First days and first impressions

Sunday the 6th of July 2014 is the starting date of my first big solo adventure. For the coming 7 weeks, I will be working on AIESEC's Nour Project in Casablanca, Morocco. This period covers Ramadan in the Islamic world.
After boarding the plane, one the first thing I had learned about the Muslim's Holy Month, came into practice: although Muslims have to fast this month between sunrise and sunset, people who are travelling do not.

My flight from Amsterdam to Casablanca was no big deal. 3,5 hours in a comfortable plane with a seat next to the window and no direct neighbour: jackpot! At the airport, three people from AIESEC LC Anfa were waiting to pick me up. Since I have been to Morocco before, what came next was to be expected, but surprised me anyway ( and still does on my daily commute to my work place): Traffic here is insane! Everyone driving in their own lanes? Forget it. Applying traffic rules and regulations? How about no? Speed limits? Not here.
You can imagine that, coming from an orderly, rules-loving country like the Netherlands, this was quite the shock.

When we arrived at the flat, save and sound and nobody impressed by the trip but me, there was nobody there and no one had the key. Luckily for me, a former LC member lived closeby and I stayed with her and her family until this issue was resolved. This gave me the great opportunity to experience the traditional meal after sunset (iftar) with a nice Moroccan family. There was so much great food, I am probably still full of it!

My working days for the company APEBI are completely different from the unstructured situations outlined above. I work in a strange, purple building with a team of four people. They are all hard working, organised and creative minds of whom I hope to learn a lot.

Bigger and better stories soon to follow!