Monday
So I tried to get online today but for some reason the internet isn't fully functional yet at the CCCL, which is our student center. They're doing a ton of construction and cleaning so I guess it's interfering with the internet.
Tonight is the 26th night of Ramadan which apparently is a big deal. All of the little boys and girls get all dressed up and have their pictures taken on the marriage platform things. Chayma, her cousin and I got henna (which looks awesome!) then when we came back, her family started appearing! Her 2 younger girl cousins her 2 aunts and a boy who's about 15 came and had dinner with us. After dinner, Chayma put make up on them then after this wicked dance party and the passing around of the mirror, we went out. But going out here means we walked for over 2 hours just making a loop around the main street. You know how we can't go out without causing trouble? Still true. We were taking a picture and 3 guys wanted to get in it. at first we laughed and said whatever, but Chayma's cousin said no. So when we tried to get rid of them, they wouldn't go. Then her aunt came over and started yelling at them. It was great!
I've decided though that groups should not be allowed to excede 4 people. It's just sucha hassle to walk with more because people always get stuck behind slow walkers, or find someone else they know, or decide to go somewhere the rest of the group doesn't want to go. Especially when it's family because you don't want to split up, but you definitely don't want to go with them. There were just too many people! It took us 3 hours for a 40 minute walk! While it's great excercise, I went for a run before class today and I'm runnning again early tomorrow! We'll see how that goes...
Apparently we don't have class thursday and friday so a few of my friends are trying to figure out what to do. part of me wants to stay with my family for the last night of Ramadan, but the other part of me wants to travel a little, at least to casablanca. We're going later in the semester, but it would be nice to spend some extra time there.
Tuesday
This morning I went running at like 8am after eating until like 1/1:30ish. It was kinda rough getting up, but it was sooo nice to excercise! I walked to class by myself for the first time today which was exciting. I didn't get lost, which I thought was pretty impressive. Lol. I'll have to draw a map and take a picture of the medina so you can fully understand how impressive it was. Arabic today was hilarious. We're learning colors and clothes and stuff so she had us go on field trips to report on how other teachers are dressed. We even played guess who by describing someone in the room and one person had to guess who it was. Fatiha, our teacher, is hilarious! She started laughing sooo hard at our pronunciation... she started to tear up! I mean, we're pretty bad and she kept apologizing, but it's really hard for her to keep a straight face most of the time. Then at lunch I finally had internet... but it was also 8 in the morning there so no one was really on skype. I don't think internet is that fast though because I keep trying to post my pictures and for some reason it never works out. I think I'm going to try again tomorrow though.
I went to a cafe tonight with a bunch of friends and on the way back I had to just stop and soak it in. I keep having these moments of oh man I'm actually here. I'm in frickin Africa. When did that happen?! So many things look just like it's a picture. I can't believe how surreal it is! Like how my house has these awesome windows that go right out to the street or to the house next door. There are no screens, very few bugs and there's always a beautiful view. It hasn't rained once since we've been here. I feel like I'm in the middle of a movie or something. Today I got hit 3 times with this feeling. Once when I was running this morning (right next to the freakin ocean!) once when I was looking out the window that looks out onto the street on the 2 1/2 floor by the stairs and again on our way back into the medina (the walled part of the city) where there was smoke wafting from the food being cooked on the street and light from the street lights that just seemed to hit the wall. I just get a little overwhelmed sometimes by how amazing it is to be here with all of the colors and smells and feelings.
So I've decided to fast until the end of Ramadan. I think it was good when I fasted on Sunday but you don't get the full effect unless you do it a few days in a row. I think I'll appreciate the food and the end of Ramadan more once I'm doing it.
Speaking of Sunday, I was really excited today because a bunch of girls are doing a bible study here! While it won't be nearly as fun as my baking and awesome chatting time with Laura and Betta, I'm sure it'll be good.
So I don't think I'm going to travel for the long weekend. If anything I'll do a day trip to hike in the mountains but I'm not too sure of that. I would almost rather wait until we've travelled with the program before travelling independently and I REALLY want to spend the time checking out Rabat more.
I think I've decided to post things on Mondays and Fridays. I've been typing every night before I go to sleep then copying and pasting it. I'm trying so hard to survive without consistent internet access. Sometimes I think it's for the best that I don't have internet while other times I'm not so sure. But I guess it doesn't really matter because I'm not getting it.
