Eid and Throne Day

Ramadan ended this week with a two-day celebration of Eid and Throne Day. The end of Ramadan is all about spending time with family and being grateful for each other, kind of like Thanksgiving in the States but with more religious context. One of my host sisters, Basma, had breakfast with us on Eid and then left to go visit family in the countryside. It was hard to have to begin the goodbye-process so early even though we still had five days left in Morocco. Our cool aunts and younger cousin came over to the house and we must have laughed for three hours straight. Charlotte brought down her computer into the sitting room and we all played with Photobooth for at least and hour and a half. The delighted looks on their faces to take pictures with us, especially when our faces were contorted and we were making funny expressions made me feel like we were truly part of the family. Later in the day, a bunch of kids from the program came over for tea since they were heading to the medina, which is right next to our house. When Charlotte and I told Mama that they were going to the medina, she insisted that they spend time at our house for Eid and wouldn’t take no for an answer. We ended up with Charlotte, Sam, Will, Devyn, Ryan, and me all at the table drinking mint tea and eating yummy Eid treats (some that I made!) along with two host aunts, a host cousin, and some neighbors. The hospitality in this country never ceases to amaze me, my host mother must have used every tea glass she owned to make sure we all had tea. The next day was Throne Day, a day to celebrate the King. It is a national holiday as well so we got to stay home from school for the third day in a row that week. Sophia and Isa came over and we all worked on our final projects that were to be presented on Friday (eek). Sophia, Charlotte, and I were doing our project on tradition Moroccan spices, so to do some research we prepare a tagine with Mama for dinner that night. It was a chicken tagine with onions, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, and saffron. As soon as I get home I am going to try to find a suitable substitute for a tagine dish to cook in so I can prepare my favorite Moroccan food at home. Later, we went out to Mohammed V Avenue, the downtown of Rabat, to watch the festivities for the King. There was a concert going on with traditional Moroccan music plus military exhibitions on beautiful white horses. Overall the three days at home before our last two days were huge blessings. Charlotte and I got to spend the maximum amount of time with our host family, although at this point I think that it is more appropriate to call them our actual family. 

Two amazing weekends to close out an amazing trip

I’m sorry that I am so late with this post, I have a lot of catching up to do. We have all been out of Rabat for the last two weekends, but last weekend was the most fun. The first weekend we spent in Marrakech, and it was by far our most touristy weekend. We visited the Marrakech medina, which is the quintessential “Moroccan” experience that everyone thinks of when they think of Morocco. We saw snake charmers, traditional leather dealers, and souvenir shops. We also saw many more tourists then we were used to seeing in Rabat. I found myself being disappointed with the behavior of foreigners and feeling alienated from them. After all this time here I have become uncomfortable with the idea of revealing clothing and eating and drinking out in public. We stayed in a super nice hotel in Marrakech and Isa, Sophia, Charlotte, and I all got our nails done. It was such a nice treat after enduring a very long bus ride and surviving the hot Marrakech sun. On Sunday, we went and visited the Yves St. Laurent gardens, where he painted his patented blue all over the walls of the oasis in the middle of the city.

The next weekend we went to Tetouan, Oud Lau, and Chefchaouen. This weekend was the most fun I have had in Morocco so far. On Friday, we drove about 5 hours in the bus to Tetouan. We stayed outside of the city at a hotel on the Mediterranean, and the beach and pool were beautiful. After dinner we ventured into the northern city, seeing the extreme Spanish influence that so differs the French influence that we see in Rabat. The next day, half of us departed early in the morning to do a site visit with our RD, Sarah. We drove along the coastal highway to get to the quaint and beautiful Mediterranean town of Oud Lau. We visited the weekly souq there, which was an amazing change from the huge medina that we are used to in Rabat. As a group we found amazing local crafts for very inexpensive. My personal favorite is the hand woven hats that I bought for 5 US dollars. The hat is pictured in the photo below. After the souq, we all went and put our feet in the water at a beautiful empty beach before loading up in the bus and driving to another gorgeous hotel in Chefchaouen. The blue city was much smaller than I imagined, but its quaintness just added to its charm. I especially loved the traditional winter mini-jellabas, otherwise know in the States as “drug-rugs.” The amazing weekend in the North was by far my favorite excursion that I have had yet in this amazing country.

