I'm back in Rabat (thank God) and I've showered, been fed and went for a nice loooonnngggg run with my friend in attempts to work off some of the bread we ate this past week. I wrote most of my experience down while I was there but really in all actuality there are not enough words in the frickin dictionary to explain what it was like. I just keep saying over and over that it was crazy. So here it is:
Thursday
The fact that we had arabic class was kind of a joke. We were all sooooo distracted with thoughts of our village stay that no one was really paying attention and our teacher could not hold our interest for more than a few minutes. Afterwards I ran back to my house, grabbed my bag, said good bye to my family, had lunch with my friends and then we were off! On to the next big adventure. And oh man was it an adventurous day. It took us about 3 hours (with one bathroom stop).... until the bus broke down for a little bit just outside of the village. We got off the bus while they figured it out and some played frisbee while others tried to befriend the village boys (they were like 10) who were shyly creepin on the weird Americans. Once they got the bus situation under controlwe drove a little farther until they told us it was time for the first group of students to go with their families. Then we dropped off the second group and finally we stopped and the rest of us got off. We huddled around a flashlight lit list of family names and student names, grabbed some toilet paper and bottled water and when my name was called it was go time. My first look at my host mom was shocking. She was young with a baby strapped to her back with a scarf and a 6 year old boy in hand. It was a pretty brief glance because she grabbed my hand and led me into the now pitch black night with no flashlight and no looking back to the well lit bus. Her son would run next to us and throw rocks at objects that later whimpered. I was beginning to regret bringing as much as I had because we headed straight up a small mountain. After almost eating it a few times on some rocks, we headed towards a faint light that turned out to be my house. We went in and immediately my host mom started running around, apparently getting together some food. Meanwhile, I met her mom who lives with her and sat down while they just stared at me. I just couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous it was. I mean I don't know very much darija and they speak absolutely no english whatsoever. So I just laughed to myself. Then my host grandmother caught glance of my clauddagh ring. It was the only jewelry I brought and I just couldn't bring myself to part with it. But I really regretted it when my host grandmother looked at it and started saying something that I couldn't understand and then saying zweena (darija for pretty). Then she started to take it off my finger and continued to put it on her own. Then she made a motion towards herself like saying that it's hers. I could only respond with "la la la la la" (which means "no no no no no"). She gave it back (thank God), but then started saying "floos" which is money. I'm pretty sure she was asking me for money. I said "m'endeesh floos" (I don't have money) but it was super uncomfortable and the conversation ended when my host mom walked back into the room. While we had dinner (bread, cheese, tea, apple and grapes) they kept trying to talk to me but I think between the shock and my lack of language skills I had no idea what they were saying. I think they may have been getting frustrated but I just kept laughing awkwardly. After dinner we went to bed, me, my host mom, her 9 month old daughter and her 6 year old son on the floor on mats with blankets and pillows. The baby girl was still at the breast feeding stage and my host mom would just whip it out all the time. It was so strange to me! Then when I needed to change into my pajamas there's no other room or anything so I just changed in front of everyone. Whatever.
Friday
Everyone was up and going by 6:30 so so was I. I washed my face and brushed my teeth in the bathroom (luckily I had a bathroom, not that I know what that word means anymore because it was a turkish toilet aka hole in the ground with buckets of water)I realizes after walking around a little that the noises I had heard at night were not in fact a lot of small children crying, but my host family had goats, sheep and 2 donkeys! I think my host grandmother was trying to tell me the different words in darija for chicken and goats as she led me around a little. Idk though because after a little bit she asked for my ring again which then progressed to asking for money again. So when I needed to leave for the hike my group was going on I brought all of my valuables. We left at 8 for the hike (me and my host mom) but I didn't need to be there until 9. It was just down the hill though so when no one was there, I was a little nervous that I would be sitting there with her in silence for an hour. That is, until I fortunately saw 2 girls from the program walking on the road. I practically ran to them and we walked around a little. After meeting up with them and talking to my other friends who had had awesome family experiences, I decided I needed to talk to our program director about my family issues. The hike itself was absolutely mind blowing. The mountains are just so incredible and there is a volcano that we hiked onto. Oh man there are just not enough pictures in the world or words in our language to describe how I felt when looking around. The vastness of the sky combined with the enormous mountains and valleys was a sight I'm not sure I'll ever forget. Unfortunately while I was appreciating it's beauty and trying to capture it, I fell on the very narrow path we were standing on. I was able to catch myself and did very little damage.... with the exception of my camera. My camera was in the hand that caught myself. I was mourning the loss of my camera, when my friend Chandra said that she had had a similar falling experience (not down a mountain, but just falling) and was able to pop the lens back out and it worked for another 2 years. So she played with it and amazingly got it to work again! I almost kissed her. We climbed a volcano (nbd) and listened to a lecture on deforestation and attempts to plant and some local issues. Then we hiked up and down the mountains for about 2 1/2 hours. It was crazy! The whole time, these police guys followed s because I guess we are an international security risk. Apparently they were the equivalent to our SWAT team. Who knew? They were really nice and dressed like regular guys. Anyway, we hiked to this place where we had lunch (honey soaked pancakes and tea, the best honey I've ever had in my entire life) and women from the village came to talk to us and answer some questions we have. By the end of lunch I had made the decision that it would be best if I moved. So I talked to Nawal and she said that she could talk to them if I want but I can change families. I told her I wanted to switch. So after lunch I took the van (this blue van somehow maneuvered its way through the mountains and transported the people who lived really far) and went on the craziest car ride I think I've ever been on in my whole life. We could have toppled off the mountain and I would not have been surprised at all. We eventually made it, all in one piece, and I hung out with my friend Jena and her family for a few hours. Then I looked for Nawal to figure out my next move. It was starting to get dark, so I went with a friend to get my stuff from the house. We told them that I was going to her house, but they kept asking me questions that I didn't understand and I was so overwhelmed that we ended up just walking out saying good bye. I definitely caused a bit of a scene which is not at all what I wanted. So my host mom followed us down the little mountain until I could find Nawal to have her explain what was going on. So then Nawal sent me to my 2nd house which had a grandmother, her 3 sons who were 26, 24 and 15 and her 26 year old son's family of 4 kids, Doha (3), Soufian (5), Hadija (9) and Nezha (10). Luckily there was another student there, Jeanette. We hadn't really talked very much before this and we got to know each other REALLY well. You have no idea. We've had so much bonding time, and we've talked about just about everything physically possible. But the first night we had a little bit of a dance party. They have a TV which amazed me. They played music from a wedding on the TV and Nezha showed us how to dance a little bit. So back to the TV situation. They have lights and a TV, but apparently no bathroom. This gets really interesting let me tell you, because we actually peed in the chicken coop. Oh that's right, you read that correctly. With the chickens cowering in the corner. We peed in the chicken coop. DId I mention that sometimes that's where the donkey lives? Oh yeah. And the kids always follow us. I swear to you they made us go there because they thought it was funny. And to be honest with you, it kind of was hilarious. Anyway, that night we had a tajine and peeled apple for dinner, we hung out then went to bed. I had my own corner, but I slept in the room with all of the kids and their mom, and Jeanette shared a room with the grandma.
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