high price restaurant. We aren’t looking for that so we leave. We head back to the little square where our friend is that wants to speak English and there are some cafes there that we ponder. He jumps out from no where our little friend to make sure that we are going to come by as he is making tea. We tell him yes but first we must eat. So we eat. We take to the terrace and have some lunch.

After lunch we head over to the carpet shop to hang out with our new friend. He is from the Sahara and he is of the Berber people. We find out later most people in Morocco are Berber because those people settled here centuries ago but that no one is really still Berber apparently that race is dying out but people still claim they are Berber. Anyway he is running the family carpet business from Marrakech and his family still lives in the Sahara. He went to a university in Marrakech for English studies which is why his English is so good. We talk to him for a while and we drink mint tea. He asks us to join him for dinner so we agree that we will be back. We head to the hostel for some relax time.

That night we go to the square to have dinner. I decided that we don’t need to meet him as a group. The girls are hungry and I don’t want to make them wait to eat dinner. So we take to the square and get some Moroccon food with the masses and in the chaos. We have the usual calamari, shrimps, cous cous. A little while later a bunch of Australians join us. They came to snowboard. There were a lot of them and they were fun. We didn’t stay long because we had to meet our friend. He meets us on time and as we are walking towards his shop I release the girls to go and do what they want. They don’t want to be third wheels and I understand. I leave with Abduhl. We hang out for a few hours and talk and he gets to practice his English. He is a nice guy and very cute but we must leave tomorrow. He takes me home on his moped and that was that.

(December 23 – Marrakech to Essouria)

In the morning we get up early and take a cab to the bus station. The train station is nearby so we get our tickets to Fez for when we get done with Essouria we have to come back through Marrakech. The bus is awesome. We buy a ticket for the super bus and it is so nice. Very spacious, reclining seats with foot rests, the whole nine. The only thing that would make this bus better is if it had WIFI. It is about a two hour ride to Essouria. We sleep, we listen to our ipods, we read…. Not much going on until about half way through the ride there is some kind of protest and the street is blocked so the bus takes to off roading…why not?! We get out of that one with no time to waste.

We arrive in Essouria and we look out the window at all the locals that are waiting not so patiently for us to exit the bus. They can’t wait to show us where we are going. It is crazy. As soon as we get off and get our bags they are on us like white on rice. It is so chaotic we can’t even breath long enough to look at the map to see where we are and where we are going. Had I known I would have done this on the bus. A guy tells us he wants to show us and he doesn’t want money. So we start walking in the same direction. We enter the Medina and we have no idea where we are. We follow the guy because we have no choice. It is a ways to our hostel but we continue to follow. At each intersection he tells us that we can still follow him and that he knows where he is going and he doesn’t want money. We really have no choice but to follow him because we have no idea where we are. We finally see a sign for our hostel and we go in. We leave the man outside and we do not give him money!

The hostel is cute as the other one was and very Moroccon. The rooms are beautiful and we have a huge bed! The terrace is cool and that is where we will have breakfast and later to watch the sunset. It is very windy up here though but it is cool to see all the tops of all the buildings near us! We are meeting Steph’s friend who is also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. We ask where we can get some lunch and they tell us they have the best fish in the country and there is a fish market close by so we head there. We go to number 33 where he tells us to go. All of the fish is laid out on the table so you order what you want and they weigh it. That determines the price of the food. They of course haggle with you on everything including food. This is no exception. Today we are hungry and we haven’t had fresh fish in months! So we order all the good stuff, snapper, crab, lobster, all the good stuff and full fishes too. It was something like 500Ds! But it was worth every penny. That is about $60 for three people to have some good fish. And we ate it ALL too! The fish market is very much like the square in Marrakech as soon as you enter the area you are fish food…they hassle you until you sit down!

We met Steph’s friend around 3pm and she was with another friend who was meeting her parents. Another PCV. We had some coffee and talked about each of our experiences. Steph caught up with her old friend and we made new ones. We had a great time just sitting there catching up and then we went into the Medina to do a little shopping and looking around. Cara took us to the only liquor store in town and got us the famous doughnut that Morocco is on the map for! We couldn’t find it in Marrakech. We were having dinner at the hostel so Cara agreed to meet us there later and we went our separate ways.