Wednesday
Class today was hilarious. One by one we sat in a chair in the front of the room and had to answer the questions our classmates asked us in darija. It was so funny! Then at the end of class we found out we have an oral presentation with a group of students (we choose the groups) and use as much vocab as possible. Our group has decided to do a skit on... street harassment! To make it better, we're including, in darija, "excuse me can I talk to you for a minute? can i have your number? can i? " "where your boyfriend at?" and the best "The back of your head is ridiculous!" I'm so excited!!
So since I'm fasting (which is still a total shock to my host family... my brother keeps asking me and laughing) I couldn't have lunch. So while everyone ate I (finally!) got to talk to jason. Afterwards I had another class but while I was in class I (again, FINALLY) got my pictures to upload onto facebook. definitely let me know if you can't get to them using the link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201718&id=500336784&l=42e9305a43
After class I took a long awaited nap, watched some TV, then I went out with Chayma, her friend Maria, some of her cousins, Ahmed and my friends to the beach. We walked along a jetti and I was blown away by how beautiful it is. The waves are so strong and hit the rocks so the the water sprays. It really is the ocean! It was another of those "oh man i'm really here.. in morocco... oh man!" moments. hahaha. After, we walked down by a board walk area. on the way over, chayma was proposed to! She said no of course not, then her cousin walked up to him and said that he should marry her right now on the board walk. he said no and went his way! It was so funny. then we sat down off the boardwalk and started playing this card game. It was so much fun!! then a bunch of guys came and sat with us and played music. Some time after midnight we decided to head back. The whole night was amazing. It was such a great group of people, just big enough for it to be ok that it's rowdy. And we were quite rowdy. haha. It was awesome! Although I have to say I don't think I've ever been stared at so much when I was just wearing a plain white t shirt and jeans! I got more attention than Britney Spears when she shaved her head! I was shocked because I thought I was being really conservative.
So there is no school tomorrow and my final decision is not to go anywhere but to go to the beach with my sister and some friends and to explore Rabat as much as possible. I'm so pumped.
Thursday
Soooo I find it completely necessary to just talk about the ridiculous things that have been said in the past week. For example, when I said I wanted a turtle, my friend Megan asked me what I would do with it. My answer was quite simple; Love it forever. So here's a list.
"You got any ones in there?" as megan reaches into her wallet pack inside her jeans.
"What would Port Authority do? You can't just throw out a turtle."
"What am I going to do with a hamster in the medina??"
"I'm airbending AND waterbending"
"I can be your token ginger friend."
"Hello! are you chinese??" from a Moroccan man to my friends and I, one of whom is a redhead(?!)
Hahahahaha we walked all around today! And we already made the executive decision to spend thanksgiving going to see Harry Potter and eating Pizza Hut. we went to the garden and people watched for a while, went to the church and found times for daily and sunday masses (some in english!), went to McDonald's (one of the only places publicly open due to Ramadan so I sat through it even though I'm fasting), and wandered around this awesome bookstore where I got a couple cookbooks (I'm sure you're shocked). We spent 5 hours just walking around so now i'm pretty wiped out.
So I napped for about an hour then had dinner, during which we heard this booming noise which apparently means that it is a crescent moon, marking the end of Ramadan. No one is ever fully sure when Ramadan ends until they see the moon, then the palace shoots something off so that everyone knows that there's no more fasting! So tomorrow we'll have a normal breakfast at like 8am, lunch at around 1 and dinner around 9 according to Chayma. I'm so excited to be able to go to a cafe or a store during the day! Tomorrow is supposed to be a day of family and food so it should be interesting. After dinner, a bunch of friends came over and watched a movie. A few minutes after they got here, my host mom came down with a big tray of pastries and cookies and tea! It was so cute! My friend megan was so excited because apparently her family doesn't drink a lot of tea. That seems so weird to me because my family serves me tea with every single meal. It's really the ideal situation for me. lol. The tea they have is amazing! It just goes right into a teapot with mint leaves and they pour boiled water into it. One of Chayma's friends taught me how to pour it. You have to pour it really high up so that the leaves don't fall in and the top doesn't fall off. Even after my nap I'm finally getting hit with the effects of not eating until late, then staying up until wicked late and going to class early all day. I have no idea what is actually going to happen tomorrow. My sister said lots of family, but it sounds to me like we eat like all day, then go out with family at night but I know some of my friends want to get together to work on our prosentation for class. I'd also like to go to an internet cafe so I can post more pictures and see if I can talk to people. It's been kinda rough getting in touch with everyone, but I'm hoping it's just because of Ramadan. I know that the student center is going to be open later after the weekend so my hours online will change.
We had the 2nd meal and I ended up getting sucked into watching a soccer game, Rabat vs Fez. It came down to a shoot out and Fez won. By the time it was over it was already 1:30!
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