who was selected to to participate in a study abroad program offered by the Experiment in International Living program, which was affiliated with the Peace Corps, with a 2 week orientation program in Brattleboro, Vermont. There I had a crash course in Moroccan Arabic, which was distinctly different from my 2 years of courses in “newspaper” Arabic and a 1 year course in the Egyptian dialect. And, of course, I had studied French.
I had a college friend who had gone to Tunisia on the same program the year before and had had a very successful experience, but now it was 1968 and the University of Rabat students were on strike, in sympathy with the student strikes in France. So, after a 1 month stay with a family in Fez, I, and my three fellow American students, headed for Rabat, where the arrangements for us to live in student housing had been botched and no courses were being taught due to the strike.
What to do? The four of us rented an apartment in Rabat above a grocery store and went to the American Embassy for whatever help might be had. We were told to take out our allotted spending money in full, and, when it was gone, to just go home to the States.
Had I not met a brilliant jazz guitarist performing at a chic little Italian bistro in Rabat (La Mamma) https://duckduckgo.com/?q=La+Mamma+Rabat&t=iphone&ia=images&iax=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cdn.tripadvisor.com%2Fmedia%2Fphoto-s%2F16%2F9b%2F8f%2F76%2Fphoto1jpg.jpg
and told him I had done some singing back home, and then auditioned for him the next day and performed with him that night and every night after that, I would have gone home along with my American roommates.
When he was hired to perform in the newly opened nightclub at the Hotel Mamounia in Marrakesh, I went with him. After a month and a half I was ready to head for home because my situation was starting to feel unsafe. Which is another story.
Anyway, thank you for asking. And, no, I stopped singing after I got married.
= new reply since forum marked as read