Today I left Raleigh, NC, after about four hours of delays, for Rabat!It was a very long trip.The delays were due to the weather in Chicago.After Chicago I felt through Madrid, Spain, which looked incredibly beautiful from above.All the terracotta roofs made the towns look so quaint and pleasant.I wish I had had enough time to get out and take a look around.I definitely want to go to Spain now.In fact, this trip, even just the first two days of it has made me want to see every inch of the world I can!In the airport in Madrid there are no announcements made over the PA concerning the flights, so I sat at the wrong terminal until 10:00 when we were supposed to be boarding before I realized that there had been a change of terminals and no announcement!Luckily I was able to find the correct terminal just before they started boarding the plane.It was like flying over a map to fly across Spain and into Morocco.Except, a map could never capture its beauty.The beaches look gorgeous; I hope that I will get to go to one while I am here.I hear it is about a 10-minute walk from the house where I am staying.When we arrived in Morocco I thought at first they had lost my baggage.It was one of the last to come out and they had said there weren't any more before they went back and checked a second and third time and finally found it!I was so relieved!Next came the drive from Casablanca, where I flew in, to Rabat.The whole time I was trying to figure out if my driver and the man who cam to pick me up were speaking Arabic or French.I think now it was French, but I really couldn't understand a word because they were speaking so fast!Very disheartening for my French-speaking abilities, haha.The drive was amazing, never have I seen so much variety in plant life, people, and architecture.Casablanca had large white stucco houses with huge courtyards in the center.Then as we got further away there were gatherings of large apartment buildings, with seemingly hundreds of dish/satellites on the tops, on either side of the highway.They were connected by these very unique, colorful and interestingly designed bridges above the road.Most of these towns had a mosque, usually very detailed and sometimes quite colorful.There were also big farms with lots of lamb, horses, and cows grazing.People of all different colors and dress were walking from place to place and I even saw some children chasing a cow and playing. J Every now and then there would be a solider just standing on the side of the road facing the highway in uniform, just standing there, it was very interesting to see, and they must have been very hot!Finally we reached Rabat, a bustling city, people drive here even more sporadically that in Europe, and there are many pedestrians on foot and riding motorcycles.It is cleaner that I expected and it looks like there is some delicious food.It smells wonderful and new, the smell of fresh bread fills the air.We got out of the car and walked the rest of the way to the house where I will be staying.It is truly beautiful with large room and lots of tile and ironwork along the walls.The rooms are arranged in a square around a courtyard type of opening, where they are connected by a balcony.The floors have beautiful rugs that run wall to wall and it is expected that you take off your shoes before you enter each room.I was allowed to rest and get comfortable before lunch and met the house-mother's daughter- I am over-whelmed with new names right now but I will hopefully remember it soon.The family seems very nice.They speak fast French, only some of which I can understand, but the daughter speaks English.Lunch tasted delicious, but even more delightful was the fact that we ate it with our hands!And it was stew!I described my delight over this to my new Puerto Rican friend- you will here more about him later- and he said that my amusement was "so American."We scooped up the pieces of Lamb (I think), carrots, and peas with pieces of bread and had oranges and bananas afterward.It tasted great and was so healthy, too.We didn't even use plates! -That is probably a very American comment, too.I read a little and the housemother let me use the computer at the house to write an e-mail to mom and dad.The only difficult part about that was that the keyboard is different from an American one.For example, the Q and the A are switched, because of the difference in how frequent they are in each language I suppose, and the M is where the L usually is.And it took me the longest time to find the period!Then I took a nap before there was a weekly meeting here at the house I am staying for everyone involved in Projects Abroad.There were about 10 to 15 people here from all over the world; the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, and guy, who is also from the US.I forgot to mention I met my roommates, one from London and the other from Germany.The one from the UK is around my age the other is a little older.They are both incredibly sweet and have made me feel right at home.They have also been a great help translating when I do not understand what the house-mom says in French.Everyone at the meeting was very nice.And it was nice to be around all English for a few hours.I sat next to the guy from Puerto Rico and he told me a lot about Morocco's recent history and politics.He is currently applying for a job as a substitute teacher at an American school in Casablanca, but worked with Projects Abroad for about 7 months last year.Also, for the meeting the house-mom made amazing food for our guests.She had tiny little flat pieces of bread that she made little pizzas out of, with tuna on top!She also made little sandwiches cut from circular bread with some pate like meat and miniature pickle-looking things.Finally she gave us bread with chocolate and other desserts that I don't even know how to begin to describe.I have made a decision to try to try everything I am served while I am here.Then we had more stew and pasta for dinner and then it was finally time for bed!