Saturday, Febuary 6th

Saturday was a great!! I continued my quest for internet, but still unsuccessful! I'm still okay, but getting kinda anxious about the money that I spent on the card. Whatever- it will all work out hopefully! I told my brother that I would be home at 2:30 so we could go to Casablanca. I got home at like 2:30 almost on the dot (but my mom said I was late for lunch??). She gave the lunch that I missed. Thankfully I had to eat it alone because I had no idea how to eat the fish (whole fishies) that she gave me. I just ate it how I thought I should, and didn't get a single bone. Lunch was GOOD. Baby fish, bread (duh.. so many carbs here) and some good moussaka-like thing. I ate quickly bc my bro seemed to be waiting, and packed up and we were off! We met up with his friend on our street and then walked out of the Medina. I had assumed that we were going to take the train to Casa (90 miles away), but they started to get in a car. I was surprised, and they basically were like- obviously we are going to take a car.... I buckled my seatbelt, and they laughed. They said that I didn't need it (scary) but I kept it on. We waited in the car for a bit (idk why?) and finally "All of the Lights" came on the radio. Let the games begin!!

The friend and I went through the usual questions... They both speak English well. I want to tell you the playlist that we listened to on the way (the scenic route... on the beach/heaven). Actually I wont go thru the playlist bc that is kinda boring for u, but it was a LOT of American top 40. Highlights include "Sexy Bitch" Hi Sophie, whatever song that was Colby's ringback tone for a long time (ugh), David Guetta, a lot of katy perry/lady gaga & pitbull -- apparently their producer is Moroccan. This ride reminded me A LOT of my summer- the best one of my life :(. "Last Friday Night" played TWICE. Our ride was like very similar to the Hamptons (beach on one side, farms on the other), and just a lot of laughing and fun. They also loved when miley cyrus and taylor swift came on... Just like the Lakhotas ! The King was on his way to Rabat for the holiday, so there was a lot of police and traffic. We passed by the king's beach palace- HUGE and beautiful. As we were driving everything was normal, and we passed by what seemed like a normal police check point or something. The police were stopping some people and letting others pass (arbitrarily). They held us there for what seemed like a long time. I obviously did not understand anything that they were saying, but I was surprisingly at ease. My brother had all of his paperwork and stuff, so the police officers were basically trying to figure out something to get him for. My bro's friend said that this happens often and we will prob just end up paying him some dirhams so he "forgets about it". He said that the police get half of their income from bribes, and i explained that it was a very serious offense (worse than most others) in the United States to bribe a police officer. My brother came back and asked his friend for money and I gave some too. He went back to the police car, and talked for a little bit, and then came back. It was so messed up, but they were not phased by it at all. I am interested to tell my teachers this story and to see what they have to say about it. We continued. We were going to the Moroccan Mall by the way. We stopped at the beach and it was amazing. See pix on facebook. We drove some more.. Akon came on, and they loled a lot when I said my best friend (Nickiiiii) wanted to marry him. They asked if I had crazy people like these (skateboarders) in America, and I said yes... Hello Conn Coll long boarders!!! There were a lot of environmental things that I noticed also. They squeezed so many people into each car, but there was a loooottt of smelly pollution at some points. We then stopped at the big mosque... the biggest one in Africa. It was unreal. So huge and beautiful tiles. Pretty blues and greens. It also had such a great vibe. Children running around and people laughing and smiling. It was also on the water, which my host family explained was because of a sura in the quran, but the language barrier prevented me from completely understanding. If my church was on the water like this one I would be very religious. There are too many good pix, so look at my facebook, but I will post one or two here. We then went to the mall. There was so much traffic going in, but we finally made it and parked in a parking lot that reminded me of an American parking lot. I was worried that we would forget where it was, so I made a serious attempt to remember it-- i still do: we were in row J 25. The mall was like a nicer, bigger American mall. It was weird because it seemed more like a museum for them than a mall. Id say that 25% were actually shopping an 75% were just admiring. We walked around the entire mall. I felt like a guy bc we went into a lot of male shops. They LOVED the aquarium (with sharks --very very small sharks...) we stared at it alot. There was also like a Moroccan section of the mall and it had authentic moroccan gifts. Men were also coming around with little snackie things which was cool. The call to prayer came on in the mall, but nobody like stopped in their tracks to pray... I found playmobile & Harney and Sons teas which made me like very happy/happy. Uh oh I have to start to wrap this up bc my friends are ready to leave the Café okay so this is going to be abbreviated... we left the mall (found our car easily) and met up with some of my brothers friends. ... Long story short- we went to the Casablanca Twin Center and went to the top floor. VERY similar to a chic NYC hotel, and the Moroccans I was with were flabbergasted. I felt out of place when I first walked in- I hadnt showered since Thursday and was getting a little greasy, even for my standards, but nobody cared- I did not get ONE bad look. We stayed there for a while and just talked. We talked a lot about politics and morocco vs the us like differences between the two cultures etc. It was great conversation despite the language barrier. We left the hotel and it was "freezing" according to them, but it was more like a cold summer night to me haha. I was so tired in the car so we didn't talk a lot. We got stopped again when we were coming home, but that was a more routine check I guess from coming from one city to the next. The police officer also saw that I was in the car, and was VERY friendly after my brother said that I was American. "Welcome to America! Enjoy your stay". The "I'm American" card goes a long way here. Apparently if I were ever to get hurt (I won't… knock on wood/in sha'allah) all I have to do is call the ambulance and say "I AM AMERICAN AND AM HURT" and they would come right away, but if my host family got hurt- it would take a long time for an ambulance to come. Anyway… It was late, but I wasn't very hungry. The boys were, so we got some late night food. Typical Saturday night! We went to a place on the street and got literally a Pita Spot wrap. It totally hit the spot, and I was very happy. We came home and I watched some 10 things I hate about u on my iPod- I found a lot of random movies on my iPod which i am thankful for bc I can watch them before I go to bed. AND the iPod has a sleep timer... Literally I am totally at home. Ok the end of this post was totally rushed but I really have to go. More to come, and I'm not going to post the pix here... Look at facebook (Ellen get one!)

GO GIANTS!!!!!! I want some chicken wings & Mac n cheeeeese.......... Eat extra for me!

XOXO