A trip to Agadir.

Today we headed out of our villages and towards Agadir. Sami, Dave and I met up in Tiznit and grabbed some breakfast with a local environment volunteer before grabbing a cab with some Health traninees to Agadir. Agadir is a beautiful place and was designed as a tourist friendly city after the earthquake in 1961.

I never knew I could find so much enjoyment in simple things, but today we visited the Marjane. It is essentially a cross between a mall and a Walmart Supercenter. It is amazing. Sami and Dave had little intrest in going but they accompanied me regardless and enjoyed themselves immensely. Basically the Marjane had everything we had been missing. The familiar glow of neon supermaket lights, shelves of products just ready for the buying and some old familiar favoirtes we cannot get normally like good cheese, French bread, cookies and candies. I bought some gifts for my host family including some new cups, a strainer, some coloring books and I almost bought a soccer ball for my brothers, but that will have to be something I get in Orazazet. We also picked up some techy gifts for our Traning Coordinator and savior, Hoda and our Language and Cultural Facilitator, Said. I think they will them a lot. Most importantly we got a towel for Martin in case he looses his again and I regained some sanity I had lost in recent weeks. This day has been super comforting simply because it doesn’t feel so foreign. The city looks like most coastal western cities, the Marjane feels like most large stores in the states and we even got some McDonalds for dinner. Agadir is home to the only McDonalds and Marjane in the region and we hit them both up today.

McDonalds was not something I anticipate eating much in the states (sorry Danielle) but here it was such a welcome relief from the constant tagine and cous cous we experience. It was a little overprciesd but worth it just to have a soda with some ice! I didn’t realize how much satisifcation I get from a cold soda with ice in the states but I started feeling the satisifaction today.

I also got to watch my first sunset over the Atlantic Ocean and I hope it is the first of many. I really liked the beach front area and look forward to some weekend get aways in Agadir to escape from the newness of everything else.

Tomorrow we head out quite early for our bus back to Oraz. This time we payed the little extra for some extra comfort and an ontime schedule, I cannot wait.