I've decided

I'm kinda glad I'm here. I was walking to work this morning (which act takes approx. 45 secs door to door), and I passed by two men who teach in Kastalani, the Moroccan school that houses our American School. Anyway, these two men were smiling and holding hands as they walked. And I thought, "I like that." I like that men here feel no threat to their masculinity or their heterosexuality when they hold hands or lounge on the couch in each other's arms. I find it refreshing that men can be friends and be affectionate and not be labeled as something they may not be.

So, yeah. I like that. And I started thinking about all the other little things like that -- things that I like about Morocco.

The slow pace of life. It's not uncommon to see folks squatted down under a tree, just hangin' out, people watchin', tryin' to beat the heat. And people here stroll. They aren't in a hurry to get anywhere. If you expect to meet someone at 8 o'clock, best not to show up 'til around 8:30. Having suffered in the past (and currently, it seems) from perpetual lateness, I can appreciate this lackadaisical attitude toward time. Though at times it's maddening, like when I want money transfered to my bank account in Ireland and it takes three weeks because, well, quite frankly, Moroccans ain't in a hurry to do much of anything. Especially in Agadir, where there isn't a lot going on -- I think they like to drag things out just to prolong the sense of having something to do.

Wearin' pajamas to the shop. Need I say more?

Djellebas hide a multitude of sins. Like the fact you're wearing your pajamas to the shop.

Bismillah. People here thank God for everything, all the time. They thank God when you ask them if they're well, they thank God when any money changes hands, they thank God when they're driving, they thank God when they get there, they thank God when they enter and leave a house, they thank God when they eat something, they thank God when they burp... you get the point.

Fifteen hunnert different ways to say "How are you?" That's just plain neighborly.

People want to teach me to speak Berber wherever I go. I get in the taxi, the taximan teaches me Berber. I go to the shop, the shop owner teaches me Berber. I go to the school late at night, the security guard teaches me Berber. Etc.... It's a little bit of that having nothing better to do, and a whole lot of just being nice. People here are genuinely very friendly and warm and welcoming. Despite the whole American thing.

Did I mention the hot men?

And to top it all off, things have definitely been on the upswing ever since we discovered pirated DVDs in ENGLISH at the souk. Life's pretty good right now.