A local friend invited me to join her for an afternoon in Casablanca (1h train) away. I was impressed she organized a "couchsurfer meet up" which introduced me to a great group of individuals living in Casablanca for a walk around the medina, the beautiful Mosque, and then dinner before catching the last train back to Rabat.

I love the peace & added confidence when traveling with native Arabic & French speaker! I braved an outing at night which I had not been doing much of in Morocco! So why not add a new city to the mix with all this newfound confidence? here i come!

I had an a small cooler of snacks for a picnic & an overnight bag incase we decided to stay in Casablanca. I was able to leave it at the bell stand when we passed Hyatt Regency Casablanca! (Thanks to being a diamond club member for work. Score!) We had a great day with new moroccan friends willing & happy to speak with me mostly in English. :)

We had an amazing day which took us far from where my bags were but close to our evening train. Feeling over confident, that I could use careem/Uber to get myself to Hyatt & back to my friends. I arranged to meet the group at a restaurant called "Casa Fish" (Remember this restaurant name as it will appear again later in this story) after I picked up my bags.

Getting to the Hyatt was fine except the driver yelling at me in Arabic most of the way for reasons unknown. I just ignored him and pointed to the app which gave clear instructions to the Hyatt address pinned on the map. At least it was a quick trip...maybe that's what he was yelling about? Anyway, I was going to end the trip, grab my things and call another driver! Not so lucky. I ended up getting assigned to the same angry Arab on the way out of Hyatt. Both of us were equally displeased.

I don't know what happened next but my phone keypad no longer had English letters, only Arabic characters!!! I can't even type in Google for instructions how to change back to letters because the keyboard is Arabic!!! The cab driver was anxiously awaiting instruction where to go or a location put into the App. Stay calm Hilary...don't freak out...what's the solution?

I used voice activated Google translate to give instructions to a cab driver to get to what I thought was "Casa Fish". He drove me to a dark harbor with no restaurant in sight. I refused to get of the car and kept pushing the button on my phone in the Google translate app which played the voice of an yelling angry Arab. He was visibly more annoyed so I turned the volume up and played the words again....over & over again. He angrily motioned for me to get out of the car. I refused!

At this point I noticed my Google translate history and realized I was repeated telling the driver "catch a fish" "catch a fish" (vs Casa Fish) and busted out in hysterical uncontrolled laughter to the point of tears! He wasn't amused! That's why he took me to the harbor and not a restaurant. He thought I wanted to catch a fish?!

I managed some composure and showed him the train ticket that I bought earlier so he knew to drive me to the station.

My keyboard was still stuck in Arabic characters vs letters! So I couldn't use Google search to learn how change my keyboard settings. I could only use voice translate or push buttons like copy/paste or facebook. I wasnt sure how to tell my friend to meet me at station. She doesn't have a smart phone so I decided to post Arabic sayings in the Facebook and couchsurfing apps hoping anyone I met & recently friended would be able to give her the message.

"Please tell Maria to meet me at the train station"

"I'm not able to catch a fish"

"My phone is stuck in Arabic"

I was laughing so hard I nearly wet my pants but the planned worked. Almost too well! Someone with a smart phone, on Facebook, standing next to Maria was able to let her know 'Your American friend is looking for you at the train station. I didn't know she spoke Arabic this whole time." She was confused and worried because she knew something was weird if I'm speaking in fluent arabic all of the sudden.

Meanwhile, I'm at the train station blindly staring at arabic train schedule and frantically messing with my phone while enjoying the not-so-subtle cat calls of the local men. I was 'rescued' by one of the train conductors that knew who to read the schedule and escort me to the correct train track with the bonus of fixing my keyboard back to English letters. Phew!

My friend met me at the station. We were able to catch the last train together and giggled happily the whole hour home. Another great day for the books!

Just when I find a little confidence with my surroundings, I get a big reminder that I still don't "get it" here...but damn it..I'm going to keep trying!

I hope you enjoyed my reenactment of only 20 minutes of a typical day!

I'm happy to be back in Rabat...for a bunch of early nights and simple careem/uber trips back and forth from work.

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