Akheeran fil Maghreb!

It did feel sudden. I arrived in Rabat yesterday after what seemed an eternity of travel. We had to change planes in Paris, and that airport was a little stressful to navigate, mostly because all the employees could not (or refused to) speak English and I have no background in French.
This is ironic because in Morocco, if you look like me (white) everyone assumes you speak French, so even when I tried to speak to a security guard in Arabic to ask for directions, he responded in French the whole time, which means I couldn't understand anything. I had already asked another person to not speak in French, so I just moved on to another Moroccan who spoke to me in Arabic.
As I have mentioned before, Moroccan Arabic (Dareeja) is very different from other dialects of Arabic, so we have all been learning a new language, essentially. Despite this barrier, I have been picking up the dialect quickly under pressure, and when I don't remember a word, I try to get by with Egyptian (which works about 50% of the time so far). This assumption about foreigners knowing French led to a big problem with one Taxi driver. We thought we had made it clear that we understood the price of a ride was 3 Dirhams (Moroccan currency; approximately 8 dirhams to the dollar). In reality he had said 30 dirhams (in French, of course).
We left Rabat and now I'm in Meknes (I know, I know, I'm lying in my blog title). Meknes is a real paradox, both distinctly European and also genuinely Arab. It's beautiful and breathtaking, and also disgusting (trash and shit-stained water abound in the streets, for example).
The language center where we study is very beautiful, and used to be a mansion that belonged to a high-ranking minister. Our hotel is in the new city (the locals say "Alkhamareeya") and the learning center is in the old, historically Arab city ("Almedeena"), which was around before the French took over. This city is a maze of narrow streets and alleys between tall adobe buildings, and suuqs (open-air markets) line its walls.
The heat has been manageable, even pleasant, and the weather has been fair with some rain.
The program directors told us about Arab generosity, but seriously, it's ridiculous. We asked for directions from one young man and he walked with us a quarter mile to make sure we got there and took my hand to make sure I got across the street safely (no crosswalks & insane drivers). Also the food is delicious but they keep serving us salad, which we were explicitly told we could not eat, so it's hard finding the compromise between politeness and crippling diarrhea.
We have been traveling in groups and will soon seek out a restaurant to have dinner.
No photos uploaded yet due to Internet problems. I'll figure it out asap.