So, how's Rabat? It's nice. Other people had told me that they thought it felt like Europe. After two months in Fes, I still can tell it's not Europe. But I can see what they mean. The streets are wider, even the old city is less crowded and easier to get through, people bother you less, the buildings are cleaner, there's a bright new tram way (about a month new - so new that their ticket-validator doesn't work and instead they have a guy working on there to mark your ticket for you.)
I actually tried to change my ticket to come home earlier when I realized that most friends were headed home. For better or worse, all them planes was filled up by then. So instead I got to know Rabat a bit. It's a nice city. Quiet, not too big. Nice for just getting stuff done, like the people who work here, or for just relaxing, like I have been doing.
Even Ramadan here isn't too terrible. Yesterday I had lunch at a restaurant. It is inside the Institut Francais. I had heard that in some countries, you can eat during the day in restaurants that have their windows blocked off to the street. That's actually not so true. Or true at all. Several restaurants are plain just open for tourists (and kids) without any kind of shielding. It leads to an interesting question. These people are hungry and uncomfortable, for religious reasons, yet working. Is it better to go and eat there, in front of them when they're not supposed to have so much as a sip of water, and yet justify their being open and help pay their wages -OR- to not go their because you don't want to eat in front of hungry people? I don't know. And not too many are open. I went to La Veranda, but I'm not sure how many others I'll go to.
I have been warned that pickpocketing goes up, because it costs so much to get the special dinner and breakfast on the table, and that tempers are short (as I would expect!) but it seems like as long as you're a bit more careful than usual - or maybe just as careful as I was all summer in Fes - that it's doable.
Did I ever tell you what Fes is actually like? I don't feel like re-reading my posts, so if you would like more info on that, just tell me. Two guys from ALIF are coming into Rabat tomorrow evening, but until then I have plenty of time to help fulfill your curiosity. Unless I go out to the Chellah for a couple hours. We'll see.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Farewell, Fes!
I'm now on the train from Fez to Rabat and will post this later. For my final week in Morocco. When I bought my ticket, I was sure that I'd find other students to travel with the week after the program. Oh, how very optimistic I was. There are some people staying around, but some only for a few days, others for other language schools, and yet others for places I am not really interested in and moving around far more than my 45-pound bag will allow. How did I let myself stick that much into my suitcase??? It was so easy because the bag still wasn't full. Ah, well, I'll find things to do.
The last week of classes was very busy, as you might imagine. I studied a bit, went to class (sometimes wishing I hadn't) and ran around doing things that needed to be done. Like buying goofy little presents. There are so many cute things that I tell myself, 'oh, someone will like that.' Hopefully I'll actually give them away this time. I think I still have a couple of keychains from Tunisia. You know, other than the one that I actually use on my office keys.
One of the things I did this week was to go to the hammam, or public bath. I still had never been, in part due to not knowing who to go with, and in part due to my dislike for saunas and jacuzzis. I had heard that the hammam is hot, and part of the idea is that you kind of sit around and sweat off the dirt for a while. That did not sound the least bit appealing to me. But then some of my friends went and said that there are actually rooms of varying heat, so it's possible to not be dying-ly hot. I was convinced.
Of course, going to the hammam is not as simple as grabbing your shower stuff and heading out. You need supplies. Typically, Moroccans use this stuff called 'black soap' that is made in part with olive oil at the hammam. It is thick and dark and doesn't really suds, but is supposed to be amazing for your skin. You can get it in tourist shops. And you may pay 35 MAD (about $8.50) for enough to last you 2-3 showers. My friends somehow had a Moroccan guy helping them, and they each got the same amount for just 2 dirhams, or 25 cents.
Well, our second Moroccan mama (she's the mom's cousin and lives with them, doing the traditional woman's work of cooking and cleaning) knew we were headed back and also that we wanted to go out in to the souk with her, so she took us the other night. Before we even left the house, she told us several times that we were not to say a word, but we could go with her. We agreed and set off, trailing close behind her, but trying to look innocent and uncomprehending. My roommate had brought a small tupperware dish that she wanted to fill, it would hold about 1 cup, but mama 2 said we wouldn't use it right then. We walked up to one of the general stores and she started talking to the guy, and I thought I heard the word "kilo" but thought she must be getting other things too. I mean, one KILO of soap?? It's dense, but still! No, no, we walked away a few minutes later with a rather large, heavy bag with half a kilo of soap for each of us. To use and then take home. Not in any nice container, but in a plastic bag. Our family is incredibly sweet. When we asked how much we owed her, she said it was 3 dirhams each, but that she wouldn't let us pay her back, that it was a present. It's crazy, less than 40 cents! And people are stilling it online for about $15 for a few ounces. Crazy, crazy.
