November 5, 2008--Wednesday--Arrival in Rabat, Morocco

After 15 hours in three different airplanes, I have finally made it to Morocco.

My route from Denver to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Paris and Paris to Rabat all occurred without a hitch. I was worried with all of the connections that I would actually see my bags in Morocco but there were no problems. When I arrived, I was greeted by the driver of MACECE office with one of those celebrity signs, "Fulbright Jennifer Williams."

Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the office where Saadia Maske and I had a short "catch up" since I missed the three day orientation in Rabat with the other teachers. It's beautiful to hear her speak French, Arabic and English all so fluidly. In a phone conversation, they will code switch between three languages easily. She said that though only 40% of Moroccans have electricty, they all have a gift of speaking multiple languages.

I am now just waiting at the office to meet my Moroccan Exchange partner who is teaching his class right now. I am excited to finally meet him and his family after all of the email communications that we exchanged.

The weather in Morocco is beautiful today although the driver said that it wasn't so nice earlier this morning. It is very green and there are a lot of palm trees. Since the culture warrants covered clothing from head to toe, I am dressed in long pants, long shirt and a suit jacket that covers my bottom but really with the beautiful weather, I could be in a sun dress (I did not pack any though to be respectful of the culture). Most women also have their hair covered as well but that is not something I will do.

It seems that the biggest topic of conversation for anyone I have run into who knows that I am American is the new election and the announcement of Obama as the new president. There was immense cheering on the airplane. The Parisian whom I sat next to on the way to Paris was such a huge fan that she went to the US just for the elections. She was wearing an Obama pin as well as a huge watch with his picture on it.

The MACECE driver told me that people in Morocco were celebrating loudly when they found out that Obama won the elections. Then Saadia and I also discussed that as well. It is a historical event for the US but it is also so interesting how our elections are such a huge world wide event.

There is a 7 hour time difference between Colorado and Morocco. So if it is noon in Colorado, it is 7PM in Morocco. I am a bit exhausted but am so glad that I made it here. I am anxiously waiting to meet my host family. More to come...