Friday-
We had normal Arabic class, and then after break we did a “Moroccan costume” session, which was interesting. I didn’t get to try on any costumes, but Liza tried on the full burqa, and she said it was incredibly hot- makes sense, but I never thought about before. Imagine wearing it during the SUMMER here… Anyway. We had our first free Friday afternoon, so I was excited. I was pretty tired and wanted to nap, but that ended up NOT happening. The girls from Illinois were at couscous and they LOVED it. They said that they could eat it every day for the rest of their lives or something- they think that NOW. Anyway I was feeling kinda friendly, so I asked if they wanted to walk around the medina with me. They agreed. It was pretty muggy & buggy out- gross. We went around (with Imane) to places that I hadn’t even been before- Imane said it was because I hadn’t spent a weekend in Rabat yet, which made me sad. I got excited for the weekend. The girls had to go to class, so Imane and I walked them back to the house to get their water etc.
One of the girls wanted to get a keychain for her boyfriend from home, so Imane and I said that we'd get it while she was in class. We went back to the shop that we had seen the keychains, and asked the man to write “Eric” on it. While we were walking home, Imane asked if I wanted to meet up with her friend and a friend of his (double date?). I asked who they were and she said “I don’t know… I met him on facebook this morning” not kidding. It sounds worse than it is because the boy/girl relationship culture is VERY different here, but I was still a little skeeved out. I also was really looking forward to my internet/relaxation time, so I made her promise that we would only be with them till 4:00. On our way home so Imane could put on make up (ugh..) my friend Ari called and asked if I wanted to go to the American bookstore. Phewf- SAVED!! Imane and I devised a plan so she could meet these boys and I could meet Ari- we ran home (so she could put on make up…) and then ran back out (it was 4:15). I met Ari at the tram stop and told her all about my day that was crazier than it seems. The bookstore was very small and not organized well… hardly any bookshelves, a lot of boxes. There was a good number/variety of books, and they were all pretty cheap. I didn’t get any, but Ari got War & Peace and something else… I forget. The man working there was very sweet, and I think he will be able to help me find some books for my ISP. Then we went back home. I was VERY tired at that point. Finally some R&R.
I realized that I was locked out of the house when I got home. SO terrible besides the fact that I got a Coke Zero and was pleasantly sipping it on the bottom of the stairs. Imane didn’t answer her phone… rude, and I realized that I never added my host mom’s number to my cell phone. I started to get bored, so I called Simo! Great thinking. He called his mom and she came a minute later. Simo also told me that he was going to come home this weekend. Fun. Once I got home I rested for a while, and then networked to see what peeps were doing- it was FridayyyYyYy nite afterall… Chase and I agreed to meet at Mo 5 and Laalou at 8 pm. Faisil (Simo’s friend—“The Sandwich King”)’s mom was at tea time, and she is quite a hoot. She told me that she had only 5 sons, and no daughters :(. We also mentioned my confusion as to who I thought she was (the cleaning lady) which was still funny. She asked if I had a boyfriend, and I said no. My “mom” then- very sweetly- called me “habibIIIII” (MYYYY love) and then gave me a big hug. Very nice. 8 pm came quicker than I had thought, so I got ready to leave. When I left, I told my family that I would be home for dinner (~9:30… tall order). We got street food for Chase, met up with Sara and Daisy, and then walked to the beach. It was very peaceful and nice. Other people from our program joined and it was like a lil partay. Fati’s host cousins came too and they were entertaining. Before I knew it, it was 10 p.m. I texted Imane, but no response. I just came to terms with missing dinner because I wasn’t ready to leave yet, and I wasn't even hungry. An hour later we decided to go back, and I called my “mom” to tell her I was coming home. She said that it wasn’t a problem. A GREAT surprise greeted me when I got home. My host mother (or Fatima) put an individual dinner on my bedside table. Hariria (moroccan soup), hard boiled eggs (we never get those…), the deep fried funnel cake, and bread. Typical Moroccan Friday night dinner. I was a total clam. I made myself brush my teeth and wash my face and then passssed out! Great Friday.
