Life is an English Highway

     Pretty great day today, both in weather and activities.  Meknes (our destination) is an hour away, so that was an hour in the back of a bus with my breakfast sloshing around in my stomach on a bunch of winding roads.  A terrible combination for someone who dislikes riding in the back of anything anymore.  Hopefully the Maalox I chewed up was from an uncontaminated lot.  I don't know.  They were old and probably will not settle my stomach anyhow.

     The good news for the drive is that it wasn't raining.  Our first stop was the English Highway in Meknes.  This is a newly formed English Language school.  It was developed and implemented by Abdellatif Filali, an absolutely engaging fellow who spent the entire day with us providing some Moroccan socio-cultural lectures, sightseeing, and an amazing dinner at a restaurant located in a riad (Riad d'Or).  Filali has three Master's degrees from Louisville, Arkansas, and AUI and had some great information for our class.

Me and Filali.  Probably being awesome.

     One of the best parts was a trip to Volubilis.  This is a Roman city (ruins now) dating to 215 BC (or so).  A few of us had a great talk with Filali out there regarding the complete lack of promotion, control, and use of Volubilis--especially because it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Right as we were leaving Volubilis, the rain started.  For now, we made it on the bus and stayed dry.  We headed to the riad for dinner.  The riads used to be large, shared homes with beautiful courtyards, many levels, and many rooms.  A lot of them are now almost like boutique hotels and restaurants.  Ours was a combination of both.  My end of the table (we were big--23 of us today) thought we had eaten through the appetizers and entree courses, only to find we were only about 1/2 way done.  I was about ready to burst by the time fruit came (dessert--typically oranges, bananas, and strawberries.  Heaping on a plate).

Another hour ride back to Ifrane, and our day was done.  I am beat, but it was totally worth it.  Tomorrow we head to Fes, and plan on spending a lot of time walking around the medina there.

Today's side note:  In a rush into the bathroom (2 stalls), Rodrigo ran into one and me, the other.  Mine was apparently the women's (they were identical).  I come out and Kelsey is standing there recording my face right next to the women's sign.  I don't know what I was thinking, but there is too much proof to deny this happened.  Later this evening--at dinner in the riad-- the glass light fixture just decided to fall off the wall while I was standing in there.  The crash was pretty loud and I'm not sure they liked my explanation of the events.  Which was pretty much... I don't know what happened.  It just fell..... anyhow, they didn't kick me out of Morocco for that one, so I've got that going for me.