Getting there...

After collecting all the papers that we needed we headed to the Adul in Oujda and he had enought time to quickly look through our papers to let us know that we were ready to start. Since it was a holiday, we could not do anyhting for the next couple of days so we took the opportunity to head down to figuig to celebrate Eid Almawled Ennabawi, or the birthday of the prophet Mohamed. THere was lots of drumming and dancing and people exploding things in the street. It was fun. After we just spend a couple of days wandering around Figuig and eating and we also met some Spanish tourists who were staying at Alis familys hotel and so I got to pratice some Spanish. We headed back to Oujda where we spent the next four days running around oujda getting our whole folder stamped and signed and authorized by too many different people. On Friday night we were in the aduls office and they brought in this 80 year old belgian who signed some papers as my father...not too sure about the replacement. Anyways since I didnt undersand Arabic, I had no idea til after at we were finally married...so we decided that we whould have a party...we were already planning a big wedding party in Morocco in the summer 2009...Inshallah. Start saving up your money. Then we decided that we wanted a celebration now since it was kinda anti-climatic getting married without a party. So we started planning a small one just with ALis family in Oujda for April 21st. But then we stopped cause we had to meet NAt and DAvid my friends from MAdrid, in Meknes, so we took the bus to Meknes...

The photos are of ALi and I and his family in Figuig

Are we married yet??????

So if you have ever considered getting married to a Morrocian in Morocco, give yourself at least a month to get all the papers that you need and a goods chunk of money as well. So after spending a week getting things ready in SEttat, ALi and I thought we were pertty well prepared for Rabat, the Canadian embassy and getting the marriage act. Hmmmmm...not the case. We ended up spending a week in Rabat running around like crazy. We each needed about 15 different documents, and then each if those documents had to be stamped, signed, and stamped again by like three different people. Then some needed to be translated, notorized and anything else that they could possibly ask to make things expensive and difficult. At least while we were in Rabat we got to visit all the touris attactions, since official things tend to close in the evening so we had our evenings free. We hung out around the ocean for a bit and saw where the old kings are buried. Finally we got all the papers that we needed and headed back to Oujda, where ali is from, to see the adul, like a Morrocan Justice of the Peace.

Back to Morocco

So I left Geneva early Sunday mroning, with a very grumpy taxi driver. I flew to MAdrid and spent the day with Nathalie and DAvid, hanging out at their place and at the outdoor market. In the evening I flew to MArrakech where ALi was witing at the airport. We had dinner in Jma El Fnaa, Harira with huge wodden spoons and dates followed by spicy tea, my fave Marrakech meal, and only about one euro for two people. The next day we were wanderiong around the city when we ran into some of ALis school friends from Oujda so we spent most of the day in a cafe with them. The next day we headed to Settat to see Ali's Grandma, Aunt, Oncles and cousin. We ended up spendin a week there, preparing stuff for the marriage and just hanging out. There was a small carnival that was in town and we went on a couple of rides. It was soo funny. ALi had never been on anything like them before and when the one that spins in the air started moving he was freaking out, his knuckles were white from gripping the bar so hard. But then he relaxed nad it was funny. THe other thing that I found really amusing was that when we went on the bumper cars... the Moroccains drive like mainaics on the street, but I think someone needs to explain to them that the point of bumper cars is to crash. They all drove around in a nice circle, being careful to avoid everyone else...how safe it would be if they drove like that on the roads. At first I could not stop laughing, but then once I had calmed down, I starrted crashing into everyone and they were all looking at me like I was the one who was crazy...anywayz...

The photos are of ALi's fmily in SEttat

Check it out

This is a cool photo that I took of ALi yesterday. It is on the sand dunes near Eassouaira.

More videos, a little overdue...

Here are some more videos, starting from last November...FINALLY ALANA...

Morocco:

Hassan 2 Mosque Casablanca

Hassan 2 Mosque Casablanca

Celebration Sport on Horses

Grand Maghreb

Voulibilis

Call to prayer in Meknes

Barnaby Apes in Azrou

Barnaby Apes in Azrou

Bike Racing

Bike Racing

Near Beni Mellal

Ryan at the lake

Ryan dancing

Ryan playing

Setti Fatma Waterfall

Agadir beach

Atlas Film Studios

Torda Gorge

Merzouga sand dunes

Fatima gets dizzy

Main street in Merzouga

Ali running down the dunes

Figuig from Azrou

wheelbarrow riding

Ismails garage

Sofians Rugby Game

Sofians Rugby Game

Sofians Rugby Game

Fatma the turtle

Finland:

Candy in Finland

Driving Dolly Temper

Driving Dolly Temper

Me ice skating