Later that night we had Tajine at the hostel and sat around with all the guests. There were two other women there from Kiev. Can you believe that? Of all the places we go we run into other women from Ukraine. They were American too but not peace corps volunteers. They work at one of the special schools in Kiev. We never got their information so we couldn’t contact them again if we wanted to however, I think I worked with one of them when we did the healthy lifestyles project at that school. They were really nice. There was also another couple there from Canada who were really cool. The hostel owner was hilarious. His name was also Abduhl. He is an old guy still living like he is 30. His partner is from Australia and helps him run the place. Really cool guys. There are also two girls there from Germany. They are just traveling Africa trying to make a documentary. I am not sure exactly what they are doing. I wanted to talk to them more but didn’t get a chance. It is a quiet night. Cara meets us and we just hang out and drink a little. Tomorrow night is Christmas Eve and when the real party starts.

The next day we walked around a bit more, had more fish at the fish market, walked along the beach and got our bus tickets for the next day back to Marrakech. Cara was leaving today so she took us around shopping so she could haggle for us in Arabic. We all bought some earrings. Mine are supposed to be the Berber symbol. I liked them as they reminded me of my friend from Marrakech. They are really nice and they are real silver. Later that night we had a party at the hostel for Christmas Eve. It was a good time. We drank, ate and were merry. There were many more people at the hostel tonight for the celebration. We went to bed early though…big day tomorrow. A bus to a train to a new city…Fez!

Color Coded Itinerary Tour (Part IV)

(December 21 – Still in Marrakech)

Today we woke up to a wonderful breakfast. Some Moroccon bread and a fried egg. Always with coffee that is like hot water. There was a new staff member here today and he spoke English. We asked him where we should go today and what we should see. We aren’t too concerned about seeing too many things because we are still waiting for Amy to arrive and we don’t want to have to do things twice. He suggested that we see some gardens. There are a lot of gardens on the map and it looks like we can check them all out. The area is not too big to hit all of them and there is a synagogue in the New Town too so we can check that out.

We head out for the first park. It is a beautiful day there isn’t a cloud in the sky. It is actually quite warm in the sun almost too warm. We walk to the gardens it is quite a walk from the center but not too bad. We aren’t sure what we are supposed to do in here. We read that there are orange orchards and I definitely see a lot of tree but there are no oranges on them. There is some crowding going on up ahead in the park so we go see what the fuss is. We walk up a few stairs to a large pond. The water is dark and you can’t see anything but people are throwing bread in the water. Something must be coming to eat it. Considering the color of the water I am a little nervous what exactly might come up and eat the bread and then we see a medium sized fish barely hitting the surface. That is exciting. One park down a few more to go.

We are hungry so we take to the map and try to find a restaurant in the area we are in. We walk up the street and bit and see a few cafes. This part of town is very rich there are lots of high priced hotels over here so hopefully we don’t end up in some really expensive restaurant. We sit at the first café we come to outside on the terrace. We have a perfect spot in the sun and it is really warm. Not your typical Moroccon food but that is ok. We eat paninis and drench them in hot sauce. We have some real coffee and then it is off to explore more parks.

As we are walking we are in the center of the road and there is a park there. Steph and I attempt to pretend we are vacationing together by taking a snapshot of the two of us together. She has never used her timer and there aren’t many people walking around in this area to help us out so we prop the camera up on a bench and try to take a picture of the two of us with some orange trees in the background. Epic fail but at least we tried. The picture was so far away you can hardly tell who the people are but at least we are together!

We walk a little further and we run into the train station. We have to come here in a few days when we go to Fez and the bus station right behind it we will visit as well when we head to Essouria so it is good to know where it is and it is easy to find and not too far away from the hostel. Across the street is a theatre that should be interesting. We head to it and go in. Upon our entrance we meet a man who is the concierge, that is what he calls himself. We ask if we can go in and look around and he offers to show us around. Oh how nice. The theatre is apparently not done yet so we are getting VIP service here. He shows us the opera and shows us the coliseum. We go back stage and outside all over the place. It is cool and we take some pictures. After of course he wants money. You had to know that was going to happen. They don’t charge admission. We aren’t even sure we are supposed to come in here but they want you to give them money. So I slip the guy 20Ds. He looks at me like I am crazy. I probably should have taken the money back he didn’t seem to like the amount I gave him. We talked about that all the way to the next park but I didn’t. I gave him the 20Ds and left. If he didn’t like it he should have given it back but I certainly wasn’t giving him anymore…the nerve!

So we talked about this guy all the way to the next park. We stopped by to try and find the synagogue but it seems as though it is no longer there. The next park was pretty cool. It was much smaller and it did cost something to go inside. It was full of bamboo and agave plants and it had a little museum in the back. We were trying to find the art museum we are not sure if we found it or not but we weren’t going in. We took a couple of photos in the park and headed out. It is too beautiful a day to stand in there in complete shade. We did, however, find a memorial for Yves Saint Laurent in that park. It was just a stone structure hanging out in the park. I am still not sure why the memorial was there and what it was meant for. Why it is in Morocco?

