Nous Voila! (Here we are!)

Our plane didn't leave NY on time, we ended up sitting on the plane for 3 hours waiting to depart! Our flight took about 7 hours and we arrived in Casablanca at 9:30am local time here in Morocco! Food on the plane was GREAT! Our tour guide, Omar, met us at the airport! He is the same tour guide that Sarah (our fearless leader) had on her first trip to Morocco! :) Checked into the Hotel Suisse and had lunch here which was absolutely fantastic...it came in three courses: a salad of fresh veggies, eggs, cheeses and olives; second course was chicken and meat skewers/kabobs with cooked veggies, shrimp and rice; the last course was the BEST, it was fresh fruit bowl composed of apples, kiwi, banana and oranges! We are being careful not to eat any produce that hasn't been peeled or boiled! After lunch we went on a tour of Casablanca! We drove along the coast and stopped at a Saint's, or marabout's tomb, located within a mosque! This is a sacred place along the beach that tourists rarely stop at because they don't know about it! We purchased candles that women blessed us with and sang to us in a blessing! The candles were taken and will be lit and placed near the tomb of the Saint! We cannot enter because we are not Muslim. Women go there to drink from the sea and be blessed in order to conceive a child. These women receive what is known as baraka, which is a form of a holy blessing.  Afterwards, our tour took us to the governmental center of Casablanca! It was very beautiful! We're about to have our first session of class/lecture! Then we'll be eating supper! We have an opportunity to go to the beach and go swimming if we would like tonight as well!
Just a reminder that we are 6 hours ahead of MN or the central time zone! :)