Saturday, April 16, 2011

Oops, mild jet (train?) lag

Right, so sleeping is hard. It's about 1:ooam (4 hrs later than home) and I'm wide awake. Not quite jet lag as I've been in this time zone since Wednesday morning. However, being sleep deprived and being unable to keep my eyes open when in a moving vehicle, I managed to sleep for what seemed like most of a 7-hour train ride today. If only workdays would pass so quickly.

Apparently my French accent is bizarre to the Moroccans. It used to be a French territory so French is, supposedly, still the language of business and government. For me, the hardest part of French has always being comprehending what others say, listening. The accent here isn't too hard to understand, but I apparently sound like a dieing koala or something.

Conversation with lady at train station:
Jen: Nous avons besoin de deux billets a Casa Voyageurs pour lundi, svp.
Femme: Quand?
Jen: Lundi.
Femme: Demain?
Jen: Non, lundi.
Femme: dimache? Ou demain?
Jen: Luuuuundi!
Femme: What?
Jen: Monday. A treize heure cinquante.
Femme: ah, the 18th. Premiere classe ou deuxieme class?

Ah, franglais. My teachers told me it would never suffice; lies!

Then we had bizarre attempts at trying to communicate the credit card machine was down. I stopped paying attention since Devin was to pay for the train tickets. So we spent almost all our cash on train tickets and (probably) getting ripped off by our Petit Taxi to our Riad (accommodation). And the bank machine at the gare (train station) was down. Oh, right, and I had spent almost all my money getting henna on my hand/arm the night before in Crazyville. Of course, my MacPhail genes ensured I smeared it about ninety times  before it dried. Apparently it'll last about 3 weeks, which means my purse and dress should be clean in early May.  i actually kept smearing the same bit, so most of it is quite good. After getting it done Devin pointed out getting it on the left hand (I'm right handed) probably would had been smarter. Devin = wise. But neither of us were wise enough to think of it prior.

Attempt at sleep no. 3, commence!

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