3 more days!

Shan and I are heading off on our Spring Break trip this Saturday morning. Don't worry, there will be no toplessness or drunken orgies. Remember we're in a Muslim country -- booze ain't that easy to come by. And I've been so long without any substantial drinking that I reckon I'd be tipsy after my second or third glass of wine, which amount of alcohol is hardly about to convince me it'd be a good idea to bare my ass in a Muslim country, even IF I might be giggling a lot and continually informing Shan I'm ddddrrunk.

We've got two nights in Marrakech, where I'm looking forward to lots of shopping and bargaining. The souk in Marrakech is something everyone should experience before dying, and I've been boning up on all my stock Berber phrases before we leave, in hopes of getting less than the tourist price. Being white in Morocco means you have to pay more. In Marrakech they speak Tashelhit (Gesundheit!), which is one of three dialects of Berber spoken in Morocco. Wikipedia says:

Tashelhiyt (also Tashelhit or Shilha, native name: tašlḥiyt, French: tachelhit or chleuh, Arabic: تشلحيت) is the largest Berber language of Morocco both by number of speakers (between 8 and 10 million) and by the extent of its area. Tashelhiyt is spoken in Southern Morocco an area ranging from the northern slopes of the High-Atlas to the southern slopes of the Anti-Atlas, bounded to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern limit of the Tashelhiyt area is difficult to pinpoint because of a smooth transition into Southern Middle Atlas Berber (Tamazight). The Sous region is central to the Tashelhiyt area, hence it's often called Sous-Berber or tasousiyt, even though it stretches to surrounding regions well outside of Sous. Tashelhiyt is known for its rich oral literature. Literature written in the Arabic script has been produced from the second half of sixteenth century on; Muhammad Awzal (ca. 1680-1749) was the most prolific poet of the Tashelhiyt literary tradition.

I have enough Tashelhit to get me by from day to day. And the people here think it's so CUTE when I speak in Berber. They always laugh in that isn't-she-sweet kinda way and go "Tsnt Tashelhit???" which means "You know Berber???" and I'm always like, "Yeah, now can you gimme my Diet Coke already." It only got annoying after like the 327th time.

Anyway, after Marrakech we're heading up to Casablanca for five nights. I am most looking forward to eating sushi and watching a movie in English. See my previous post about there being a God in Morocco. We don't get English movies here. Also the Hassan II Mosque, which is the second or third largest mosque in the world, and has laser beams shooting in the direction of Mecca every night. Totally appealing to the A-list crowd that hangs out there.

Will post photos as soon as I get back. I can't wait!