First month in Casablanca

I have now been here in Casablanca for over a month and time is flying by.  I wanted to share a few memories before November, a month of holidays when I will be traveling to many cities around the country with visitors and other Fellows.
I might have mentioned that my local grocery store (probably because it is in the embassy neighborhood) has almost anything that I could get at home: nori and pickled ginger, gluten-free products, spices for Spanish and Indian dishes, etc.  They also have meat, as you can see.  I almost walked into this one day while checking out the various cheeses.

Also, the art is not confined to the traditional.  This is another mural on a wall in Rabat.  I'm not sure what the message is, but it encourages passersby to think about nature and machines.

This architecture is part of the tower and mausoleum in Rabat where Mohammed V is buried.

I went to Rabat for the weekend (it's a 1 1/2 hour $4.50 train ride) to attend some free concerts that are sponsored by the Ministry of Culture.  They are free and this series had musicians from Europe and Latin America.  The finale was Saturday with a flamenco duet of two guitar players, one Spanish and one French.  I hung out with the 3 Fellows who live in Rabat.  We had Palestinian food (soo good!) and went out for drinks before.  Most bars here serve tapas and some places are very generous, giving you meat, cheeses, olives, etc.  Sunday we went to the beach since it was 83*.

Ajita, Margot, me and JT

One final photo from Casablanca: in the 1940s the pasha built a judicial court and it is still in use today.  Since World War II was going on, all the modern building materials were being requisitioned and he was forced to use traditional materials and methods.  The result was incredibly beautiful!  

Mahkama du Pacha, Casablanca

I'm off to pick up visitors and get ready to travel.  I'll have lots of new photos in a few weeks.