Now that we are in New Town we are going to stop at the grocery store and pick up some food and alcohol. We can’t get alcohol in old city so while we are here we are going to pick some up. We planned on having dinner in the square tonight. Every night in the square there are a bunch of food carts, big food carts that have dinner. They compete against each other it is kind of crazy. We are going to go there tonight and check it out. We met a few girls from our hostel that will head there with us. They are in our room. One of them lives in Rome and teaches English and the other girl just finished studying. Not sure where she lives I think she is still trying to figure that out. So we head to the square and people are yelling at us to eat at their cart but we are just walking around checking all of these things out so of course we tell some of the people that we will be back. They like this saying and we can say that to get away from them and move on. We sit down and have some food. Most of the restaurants have the same menu there is no surprise there. We sit down and have a few tapas plates of different food. We go to leave and run into some of the same guys that were trying to get us to sit at their carts and they weren’t very happy with us. They called us ugly smugly liars. Very strange!

We turned in for another early night. All of this walking around is making us tired. Amy comes in tomorrow and we want to be fresh for her arrival. We aren’t really sure if and when she is coming. She made an incorrect reservation with the hostel and since she made an incorrect flight reservation when we booked this trip to begin with we aren’t really sure if it was the hostels mistake or hers so we aren’t really sure when she is coming but she is supposed to be here tomorrow. We also want to check out this cool bar in New Town but we will do that when she arrives. So that is it for today.

Color Coded Itinerary Tour (Part II & III)

(December 19 – Valencia, Spain)

There isn’t much to see in Valencia. We were told about this but we stopped here anyway since this is on our way to Morocco. We did hear they have a great aquarium. We start off looking for some coffee and maybe some breakfast. We know we can’t find bagels in this city but we attempt to ask hostel lady just in case. Yup never heard of a bagel. So sad. So we decide we will find something else on our own. We start to walk around the city which is actually kind of cute. It is starting to look like all of the other European cities I have seen but still cute. There is a lot of shopping here, there is an apple store, all the good stuff. We decide by looking at the map that the aquarium doesn’t look that far away so we try to find it. It is outside of the city but we can certainly walk there and there is a park that we can walk through to get there.

The park is nice and quiet and there are quite a few fountains on the way. There are also many people riding bikes which we thought of doing but we didn’t. We get to the aquarium area and we see very cool architecture. The buildings are all modern and different and really cool. The bridges that you can see that go over the park and out of the city are cool too. That’s what is cool about Europe all the buildings have character and they don’t build them too high. By the time we reached the aquarium and found out how much it was to enter (24 euro) we decided it wasn’t worth seeing a bunch of fish so we turned back and headed for some lunch. We found a cute little place, had some more tapas and some beer. We found this off the beaten path and after we were threw with lunch we headed to the center to do some shopping and head back to the hostel.

Once there we finally ran into someone at the hostel. Her name was Heidi and she is from Australia. She seemed cool and she was willing to go out tonight which is what we were interested in doing. We picked up a flyer that talked about this great international party…meanwhile it is Monday night! Apparently, there is an international party every Monday night. Must be a big deal. She had ran into some other people around the hostel and agreed to meet us later and head to this bar. So we went to have dinner and then we came back to find the gang and head to the party. All we seem to do is look for food. Anyway we got back and we couldn’t find anyone. We have to get up really early to catch our flight tomorrow to Marrakech and this international party no longer sounds as exciting as it once did. So we decided we are going to watch a move. Lame…I know. So our second night in Spain and we are hanging out in the common room watching a movie. It is a good one though!

As soon as we sit down and start watching out of nowhere come all of the hostel guests. Heidi is here and several newbies. They all come over start talking to us. There is a family here too and the one guy is from Barcelona. We tell him that we are going there after Morocco and he gives us some good tips on where to go and what to do so I write a list. The gang is ready to head to the international party but we are no longer interested. It is after midnight and we have to get on the subway at 5am. The movie is still going but no one is watching. It doesn’t look like the gang is actually going anywhere and we are all having nice conversation. They are drinking while we are curled up on the couch in our pajamas but no one seems to mind. After a while we decide to head to bed. Tomorrow is going to be really interesting. I have never been to Morocco before and I can’t wait.

