Hi, all!

Just a quick update to let you know: I made it through staging and am in country! Internet is sporadic, and I have no idea when I will really have a chance to update, but I'm here safe and sound. Such a beautiful place, a great group of people, fantastic staff, delicious food, and people seem very friendly. There are two things that are the most shocking to me in the few hours I've been here.

The first is that it doesn't feel "foreign." Every time I've travelled to somewhere out of the US, it's felt incredibly foreign, and dare I even say exotic at times. I feel a sense of energy, of  some sort of spiciness to the air, a sort of new rhythm to my step. Morocco right now feels startlingly comfortable and not even new. I've never spent time in an Arab nation or even a majority Islam nation but it feels very comfortable and even easy. Not a new energy... a sort of serene one. I don't know if this is because I have changed as a person, if it's because I've been awake for 30 hours straight, or because all I've really seen is an airport, a bus ride, and the view from a hotel, but it's disconcerting but comfortable too. I just hope it doesn't mean that I won't have the excitement that being immersed in a new culture brings.

The other surprise is a bit more superficial: I didn't realize how much French would help in the big cities. Sure, I read that often, people assume people who look like me are French and will speak French to them but I didn't realize I'd be able to communicate with so many people or read all the street signs. This is exciting, but probably somewhat short-lived, as a city will be much different than the bled, where I'll be spending most of my time, but I do not want to use French as a crutch and not learn Arabic or one of the Berber languages because of it.

Right before dinner, I heard the call to prayer and it was the first time I'd heard it. My current roommate and I stood by my window and stared at the minaret through the open window and just stood in silence. Though I'm not Muslim, it was really powerful. I know soon it'll become commonplace but that first time it was just beautiful.

In any case, I'm certainly enjoying living it up in a four-star hotel for these next few days. It's a nice way to ease us into what we'll be doing for the next two years. And I think I can do it: live here in this country for the next two years and three months. The people are incredible: I walked onto the roof patio to get a fresh breath and there were people singing American folk songs with two guitars and two mandolins. Quite an uplifting moment.

So, there you have it. I'll update when I can, and I'll try to share as much as I can with you about what I'm learning from being here.