The kindness of strangers

I am always amazed by the kindness of strangers. For those of you who don't know: I suffer from episodes of intense pins and needles to the extent that I am not able to move my limbs for anything from 30 minutes to sometimes 6 hours. I am slowly learning to deal with these but one of the problems which is unavoidable is the reliance I must have on strangers for help when I am unable to move.

Having one of these episodes was not in my plan for the move to Morocco, but it happened nonetheless. The ryanair staff were so attentive, making sure I had water when I needed it and checking I was ok. It was really reassuring.

I was lucky enough to be sitting next to one of the founders of Hummus Bros. This was good for me not, only because he was so kind by helping me drink the water whilst I couldn't lift my own hands but also because it was interesting to meet someone so passionate about his trade. I can't wait to try some of their products when I get back to England. He also carried my bag for me :-)

One thing about moving to a city where you haven't yet spent much time is that you will have to rely on the kindness of strangers and hope that the contacts you have made will come through for you. Many people probably thought I was crazy, leaving for Morocco with no where to stay. After a few hours of looking for a flat on the Sunday I even started to worry about how crazy it might have been! However with the help of M, some positive thinking and trip back home to check out the internet again the perfect flat came up!

With some provisions from M's mum and a ride with all my stuff, in less than 24 hours I was moved in. The location is perfect. I can walk to my classes, easily get the tram and I am very close to a great spot for sunset pictures - so I warm you, there might be quite a few!

Moving to Morocco

Over the past few months people often asked "Why do you want to move to Morocco?" and I tell them I have no idea. It's the truth, I'm not sure what happened this year but apart from spending all the time I could I fell in love with a country. It's the first time that this has happened to me. I have travelled lots and enjoy exploring new things, especially when they are exotic (by this I mean unknown to me) but I have never had a country or it's people get so firmly under my skin.

I have been lucky enough to enjoy short weekends in a few Moroccan cities of the past year but the one where I felt the most comfortable and at home in was Rabat. I'm not sure that the weather has anything to do with it. It is undeniable that I love the sun and Morocco has a lot of it! However I have also experienced the rain and grey skies here and still love it. This is a picture I took at the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh.

Any way, despite the feeling that I want to spend more time in this country I have decided not to jump in with both feet at once. I will go for increasingly longer periods of time so that I can learn more about the country, the way things work and to see if I really do think that this is somewhere I could live for an extended period of time.

My first adventure will be a month at the end of the year, where I will take Arabic classes. I figure if I am going to live in a country I should at least make some effort to learn the language.....so that what I'll do.