Morocco is amazing in and of itself. Its history, its monuments, its scenery. However, for me, what is most amazing about Morocco is the people in it. I keep meeting such wonderful people here.
That's Mounia. She lives across from me and is Noura's (another exchange student) roommate. She's probably the cutest person I have ever met. She's incredibly sweet, loving, welcoming, and fun. She spent an hour showing me past love letters, pictures of her and boyfriends, of her and kittens. Going through her poetry, and her family tree. She's even saved lyrics of her favorite songs from the Song Club (she has very good taste). It made me smile to see how much she was willing to open up her life to another person.
I sniped a picture of her bed, with all the little animal figurines and the word "Love" taped to her wall. Certainly fits her, I'd say.
Today was a lazy day, though. I woke up to a phone call from Michael telling me that they were heading out to do laundry and then food at 2. We made our way through the freezing rain to the restaurant near my dorm, only to find it extremely crowded and decide to run across campus to the new restaurant. It was fun, though, and we ate and talked for two hours. It was nice to hang out with the BC guys again. I expressed my annoyance at their distance and exclusivity, they apologized and then I felt guilty for being needy. (haha, wooo, life.) But, ah well, I guess we all have our bad days.
Today was pretty meh. But there you go.
Around 7 I couldn't bear my room anymore so I went running around in the rain and cold and dark. It was really exhilarating! The cold was SO SO SO cold. But it was a good cold. A very good cold. I might go out and jog again and take pictures, just so I don't feel so lonely.
This morning I rolled out of bed 10 minutes later than I should have, as usual. At around 9:35AM I booked it to the main gate to meet up with the exchanges for our 9:30AM meeting. Fortunately, everyone was there waiting, anyway. Like, 20 of us. Was crazy. We walked for 20 minutes, first to get to town, then to the Grand Taxis. We would take one of these from Ifrane to Fes, for about an hour or so ride. Trick was, we had to fit seven people into a car that was made for five. Grand Taxis are just regular old Mercedez Benz from, oh, 1960 something? You pay 21 dirham (Less than 4 dollars) for a "seat" in the Taxi - if you DON'T want to squish, you need to pay for the other seats. We were thinking economy and group dynamics, so, 6 exchange students to a car it was. Ben and I squashed into the front.
The drive there was beautiful, though. Morocco is truly such a beautiful country. It reminds me so much of Guatemala; driving through the mountains, I felt homesick for it. How funny is that, huh Mama? And I love navigating around Morocco, feeling the frustration and confusion trying to communicate in a mostly foreign language, then having that AHA! moment, where you bridge the gap! These moments, for me, come mostly with taxi drivers. Today, I had a conversation with one about the sights of Morocco, about where I'm from, about his kids.
When we got to Fes we decided to see the Old Medina (City). It's basically a maze of shops selling everything from burned DvDs to purses to postcards to slippers to amazing Moroccan tea pots and lamps.
We (Ben, Hannah, and I) lost Lindsay and Britney while we were navigating the crowded paths. Apparently, they had gone to their hotel. We backtracked, found the hotel, figured we'd try to find a room for ourselves. At first, we tried to find a room for all three of us. However, after seeing the single room that the woman had to offer, Ben beelined out of there. The woman lead us to a different hotel, Pension Kawtar, that seemed really nice (in comparison.) The view from the veranda was wonderful.
Ben, Hannah and I goofed around up there for a bit. Taking pictures, looking around us. It was around the time that Ben was warning Hannah to please not fall off the chair and die, that the oddest noise trumpeted through the air. "What's that?" Ben asked, as the sound began to squeak and quaver. "It's the call to prayer," I responded, after a moment, as all around me the adhan erupted from the masjids of Fes. I only wore a small smile on my face, but every word moved through me. Ah, I thought, this is what it was like in the ancient world. This is what it's like to live amongst the Muslims. This is what their lives sounded like.
After leaving our bags at the hotel, we wandered around again, trying to locate Lindsay and Britney. They kept telling us where they were, but didn't stay put, so we played an odd game of cat and mouse. Along the way, a man offered Ben "moroccan whiskey" which we politely refused, and we also picked up a companion of sorts. A waist high boy, about 8 years old, who asked me if I was "maricahn" and whether or not I wanted the "channery." In Arabic, I asked him his name, which was Muhammad. He looked very pleased and asked me what my name was, and I told him, and then I told him that I had a brother named Muhammad. Then he kept on about the Channery. Eventually, some man told us that he meant the Moroccan lamps, "chandeliers." This man also helped us find a restaurant that Lindsay and Britney eventually joined us at. It was really pretty! And the food was excellent. Ben also ended up getting us a discount by telling the man in french that we were students and didn't have a lot of money.