(Tuesday, December 20 – Marrakech, Morocco)

We get to Morocco and this is really cool. Kind of reminds me when we arrived in Egypt last year. Very similar. The bus situation couldn’t be easier. The bus was right outside the one we needed and we hopped on. We only waited about 15 minutes and then it headed into the city for only 30Ds (aka durham). The exchange rate is similar to that of Ukraine so that’s about $3. The bus takes us right into the old city in front of the mosque and a short walk from our hostel. The hostel owner gave us some great directions. Good for Stephanie for printing them and putting them in the color coded itinerary. I am not sure where we would be without the itinerary. Neither one of us did much research on what to do once we got to these destinations. That might have been my responsibility. I am on the NO PLAN plan these days. I just want to see where life will take us.

So we follow the directions and we end up down some alley. Not unusual. We find number 18 on a wooden door as instructed and we knock. The door opens and we are welcomed in. There are a few people sitting around some tables in what looks like the common room. The hostel is nice and very Moroccon. Not that I know what Moroccon is at this point but it looks like that. The common area has a few tables in it and along the wall is a couch with some pillows and then there are some chairs around the tables. You can see all the way to the top of the building and there is a terrace up there. The hostel is 4 stories with the fourth being the roof. There are bedrooms on each floor except the roof, with bathrooms and showers. The beds are large single thick pads on the floor and it makes for a very Moroccon feel. It is very cute. It is a little dark and chilly but these buildings are made to keep cold air in when it is ridiculously hot in the summer so I can understand. We are here in the winter months and it isn’t even that cold outside. In the sun it is quite warm! There are lots of colors, tiles on the wall, incents is burning and Bob is playing on the ipod we are definitely in the right place.

The hostel owner comes to greet us. Her name is Crystal and wouldn’t you know it she is American! Apparently, she met her husband in America and he is Moroccon. She moved here and started a hostel with him. Not sure the whole story because we didn’t talk to her much after this introduction as she was under the weather. She was really cool though. She told us where to go and what to do to get started and pointed us off in the right direction. She is also from NY so that makes her cool right away and we bond. Unfortunately, she can’t provide us with a map but I am sure by the end of the day we will have one. She tells us that Tajine is the native food so considering we are starving we take this information and head to find…what’s that? Yes….FOOD!

It is at this juncture that we realize that we are terrible at picking out restaurants and that we should always go with the one next to the one we think we want to go to. We have realized that once we make a decision we tend to prefer the restaurant next to us. It always seems to have something we didn’t see when we were making our initial decision to sit down. This happened in Valencia a few times. So as we sit down at the café in the square we ask for Tajine now mind you it isn’t even lunch time yet. Anyway the waiter tells us that they don’t have it and that it isn’t time yet so without any hesitation since we are starving and done with picking the wrong restaurants we stand up and head next door. They were much more concerned with us eating with them anyway and we should have chose them right from the start but again…we suck at picking out restaurants. So finally we sit down and we ask them immediately…”do you have Tajine? And are you serving it now?”

We get our meals. We both got chicken. It is delicious. It comes served in a clay pot with lots of saffron. It is really good. You can either get this or chicken cous cous but for some reason it doesn’t come together and who wants two chicken dishes for lunch? Anyway it is great and we are ready to take on the town. We have some coffee and head for the siouk. Now Crystal told us we should get lost in the siouk and without a map that will be the easiest thing we do. The siouk is their version of a market. And if you have ever been to a market in places like this you know you need to mentally prepare yourself. They are going to harass us so get ready!

We head into the siouk and it is one big maze. I am just headed in whatever direction I see fit at the time I see it. There are some really narrow streets we walk down meanwhile we are not alone. There are tons of other people walking around with us, tourists and locals, donkeys, bikes, motor bikes. The only thing I haven’t seen try to come down these roads are cars and I wouldn’t be surprised if I did see one or saw one attempt to fit down these streets. People are crazy here. I would just get pissed off having to break everytime I rolled up behind some damn tourist that doesn’t realize I have to come down these streets on my motor bike with my donkey! Welcome to Morocco.

About an hour later we are still walking. I am not sure where we are going and I am pretty sure we have gone around the same streets a time or two. We have no real destination and even though there are museums somewhere back here and leather tanneries which we hear are worth checking out neither of us is really that interested so we continue to wonder. We finally end up in a tiny square behind the square and some ladies ask us if we want some henna. Now I don’t realize this until later and you will understand once I tell you the story but the women were only asking for 5Ds for this henna. Now if there is one thing I want on this trip it is henna. I have always wanted to try it and I plan to do it here where it like came from??!!