Saturday
I have a sleeping problem here. I can’t sleep through the night- it’s terrible. I woke up at 7:30 in the morning and couldn’t fall back to sleep (I thought I was going to wake up at 11 am….). I lay(ed?) in bed, which is almost as good as sleeping, and then woke up for real at like 9:30 because it was RAINING!! Thunder and everything. First time here… so refreshing, but sad because I was ACTUALLY (for real this time) planning on going for a run, and then showering. It was a sign… I am just not supposed to work out here. I borrowed Sara’s comp charger over night, so I dropped it off once the rain stopped a little bit.
Different vibes in the medina on a Saturday morning. Even though it was raining, it seemed a little happier- maybe clean/refreshed? Idk. I did get accosted by a neighbor for slamming the door too loudly bc “people are sleeeeeeping” MAH B! I wondered if he was going to tell the barking dog and cockadoodley rooster to STFU too. I walked to meet Sara in my pjs, and then came back hoping to shower. Apparently there was no hot water tank, so Imane and I went out to get one. These things are HEAVY, and we didn’t have a push-cart thing (Mom maybe u should bring one of those when you come…). I was unsure how we were going to do it because we were having a hard time carrying the empty one. We passed a lot of boys and men but NOBODY offered to help. I was shocked & confused. I told Imane that if we were in America doing this at least ONE of those not-so-gentle men would have stopped and helped. To top it off!! Once we got there, another man was filling his tank too. He had a cart, and when Imane asked if we could borrow it (we live practically around the corner) he had the audacity to tell US that we should have our own cart! Very rude. We took a lot of breaks on the way home. I was definitely carrying more weight than Imane… she was laughing a lot- like curled over laughter. I decided to laugh once we were home and I was clean. We made it! I showered (great shower because it was day time & much warmer than any other shower I have taken before). Simo came in while I was in the shower. Imane told me that we were going to Timara, where their other house is. (Yippee!). The plan was to go for lunch and not sleep there. Fine. I got dressed packed up a little bag and then we were off- Simo didn’t come because there was no room in the car. Timara is only 30 mins away (on the shore of Morocco in between Rabat and Casa). We got there in no time! My family’s house doesn’t have a lot of furniture in it, and a lot of things are wrapped up, but my “dad”’s brother lives upstairs full time, so we spent the day there. The house was very big and spacious. I now know why my “mom” wanted to show it off. It was beautiful and modern.
Saturday, March 24th, was a special day for my REAL family at home. It was Kristin’s second annual fundraiser. As much as I wanted to be there, the family trip made me feel close to my Moroccan family and I saw a lot of similarities between them and my real fam…
-Timara is kinda like a sub-urb of Rabat, and our “cousins” live there- Similar to Long Island!
-The day was kind of focused around eating, and we ate VERY good food
-After lunch EVERYONE took a nap (except for me… I thought that would be rude?- I read instead) I thought of all the afternoon/early night naps that I took on Ellen’s couch throughout the years
- The cousins went on a walk through the “city” of Timara after the naps, and took a lot of PICTURES
-On the way home from the walked we stopped at a kind of out-of-place plant nursery (Stables in Babylon?) with a lot of succlents and warm weather plants. Potential Christmas card- poinsettia style, Mom????
-There is a chance that Imane and the fam might move to Timara next year, and Imane was whining about it a lot. I can sympathesize, and imangine I would feel the same way if my mom picked me up and moved me to Long Island for my senior year of HS…
-We stopped at a deli because I was incredibly thirsty. I asked if they wanted anything, and Imane got some onion and cheese chips (…) I thought of my annual pre-thanksgiving dinner meals with Matthew and Terrence- the only difference was that these chips were after the feast.
