It's been a somewhat surreal but fine 48 hours. Everything went according to plan leaving Bamako. Friends dropped by the house in waves on the last night and I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The only hitch was that I forgot that I had about 60 dollars worth of Malian money in my moneybelt which now I can't change and will be hoping to swap in the U.S. although that's doubtful. Anyone planning on going to Mali soon? :)
It was a nice re-entry into Morocco as well. I'm repeatedly tickled by the friendliness of the security guards here. The first time I arrived, the guy at passport control joked with me about whether or not I was related to Tina Turner. This time, it was just smiles and lots of "merhaba!" (welcome!).
However, what I had forgotten about the Casablanca airport is that they pipe out the worst muzak in the world, hands down. My god. When I was flying to Bamako, it was the same thing. I was tearing my hair out in the end, trying to sleep on the benches before a late flight but being haunted by synthesizer-created South American pan flutes doing Easy Listening renditions of Beatles hits. Once again, when I returned and as I was walking towards the arrival gate to meet Hassan, I was assaulted by a pan pipe version of "Yesterday." With the waves of nausea, I was chuckling to myself.
The reunion with Hassan was very sweet. In my sleep-deprived yet caffeine-ravaged state, he took excellent care of me, practically forcing me to nap and take it easy for the rest of the day (although I had thought to go the computer store straight away). He's been very helpful these last two days in helping me get sorted out with the computer and other things and it's been nice to have someone to lean on again, especially since I'm still a bit dazed from adjusting back to the culture here.
It seems the laptop has been fixed but of course, like most technology, once you poke at one thread, another one unravels. Now my uploading software doesn't work so finding something else is the next order of business. The guy at the computer store was great. All of the discussion was in French of course but I think I caught most of the important stuff.
And speaking of language, I'm now also slowly adjusting back to speaking Arabic. My brain is still in "French mode" but the Arabic words are slowly resurfacing, sometimes popping out of my mouth without me realizing it- so that's good. I've forgotten a lot in 6 weeks but it will come back.
Gotta run for now- the friend of Hassan's who we're staying with and a posse of some other musician guys are waiting outside drinking coffee.
