Living in a new country comes with numerous dangers and challenges; not speaking the language, eating strange foods, trying to avoid cultural taboos, AND crossing the street. It might sound like a menial task but, believe me, its a skill that has to be mastered. Some of the best advice we received during orientation was the warning that pedestrians do not have the right of way in Morocco so we shouldn't just step out and expect they will yield to us. Yet I was still unprepared for the hidden danger of Marrakech, the primary mode of transportation, the motorbike. Unlike the majority of cars, motorbikes do not remain in lines or between lines and generally weave tighter than a Turkish rug. Taxis think that their next drop-off is the most important place to be and it doesn't matter if other people are in a hurry too. They are all going too slow.
Therefore, every time you step off the curb to cross the road, you risk your life and I have never successfully avoided death so many times. When we first came, we would hold hands with our host sister like small children and by the time we were half way across we were running and screaming for our lives because the vehicles were coming faster than expected. When riding in cabs, our driver would run about 2 inches from someone crossing the road and I would squeak and hold on tight. Now, I go with the traffic, moving through it and not running. I got it down and hope to get even better.
When asked how he adapted to driving in Morocco, one American guy told us that you have to be willing to live with infinite "near-misses" and not lose your nerve. When you're a driver, passenger, or pedestrian you can't freeze up, be on the top of your game, and just be thankful that it was a "miss" this time.
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