Greater things have yet to come

  Today during orientation, we split off into small groups to do a bit of a scavenger hunt in the city. Putting forth all our recently acquired language and culture skills, I'm proud to say my team of five completed all our "tasks" with great flair and fun, even managing to arrive back to campus in leisure time!

One of the greatest triumphs was communicating with the taxi-drivers in such a way that 1) they correctly understood our desired destinations and 2) they turned on their distance/time counters so that we paid the "correct" fee, rather than a "special tourist" fee. I am thrilled to say we safely arrived at each place and perhaps paid slightly inflated prices only once :)

Another lovely accomplishment was the fairly successful acts of bartering that had to ensue in order to acquire certain objects of interest: a flower, baking soda, English magazines, cactus fruit, and scallops, as well as our own personal purchases. It depends on who you ask but in my humble opinion, I'd say we got some great deals!

We visited various places of interest and I'm excited to make return trips soon:

• an area known as Maarif, a cute part of town with an assortment of unique stores
• the Old Medina, the walled-in part of the original city where it is now a myriad of little streets lined with brimming shops of an assortment of goodies!
• C'il, also a maze of fresh fruit, fish, nut, vegetables, and bread stands. Of course, we stepped into a grocery store called O'Self where I picked up a box of cereal :) Some comfort foods from home are just necessities.
• Corniche, a beautiful boardwalk area on the ocean coast lined with palm trees. I'm hoping to get a run in along there soon!