Stephanie spots some earrings she is interested in and that keeps her attention for a few moments and I walk around the square seeing if there is anything of interest when all of a sudden a man comes up to me and asks me if I want to come to his shop and have some tea and help him practice his English. I didn’t really get a good look at this guy and I am not even sure I know where he came from. I am tired and I have my sunglasses on which impairs my vision while the sun is shining down right into my eyes. I walk away but I am not sure where I am going and Steph proceeds to tell me that he was cute. Damnit! Now I wish I had gone over to talk to him but I didn’t want to buy any carpets. Meanwhile if he was trying to sell us carpets he certainly wasn’t doing a very good job. He let us go pretty darn easily.

We realize we are close to the main square and I am a bit tired of walking. I also have my boots on and my feet are screaming for a break. We find our way out of the maze and into the square and head for the hostel. Oh but wait. You can’t get away that easily you silly Americans! You keep smiling and talking to strangers and someone is bound to take advantage of you!!!! Well I did it good! I met Fatima. Fatima was talking to me from across the square and she just knew I had a big fat S on my forehead for SUCKER. She saw me coming from a mile away. There was something about Fatima that drew me to her. I started to walk over and she grabbed my arm and started drawing. I knew I was stuck like chuck. I was trying so hard to remember how much those women were going to give me henna for. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t even think of what the exchange rate was. Oh no! I am lost and I am about to get took! Well she got me for 250Ds. Yup that is $30! Have you ever heard of ANYONE paying $30 for henna!?!?! Well now you have. SUCKA! That was ridiculous. I thought she was giving me a deal. She came down from 500Ds. I couldn’t believe it. I thought we were friends. She even drew an eye on my palm to keep bad people away from me. Well it didn’t keep her away from me. Look at it this way I either fed her family for a few days or allowed her to take a well needed vacation! Always think positive. I help people that is what I do.

Back at the hostel and my feet are happy. We take to the roof and read some English entertainment magazines while sunning ourselves. Unfortunately, the sheesha isn’t working and there is no alcohol in old city but this is the life. I could stay up here for days. I am burning the henna into my skin so that it will last longer than the 20 days I paid for. I am trying to get all I can get out of this. It isn’t the prettiest thing I have ever seen but it isn’t too bad. It is blacker than anything it looks like I took a magic marker to myself. After some fun in the sun Steph and I head to New Town. We want some food and we have no idea where we are going or what we want but we walk to New Town and figure we will find something. It is like walking around NY. There are so many streets and you just don’t know where to go so we wonder around for what seems like hours before deciding we want something in the Asian category. I am thinking Indian. Then all of a sudden we come across a Thai restaurant and after a long time of searching we sit down and we are happy. Apparently we have also realized that we eat too early. People eat late in Europe and even though Morocco is in Africa it seems to follow suit. That is why no one is out and those who are are at cafes sipping coffee while we want food! The Thai place ends up being really nice and we have some sushi and some thai. The food is really good and after we walk some more and then head back to the hostel. Tomorrow we will do this again and maybe better.

Color Coded Itinerary Tour Part I (The Airport in Kiev)

Slowly recovering from yet another virus in my body. Was home all day yesterday and in bed with a temperature of 102. Just got back from a lovely 2 week vacation on January 2^nd and have been in my apartment ever since. So here is the story of the color coded itinerary tour… we call it that because well there was a color coded itinerary involved.

I meet Stephanie at the train station in Kiev. I am walking past McDonalds and randomly see her on the street. We are headed to a restaurant that is not McDonalds but still near the train station so we can hop on a bus and head to the airport soon. We have some lunch at a Ukrainian restaurant nearby. We sit there for a little while to kill some time before we have to head to the airport. We are leaving out of the airport closest to Kiev called Zhuliany. It is only about a 20 minute bus ride to the airport and the busses leave frequently…we think.

We head to the back of the train station and search for the bus we need to get to this airport. After only about a 10 minute wait we find a bus that has the airport on its sign and we hop on. I am told that I can only have one bag to carry on and I currently have two if you count my purse so I proceed to rearrange my things so that I can stick my purse in my carry on. Near the end of our trip we turn a corner and I see a plane, maybe a 727, at the end of the road. I am not sure but I think that might be the airport. There is no sign. We are still within the city limits so you wouldn’t believe that there could possibly be a runway around here to allow for a commercial airliner to take off. The airport looks like a small administration building. But so it is an airport. We get off the bus and head in that direction. We go inside to find people everywhere standing around waiting for a counter to open. This certainly isn’t a place where planes fly often. The flight after ours doesn’t leave until almost 8pm so everyone in here must be on our flight or they are really early!