[Now that I think about it, I don't know how well that bag is closed in my suitcase. I know that she said it stays better in the fridge, and I observed that it gets softer when it's hot. Ah, well, nothing to be done at the moment but hope that it doesn't ruin anything. And if it does, I guess it'll lighten the load a bit!]
Back to the hammam. You put the soap on and then scrub the heck out of your skin with a little bath mitt that is to a loofah what a loofah is to a t-shirt. They are incredible scratchy, and help get off the dead layers of skin. I got one the first time the others went to the hammam and have been using it in the shower, since it's hard (or impossible) to get a loofah in Fez, but I don't press very hard. At the hammam you're supposed to do it so hard that your skin turns red. Yeah, no thanks.
When you go into the hammam, at least the one we went to, you pay 10 dirhams and go into a room where you leave your clothes (and you give the lady who sits in there and watches your clothes another 5 dirhams... or at least foreigners do, who knows how it works really.) Well, there was a teenage boy there on Thursday that the girls hadn't seen before who was insisting that it was 50 to get in, because it was closed to everyone except those getting a massage. Don't let the word fool you, it's not actually a massage, but a brutal scrub-down by a Moroccan woman who knows how to wield a scratchy mitt. Not what we were looking for. One of the girls who had been there before speaks great French and started arguing with the kid, saying that was ridiculous, that we'd been there at the same time and always paid the 10 that we know it should cost, and that we weren't willing to pay more than that. He insisted and said it was a new rule and we could go find another hammam if we didn't want to pay. Then she asked him if it was a price for us just because we weren't from there. He said no, and that any Moroccan would pay the same. He said to watch and see.
A Moroccan woman came up and he asked her if she was getting the massage as well, and she said yes. Then somehow we started talking to her a little bit (I'm not sure how, now that I think about it, b/c she didn't speak French) and she told the guy not to be ridiculous, that if we wanted to come in without a massage, we could. Hooray for helpful lady! So we came in and she made sure we were comfortable and knew what we were doing and every now and then she'd make sure things were ok. I'm not sure if she worked there, or just felt like we should be treated 'right' because 10 or so minutes after we came in, three Belgian girls came in and she led them around a lot, too, and ended up doing their 'massages.' But she did pay to get in herself. I don't know.
So, we sweated like crazy and drank water (we'd brought some in) and soaped up and scrubbed down and poured water over ourselves and got clean and poured more water over ourselves and eventually went home. When we got home, mama 2 and papa's sister laughed at me, saying I must have gone to the pool and gotten a sunburn, not to the hammam. And then pulled me in front of a mirror so I could see that my face was tomato red from all of the heat. I don't know how it does that, especially since we'd been out of the hammam maybe 20-30 minutes by then, but eventually I became a normal color once more. I just don't like hot water.
The last week of classes was very busy, as you might imagine. I studied a bit, went to class (sometimes wishing I hadn't) and ran around doing things that needed to be done. Like buying goofy little presents. There are so many cute things that I tell myself, 'oh, someone will like that.' Hopefully I'll actually give them away this time. I think I still have a couple of keychains from Tunisia. You know, other than the one that I actually use on my office keys.
One of the things I did this week was to go to the hammam, or public bath. I still had never been, in part due to not knowing who to go with, and in part due to my dislike for saunas and jacuzzis. I had heard that the hammam is hot, and part of the idea is that you kind of sit around and sweat off the dirt for a while. That did not sound the least bit appealing to me. But then some of my friends went and said that there are actually rooms of varying heat, so it's possible to not be dying-ly hot. I was convinced.
Of course, going to the hammam is not as simple as grabbing your shower stuff and heading out. You need supplies. Typically, Moroccans use this stuff called 'black soap' that is made in part with olive oil at the hammam. It is thick and dark and doesn't really suds, but is supposed to be amazing for your skin. You can get it in tourist shops. And you may pay 35 MAD (about $8.50) for enough to last you 2-3 showers. My friends somehow had a Moroccan guy helping them, and they each got the same amount for just 2 dirhams, or 25 cents.
Well, our second Moroccan mama (she's the mom's cousin and lives with them, doing the traditional woman's work of cooking and cleaning) knew we were headed back and also that we wanted to go out in to the souk with her, so she took us the other night. Before we even left the house, she told us several times that we were not to say a word, but we could go with her. We agreed and set off, trailing close behind her, but trying to look innocent and uncomprehending. My roommate had brought a small tupperware dish that she wanted to fill, it would hold about 1 cup, but mama 2 said we wouldn't use it right then. We walked up to one of the general stores and she started talking to the guy, and I thought I heard the word "kilo" but thought she must be getting other things too. I mean, one KILO of soap?? It's dense, but still! No, no, we walked away a few minutes later with a rather large, heavy bag with half a kilo of soap for each of us. To use and then take home. Not in any nice container, but in a plastic bag. Our family is incredibly sweet. When we asked how much we owed her, she said it was 3 dirhams each, but that she wouldn't let us pay her back, that it was a present. It's crazy, less than 40 cents! And people are stilling it online for about $15 for a few ounces. Crazy, crazy.
