Morocco 4

The Medina! It's a crazy crazy place that I have been to twice now. For those of you reading who don't know about Medinas, they are basically shuks (stores) all together with tiny passage ways between them. There's some open areas for food vendors, snake, henna, and monkey people etc. It's very unsafe, especially for people who look like tourists. I managed to take some pictures of what it looked like but didn't get to get many since I'd rather my camera not get stolen. So these little shops are all really interesting, there's different areas of the passage ways for different types of vendors. For example, all of the shoe vendors are all next to each other, that way the shoppers can compare products and prices easily. There are many colorful interesting shops, many selling products like shoes, clothing, spices, cloth, metal, lamps, leather, bags, and rugs. There's stuff hanging about the walkway as you pass and everywhere around you, no space to walk by, and you never know when a snake man will put a snake around your neck and ask for money (which has already happened). supposedly the food in the Medina is the best around, but you have to be willing to get sick if you try anything. Today I got my first sign of meebs (amoeba) from food that I ate yesterday. Here you never know where the food comes from and what's been done to it.

Morocco 3

Time to talk about arabic school. first of all, the building is spectacular. It's quaint but at the same time it's tiled beautifully with little twists and turns everywhere. There are little kids running around everywhere and there are tea breaks every hour of class. the class rooms are outside so we always get to walk out side to get everywhere and it's wonderful. There are palm trees and fun colors and a ping pong table and more crazy tile! In could not imagine a better school to come to every day,if I were in a school like this one everyday,I would enjoy school quite a bit more,luckily I'll be going there for 5 more weeks! The lunch room is my favorite, the tile is the best there and it looks like a formal Moroccan sitting room. There is a keyboard in there too and many talented americans to play it! The atmosphere here is very laid back and is so pleasant, today I finally went around the school taking loads of pictures. Class is difficult at the moment but we will switch from Moroccan dareja to Arabic farha which I know some of which will be wonderful. The day I came to morocco I lost my voice so speaking in dareja has been impossible, its hard to learn a new dialect of a foreign language when unable to speak but it shall get better soon ashahala. People have been very kind about my not talking and have told me in Arabic to feel better. 

Morocco 2

Two days ago my host family had a family party. They call it 40 memories, which is celebrated 40 days after a loved one dies. In this case it was my host familie's grandfather. I assumed that there would be maybe 50 people and that it would be a small dinner with some talk of the grandfather. I could not have assumed so incorrectly. There were 140 relatives there and it lasted 5 hours, until 1 am. the event took place outside my host uncle's huge villa. There were wait staff, large tables for everyone, bright colored traditional clothing, and tons of people! I got to wear a head scarf and traditional Moroccan clothing and got to talk in dariga to the family. There were men singing and tons of food. The next day I went back to the dame house and got to see it for what it really is. It was bigger than I had thought. Originally it was large, but after seeing it during the day, the house was the most beautiful home I had ever seen. The yard was huge with a swimming pool next to a gazebo, many sitting areas, and unlimited possibilities. We went over with a cousin, brother, sister, and the other american student staying with us and went swimming. It felt wonderful to get out of the conservative clothing and to wear a bikini again. It felt even better lying out tanning with everyone, watching the palm trees swaying back and forth and laughing. My host family loves pictures so my sister took many of us around the pool. I could not imagine a better time.

Morocco

I could not imagine a more different place. It's all so completely different! The ride from Rabat to Marrakesh was interesting, I'll post pictures later of it but the land was so completely empty. There was dirt, dead grass, sheep, and the Atlantic ocean and mountains in the distance. There were rocks piled up and a few palm trees here and there. No houses really, not even fences to keep the sheep from wondering off into the road. The biggest difference was reaching Marrakesh. Everything is red. The other cities aren't red like this one, this one is known as the entrance into the Sahara and the red city, I didn't take it quite so literally until actually reaching it. We soon found out host families and walked to their house. On the walk, we encountered cat calls, stray cats and dogs, and donkeys walking on the streets with carts. The sidewalks are all tile and stone and everything is walled in. The houses all have thick red fences with gates of interesting colors and designs. The red fences lead to red houses. We walked up to the apartment and found our room. My host family is wonderful, I have a host sister who speaks english very well, a brother who speaks some english, and parents who are wonderful. the family also has a maid who lives there with them. Currently a cousin of theirs is staying with them for a few days. The first day we learned some dariga ( Moroccan Arabic) and then got to attempt to use it at a party we later attended.

Start 5

Flight:
7 hours on the largest commercial jet in existence, it was amazing. Everything about it was spectacular. A boy in the group told some of us all about the plane before we went on it and mentioned that it holds over 800 people! Naturally, I sat next to him on the flight. He also happens to be my state buddy (only other person in the group that's from North Carolina) so it was cool to talk about home also. The other person I sat with on the flight was just as cool but hails from Portland Oregon, which I never thought was all that interesting until he told me about it. Everyone in this group comes from somewhere interesting with different backgrounds, also very cool. Anyways, on the flight the food was amazing for airplane food, they served a few different kinds of meals and everyone got to choose which they wanted. They served dinner and breakfast, both good. The screen attached to each seat were touch screen with games, tons of movies and shows, and even a chat room for the passengers. Each chair had a remote with a keyboard attached to it to type messages with. I tried watching a movie but halfway through the movie got distracted by the two guys next to me and stayed distracted the whole trip, making the time fly by quickly. We walked around the two floors of the plane and took pictures on the stairs going up to first class, the people working on the plane even took the pictures for us. Newt Gingrich was even on the plane! We saw him before getting on, again when walking around first class, and a third time when getting off. He took a picture with some of us and waved a different time.

Getting off the plane, we were delayed for our next flight for 14 hours! Which we had to spend staying in the airport (aka not seeing Paris, which we were in) we did however see the Eiffel tower from the windows and played around some. At that point I got sick, which has made the last few days a tad rough. Our plane was then supposed to go to Rabat because of storms but the flight still took 2 extra hours because the plane had to go around the stormy area to reach Rabat. On that plane I talked to a lady near me in Arabic. Reaching rabat wasn't as eventful as I had thought it would be, we were all so tired that the thought of reaching land was more related to the want of sleep than to actually being in a different country across the ocean.

Start 4

I've been in morocco for 4 days now, which is actually enough to write an extremely huge long article about the orientation in DC, plane ride, and the first few days in Morocco so i'll just start with the orientation.

Orientation:
I flew into DC June 16th, missing part of father's day AND my brother's birthday. The plane ride was about 45 minutes. Getting off the plane, I was alone and had absolutely no idea where to go. Like a lost puppy, I started walking towards baggage claim thinking maybe someone could be there to find me, if not at least I could get my baggage. Before I got there, I was intercepted by a group leader, who would be going to Morocco with me and all of the other kids. Getting to the hotel, I walk in and see 10 pairs of eyes staring at me. At first they all seemed really creepy but after the first few minutes went by it got better, we went for a walk around Arlington Virginia (just us kids) to get to know each other, which was definitely worth it because our walk ended up being 4 or 5 hours of sitting and socializing with the group of 10 people. We got back to the hotel and found many more people, who over time we got to know as well but initially it was nice to start with a group of a smaller number and then working up. Meeting all of the new people all at once was absolutely the coolest thing I have gotten to do in a long time. Everyone in the group has the same drive and desire to learn Arabic, which I have never seen before, making this fresh, new group of people a very special group. After a few days of games and lectures, we left to Paris to change flights to Casablanca.