arabic keyboards blow (and other news)

the a is in the wrong place, as is the w, as is the question mark and the m and just about everything else...
if i touch type, it comes out like this:

so i qrrived in ,orocco todqy; qfter q very long journey....

annoying.

Besides this small annoyance, things in morocco are great to fantastic (as opposed to fair to middlin'

I arrived in Casablanca this afternoon after a very long journey, somehow made it out of the airport without getting a taxi (although i was offered at least 15) and made my way to the youth hostel, which is located in the medina (old city).

I immediately put down my bags and headed out for a glass of Moroccan tea (a delicious and often sickeningly sweet green tea brewed with mint leaves). In a funny mixup, I spoke French and ordered a 'cha' (tea in portuguese)...the guys laughed at me, and when i pointed to what i wanted, let me in on the secret French word for tea.

It is 'te'.

The coffee shop was filled with men of different ages playing card, gossiping and drinking tea or coffee. A very small number of the patrons sat quietly, sipping and spacing out, but for the most part, people didn't seem to stop talking...

The entire place was filled with a dense cloud of smoke, the majority of which seemed to come from Moroccan hashish. The red, slitted eyes of a number of the people inside gave away the the cloud's creators, although to be honest, nobody seemed to have the least interest in hiding their extracurricular activity, and walked around rolling joints and smoking out of long, thin pipes.

The contrast inherent in everything that I've seen here so far are striking: Smart dressed women sit beside old scarved, one=eyed women, the man before me in the cafe, elderly and fez=bedecked, chats casually on his cell phone. The card player to my right is wearing a jacket decorated with images of 40-oz. bottles of malt liquor. The labels on the bottle read 'korn', a band that I'm sure he is unaware exists.

The only tension that i've felt so far has been created by my own over=fertile imagination, and i don't sense the often ubiquitous tension often felt between tourists and citizens of third=world nations. In my short time here, I've been smiled at and talked to more times than i can count. I've been invited to a New Year's Eve celebration in Marrakesh. I've been asked about my family and my home and my friends, and I've only been here two hours.

Still, Morocco does seem to be a place where people will rip you off with a smile on their face; yet good=naturedly accept defeat when you refuse to be taken: My taxi=driver to the hostel is a good example of this...He was a great guy, but my taxi fare doubled in the course of the ten minute drive. When I laughed at him and refused to pay the new fare, he laughed back and gave me my change. Not two minutes later, the guy running the hostel short=changed my 100 dirham (twice the price of the room). Again, when I called him on it, he chuckled and returned my money...I've got to keep on my toes it seems.

Anyway, that's all for today. My brain and hands are tired from the trip and the battle with this keyboard. I hope that you are all well and that you have a great New Year.

More to come soon...and sorry for any typos or strange characters;