Drifting thru Morocco

When we boarded the train our Compartment Berth was a modest room that slept four. The sleeper car was overseen by a Car Caretaker, a short Frenchman, who did not speak English tilted his head, with a facial gestured nodded to me and motioned his hand back and forth that he was going to take care of us. And that we were going to be the only ones in our compartment. No worries he said. I was thinking wow what a nice guy. He was taking care of us. Within 10 minutes a young Korean couple who spoke a little English are pushing their two oversized luggage into this little compartment of ours. I looked at them thinking this is truly an International train bitumen that we have. A African-American who only spoke English, A Mexican-American whose spanish was so limited that for this leg of the trip we could say he was as language handicapped as I was. A French Compartment Caretaker who only spoke French and a Korean Couple with limited English. I was anxious to try my Google Translate App to see if I could break thru this international language barrier. But I had not anticipated been crammed into a little sleeper with a Korean Couple. The Korean man, Mark Kim, and his wife are making their way to Arlington West Virginia where he is going to be a “Soap Technician” at a Restaurant. A Soap Technician? I’m America we would call that person a dish washer. But then again he is moving to the area that is comingly known for stealth workers like N.I.D., Black Ops, C.I.A., N.S.A., and other Top National Security stuff. So maybe a Soap Technician is some Super Security Intelligence Dish Washer spying on the the workers McDonalds, Starbucks and Ruth Chris Steak House. With that aside, Here I am eagerly thinking I was going to be a man of the world, braving the land of unknown with Omar who by the way is a world traveler in my book and I was quite proud to be his traveling buddy. If any man could get us thru this unfamiliar world, it was quit spoken Omar.
As the train slowly gets underway I walked to the front on the sleeper only to find the exit to the next compartment is secured. So I head to the rear of the compartment and as I passed the last sleeper the Frenchman was in his booth finishing up on his paperwork. I get to the rear exit and it is secured with a heavy set of chains. So here we are tightly secured in the sleeper train. I stared out the window into the dark. There are no City lights in this sparsely desert land so I thought after all I couldn’t see anything it must be vast, rugged, and Empty.

Soon my compartment manager comes out of his room to see what I was doing back there. I was out of his line of sight. We greet each other. Both of us quietly stared out the window into the dark landscape. We both made an attempt to break thru our walls of communications. Finally once again I can do this with my google translate app. I gesture for him to bear with me. I got the technological solution right in the palm of my hand. Confidently I tap away on my iPhone into google translate. I ask him “was he from Morocco or a transplant.” Transplant didn’t make sense. We struggled with few more phrases of getting to know each other. Then the game of bargaining began. Which I must first say I was Ill-equipped for the task.
We go back to the method of trying to negotiated verbally He offered me and Omar a private sleeper for a fee. He said something to cover his tip. I told him to name his price. He is hesitated about putting out a figure. He said give him what I thought was fair. How do I know what’s fair? Im in a strange land, can’t speak the language I press to give me a number. Finally I go back to Star-trek communicator my Uphone and google translate. I typed into it give me a number. He finally said $15.00 dhr. (Moroccan dollars). I turn to my trusty iohone and open up my money converter app. It showed it to be something like $2.20 USD. Not willing to part with my Dirhams I offered him USD. But it turns out he didn’t really want USD. We go back to our human communicators, the tongue. With his French accent we finally understood each other. He wanted $15 euros not Dirham. $15. Euros is about $17.00 USD. I offer him $20.USD. We go back n forth he doesn’t understand. I show him the money converter. He is making an extra $2.00 on the deal. Somehow we both feel we are working with each other with good intentions. He agrees. I go back to my little cramp berth to inform Omar we were moving. We had gotten into the rooms first and we had claimed both the top bunks and all of what luggage storage area we had. Which left the Korean couple with the lower bunks and no room for their two oversize suitcases. Omar is sitting on one of top top bunks. Mark Kim’s wife was Asleep in one lower bunk and Mark was crunched into the other bunk with all their luggage. This was a 11 hours train ride snd confined to your berth and bed like that would have been brutal.
First I tell Omar that I successfully negotiated for us to get our very own private sleeper. Omar raises up quickly and starts pulling our luggage off the luggage rack. We bid farewell to Mark. He now could sleep comfortably in one of the upper bunks and use the lower bunk to store his luggage.

The compartment manager, we will call him Henri. Unlocks an empty compartment just 3 units down from where we were originally. I gave Henri the agreed upon $20.USD. He thanks me and as he is slowly turning away he mumbles what is he going to do with USD? He understands Euros in a country that only uses Dirhams. I called him back. I asked for the $20.usd back and I gave him $20 euros. He said no that it was Ok. I assured him that I was happy to trade him the usd for euros.
Afterall we once again had our own private sleeper. This was a fair exchange given all the unique circumstances. As we unpacked our bags to settle it. Henri brought us 2 bottles of water. He knew he made a sweet deal. Originally he asked for $15.euros. I somehow feeling good about the whole thing settled for $20 euros. Lesson learned: on the return trip I will be ready to bargain better.Les mer