Beautiful day. I was planning on going to an internet café with dreeeeezy (the QUEEN of the web) but then the Sara(h)s said that they were going to go to museums, so we changed our minds. I am glad we did. The Bank Al-Magreb museum was closed (from noon to 3... SUCH weird/terrible hours). We walked to find the modern art museum. We couldn't so we asked a police officer- He had no idea where it was, so we walked LITERALLY one block across the street and it was RIGHT THERE. Very concerning police enforcement in this country.
The art museum was VERY nice, and I want to live there. See above pix. A lot of French and Moroccan artists. BEAUTIFUL & FRAGRANT FLOWERS. Cool place, and great day. After the museum, we went back to the Medina a different way, and then got DCs and sandwiches to eat on the beach. GREAT LUNCH! After the beach, it was getting close to hammam time! I had made a plan to go to the hammam with Sara’s family and I was VERY excited.
I went home to get the necessary items for the hammam (shampoo, conditioner, face wash, etc.). It just so happened that Imane and Fatima were going to the hammam too (if I had known then I wouldn’t have made plans with Sara’s fam… Imane asked which hammam we were going to, and I told her that we were going to the one by their house. Imane turned her nose up at that hammam and told me that they were not going to go to that one- snooty girl, but I was still excited.
Imane told me to bring NOTHING to the hammam, so I didn't. I walked to Sara's house (in a blue sweat suit-- I wanted to be very comfy post-hammam). When I got to Sara's house her mother asked which hammam we wanted to go to... we didn't care, but I think because we were going with a guest (me) we decided to go to the better one. The better Hammam is "douche moderne"- where Sara takes her showers. We went in- it was very clean and bright. We got undressed in the dressing/undressing rooms... We gave our bags and towels and a dirham to the shower keeper... she gave us some buckets and we went into the hammam!! This was one of the three-room hammams. One room is not hot, the next is warm, and the last one is like a sauna. There were a lot of ladies in the house, so we couldn't find a spot in the middle room- we went to the back room. It was REALLY nice and sauna-like. I immediately started sweating, but it felt great. We used black soap. It did not feel particularly clean, but it's not regular soap. Sara's mom found some space in the middle room, so we moved. We started to scrub with the kiss (pronounced keese), which is a great glove-like thing that is abrasive, and gets rid of allll of your gross dead skin. Because it was my first time at the hammam- I had a LOT of dead skin. I had to rinse it after practically every scrub. Najoua (sara's sis) did my back, which felt SO good. It was a very long shower, but I didn't get very impatient. I felt GREAT afterwards, but sooo tired. In the middle of our shower I heard "Claire!!" Imane & Fatima were there! It was funny, and we didn't bathe together, but Imane was looking at our area the whole time... I didn't really know exactly when we were done, but eventually we said "ca fie" and mobilized out of the bathing room. We dried off and got dressed. Najoua put my scarf in a head scarf. I was SO tired. We had to wait for Sara's mom to finish, but I was fine because I luv towel time. I kept on rubbing my arms because they were so soft!! eee! Finally their mom came out and we went to get some reef (i still don't know how to spell it). Then I went to Sara's for tea time. It was a great great afternoon
I was SO tired walking home, but I finally made it. My "mom" was the only one home when I got home, and she surprised me by asking if I wanted this white corduroy djelaba that she had in her hands. I was so honored and happy! I love it. It's the new 'kimono' for next year.... get ready. When Imane and Fatima came home- Imane and I transcribed some of my interviews from Monday, which was actually INCREDIBLY helpful, and I got a lot more information than I had from the broken translations from the two teachers.... Imane had fun with the teachers' accents-- "tech no log ie", and kept asking "THESE MEN ARE TEACHERS?!?!? I SPEAK BETTER THAN THEM" haha. I also got Imane's opinion on some of the topics, which was helpful too....
All in all- great, fun-filled, jam-packed day.
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