Written by a Cafe 1040 Student
“As we step off of the bus in “Mystic City”, we are bombarded by a dozen locals all speaking at once, “taxi, taxi, taxi!” We are prime targets to them - new western tourists who have just exited the bus in a new city that we have never been to. We are here for a week to study more Arabic and to experience another homestay with locals. Also, just a minor detail, we have no guide or staff member with us. Our assignment is to learn how to travel to a new city and get around on our own. So far, we’ve been successful.
We finally agree to have one of them take us in a taxi to the language school we are trying to find. We follow him outside expecting to see the car any minute...except we stop short of any taxis. Instead, we are standing in front of a motorcycle with a trailer attached to the back of it. The driver motions for us to get in. We look at each other, laugh at the situation, and decide to hop in the back. We spend about 45 minutes driving through this city looking for the language school, while sitting in the back of this very exposed trailer. At one point we had to call the school and hand the phone to our driver since we didn’t know any Arabic. Finally, we arrive at the school, thank our driver, and exit.