[Now that I think about it, I don't know how well that bag is closed in my suitcase. I know that she said it stays better in the fridge, and I observed that it gets softer when it's hot. Ah, well, nothing to be done at the moment but hope that it doesn't ruin anything. And if it does, I guess it'll lighten the load a bit!]
Back to the hammam. You put the soap on and then scrub the heck out of your skin with a little bath mitt that is to a loofah what a loofah is to a t-shirt. They are incredible scratchy, and help get off the dead layers of skin. I got one the first time the others went to the hammam and have been using it in the shower, since it's hard (or impossible) to get a loofah in Fez, but I don't press very hard. At the hammam you're supposed to do it so hard that your skin turns red. Yeah, no thanks.
When you go into the hammam, at least the one we went to, you pay 10 dirhams and go into a room where you leave your clothes (and you give the lady who sits in there and watches your clothes another 5 dirhams... or at least foreigners do, who knows how it works really.) Well, there was a teenage boy there on Thursday that the girls hadn't seen before who was insisting that it was 50 to get in, because it was closed to everyone except those getting a massage. Don't let the word fool you, it's not actually a massage, but a brutal scrub-down by a Moroccan woman who knows how to wield a scratchy mitt. Not what we were looking for. One of the girls who had been there before speaks great French and started arguing with the kid, saying that was ridiculous, that we'd been there at the same time and always paid the 10 that we know it should cost, and that we weren't willing to pay more than that. He insisted and said it was a new rule and we could go find another hammam if we didn't want to pay. Then she asked him if it was a price for us just because we weren't from there. He said no, and that any Moroccan would pay the same. He said to watch and see.
A Moroccan woman came up and he asked her if she was getting the massage as well, and she said yes. Then somehow we started talking to her a little bit (I'm not sure how, now that I think about it, b/c she didn't speak French) and she told the guy not to be ridiculous, that if we wanted to come in without a massage, we could. Hooray for helpful lady! So we came in and she made sure we were comfortable and knew what we were doing and every now and then she'd make sure things were ok. I'm not sure if she worked there, or just felt like we should be treated 'right' because 10 or so minutes after we came in, three Belgian girls came in and she led them around a lot, too, and ended up doing their 'massages.' But she did pay to get in herself. I don't know.
So, we sweated like crazy and drank water (we'd brought some in) and soaped up and scrubbed down and poured water over ourselves and got clean and poured more water over ourselves and eventually went home. When we got home, mama 2 and papa's sister laughed at me, saying I must have gone to the pool and gotten a sunburn, not to the hammam. And then pulled me in front of a mirror so I could see that my face was tomato red from all of the heat. I don't know how it does that, especially since we'd been out of the hammam maybe 20-30 minutes by then, but eventually I became a normal color once more. I just don't like hot water.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
How nice do I feel today?
I turned on my computer to let you all know what I've been up to and I saw an email from my mom checking if I was still alive. Now, when I was young if we guessed where we were headed when something was supposed to be a surprise or treat, or said out loud what she was doing if she thought she was being slick, we wouldn't get to go there or have whatever treat. Punishment for spoiling her fun or something. So in a way, I think I'm not allowed to write anymore. But maybe I can move past that. Besides, I don't know the next time I'll get to update you!
The wedding was very interesting. Loads of amazing sweets and beautiful clothing, but I think I overdosed on sugar and my stomach hasn't recovered since. (Yes, that really was me who just typed that. The girl who will eat brown sugar pie and buttermilk pie in regular-pie-sized slices. And always has room for dessert.) Actually, I think it was weakened by the antibiotics for my supposed sinus infection (Dr gave me a second med just to help keep my stomach ok b/c their non-penicillin one is apparently good at messing with that) and the gallons of sugar made it worse. I will upload all the photos when I have a better internet connection and the time to do it. Maybe tomorrow? If you're lucky. We'll see.
I have been busy trying to figure out what to do next week. Classes end Friday and I have no one to travel with (there are a few people headed places that either I'm not really interested in, or feel too far, or would be a huge pain with my giant suitcase, or a combination of the above) so I have been looking at couchsurfers, but most that sound interesting are away from home right now! It's almost Ramadan, so that's how it is - foreigners who can are leaving the country and Moroccans are with their families. Plus I am picky about who I'd stay with, as I am sure you will all appreciate :) My basic plan is Rabat and Casablanca, in that order, and I do still have a few options that I haven't heard back from, so we'll all keep our fingers crossed there.