I took some pictures of myself as per your request. HOWEVER I WOULD LIKE TO NOTE THAT I LOOK LIKE A WEIRDO. PLEASE FORGIVE MY AWKWARD EXPRESSION. I THINK IT WAS THE FACT THAT THE FLASH BLINDED ME. THANKS YOU.
Anyway. The meal was DELICIOUS. However, Ben started feeling sick. We ended up going back to the hotel, because we wanted to let him rest and also because it was starting to rain. When we got to the hotel, not only did we discover that the sheets of our beds were dirty (GROSS) but Ben vomitted twice. :( He was really sick. So, we decided to head back to Ifrane, and gave our room to some friends. Until then, we killed time with shenanigans.
We eventually ended up taking some taxis back to Ifrane, and man, was I EVER glad to see our cold but CLEAN campus. Ben, I hope you're feeling better :(
Fes tomorrow. I think? I am not too sure about what the exchanges are doing at this point. Lots of confusion. The sun came out today, and all the snow went melty melty. I sloshed around in it with Mehdi after my Comparative Politics class. We talked in Spanish and English and traded stories. He speaks to practice his English and I am supposed to be practicing my Spanish, but I am too shy. So mostly I just try not to talk too fast and give him a hard time.
Got back to the room and started cleaning and organizing with my roommate, Hafsa. :) She has art from her brother, who also attends AUI. I have fashion mags. In the end, we figured something out.
At 7:30 I booked it to Sara and Kawtar's room. Sara invited me to dinner, and she cooked traditional Moroccan cuisine, with only vegetables because she's on a special 21 day fast. There was a bunch of us there, talking politics, religion, love, food, cracking jokes on each other.
These girls are amazing, seriously. They take my breath away in their compassion, drive, intelligence, sincerity, authenticity. They're who I want to be when I grow up. I sniped a photo of Kawtar's wall to illustrate some of that awesomeness:
I had been feeling a little disconnected, due to some awkward meetings with exchange students. Visiting Sara and Kawtar was really what I needed. It felt so good to feel at home again. Sara mentioned Muslim sisterhood earlier this evening, and I really, really feel like this is what it was. I was surrounded by real people that I felt like I understood...knew...belonged with, even. I don't know how to describe it. I just felt safe.
The way they took care of each other and shared their lives reminded me so much of my sisters at home. After sharing some of my worries and questions with them, Sara assured me that whatever was said in these walls, stayed in them. Kawtar smiled and said, "Yes, this is our Las Vegas." We all laughed. For the rest of the night, I floated on a cloud.
If you're reading this, thanks, you guys. Not only for the best Moroccan meal I've had yet, but for the sisterhood. For making me feel at home. I walked out of your dorm thanking Allah for looking out for me.
It's about 12AM here and, despite the rock blaring in my ears, I'm fading fast. This actually isn't unusual these days, what with rising before noon (I know, crazy) and spending the entire day skidding and slipping over ice alongside my newest acquaintances.
I am surprised, again and again, by the incredible kindness and warmth from my Moroccan peers. I really, really feel welcomed by them here at AUI. Before coming here, I was terrified that they'd dismiss as, well, nothing new. The opposite has happened, really. A girl from the states who wears a scarf? Nice! Well, that is, of course, after they bust out the daraja (Moroccan dialect of Arabic) and I respond with my second most frequently used phrase: "La Afham (I don't understand)." The first, of course, is for, "Asif (I'm sorry)," but that's the same as in the states. Old habits die hard, I guess.*
Anyway. Today I spent most of the day trying to locate my Arabic professor. It seems that, as usual, someone somewhere thought I was a Moroccan/native Arabic speaker (Way to go, naming me in Arabic, MUM.. just kidding! <3) and I was put into a class for Moroccans. Anyway, when I DID find my professor, after a day and a half of showing up at his office, he told me that it wasn't in his hands, but if I was not a Moroccan, I shouldn't be in his class. So, I went to find the man in charge of the whole Arabic language department thing. I'm still looking for him. He is a very elusive man. Bottom line: I ran around a lot today, to no avail, and I still need to get my classes in order. Bummer. Oh well.
