The weekend (finally)

Friday
So while they do have a shower and hot water (which is so nice), it is a part of the bathroom. the shower head is like a european one and there is a curtain that separates the sink from the shower and the toilet. My host mom showed me how to use it, and when I got out I came back to my room to find breakfast on a small table already! She walked me to my arabic class once I was ready to go. after class my host sister came to get me to remind me where the house is. I finally got a cell phone and now I realize how nice it was not to have one! I was so content not having a cell phone to distract and bother meand now I'm really glad I don't have internet at my house. Anyway, I'm definitely going for a run tomorrow (not alone mom don't worry!) but otherwise nothing is planned. I have my first real break fromt his crazy week. The excitement from the first few days is definitely still there but now that I'm a little settled in I'm a little homesick. It can be tricky communicating with my family and they do things a certain way and I feel like i throw their lives a little off balance. Maybe I just need a nap. lol.

After I felt like this, my host sister, Chayma, asked me if I wanted to go out with the family. We went down by the river where there is a carnival during Ramadan. It was so much fun! I played bumper cars with Amhed (my host brother), which was hilarious and we walked along the river and ate cotton candy and peanuts. They were huge!

Saturday
I slept in (finally!) I went for a long run with my friend Mark on a long path by the beach. It was really fun, but sooo hot! After, I spent some time watching TV with my family and reading in my room.

Later my host mom whipped out a bunch of photo albums of her wedding! Oh man guys, she wore 6 different dresses!!!! Six! They were each traditional dresses from different regions which i guess is normal for a Moroccan wedding. I thought that that was the coolest thing. One of them was this HUGE silver gown that started up by a tiara on her head and was like a giant triangle tent thing. It. was. AWESOME! And they were both carried individually on this little platform. Apparently on monday there is a big party where the boys and girls dress up and sit in these platforms and there is henna. It's a celebration of their first Ramadan fasting.

After dinner, my family helped me with my pronunciation. Did you know that moose means knife? I'm sure that it's not spelled the same, but when they said moose I couldn't help but laugh! The whole thing was funny. I can't pronounce the word for 9 so every time it came up when I was studying I'd pause and laugh and they would pronounce it for me and wait for me to repeat it. Then I ended up going to the beach with a couple friends and their host sisters which was really nice.

So I've decided to fast tomorrow just to see what it'll be like. I've fasted before for Lent, but always drinking tons of water. It should be pretty interesting to see how cranky I get by the end of the day! Tomorrow also begins my church search! I really want to get to church. Even if I miss the mass, I want to make sure that I at least get to pray a little. I brought a rosary so maybe I'll do that. I found a church on the bus tour so I just need to remember how to get there. it's about a 20-25 minute walk because it's outside of the medina. Well I'll let you know how it goes!

Sunday

I've decided to do as my family does today. I was planning on finding that church, but I realized that I shouldn't be walking by myself to find it and I can't exactly ask my host family to take me. So in class on Monday I'm going to ask if anyone wants to explore it with me. I know a few people who wanted to, but we didn't have too much time this week. Instead I said the rosary this morning. I decided not to shower until after Ftour (the breaking of the fast at night). My family hangs out in their pajamas all day so so will I. It'll truly be a day of rest.

I read and watched soap operas in darijha all day today until I went upstairs and Chayma her cousin and her mom showed me how to make the flat crepe-like bread. It's no wonder it tastes so good! There are like 3 pounds of butter in each one! I wasn't hungry until everything started to be cooked. By the time dinner came around I was worried I was going to pass out from dehydration! It was so funny because my host mom kept telling me to eat and putting food in front of me. I kept hearing "cooli cooli cooli!" which means eat eat eat! The food was amazing, as usual. Chayma introduced me to this paste which is a bunch of spices with tomato paste I think. I don't know what exactly it is, she just said it's spices. Whatever it is, it's awesome! She made these pizza like things with bread mixed with spice and the spice paste and some cheese and olives. I hate olives usually but they were AMAZING on this pizza! Oh man I really think I'm going to gain like 20 pounds on this trip. Luckily I'm going running again tomorrow.

Unfortunately, my body hasn't quite caught up to the different foods. I'm hoping it adjusts soon because I'm not going to stop eating them. lol. Although I might go out and get yogurt to help out my system. Meanwhile I just keep taking sips of pepto bismol.

So apparently I'm from Argentina. I mean it's pretty clear right?
It seems like every time I go out with Chayma and her cousin, something ridiculous happens. One night it was the guy who only spoke arabic and was convinced he just needed to talk to me so we could have a relationship. They told him I was engaged and my fiance would beat him up. Saturday it was the guy who said "You are beautiful. Welcome." And now tonight we were walking around and these guys try to call me over while Chayma was on a pay phone. Her cousin starts talking to the guy who is calling me over asking him why he wants to talk to me. Why not her? So we walk away and I guess after they used the phone they followed us up the road and tried to talk to us. They asked where I was from and whether I spoke english or french. Meanwhile I can't stop laughing. All I heard was "tres jolie" which means very pretty, and I just lost it. I was laughing so hard! So to make it better, Chayma's cousin says that I'm from Argentina! Chayma told them that I'm married and that both of them are in relationships. Oh man it was hilarious.

Here's the link to more pictures! It takes soooo long for pictures to upload so it might not happen again for a couple weeks.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201718&id=500336784&l=42e9305a43