Clown Cars

They say that to truly understand someone you have to walk in their shoes. According to that principle I have become quite the expert of the life of a canned sardine. Confused? I have two words for y’all: Grand Taxi. Still confused? I would be too if I were you because before this week I didn’t realize that squeezing five people into the backseat of a 30 year old Mercedes and 2 passengers in the front seat was a thing here. In Morocco, there are two kinds of taxis: Grand and Petit. The Petit Taxis are different colors in every city in Morocco; in Rabat they are royal blue, and in Sale they are light yellow for example. These are the taxis that we normally take to school and around Rabat because they most resemble the idea of a taxi in the States. There are some key differences however. In the US, once someone is in a cab, the cab no longer stops to take other passengers. In Morocco however, the cab will stop as many times as it wants until it reaches capacity while going in the first passenger’s general (and I use that term loosely) direction. The capacity of a Petit Taxi is generally accepted as three people, and the capacity of a Grand Taxis seems to be as many people that can fit (comfortably was thoughtfully omitted from that phrase). My first experience in the Grand Taxi was thankfully with my host family. We were all going to have f’tour with my host khaala, or maternal aunt, who lives in a different neighborhood (Hiy) of Rabat. Grand Taxis are less expensive when traveling long distances so we all went to one of the “stops” (i.e. random pileups of gts on the street) to pile into one along with two other strangers. The combination of claustrophobia and reckless Moroccan taxi driving made me very thankful that I can take the tram to school.

After the interesting ride there, we had a very fun time at our aunt's house. Although we had a hard time communicating, I found myself understanding much more of the conversation around the dinner table than I first did when I arrived. So much more in fact, that I managed to even make a few jokes. Visiting my aunts and cousin for f'tour was a welcome change in my everyday routine, but I found myself missing Mama's Harira and briwatts that we eat at home. 

Only two weeks left, and I am torn between wanting to return to my home of 17 years and wanting to stay in the place that I have learned to call home for the past month. 

Ma3 Salama!- KT

My Cinderella Story- and the crowd goes wild!

The very last place I would have imagined myself going this summer was Kabul, Afghanistan but that's where I was transported to on Thursday afternoon. 

Okay, it wasn't actually Afghanistan but it looked exactly like it because I was on the movie set of "Rock the Kasbah" the new Bill Murray film. Because it is too dangerous to actually film in Kabul (who'd a thought?) the movie transformed one of Rabat's streets to look like Afghanistan. It just so happens that that street was where one of my friends from the program lived, so a few of us decided to go visit the set during our lunch break. After standing around on the street for long enough, an assistant director approached us, presumably to tell us to move out of his shot. After discovering that we were American however, he started a conversation with us about why we were in Rabat, where we were from, ect. His name was William Paul Clark, later introduced to is as Quentin Taratino's right hand man, was so overjoyed to see other Americans to speak with that he baptized us his "American Possy." He invited us to watch the filming and when we asked him where we should go to warh he said, "Well the best view is from behind the camera!" We watched them film background scenes until it was time for us to return to school. We went to say our goodbyes but instead Bill Clark had us write down our names and said, "See you after class!" 

We obviously returned after class to watch more filming from our VIP view behind the camera, but this time we weren't watching the extras. Instead we were watching Bill Murray and Zooey Deschanel shoot her last scene of the movie! After the scene was finished everyone surrounded her and applauded, and then something amazing happened: the group of American students was introduced to Bill Murray as the "American Possy." (!!!!!!!!) 

You could say that meeting Bill Murray was quite the Cinderella story, and I'm sure if we had had a crowd watching they would have gone wild. 

Names of other people we met: Lenny Kravitz, Sean Bobbit, Barry Levinson. Look them up, they are all amazing. 

Fezmazing

            Camel Burger in Fez!!

Our weekend in was cooler than the tassels on the red fez hat that I shamelessly overpayed for. Fez is basically a human incubator, and I don't know if I have ever experienced anything so hot. Most of our time in Fez was spent in the old city mediina, and although Rabat's mediina is amazing, the mediina in Fez is what I pictured Morocco to look like: narrow streets full of small shops, donkeys, and traditional clothing. In the evening on Saturday we travelled to Moulay Yacob, a small village town known across Morocco for its sulfur springs. There many of us went to the Hammam to experience the healing powers of the sulfur water on our skin. While there we saw a very heated situation involving naked woman body slamming, bucket throwing, and a lot of incomprehensible shouting in Arabic. I can now officially say that I experienced a catfight in a sulfur Hammam in Morocco, I never thought that I would be able to say. 