We just know this is going to be a zoo. As soon as they open the counter all the people that were randomly standing around have formed a small crowd around the one person that is working right now to check us all in. There are about 5 lines that are merging into one. Eventually we get to the counter and we get our tickets which we realize say “free” on them. Not sure how to make that out except the anxiety starts again when we realize that means we have to do this again when we go to board the plane. I hate lines or lack there of. We reach the gate and we have some time so I head to the bar. I am not sure why but in recent months or since I have joined the Peace Corps and lived in Ukraine I have this new found fear of flying. It could have something to do with my cluster mate. The first flight I took out of Ukraine last year was to Egypt and he kindly told me about his fear of flying and how he thinks since he has been flying so much in his life that his odds are turning against him. Like his number is coming up or something. I mean really dude?? We are on a plane right now and I don’t want to talk about how this may or may not be the day that the plane crashes and your number comes up!!! You know who you are! Thank you for that I haven’t been right since. Even better was our trip to Germany when he proceeded to tell me about Polish Airlines which we were flying at the time had crashed recently. Thank you again! Any other words of wisdom you would like to share with me about plane crashes while I am on a plane 35,000 feet in the air? People really need to work on their timing!

So anyway I take to the bar for a shot of vodka to calm my nerves. I end up getting a glass of vodka and I am ok with that. Stephanie helps me get it down. Then we see the line forming at the door and we rush over there. Meanwhile 2 hours later we are still standing there. Apparently, our plane is late but we wouldn’t know that because no one is telling us anything. There is nothing flashing on the flat screen TVs they have hanging all over what looks like an old garage which they now refer to as our gate except the weather. So we continue to stand because if we get out of line now they win! We are too close to the front of the line for that to happen. We have good real estate to get some decent seats on this plane. We aren’t moving!

The doors open up and we head to the plane. Stephanie is on it and she gets us some great seats. Now she is a window person and I need the aisle so we sit accordingly with an empty space between us. I am sure that is not fair but that is how we like to sit and if someone is alone they will just have to sit in the middle. Should have gotten here first! Well the stewardess comes by and asks if we are together and we say “yes”. A few minutes later she comes back with two young girls. They want to sit together so the flight attendant asks me to move in so the girls can sit next to each other from across the aisle. Well I am pissed because we stood in line for 2 hours and ran to this plane to get these seats and now you are going to ask me to MOVE? Shit well of course I am going to move because I am nice person but I won’t be happy about it! I am going to curse you and these two young girls for at least 10 minutes after this happens.

After that excitement was over we are in the air and on our way to Spain. Nothing matters now. The plane is full of young kids and I am not really sure why or where they are all going. They don’t even seem to have parents. It is quite the lively trip to Valencia. I look over across the aisle and this young boy is standing on his seat and reaching into the over head compartment. A few minutes later he does it again and a few minutes later there he is again. I ordered wine from the flight attendants and received a half bottle which is already gone so I am feeling a buzz. I start messing with this boy which is funny. Let’s not forget he doesn’t speak English. Then I find out that the young girl next to me that kindly pushed me out of my seat DOES in fact speak English and pretty well. Now I am concerned because I don’t know how much she understood when we were having the bashing session after getting kicked out of our comfortable seating arrangement. But it seems since she is doing a lot of smiling that she wasn’t offended or she couldn’t understand. This is good because I feel like an ass. Even though most of my anger was geared towards the flight attendant and not the young girl who just wanted to sit next to her friend.

We have finally reached Valencia and we land safely! I start clapping! We head into the airport to rush one lonely passport patrol officer for our entire plane. GREAT another line! Now I should tell you that it isn’t the “line” that we as Americans are accustomed to. No this is no ordinary single file orderly line. This is what you might call a gathering in front of the destination with no real order of who is next. They don’t do that on this side of the world we have found out and it causes those of us from a place of order with severe anxiety when you don’t know who is next or when someone else doesn’t know that YOU are next. I hate that. So when I say that we have to stand in another line that means that my blood pressure is going to rise and I have to deal with this chaos until I get to the front of the line and can escape.

