Guest Post from Megan

Safely back in Minnesota after an incredible 2 1/2 week vacation with her in Morocco, I'm writing this guest post for Jenny. The purpose of the post is to let you all know what we did on our adventure and to give you my impression I got of Jenny's life over there. After arriving in Agadir, I walked across the tarmac to enter the airport and go through immigration. I passed onto the baggage claim, where I needed to collect my backpack and the suitcase of presents for Jenny, before I could dash out to hug Jenny. My backpack showed up quickly and then I waited anxiously for the suitcase. All I wanted to do was run out to where Jenny was waiting to greet her but I needed the luggage first. It then became apparent that there were no more suitcases coming. I should say that I know NO French or Arabic, the languages that makes things go in Morocco. Someone pointed me towards an office where I was ignored as everyone else with the appropriate language skills were helped first. My first lesson about Morocco began here: there is no concept of a line. Whoever is the pushiest (elbows are allowed) and most assertive will be served first, according to Jenny. After everyone cleared out, it was me and one man remaining. He knew a very little bit of English so I wrote down my address in the US and gave him the baggage ticket. I kept trying to tell him that my sister was just a few feet away and could speak Arabic, but he did not understand. Frustrated, I took a piece of paper from him and hurried out to FINALLY greet Jenny. After a good hug, I told her what happened. My second lesson about Morocco followed: Jenny knows an amazing amount of Arabic and this helps make things happen. She marched up to the security guard and before I knew it we went the wrong way through customs and security back to the little office and the man who helped me. Jenny and him talked and she got the whole story. Lesson two continued when Jenny translated for me and said that before he explained things, she first had to have "the conversation." Even though I know no Arabic, throughout the trip I began to recognize this conversation that Jenny had with, oh, maybe, 8,000 people. The Moroccan would be shocked and amazed at Jenny's Arabic and ask any combination of the following questions: "Where did you learn arabic?" "Do you live here?" "Where do you live? Then followed by a name-nearby-Moroccan-cities game. "What's your name?" "Who's that? She doesn't know any Arabic? (pointing at me) "What are you doing here?" And the occasional, "I have a relative in 'insert US state here' comment." When this conversation happened at various market stalls or hotels, Jenny was frequently told she was getting a better price because she spoke Arabic so well. So I was able to tell my dad that we were really saving a lot of money on the trip :) Jenny and I spent the first few days on our trip at her site. This was probably my favorite part of the trip because I got to see Jenny's apartment, where she works, where she buys her chicken, meet her host family, and the people in her life there. Her town was actually a little bigger than I expected, even though it is still very small. There is a large road that goes through it directly to an airport so there is a lot of traffic and that makes it seem busier and bigger than it really is. Her apartment is really nice and she's made it very homey. She made me a neat welcome sign that made me feel at home right away. Even though Jenny told me she's a bit of a celebrity in her town, I only truly believed her upon arrival. So many people approached her on the street to greet her and I quickly learned lesson number three. Lesson number three: Jenny is well taken care of in Morocco. She has many host family members, Peace Corps friends and Moroccan friends that were constantly checking up on her. One time the police in her town even called her because they didn't know for sure where we went. Even though we had told them a day or two before that we were leaving to travel around. It was very reassuring to see so many people caring about Jenny. I was able to help my mom relax when I came home and told her all of that. After time in Jenny's site, we began our travels through Morocco. We hit the following cities: Agadir, Marrakech, Essaouira, Marrakech again to get to Rabat, Tangier, and finally Chefchouen. My favorite cites, and I think Jenny's too, were Essaouira and Chefchouen, in case anyone is still hoping to visit Jenny. I liked Essaouira a lot because it was on the ocean and was a smaller city that was really laid back. There is a type of music called Ganoua music that comes out of Essaouira that is a fusion of jazz, reggae, and Moroccan, that attracts a lot of hippies. There was a mini Ganouwa festival there while we were there that we got to see and hear. Chefchouen is way in the north of Morocco in the Rif Mountians. This city was also a really laid back small city that didn't attract a lot of tourist, but a lot of travelers. Jenny and I talked about the difference between a tourist and a traveler. Tourists tend to come in large groups, wear stickers with their tour company name on it, talk loudly in a foreign language not spoken in Morocco, and they don't go off the beaten track or try anything that's not in the Lonely Planet book. Travelers however are generally younger people who don't stay in one city during their vacation but rather travel to see unique places in a country that are maybe lesser known. Anyhow, both Essaouira and Chefchouen had awesome shopping opportunities, another reason I liked them so much. A lot of buildings and sidewalks are painted this bright blue color in Chefchouen that gives it a clean, fun look. I could go on forever about our trip as I have two and a half weeks of great memories to share. If anyone would like to hear more, just ask because I'd love an audience to share everything with. I will also try and post some photos from the trip to help Jenny out.