Dirhams and sense

Many people have been asking, how can you afford all these trips? You haven't had a paycheck in over six months! Well I was able to save quite a lot while I was working but let's compare a couple prices...

- Subway ride: $2.50 :: Bus ride in Rabat: 3.50MAD ($0.43) (or walking, which is free)
- Starbucks coffee: $5.00 :: Tea or coffee in a fancy coffee shop here 12MAD ($1.46)
-Brunch with friends: $25+ :: Brunch this weekend (2 fried egg, basket of bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, mint tea, honey crepe, 2 scoops of ice cream): 66 MAD ($8.00)

For more comparison... In New York, my aunt and I would love to go to a certain spa. After taking a shower and relaxing in a sauna and a steam room, you would lay on a massage table and get scrubbed down. When I say scrubbed, I mean scrubbed. Imagine a loofah times 10. You see all your dead skin getting sloughed off and afterwards you feel wonderful with baby soft skin. Total price for these services: $115 per person. In Morocco, they have the hammam, a public bath house akin to an onsen in Japan. I went on Friday with my roommate Kiesel. It's quite a contradiction to go from the street where women are covered from wrist to ankles (and many cover their heads as well) into the hammam where women are stripped to their undies. We opted to have one of the ladies there scrub us down but usually women go with a friend and it's an I wash your back, you wash mine type of deal. After about 45 minutes of scrubbing and hair washing, I felt just as good as I did in the New York spa, if not better. Total cost: 65MAD ($7.89).

This weekend my roommates and I wanted to go to Casablanca and we decided to splurge. We stayed at a hotel with (gasp) towels, a plasma TV and heat. We ate in the "expensive" part of town and indulged ourselves with decadent meals and desserts. Including the hotel and the train ride there, I spent less than $100 this weekend. It gives a new meaning to making your money work for you...

I know I have been writing erratically and have not said much about daily life or daily Moroccan life (as I see it) so I will do better this week, inshallah. Promise!!!

And lastly, I have gotten a couple of empty voicemails. I can't see missed calls on my Skype. In short, if you don't leave a message, I'll never know you called!