Valencia is beautiful. I have only yet made it to the convenient metro that is right downstairs from where we exit the airport and we head to our hostel which is only about 7 stops away. It doesn’t get any easier than this folks. Only two hours late we arrive to the hostel get checked in. Receive our very fluffy towels and head to a restaurant. We can’t take the advice of our hostel lady who pointed us in the direction of a restaurant that is either not open yet or recently closed but right next door is a quaint little bar/restaurant and we retire there for the evening. Very good tapas and a margarita for us. We decide to go to bed and start over tomorrow.

So Much to Learn

After more than a month since my last post, my how time flies, I have much to catch you up on. Where to start is the question. Well, I had my last birthday in Ukraine a few weeks ago. I attended a seminar put on by my friends in Vinnitsa, a city only about 3 hours Southwest of Kiev. A bunch of us went to discuss what we might consider doing for work after Peace Corps. I've been thinking about that a lot and I am not really sure. I have tossed the idea around to do consulting but I am not sure what will make me happy. Anyway it happened to fall on my birthday weekend so a bunch of us went out to dinner at a Georgian restaurant and had a grand old time. We didn't do much as we still had part of the seminar to finish the next day and I've been sick for more than a month so drinking not the best idea.

Anyway in the seminar we talked about personalities, how to look for a job, how to interview, etc. All the components of job searching. We discussed the book "What Color is Your Parachute" which I am currently reading. There is quite a difference in age and experience in our group which makes it a good place to network. Many of the people in our group have worked for several years, owned their own business, have furthering degrees, etc. So lots of experience floating around. We also had a guest speaker come from USAID to talk about international jobs. As much as I love traveling and seeing the world I am thinking my next venture might be in the old USofA!

Thanksgiving has just passed. I spent the holiday in Vinnitsa again with my friends. We had a magnificent time. First we had Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with my sitemates at my house. We had ham, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, corn bread, and I can't remember what else. That was a great time. We skyped with our old sitemate while we had dinner. She just got back to America. Then Friday night I went to Vinnitsa to do it all over again in a different place with different people. We had dinner on Saturday afternoon. We had 2 turkeys, salad, raisin bread, caviar (YUM), cranberry sauce, and some more things that I can't remember. The food was great, we drank and were merry.

I spent some time with a Ukrainian friend of mine that popped down from Kiev to see his parents and me on the way. I met him a month ago and it has been fun practicing my language with him since he doesn't speak any English. He is a cop in Kiev and is studying English for Euro 2012. After having been in country for so long I really do appreciate the many friendships that I have with Ukrainians. It is really fun and interesting to meet new people all the time. Now that my language is better and I have a better understanding of things I meet more people every time I travel and it is really exciting. Unfortunately, just like any other culture things don't always work out and your friendships may be only for a short time or for the rest of your life. In this case, it was a short time.

Things at site have gotten busier as I knew they would. Every Tuesday and Wednesday I spend time at Hearts of Love. This is a children's center for children with disabilities. This center is where my old site mate used to work when he was here. On Tuesday I work with the really young kids (2 to 6 years old) and try to help Anya with their development. These kids don't speak much and they can't do much and it is a gradual process but we work with them on speech and motor skills. No one has a degree in this and right now it is very grass roots which is why I have been trying to talk to other organizations that exist in Ukraine through connections I have made in America about how to get training for this type of thing. I am also helping out with English club here and every Wednesday we have a girls club consisting of some girls from the center.

Our girls club is very important. We get different girls and different ages and I can see the many attitudes of teenagers that I haven't had to deal with since I was one! We have a bully in our class and she teases the girls that are "different" which I don't like but we have to conduct this club in Russian and my language is just not where it needs to be to deal with this type of behavior but it is something that I need to think about and try to combat with them. It is difficult coming up with ideas that will be interesting for all of the girls at the same time. But it has only been 2 months for me so I will learn as we go.

I have recently been asked to do some leadership classes at one of our technical schools. That should be exciting. I will have to do it in Russian which again will be challenging but I am exciting to do something different with a different group of kids. I hope this works out. I would love to start a leadership club and get some kids to make some real differences in their town. They have everything they need here. They just need some direction and unfortunately so do I in some respects. But this might be a good thing. I am also about to start an HIV/AIDS project in my town and they would be helpful if I can get them to help me.

So I've been frequently seeing my tutor lately and the reason for the title of my post is because I learn so much from her. Nothing that is at all relevant in my life but still it is all new stuff. She always asks me questions that I just don't know the answer to. Things I never think about in my life. For example what is the organizational structure of state government in the US? I have no idea! I mean I can say in general but I am not 100% sure. These are things I should know but I don't. I have friends that can spout this off right away and probably in under a few minutes but as for me not so much. Why is Cinderella called Cinderella? I don't know I haven't read that book in over 25 years! But apparently cinders also means ashes which is why she is called Cinderella. Do you know how they made white and dark bread in Russian a long long time ago? I do, couldn't explain it to you in Russian but someday I will tell you the story in English. Provided of course that I don't forget! If only these were conversations I had to use on a daily basis my language might be better!

