Morocco: Day 3

Monday was tough but put it into perspective how privillaged we really are. In the morning we packed up our stuff and left the hotel in two groups. One group (mine) went further up the mountain one side of the valley to get involved in some community work. The other half went up the other side and visited the local village school.

I don't think any of us were expecting to work while we were on holiday. For two hours we had to help build a water irrigation system by forming a chain and passing along bags of rock and other mountain like material to where the next part was being built. It was harder work than it sounds and by the end of it my back was killing me, but as we were told many times, it was for a good cause and something extra to put on our CVs.

Both groups then came together at lunch time at our tour guide's house. Each of the tour guides were either cousins or brothers to each other so the atmosphere was so much more comfortable than any of the resturants we'd been to. The food there was the best we had all week too. Bread was still put on the table, but instead of coucous we had rice instead, as well as sweetcorn, peas and carrot - almost like a vegetarian paella.

Afterwards we swapt activities and off we went trecking up the other side of the mountain to the school. It was a surreal experience. There were no laptops or electronic whiteboards or, from what we could see, no writing books either. However, we'd brought them all mini whiteboards, whiteboard pens, pencils and rulers and I've never seen someone so happy about a pencil. Ever. The kids were so adorable though. They all got involved and one kid even let me teach him how to draw and write in English. He probably didn't have a clue what he was writing but the fact that he actually copied what I'd done without anyone forcing him was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

The next big thing was the mule ride up to the next hotel which we were meant to go to the night before. I was aboslutley shitting myself the whole way up to the hotel, but, like everything else that day, it was an experience which I will never forget.

And now I know why people go on volunteering holidays so much.

Georgia.xo

Morocco: Day 2

I took so many photos on Sunday it was so hard to decide which ones to include in this post! We started off the second day by taking a tour around Marrakech, which is a lot less hectic in the day time than it is in the evening. I couldn't quite understand what the tour guide was saying but he showed us the mosque and where it had been taken off it's previous foundations to be placed on the new ones, an old palace where a man had parties every night to chose his four wives, another site which held the first religious festival but had great views over the city, and then into the souks where we visited a herbalist and the wonderful world of heckling.

After lunch we headed towards the mountains where we had planned to stay for the next 3 nights. Midway, we stopped off at a dam/lake which, from what I could understand, was the main source of water for the villages at the bottom of the mountains, and if it was a dam it was so much prettier than the ones we get here in England. It was hot though, so I took a few photos and couldn't really appreciate it much. We also stopped off at a museum opposite Richard Branson's Kasbah Tamadot hotel, but by then I had a banging headache so I couldn't appreciate that much either.

Nothing is planned in Morocco though. Everyone is so laid back and spontaneous that we ended up missing the mules which we were supposed to take us up to the next hotel. Because of this we ended up at the Hotel Etoil Du Toubkal at the centre of the Imlil village. Personally I though it was the nicest out of the three hotels - there was WiFi, the beds were comfy, the toilet flushed, we had a balcony and overall the atmosphere was so much nicer. Unfortunately though, I ended the day by throwing all of my dinner back up all over my white converse and my jeans.. #classy.

Georgia.xo

Morocco: Day 1

On Saturday morning an army of blood orange hoodies took over Gatwick airport and hijacked the British Airways flight to Marrakech. Okay it didn't quite go like that but I did go to Morocco in a matching hoodie to 42 other people - talk about making an entrance.

Before we'd gone, I'd read some reviews on the first hotel which weren't exactly positive to say the least - "worst possible hotel EVER!!!" and "deeply unimpressed" to name just a few. Either I have unbelievably low standards or the "never judge a book by it's cover" saying really is true, but personally I didn't think it was that bad. Apart from the fact that it was next to the main road, the rooms weren't that big and you get woken up by the call to prayer at 5am; the bed was reasonably comfy, the toilet worked, and there was WiFi. What more do you want? Then once we'd got our rooms and met our tour guides for the trip we set of into the city unprepared for what came next.

I'm not sure how to describe Marrakech. It's a mixture of culture and complete madness. There aren't any rules like in England - the cars drive around wherever and whenever they feel like it, people come up to you without any dignity whatsoever and these people are everywhere. The "short walk" from the hotel to the restaurant was literally a game of dodgems and an attempt not to get raped. And then we reached our restaurant, where we were greeted with the food which we were going to be stuck with for the rest of the week: bread, couscous, chicken and vegetables.

Georgia.xo

Trees, Mud and Dirty Blazers

On Sunday me, mum, dad and the boys went to Friston Forest. Yeah it was a "bit" muddy but it was the cutest little walk and it was so nice to get away a bit and clear my head. So I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took while we were there. Looking at them now the landscapes really are incredible and it's no wonder all the tourist lot come down here. I guess living here we take it for granted a bit but I'd love to go back down in the summer because the pictures would look even nicer!

Georgia.xo

Peace & Love & OPI

Apart from the lie ins and goings out that often leave me broke, the best thing about a school holiday is the fact that you can paint your nails whatever colour you like and not give another thought about it whatsoever.Which is why last night, I painted my nails with my most recent OPI purchase - Peace & Love & OPI. It's a beautiful duo chrome purple/green colour, a bit like a slightly more expensive dupe of the Models Own Beetlejuice Purple Blue or Essie's For The Twill Of It. Like most OPI nail polishes it's stayed on pretty well and hasn't chipped, apart from a couple of of creases from where I tried to take the battery cover off of my phone earlier. I've been wearing a lot of dark greens and navys recently and it goes really well as there are so many colours which reflect in different lights. I really do recommend this if you're looking for a more professional dark duo chrome colour.

Georgia.xo