29th March My birthday, so its off to Marrakesh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REDEMPTION SONG – BOB MARLEY
GENERAL
Not really sure what to expect, but here goes. Arrive in Marrakesh just in time for a wonderful sunset, good start and the negations start with the taxi, and everything else after that has to be argued, we , soon get used to it. The taxi drops us off in what seems like Beirut, chaotic, crowded, spicy smells, strange music and a guide a minute looking for a few Dirhams . First night head for the central square, never seen anything like, you would have to go to get a feel of it, dark alleyways in the medina, but everybody is really friendly and there is no sense of fear. We stay around this area for the next day and night taking hundreds of pictures, its mind blowing.
The following day we head for the Sahara on a full mini bus, via the Atlas Mountains, it takes ten hot hours to arrive, just in time for another brilliant sunset. Richie tells the nomads it’s my birthday and they distract me, I’m called back into the tent, they have filled a bowl with sand, stuck candles in and spell my name with sugar lumps, best cake I ever had! Everybody sings happy birthday.lThe rest of the tourists go off to bed, very tiring day. Me and Richie give the nomads some drink and talk with them until the early hours, it is a fantastic experience especially talking to the leader Lasin, the coolest guy I think I have ever met. He tells us what it is like to live in the desert and wants to know about Ireland and all the time they have Bob Marley playing in the background, this is one of the best experiences of my life. I could not begin to tell you what a profound effect on me. The whole time, four days would fill many pages and will stay with me forever.
COLLEGE
I don’t know what new to say, the lack of progress in Spanish is the worst aspect for me,new information comes from other students and in my case my new mentor Lola, who works at the university, tell us of immigrant courses run by the local council. On the subject of mentors I have had three, they stay until they have enough English to complete their presentations and then disappear. Three months into the course, this information is good for me, but too late for the exams, The college web site advertises 130 course in English and we struggled to get 3?. I have no intention of ranting, but there has to be an opening for a local to help with this, we have been frustrated at every turn and feel let down by the system and will do our best in the circumstances. I start to prepare examples for the college festival in May. I hope the next students have a better back up, because this was not rocket science to organise our college life here.
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