11:30 am

Pretty exciting stuff! We're traveling from Tangier to Fes. On the "first leg" we met a young man who spoke English and was very friendly. He told us, among other things, that Fes is very dangerous right now, and we should get off the train with him and wait for the connection to Fes. Well, we almost did, but David asked an employee and we figured out we were supposed to change trains later. He was talking about going to a "market" 5 km from the station. Hooboy. We could've really had some trouble. But he was so nice... Anyway, then we met some people where we sat next. The man, Mohammed, spoke some French and that's how we communicated! There were also two girls, Hend and Rafa, who were very nice. They were all going to "Casa" -- Casablanca. We listened to Arabic music on a pink portable tape player. And we managed to talk about a few things. Found out we were all single. Mohammed suggested that I marry Rafa! They said they'd tell us when we had to change trains, so that relieved us. We had a visit from 2 little girls who Mohammed apparently knew. It was really fun!! A great cross-cultural experience, albeit frustrating with the language. We took photos and said we'd send them to them. Then we met Abdul, a teacher who speaks English. He lives in Fes and invited us to his house. I think we'll check into a hotel first, and then we could do it without fear. I'm enjoying learning.