Today I will be a guest speaker at my sitemates school. She has asked me to do a mini presentation on NYC. That should be a hoot! By the way toilet paper was first introduced in NYC in 1857!

Parents come to town.

My parents visited last week. It was kind of weird to have them in this country. I met them at the airport on Saturday afternoon. I got there early and they got in late. I wanted to make sure I was there and settled. And I like to watch people come through the doors. I did the same thing with Allison. I waited there for them to see them walking through. Our airport is small so it doesn't take too much time to exit after the plane lands. I was so happy to see them. It is funny, so much time has gone by but it felt like no time passed at all.

We leave the airport and catch one of the many buses that comes and goes to the airport from the train station. It is only 25 UAH. A cab costs 200 UAH. The only problem is you have to wait for the bus to fill up before it leaves but it usually only takes a little while. So many people use the bus to go back and forth. So it took about 20 minutes and we were off.

When we got to the train station we had to take a metro to the hostel where we were staying. Now I don't want to spoil the ending of this story but try to remember that my parents are in their 60s, my dad has had many surgeries and my mother has a heart condition. I certainly didn't remember all of that so maybe you will. I treated my parents like they were just other volunteers or friends that were my age. I had them taking buses, riding metros and sleeping in hostels. What was I thinking?

Anyway, we get to the train station and then get on the metro. Now my mom has had about enough walking. Not to mention the BAGS! Well yes we took the bags up and down steps and escalators. The few that exist in Ukraine. My father gets on the metro and before we have time to get settled the train takes off. Well I am familiar with the way the subways are in Kiev so I strategically place myself accordingly in the train meanwhile my mom and dad are just standing there as if they were not in a moving apparatus. We take off and my father damn near flies to the other end of the train car. He falls onto the man sitting down and my mother falls on him. The bags go everywhere and all I can do is laugh. My dad takes it like a champ and I am still laughing. People all around are looking at us and probably thinking I am an idiot for bringing not only my parents who have no business on a subway but also BAGS.

So then we get to Khreshatick which is about 3 stops on the metro. Now we head up the escalator to the street. Now we are in Independence Square. The main attraction in all of Kiev. The Times Square of Ukraine. We are about 8 city blocks from our hostel. My parents are walking up the street with their BAGS. Unfortunately, there is a lot going on in the center and we can't walk on the road so we have to go underground. We have to use the STAIRS. My parents want to kill me and I am pretty sure if we walked any slower we would be going backwards.

We get to the hostel and I assure them that there is an elevator. We've literally done planes, trains and automobiles and they are just DONE. We get there and we find the elevator. It is big enough for one person. Maybe two! I shove my parents in send them to the WRONG floor and then send up the bags. When I figure out the right floor I send them up again and then the bags.

We get to the hostel and we check in to the private room. There are many volunteers around. My parents are happy they are not walking anymore. They put their things down and then we decide we are hungry and we go to eat. I take them next door to the pizza place. They enjoy this. On our way back I decide to grab some groceries for later and for tomorrow morning so we can just relax. My mom comes with me but my dad wants to head back to the hostel. Halfway there my mom has to use the bathroom and I tried to send her home because in Ukraine it is very difficult to find public restrooms. (however for the record I did very well with finding them while my parents were in town - in fact I had no idea Ukraine had so many public toilets) So I hurry up with the groceries and get my mom back to the hostel where my dad is waiting. I come to find out later he almost didn't make it back because he got lost. What a day it was! We slapped in a DVD at the old hostel and then went to bed. My mom of course couldn't wait. She conked out before the movie was in the DVD player.

We didn't do much the rest of the week. I took them to see my host family in Chernigiv on Sunday. Monday we went back to my site. My mom came to my tutors house and had a nice visit. We had some tea and talked to my tutor and her husband. Well I talked and translated for my mom. My dad met my counterpart. I showed them my bazaar and where I buy food everyday. They slept on the awful divan that I sleep on every night. We cooked in my tiny little kitchen. They showered in my interesting looking bathroom and my sit down shower only tub. They experienced the sardine can marshrutka during rush hour. They ate Ukrainian food and met Ukrainian people. But most importantly they spent some time with their daughter.

The End!