Oujda

David is studying arabic translation and is member of Warmshowers.org and also of Couchsurfing.com, his place seems to be busy with people all the time. He shares an entire house with three french girls which are teaching french at the local Institut Francais and at the moment his friend Zakaria from Tanger as well as two other french girls (and myself) are on a short visit over the weekend. We help Zakaria prepare a Tajine with chicken, potatoes and peas which takes its time to cook properly but tastes just great after the 104km ride of today.

The next morning I wake early, do some minor repairs on my bike (and finally fix the mirror to the handlebar- it will come in handy with all the traffic) and wash my clothes (about time to do so...). After breakfast I relax in the patio in one of Davids mexican hammocks, study my map and plan my route through Morroco. In the afternoon we visit the local christian; jewish and muslim cemeteries looking for a grave of Saras grand-grand father who lived in Oujda before the family emigrated to France. The christian as well as the jewish cemetery are closed but the friendly guardians live nearby and let us in to have a look around.
In the evening we are invited to the Institut Francais for its Spring Party. Sangria is served and we enjoy morrocan cuisine and dance to the rythms of the local music. The rest of the evening we spend dancing on a local party with about 200 young Nigerians that dance like crazy.

Sunday morning I visit the medina of Oujda,
roam the local Souq and admire stalls with vegetables and fruit, plastic shoes and teapots, get my swiss knife sharpened (2DH)
and chat with the owner of a second-hand bicycle shop.

Later I decide its time to update my blog, read the mail and some news and am lucky to find a very decent ciber-cafe with good hardware ( 5DH/hour) and an even more decent employee.

I stay for a couple of hours and my new friend Amine treats me to tea and even invites me to share his lunch (!!) and presents me to his friends who stop by. Definetely the Employee of the Month !