Friday was a mess of a day. I had an arabic exam in the morning which was a mushkil kabeer (big problem) because I can only really see out of one eye when I write and it takes a lot of concentration so I end up with a headache. Not to mention I've missed 2 classes this week because of it. But I took it, w/e. It turns out that my teacher really hates giving us these stupid quizzes, so they don't actually count towards our grade, but are review for the final exam next week. I'm pretty sure i'm going to score an A in this class because I try. That's the only reason. Anyway, after the quiz my whole class went to a cafe and had the rest of class there. After class, I was supposed to volunteer, but i could barely see on my walk back to my house, so I decided not to go. Instead I hung out, then had a meeting with my advisor for my independent study. I'm so excited/nervous to get going with it. it's a little daunting, but i think it'll be good. I've changed my topic a little so it'll be interesting to see where it goes. After my meeting, i opted to walk on the beach and check it out because a bunch of my friends play soccer there on fridays. I put my feet in the water and chatted with some friends, then headed out before sunset. Unfortunately I was not alone. A random well dressed Moroccan boy (I say boy but he was probably around my age) approached me and tried to get me to talk to him. He spoke english and kept saying that he wanted to talk to me to practice. He said that he approached me because I have a beautiful face, a beautiful hair, a beautiful body, and beautiful eyes. Let me explain why this is hilarious. I haven't showered in 3 days (i was worried about getting shampoo in my eye), my hair is in a gross bun, my face broke out because i'm in freakin africa, i'm wearing a white t shirt that's on day 3 of wearing it without washing (not in a row) and my right eye is red, swollen and barely open because i scratched my frickin cornea! I started laughing just because i thought of all days I could get attention, this would be it. (don't worry i've showered since). So first I called Chandra, then realized she was playing soccer, so I called Chaimaa, my host sister, and explained what was going on. She agreed to meet me. Luckily he left me alone as soon as I entered the medina. While on one hand this is a little unnerving. it's also hilarious now that it's over. Why on Earth would he think that I would all of a sudden start talking to him after being silent during a five minute walk? I guess I'll just have to wash the american out of my hair next time i shower. The rest of my night was relatively uneventful. Family has been coming and going since my host dad passed away so it can be a little overwhelming. But my host grandma is hilarious. She's terrified of Lucky, the cat. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. She screams when he comes in the room.
So Saturday was completely uneventful because I really didn't leave my house until it was dark. I woke up late, showered and tore apart my room. I dragged all of the stuff off my shelves and went through all of my papers. I think I started to panic a little because I realized I only have another week with my host family. Where did the time go? So I reorganized and everything will fit in my bag in shallah. Meanwhile I seriously got up to Episode 6 of grey's anatomy before calling it a day. My one outing was to a cafe to meet my friend Jena's friends who are visiting. After that I headed home while they split to go to a bar.
Sunday was much more exciting. After an early morning run (which didn't last very long as i keep getting these stupid headaches from trying to keep my eyes open in the light), I showered and went on an apartment adventure! There's a cheap apartment in Temara (just south of Rabat) so Chandra and I wanted to check it out. However. it's an adventure because we've never been to Temara, we were never given the precise address or road name, and were completely disoriented after getting off the bus after a 30 minute bus ride. In addition to that I realized I haven't been outside during the day for good reason. My eye was freakin out and Chandra kept forgetting that I couldn't see. So we walked around until we stopped and asked a man about directions to a cafe that we knew was on the corner. Unfortunately, no one could tell us where this cafe was. So the guy tried to give us general directions, and asked us if we wanted him to take us there. We looked at each other and said no thank you. But then we started walking and he drove by, saw and stopped us and told us we were going the wrong way. So he gave us more directions, but then asked again if he could help us by driving us. At this point, he seemed like a genuinely nice man trying to help out a couple girls who are not in the best neighborhood and are clearly lost. He told us about his children and about how he teaches art in Rabat. He was really interested in why we're taking arabic classes. So we got in the car and he drove around trying to find that stupid cafe. He stopped and asked a policeman, and then finally we spotted it. He gave us his card, said if we need anything or if we want to get coffee sometime to call him, then went on his way. from there we knew exactly where the apartment was. It was so cute! 3 women are renting out this first floor apartment that's so adorable, but so hard to get to. So we headed back to Rabat for lunch, then out again to Sale, a town just north of Rabat, to see another apartment. This one is closer to where I volunteer, and is dirt cheap because it's a friend of Chandra's host family. It's also really cute, but lacking hot water and an oven. But ultimately we don't think that matters because it's in a cute, safe part of the city, it's easy to get around, and did i mention how cheap it is? So we're thinking this is it. It's only 2 weeks, then we're going to essaouira for the rest of ISP. It was an experience fo sho because the woman who is renting us the apartment speaks only a little french and no english, so she's going to need to talk to Chandra's host family to get the details. Hopefully it'll work out!
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