Anyway, when I decided to take a break from trolling around the faculty offices, I went to the... marketplace that has a French name that I am not even going to try to spell...with Ben and Hannah. I wanted to exchange money, they wanted to get cellphones. Well, we more or less skated into town** as the stretch to the main road was covered in ice and we kept having to jump into slush and snow to avoid cars.
After a lot of bad fus-ha, some spanish, and a lot of miming, I got my money, and we set out to find cellphones. Upon weaving our way through the various little stores we found dead chickens, a cafe, shady guys with sunglasses, boots that Hannah and Ben refused to buy, and yes, finally, the cellphone store.
Of course, we were then told that Ben and Hannah needed their passports.
Which, no, they did not have.
We made our way back in a somewhat defeated manner.
There were OTHER adventures, of course. Sam and I had some wonderful tea (and even better conversation -- he plays video games too! Warcraft III! SAM <3) in the new restaurant opening up on campus. On our way back, we ran into Michael (BC Michael - not to be mistaken with Tombs Michael) who was wandering around with a pleasant expression, as usual, giving off vibes of happiness as he snapped pictures of the campus and spoke in broken fus-ha (:D Yay Michael!). Anyway, he and I made our way into the masjid to take pictures (I got to be on the men's side... yeah... I'm a rebel...woo.)
And, I'll leave it at that. I've gotta crash. Please excuse the dates on some of the pictures - they're automated, and my Iphoto, for whatever reason, stuck them in the wrong folder. They are all within the last two days :)
-n.
- *Side note: I realize that I talk, write, think like a British person (or so I'm told). Convoluted, long-winded, roundabout, etc. This just further convinces me that I belong in England. **Another Side Note: I want to note that "skated" is far different from "scatted," which is what I originally wrote. Though, I am sure, Ben, Hannah, and I could have scatted too.
Hello family/friends/creepy internet people! You may have heard that I am in MOROCCO. And if you haven't heard, well, guess what, I'm in MOROCCO. For a semester. Like 5.5 months or something. I know, it's nuts, and I've got about 30 minutes to summarize my exploits in 5 or so days. Classes are tomorrow and I have an effing EIGHT AM CLASS (I wrote out the number 8 for EMPHASIS) and I don't want to miss it (Hi Mama, I'm being responsible!).
I was in London for 3 days. I saw Liz. We saw sights, I took pictures. Happy face.
On my way from London to Casablanca to Fez, I lost my camera. Sad face.
Spent one night in a five-star hotel, Papa and I were not really impressed, but it was clean and had beds and good food. So that was nice.
The next day we headed over to AUI, my school, up in the mountains of Ifrane. Met up with a bus from the school, met a lot of nice people.
Dad bid farewell after buying me a jacket, a camera, and gloves and battling a hailstorm to get to me (he totally wins father of the year award, Mama please make sure Papa gets a cool tie for Father's Day or something :D).
Three days of orientation. Three lonely nights without a roommate. Two fits of tears. A lot of fits of laughter, however, as everyone here is extremely friendly and I am having a blast.
There is way too much to say, so I am resorting, quite lazily, to the pictures I have taken, which is all you probably care about right now anyway.
Morocco is freaking COLD.
That's campus. There's snow. SNOW. SNOW. Crazy right? Well we just got another half a foot. Pictures later. I am, as a sidenote, ALWAYS COLD. Except for here: That's my room! It's big. I gets a bathroom too. But I'm not posting that, because I am lazy.
Seriously, COLD. But we have a lot of fun, anyway. LIKE GAMES! Karaoke, balloon popping, spoons, and there was a BANANA game that was QUITE.... interesting.
We can actually SKI here in Morocco.... Which is what we tried to do today. Picturesss
However. Weather was bad. So we tried to get back to the school. And one of our buses almost fell off a cliff after dodging a pickup and sliding against a van. We were slipping diagnolly, you see. And some crazy freshman all ran to the rear of the bus because they thought it was COOL. Now, REALLY. -_- But we're ok :) No one died. Or got frost bite. Yeah, we're not doing that again.
School is FUN and QUITE safe, however. Classes tomorrow! Fes this weekend (I think?).
