Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express...

Looking at the world through the sunset in your eyes
Traveling the train through clear Moroccan skies
-Crosby Stills & Nash

Not long ago I was riding the train from Marrakesh to Rabat (sad to say, to my knowledge there's really no Marrakesh Express...but I like to pretend I'm taking it anyway), watching the world go by from the window of my car when I noticed a woman staring intently at me from across the compartment. This continued for, oh, I don't know, about 3 and a half hours. My discomfort grew as the train crept north and by the time we hit Casablanca I'd engaged her in a full-on staredown in an attempt to make her stop. Eventually she started giggling and told me (with the help of a nice woman to my left, whose Arabic was clearer, slower and more patient...) that she was pregnant and really liked the color of my eyes and was staring at me in the hopes that she would channel my eye color to her unborn baby so that he'd have green-blue eyes too.

She then added that she would appreciate it if I'd please take off my sunglasses (the sun was starting to set right in my eyes) so she could continue taking in my eye color.

I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or completely weirded out. But fortunately the train ride was nearly over and I was off to the next adventure...