On our way back to Rabat we stopped in Chellah, old Roman ruins in the middle of nowhere. 

This weekend we have come completely free so I am excited to be able to explore Rabat with Charlotte. 

A list of amazingness

I am sorry that I haven’t blogged in so long but life here in the best place on earth has become quite hectic in the best possible way. To maximize the information I can share I have decided to make a list of the most memorable moments from the past week and a half:

1.     Service Project

We met with our language partners (Moroccan students who are studying English at Amideast) and travelled to a run down park on the other side of Rabat in a largely sub-Saharan neighborhood. The amount of trash was astonishing and the state of the park was definitely a culture shock moment for me. We found things ranging from glass and cigarette butts to bloody razors. Although in was hard work in the hot Moroccan sun, it was worth it to get to know our Moroccan friends better and to see the corner of the park that was clean and safe because of us.

2.     Trip to the Hammam

After my first trip to the hammam I have reached the conclusion that a hammam chain should be started in the US. A hammam is a communal bathing house, and before the “ewww”s start, let me tell you it is a truly beautiful experience. When you enter the hammam you bring with you plastic shoes, a bucket, a scrubber (for your skin), and toiletries. The women only enter the hammam wearing underwear, which was a difficult reality for many of us on the program to accept at first. However once we entered the first chamber we realized that women’s acceptance of their bodies and non-judgmental acceptance of others’ was a true reflection of the Moroccan culture. There are three chambers of the hammam starting from the coolest to the warmest, most of us stayed in the middle chamber that resembled a typical wet sauna in the US. You then fill up your bucket with hot and cold water and begin to shower using a smaller bucket as a scooper. After the hammam, all of us were showing off our smooth skin to each other, and I swear I have never felt so clean. Charlotte and I have decided that since the hammam is so close to home we will make a weekly visit to scrub off that week’s grime.

3.     The Start of Ramadan

Ramadan is truly a special time in Morocco, from a non-Muslim’s perspective it is all about the three Fs of Ramadan: Family, Fasting, and Feasting. The breaking of the fast is called F’tour, and it includes all sorts of special Ramadan treats. From pastries, to soup, to hard boiled eggs, f’tour is by far my favorite meal of the day. Dinner isn’t eaten until 1 am, so Charlotte and I usually go out with our friends after f’tour to explore the city or go to the beach. The very first night a Ramadan, our host uncle took us to a carnival on the beach where we had the opportunity to ride roller coasters and compete in bumper cars. By far one of the coolest experiences I have had so far! The only downside to Ramadan is that there are very little food choices during the day, so MacDo has become a regular spot for the NSLIY group. The one thing that I did not expect from this trip was an acceptance of McDonalds, but hey, a girl’s gotta eat. I love the way the city comes alive at night; it is almost as if Rabat has adopted a nocturnal schedule of sleeping during the day and partying late into the night.

Arabic Class

Although it may seem as though all I am doing is morockin it all the time, the reality is that a lot of my time is either spent in school or studying. Friday we had our fist test and I was surprised on the amount of material we have covered so far. In just over a week we already covered two chapters of the book which included possessive pronouns, a lot of vocabulary, basic verb conjugation in the present, masculine and feminine, and iDaafa. As of now I can have a conversation about what I do, where I live, and a detailed description of my family.

We have just gotten home from Fez, I will do a post on it soon... Ma3 Salama!

At the Roman ruins of Chelah, just outside of Rabat. Notice I'm wearing my djellaba!

At the carnival after my first f'tour!

At the clean up! Thumbs up for service!

One week down, and I still don't want to leave

Currently a group of us are congregating in an empty classroom at Amideast to mooch off the wifi. Our first week in Morocco has officially ended, but it feels like is has been so much longer. We started classes today, and I tested into the intermediate level. Although this week has been very challenging in class I believe that it is a good fit because after people both moved up and moved down there are only four people in my class. Our small size makes it easy for class to be very interactive, and since all of us are very competitive class games are very entertaining. This week we learned basic sentence structure and basic present conjugations as well as a ton of new vocabulary. At home, I have been able to pick up more words when my host mother and sister are speaking, and I am starting to be able to deduce the basic idea of conversations. I am still convinced that my mother is the best cook in the entirety of Morocco. Every night Charlotte and I are amazed by the culinary genius she concocts using only a portable stovetop and a traditional oven. This first week has been amazing and I cannot wait for the next five to come!