"Are you speak English?"

Rabat. 8AM. Switching buses to get to Tangiers.

There is nothing more comforting than a Japanese tourist more confused than you are.

Darija

I lived in Saudi Arabia for most of my life without learning more than twenty words of Arabic, such was the insulation effect of the expat community. I was excited to redeem myself by learning the language during my time in Morocco, until I did some research.

Darija is the dialect of Arabic spoken across the countries of Northern Africa. Certainly it shares some grammar and vocabulary with Standard Arabic, but it is distinct. It is not just British English compared to American English. Each country has a variation of Darija, which leads us to Moroccan Arabic. Says Wikipedia:

"Moroccan Arabic has a distinct pronunciation and is nearly unintelligible to other Arabic speakers."

Fantastic. I will learn this Arabic dialect, known as Darija, and be more or less unintelligible across the Middle East. But everything for a reason, my mother says. Chin up, I began from square one with my Casablanca host, Nourredine, who taught me the following expressions. 

lebes? (how's it going?)

lebes (it's going well)

kider(a)? (how are you?)

mezyan (good)

ana canadia (I'm Canadian)

ana usteda (I'm a teacher)

deba (now)

Thanks, Nourredine.

"Smile, you're in Casablanca!"

Morocco is much more relaxed than I expected. In the airport at Casablanca, I looked at clothing and found short-sleeves, knee-length skirts, and leggings. This is nothing like Saudi Arabia. The sticker at the passport control booth told me to smile, so I did.

The next day, biking along the Pacfic, I saw the same variety of clothing. I also saw couples holding hands, girls laughing, and crowds of boys jumping in the water and too busy to bother their female counterparts. All these signs point to societal health.

Smile, you’re in Morocco!