Entertained in Casablanca

Well I finally made it on a plane out of Paris and arrived at my next stop, Casablanca.  I stayed here for 7 hours...7 really entertaining hours.  First of all, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the "Can I have your number" skit from MadTV, but I totally had the West African version of it happen to me.  He liked to say my name "Me-chelle."  And then once he found out where my next stop was, he kept saying, "Oh Me-chelle, Me-chelle goin' to Bamako."  He also said things like, "You got a husband?  Is he rich?  Is he in America?  Is he in Bamako?  You got a baby?"  When I said that I did not have a husband, he definitely said he would come to Bamako and marry me and since neither of us had a baby, maybe we could have one together.  I declined.  At one point, he said, "Come.  Now I buy you perfume," and proceeded to get out 150 euros.  I said no, but the lady next to me really thought I should jump right on that opportunity.  Then he walked into the duty-free store and picked up a bottle of Chanel perfume and went to the counter.  I really had to work hard to convince him that I didn't want it.  I evaded him for most of the day, but right before he got on his flight he made sure he gave me a pack of gum.

My favorite part of my Casablanca layover was a girl I'll call Hannah.  During the afternoon, the terminal got really hot because it was all windows and the sun was coming directly in them.  So I went and found a random hallway to sit in.  I was just chilling on the ground when a girl (who ends up being from Senegal) comes breezing by.  We'd been on the same flight from Paris, but I didn't think she spoke English because when she'd asked me something in French, I'd answered her in English...and that was the end of that.  But she says to me (in GREAT English), "Hey, do you know where the restaurant is?  You were in Paris with me.  I need to find the restaurant.  Have you eaten?  Come.  We'll go to the restaurant together."  I've got nothing else to do for the next 6 hours or so, so I hopped up and went with her.  Well it turns out that she'd already eaten, but the airline had given her a voucher for a meal because of something that had happened with her flight.  So she just grabbed me off the floor and took me to the restaurant and used the voucher to get me lunch!  This is why I LOVE West Africans.

We sat in the restaurant and talked for about an hour.  The highlight of that time was when she said she loved Alicia Keys and I said I did too.  We looked at each other in silence for about 2 seconds, then simultaneously busted out singing "I keep on fallin' iiiiiinnnn love with youuuuu."  We weren't quiet about it either.  And we sang a good chunk of the song.  Again, this is why I LOVE West Africans.

Then we headed back out to the gates and sat and talked for a while.  I even had the opportunity to tell her a story from the Bible.  She was talking about how she doesn't want to get married at all, unless it's to a very good man.  She's not very impressed with the men in her culture and the way they view women.  So I asked her what a "very good man" would be.  After naming several characteristics which reminded me of Jesus, I told her the story of the woman at the well.  We talked a lot about Jesus and religion and prayer and everything.

Then Hannah left and I headed to my gate (after being intercepted by the first guy so he could give me some gum).  Then I got on a plane and went home.  Finally.