We went back to the house, had tea and then left. It was a delightful day and I am very happy that they brought me. When we got home Sara invited me to her house for dinner. I had enough Mansour family time, so I agreed. I also wanted to taste Sara’s mom’s infamous cooking…. I told Imane to save some dinner for me. Haha. When I got there Sara told me that we were having Moroccan paninis- not fair, that’s cheating. I didn’t complain though because upon further inspection- the paninis were KING SANDWICH. So yum. I finished Sara’s plate of fries which were perfectly well done. We watched t.v. and realized that we had missed the finale of Arab Idol. Carmen (min misr- from Egypt) won. The look in Sara’s sister’s eyes was heartbreaking. Carmen beat the Moroccan girl. Devastating. I kind of wish my family watched Arab Idol… I probably would have gotten into it, so I guess its actually a good thing that they don’t. Dinner was lovely, but we were all SO tired afterwards.
I walked home alone (it was quite dark, but I was a-okay). The fam was in my room (the family room) around a GIANT hunk of Almond nougat. Totally hit the spot & was exactly the little sweet that I needed after the Moroccan Panini. This sweet signified that my family had not eaten dinner (dessert always first), so I sat back and watched some TV with them. They then left for dinner, and I stayed in the family room. I was lying down on the couch- watching t.v. VERY similar to home. I felt incredibly comfortable and happy. I was dozing off, but promised myself that I would brush teeth wash face (again, VERY similar…). The fam came back and we all were watching TV. Fatima put a blanket on me, and I actually felt like I was in heaven (home). At some point I got up and BTWF, then came back and Imane had lights off, but T.V. still on. SHE PUT THE SLEEP TIMER ON, and I had to literally make sure that I was still in Morocco and not 449 East 14th street. So happy, and a great end to a GREAT day.
LAZY SUNDAY! I dug out my Sunday shades…
I woke up early AGAIN! So rude, and a serious problem now. I was able to go back to sleep for an hour, but that was insufficient. I had to wait for Sara’s birthright interview to be done ~12:30, and I really didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to go to the beach, but was too lazy and didn’t know what to bring because I didn’t know the rest of the plans for the day. I literally sat at the table and looked at my calendar a lot (a bad habit that I have developed here). Breakfast was good, and everyone ate at the same time. We had goat cheese for the past few days, and luckily my “dad” and I are the only ones who like it. More for meeee. By the time noon came around I was going a little stir crazy- total cabin fever. The minute I thought about mobilizing for myself, Sara called. We made a plan to meet and go to the ville nouvelle (new city- outside of the medina) to see the pro-Palestine protests. Chase was at Arab Café, so we told him we would pick him up after.
The protest was over by the time we got there, and everyone was leaving. There were a TON of people, so I could only imagine what the protests looked like. We picked up Chase and decided to look at the egg sandwich deli place (Moroccan style, NOT the deli, or sandwich that you’re thinking of) and then go to the beach and eat and soak up the sun (with our arms and legs covered of course). We made a pre-lunch pitstop for some orange ginger juice, and we found a place two doors down (3 doors down? Lol) from the place that we usually go. Same exact juice, half the price… The egg sandy place was closed, so we went to café liberation and sat and got omelets. Big language barrier problems. I really wanted an omlete with tomatoes AND onions, but the waiter didn’t get it. There is no way that they couldn’t do that for me, but he acted like they couldn’t (more confused than mean, but still- I only had onions in my omlete). Fries were well done AGAIN- another perfect meal. It was really hot in there actually, but that was my only qualm.
After lunch we went to THE BEACH! So nice. Men were swimming and surfing. I am definitely going to take a lesson before I leave. The surf instructor came up to chase (they're friends) and I expressed my desire to go. We also talked about tanning, and I joked that I wanted to be as dark as him (he’s black). He said that I can be as long as I dip in the water, exfoliate with sand, come out, put agran oil all over me, and sit in the sun for 15 mins… convincing. Daisy came to the beach late, so we were leaving when she was getting there. Nobody wanted to go home yet, so we decided to get our computers and meet back in 15 so we could go to the French Institute and snack/wifi. The French institute was closed (grrr..) so we went to McDonalds. McDonalds sucks. We didn’t order anything, just used the OKAY wifi. It was crowded and terrible lighting. Kinda hot too… I wasn’t happy, but I bit my tongue and went along with it. I came back in time for dinner, and then bed. GREAT WEEKEND in Rabat- I think I will spend next weekend here too.
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