Day One

Getting on the plane was a total hassle. The woman in charge of our tickets completely deleted my flight somehow! And on Mothers Day. My poor mom and aunt, God bless them, took care of everything! And then you get my Aunt Kathy on the phone and she straightened things out. She had to reschedule EVERYTHING. We have some great women in our family. We took a later flight but we made it here safely after all! Our flight schedule was: Green Bay to Chicago, Chicago to Paris, Paris to Rabat. CHICAGO TO PARIS was the only challenging leg of the trip.Airplane seats already lack spaciousness and when you pair that with a couple of CHATA MATA German tourists you get a badddd situation! The woman in front of me sat with her seat reclined the entire 9 hours! I politely asked her to move her seat up a little bit and she yells at me! *NO, -swearing in german- *throws her seat back farther. I wanted to reach over that seat and slap her! HAHA. Okay enough complaining. Everything else was great. Just that damn woman. So we arrive in Paris and I am in a mix of zombielike-state and amazement that I am in Paris! I wanted so bad to go explore the city but of course I couldnt because we had to catch a flight soon. Maria and I stopped and got some Lunch which was weird since it was like 1 am my time. We ate baguettes and tarts that looked fake they were so perfect. Then I had some Coca Cola Light which is their version of Diet Coke I guess. When we finally boarded our last connection to Rabat we were so tired and out of it we laughed about the craziest dumbest things- I cant even tell you what it was. Looking out the window of the plane was interesting. The beginning of our flight, Paris was beneath us with pâtches of dark soil and green grass and many trees. As we approached Rabat the Green turned to masses of golden sands, red-orange soil, and a sparser assortment of trees. When we finally hit the ground, my zombie-state vanished and I was in disbelief, here I was in Africa! When we arrived Uncle Aziz, Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Fouad were there to greet us! It was so exciting to finally see them after all this time. My mother came to visit Morocco for three months when she was my age. All the people I would meet here had already met her and as far as I can tell ADORED her. I have some BIG shoes to fill here. They always tell me funny stories about how they tricked her and played jokes on her and overall loved her company. For those of you who have met my mom, you know she is far from unlikeable and is just a genuine person with a big warm heart. I am honored because they speak highly of her and call me * Little Tracy*! The remainder of this day we drove around Rabat and saw the sights--THERE ARE SO MANY TO SEE! The roads are lined with red and white cinderblock like things so it looks like you are in candyland. There are palm trees everywhere and a cloudless sky! It is very hot here but I love it because its dry heat with a breeze from the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike Wisconsin where its so humid with warm weather you could wring the moisture out of the air. People even dress different over here. There are many stray cats and dogs and even beggars which I am SO NOT used to. Its really sad sometimes. The beggars alot of times are children who have a towel soaked in glue and are sniffing it to get high. They are sent out by their parents or some adult who is too lazy to get a job. It really breaks your heart to see. Then you turn a corner and you are awestruck by a fantastic palace with intricate tile designs and guards surrounding every door.The social class distinction is much different than the US. There is pretty much rich, or poor. A large lack of middle class.
Once we got home I tried on Auntie Najats Gilleba.--spelling-- Which was beautiful but not entirely flattering on me! I was so relieved to be with my Uncle Aziz, Auntie Kathy, Tam and Maria. It was like I felt right at home. I also met Uncle Hakim and Aunt Nassera and their children Nada and Youssef. They are such sweet kids. I think they are a little intimidated or shy at this point. But I will grow on them I am sure.