Yesterday we woke up (on time!!!) and I showered (my last real shower for a while…) packed up my stuff from the fondouk- hotel, brought down the heavy bags, had breakfast, and then came back for the lighter ones. We then walked to the CCCL and debriefed our assignment from yesterday to find the post office. Other people had different assignments, and it was actually extremely informative and helpful. I learned the best way to travel to various places throughout Morocco this semester, how to call home/have home call me (because it is cheaper for me…), and information about the hammams (public baths). We then took a bus tour lead by our very funny academic director. He took us to various parts of Rabat, and despite my desire to see all of the sites, my tendency to fall asleep while in moving vehicles prevailed and I took a (literal) 5 second power nap. I missed some of the French Embassy I believe, but it’s okay. I was SO surprised to see the city as a whole, and the differences between each area. Some interesting facts that I learned:
-Farmers market is on Sunday
-Police cars are red and green (not-so-merry Christmas)
-The Moroccan demonstrators that I mentioned on Wednesday gather in the square during the day and start to protest at night
--side note: I forgot to mention in my last post that some of my unwise peers decided to go outside to explore the city when we got back to the hotel (~9 pm). Apparently it was total chaos. The police were chasing the demonstrators. It is bad enough that they were standing by, but some of them decided to TAKE PICTURES!! When they were telling me this I told them of my friend of a friend who was taken into custody this time last year during the Arab Spring because he was caught taking pictures of the protests (it made national news…) They then informed me that a police officer had approached them and demanded that they delete the pictures, and they obviously did. They acted incredibly naïve, and are veryyy lucky. ANYWAY, back to the bus tour.
-We passed a public school that was surrounded by beautiful trees and apparently the government maintains the façade of the schools because it is believed to represent an extension of the government itself. I am excited to learn a lot more about the school system here.
-When driving down the road of all of the government buildings (school included), the driver must drive under the incredibly slow speed limit or else face a “serious penalty” this reminded me of Dune Road or something. Keeping the nice neighborhoods safe, in contrast the ballsy crazy drivers driving right outside of the Medina.
-We passed a tennis club that is apparently very cheap, but great. I thought of the Fieberlings and the Zenkers- should have brought my racket!!!!!!
-We passed a lot of mirrored architecture that the AD said was inspired by NYC. He shared the same views as me on said architecture, and is happy that it was simply a phase.
-Women make up 60% of the school of medicine, and 25% of the judges in the court system.
-The poorest housing area represents hands down the best real estate in Morocco. The “shanty towns” are literally RIGHT on the Atlantic Ocean. He explained why, but I didn’t really understand/don’t remember- I think it was a symbolic anti-colonization effort, and it somehow meant that they were turning their backs on the colonizers.
-As is the case with any city, there is a wealthy part of Morocco, and I honestly can see myself spending a lot more time there than the Medina. We didn’t go down any streets, but it was beautiful. It was lined with palm trees, and just generally brighter, more spacious and cleaner. I can’t wait to explore this weekend.
Finally the moment we have all been waiting for. 3:30 pm, time to meet our families!! We got off the bus and everyone made a mad dash for the bathroom, unknowing of the next time we would be able to go comfortably. As we walked into the cccl there were a ton of Moroccans in the lobby area. I was SO nervous but somehow could not contain a wide smile. I ran upstairs to go to the bathroom in the western toilet, sent one final cryptic email to my mom and then it was time. I went back downstairs and stood at the side of the room with the rest of the students. One by one the homestay coordinator called out last names of family members and then student’s names. This process could definitely be improved. I was one of the later names to be called. I waited long enough to daydream that my family would forget about me and I would have to spend one more night in the glorious Hotel Magestic with a western toilet and running hot water. Alas, “Brennan” and I was warmly bixoued by an older woman, but cutting to the chase- my homestay totally rocks. No small children, but my sister is me re-incarnated three years ago (if that makes sense?). She is really crazy and funny (totally me). A 17 year-old Diva (capital D). She has more boyfriends than I can keep count of, and she showed me pictures. All I can say is wow. One is 25 and SEXY (sorry mom). She also showed me a pic of my host brother (he is 20 minutes away studying to be an engineer and apparently is a genius but is “cool” too). After telling me how pretty I was, my host mom said “you will love Mohammed” (my bro). He comes home for the holiday tomorrow at 7 pm… stay tuned.
I showed my sister pictures of all of you from my computer. I should her “crazy” (Colby) because she told me that all of her friends call her “hamqua” which is crazy in Arabic. She doesn’t have a boyfriend who doesn’t have a car, and she sneaks out to see them while she tells her mom that she is going to the dentist. I kid u not- she must have the best teeth in the entire medina. She also said lol- not l.o.l. to a number of things that I said. Total kismet. Lol. She speaks English well but we spoke frarabglish or something. Her eyes lit up when I got to the Beyonce pix. This is going to be a great semester.
We had tea and cake at like 5 pm, which made me question when dinner was (9 pm). The father came home later and was very friendly too. We had lamb for dinner which I didn’t think I liked before coming here but I realized by tasting it that I think I have been eating it everyday for lunch, and not what I thought was petit abeille brisket. They told me to “eat eat” but when I said “ca fie” they stopped. They spoke darija at the table (we eat with our hands and bread btw) and I could literally understand only ONE word of what they were saying. “Mdkgdkg”. I perked up and made the motion of sleeping. They were amused. I also gave them their gifts like in the very beginning of meeting them. They loved the chocolate, and I was able to explain the cracks in it, we went through the book together (good vocab practice for us all) and my hs mom LOVED the blanket. IDK if she really understood the concept of the dishtowels, but I explained them to my sis, and she said she did. I can’t believe I wrote all of this and neglected to mention that I have a WESTERN TOILET!!!!!!! I guess the Turkish one refers to the fact that the bathroom itself is like a shower??? But Im not going to shower there I don’t think. I am going to get a gym membership that allows me to go 24 times this semester (until I move out of the homestay on April 4th) minus the two one-week excursions we have = gym three times a week (yea rite). Even if I don’t have a real workout, I can go to the gym (it’s around the corner) to take a hot shower. I am living like 5 doors down from the CCCL. There isn’t enough room for my clothes, but im making it work. I am tired now and this bed is borderline tempurpedic (I am incredibly comfortable and can only name a few beds that I have been in that are more comfortable than this one… definitely because I am absolutely exhausted). I have unlimited pillows because it doubles as a couch during the day. GOODNIGHT (I think I started this post saying “yesterday” but it is actually Thursday February 2nd at 11:37 pm. I am going to go to school a little early in the morning to post this and hopefully get a portable wifi card after our big Friday couscous lunch.
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