Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Time for a Story

Ok, so I thought it was time for a funny story, but first I need to introduce you all to my life. Wherever I go I usually meet someone I know or who knows someone I know, etc. So I took my first weekend off and met some friends in Beni Millal. There really isn't anything extremely interesting there, but it was just a central point where we could meet up. It was a much needed break. So we are wandering around the city and meet this Moroccan who lives in the States and is back visiting. Now when you meet someone who shares some sort of connection the only course of action available is to invite them to a party, which he did. It was a blast. He had hired Moroccan musicians and dancers, we ate and had a grand old time. Later in the evening we are outside at his ranch getting some fresh air and I'm talking with his brother and he is telling me about his travels and mentions in passing that "when he was in Romania...", well of course my ears shot up and I probed further. He went to university in Constanta and spoke Romanian, so we ended up having this extremely excited conversation in Romanian for about an hour, neither one believing that the other had also lived in the country. We'd also been there about the same time span from '94 - '00... and apparently there is a whole community of Moroccans in Beni Millal who studied in Romania. CRAZY!!

Now onto the funny story. I will warn you in advance though, if your are especially worried about my safety don't read on it will only make you more nervous. :)

So I got chased by a pack of wolves. For those of you who don't know, there are roaming packs of wolves in the hills around my valley who come out at night. Needless to say, no one goes out at night. Well this particular night I had too because I don't have cell phone reception in my house, I have to go up on a hill near my house. One of my friends in Morocco was having a bit of a rough time so I wanted to talk with her, so I left my house with my flashlight and climbed my little hill. After about ten minutes of talking though I heard this growl from behind me and immediately knew that whatever I was going to find when I turned around, it wasn't going to be good. Sure enough a pack of about six wolves had just crested the hill and was eyeing me hungrily.

So I calmly excused myself on the phone, hung up and in a completly composed manner took of running for my life down the hill tripping over rocks I couldn't see as I went. The rabid dogs on my farm started barking at them though which gave me enough of a diversion to make it back with all limbs in tact. Well they were really barking at all of us because they're rabid... what else are they going to do?

So there's my funny little story. I'm alive, I'm safe and learned an important lesson... well, no I didn't, I'll probably go up to the hill again at night when I want to talk on the phone. What can I say? I need people. :) I'll take a stick or something next time, although with all the Chuck Norris videos they watch here... I could probably just roundhouse kick the wolves and I'd be ok.

By the way everyone here knows that Arnold Schwarzenager or however you spell his name... the star of countless crappy action movies as well as classics such as Kidergarten Cop and Twins... is the governor of an American state. That's right... be embarassed. When they ask me how that happened, I just shake my head and with a look of resignation on my face say we don't understand it either.

4 comments:

texasinafrica said...

Holy crap, that's insane. Chased by a pack of wolves?!?

Glad to hear you're adjusting. Hang in there. You'll figure it out. And maybe you should build your own house.

Anonymous said...

Hey Samuel -

Just wanted to say hello and let you know that I'm still keeping up with you and I am very proud of you for what you are doing. Between you and Lee I get all the good reads I need for the week! It's pretty neat. The wolves though, not so neat. haha. Be safe cousin. I love you!!

Pamela

cyngun said...

you're killin' me!!! maybe you could encourage your local friends to call you in daylight hours?!!!
yikes!!!
mom :)

Unknown said...

my samuel, out in the desert running with the wolves...that's right, with. haha. Well this summer I went looking for a cave with darren b/c we wanted to go spulunking, but didn't have very good directios. We spent hours lost in a middinite community and got chased by cows in a field. We never found the cave, but I think we'll try again soon. haha