From Bob To Bob

Friday

        My English class only went up and down the stairs once! I think our new home will be the Cafe. Unfortunately for us, they cooks were preparing fish so it reeked in there. The cooks were also very loud and chatty so with the echo, it was also very hard to hear my students (it didn't help that my sinuses and ears are all blocked up too lol). There was also someone in the area outside of our room using a drill on the tile... wow. I tried closing the door to block out his sound but we nearly passed out from all the fishy smell so we decided to keep it open and bear the noise. Class was huge that day and we had a lot of fun learning clothing and working on pluralizing things. While we were reviewing body parts, I asked them what I smell with... to which a student confidently replied that he smells with his mouth. Most of the class got the humor and bust out laughing, leaving him rather confused until I reminded him what 'to smell' means. Good times.

        After class I packed the rest of my stuff and rode the CCS van with George to go meet Jordan and Carley at the orphanage. We decided to get some McDonalds since it's right across from the train station. Jason and Ashley came with us since it would be the last time we see them (their flights home were the next day). The restaurant was packed out! It was literally a mad house but SOOO worth it for my Toblerone McFlurry :D We then said our goodbyes, bought some snacks and boarded a train to Marrakech. The train ride was amusing since for most of our trip, there were two men in our compartment. One was rather annoyed by all of us for some reason, and the other one chatted Carley's ear off for much of the ride. He was from Dubai and had missed his flight so he had to catch this train to Marrakech. He promptly asked Carley for her facebook, bought her pringles, asked her if she had a boyfriend and told her he liked her personality. It was pretty cute :D 

        After only a small amount of confusion on directions when we got to Marrakech, we stumbled onto the bus station we needed for the last leg of our journey. The Supratour buses are GIGANTIC! I mean, they're complete BEASTS. The were like... i don't even know... but compared to everything else in Morocco, it looks like it could swallow about ten cars and the road too. After gaping at them for a minute, we made sure we knew our bus time and sat in the cafe for a bit. I got fresh squeezed orange juice which was amazing... I need to get a juicer for my apartment. The waiter was super sweet too, he asked me where I was going to then told me that I was beautiful, to be safe and to have a wonderful trip. 

       The bus dropped us off after dark in a huge square outside of the Medina so we walked to the gate and tried to figure out where our hostel was located. Two guys offered to take us there for 20 DH so we took them up on it since we really had no other clue how to get there. It was just a short distance from the main street and down two or three streets which got smaller and darker the closer we got to the Hostel. We checked in with no problems and Adil (the guy who works there) showed us to our room which had 6 beds in it but only us staying there. The center courtyard was painted to look like a beach and had two hammocks hung through the middle. On the main floor, Adil showed us around the little common area which had a mini bar with free tea and coffee any time (and really cheap beer). It also had two computers to use the internet, free hookah anytime we want, and tv/games etc... It was a legit place and I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again if I ever come back to Essouira. We locked our stuff up and explored the Medina for a little while. There were still places cooking chwarma and shish kabobs, dogs and cats ran everywhere and little boys tried to sell us tissues. One little boy even tried to guilt us into buying them by saying, "please, 5dh... 50 cents, take it so I can go to bed!" It was sad but I couldn't buy them because I've seen a lot of this and it's really like begging. They come out late at night and get tourists to give them money out of pity. 

       We found a place called Taros that Adil had shown us on the map. We followed the sound of music up a few flights of stairs and came out on top of the building on a sprawling terrace that overlooked the Medina and the sea. It was all lit up with little lights and candles and had tons of plants, a large bar, a DJ, and a dance floor. We scoped out the crowd and most of them seemed to be travelers as well, but from all sorts of places. It was a cool atmosphere and we really enjoyed it until it quickly shut down at one. A few of the patrons told us to come over to another place called Chrysalis so we met them over there after getting lost and wandering around the main street for a while. We mark where we turn by which bab (gate) in the medina we're at and how many babs until we get there. "Bab" is pronounced bob so we found it rather amusing to ask "how many bobs until we're there?"...okay it was more funny at the time I guess. A nice man helped us find it and even walked us in and out. We thought he would ask for money but he just bid us goodnight and was on his way! How nice :) We didn't like Chrysalis because it was dark, smoky and rather sketchy, so we headed back to the Hostel. 

        When we got back we smoked hookah and a few people (including some eastern european guys and Adil) played around on a guitar that was missing a string. I got sleepy and headed up to my room but accidentally walked into the wrong room and saw one of the eastern european guys in his underwear (eeek!). Carley had an interesting run in with the same guy though. She was on the stairs and he asked her if she wanted to go upstairs on the terrace or something... then when she was still confused, he clarified his intentions by simply asking her ..."sex?" hahah. Best pick up line ever, straight and to the point ;D

I have to get ready to go, so I'll fill in the rest later! Peace yo!