With classes ending soon, I am studying more to try to be ready for the final here and, more importantly, for the placement test at home that will prove that I learned enough here to be allowed into second year at home. Because if I don't make that cut.... you will not see a happy girl. Before I left, I talked to the department chair (and co-author of The Textbook) and she said that usually students who go abroad are a little behind, but don't have trouble catching up. Crossing my fingers for that, but with the other students in my class often sick or traveling or both, I don't know how my summer studies compare. I'm sure I'll be more or less fine because I will work hard and don't get scared by tests and remember things easier than some. But I still wish I didn't have to take the dumb thing. I'll definitely be studying for it next week when all the stores and fun stuff are closed for the afternoon (because of Ramadan) so that will help, too, because I have two chapters that I have to get through on my own.
Well, peoples, it be midnight and a moth is trying to get friendly with my ear so I will leave you now. Have a wonderful afternoon.
The wedding was very interesting. Loads of amazing sweets and beautiful clothing, but I think I overdosed on sugar and my stomach hasn't recovered since. (Yes, that really was me who just typed that. The girl who will eat brown sugar pie and buttermilk pie in regular-pie-sized slices. And always has room for dessert.) Actually, I think it was weakened by the antibiotics for my supposed sinus infection (Dr gave me a second med just to help keep my stomach ok b/c their non-penicillin one is apparently good at messing with that) and the gallons of sugar made it worse. I will upload all the photos when I have a better internet connection and the time to do it. Maybe tomorrow? If you're lucky. We'll see.
I have been busy trying to figure out what to do next week. Classes end Friday and I have no one to travel with (there are a few people headed places that either I'm not really interested in, or feel too far, or would be a huge pain with my giant suitcase, or a combination of the above) so I have been looking at couchsurfers, but most that sound interesting are away from home right now! It's almost Ramadan, so that's how it is - foreigners who can are leaving the country and Moroccans are with their families. Plus I am picky about who I'd stay with, as I am sure you will all appreciate :) My basic plan is Rabat and Casablanca, in that order, and I do still have a few options that I haven't heard back from, so we'll all keep our fingers crossed there.
With classes ending soon, I am studying more to try to be ready for the final here and, more importantly, for the placement test at home that will prove that I learned enough here to be allowed into second year at home. Because if I don't make that cut.... you will not see a happy girl. Before I left, I talked to the department chair (and co-author of The Textbook) and she said that usually students who go abroad are a little behind, but don't have trouble catching up. Crossing my fingers for that, but with the other students in my class often sick or traveling or both, I don't know how my summer studies compare. I'm sure I'll be more or less fine because I will work hard and don't get scared by tests and remember things easier than some. But I still wish I didn't have to take the dumb thing. I'll definitely be studying for it next week when all the stores and fun stuff are closed for the afternoon (because of Ramadan) so that will help, too, because I have two chapters that I have to get through on my own.
Well, peoples, it be midnight and a moth is trying to get friendly with my ear so I will leave you now. Have a wonderful afternoon.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Today's lunch
This was before she brought out the meat and squash (beef that was kind of slow-cookered and some squash I don't know, but was good.) You can see beans and fresh bread (still hot) and cucumber/tomato/onion salad, which also had lettuce this time, and potato carrot salad and okra and these tasty cumin vinegar carrots. Coming home for lunch is well worth it.
And lunch is the main meal of the day so, no, dinner isn't that big. But it's still pretty big.
And lunch is the main meal of the day so, no, dinner isn't that big. But it's still pretty big.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Well, that's not fair!
Yesterday we were at the beach. It was great, of course! I had forgotten my sunblock in the van, but it was really really cloudy (like, gray clouds) so I didn't worry. We played in the water and had a good time. Then we got hungry and when to one of the little beach-front restaurants (why didn't I take a pic of those???) and sat there for probably two hours. Barely after we sat down under the covered area, the sun came out. And guess what? I got a sunburn from the reflection off the water or sand or something!! I'm sure it was then because the lines are from both my suit and my dress, clearly at the same time, and the only time I had on both was when I was under that shady area. Stupid deceiving shade. At least it's not as bad as a full-sun burn.
More on the weekend when I have more time!
More on the weekend when I have more time!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Um, a bonding experience?
Yesterday I felt awful. Like horrible, no-good, terrible kind of awful. Today I went to all four hours of class so, as you might guess, I am feeling much better. That is also why I'm writing for you now instead of yesterday. "What happened???" You ask?
Well, it started on Tuesday, really. At 2, when we got back to school, my head started to hurt enough that I wanted drugs. Luckily my roommate keeps some in her bag. I went to class, and wasn't feeling much better. We'd all been planning to have dinner, so I went over with everyone else and talked and helped make food, to try to distract me from the headache. Probably not the smartest approach, I know, but sometimes my head hurts for a bit and then stops. And I didn't think it was from heat, since it hasn't been that hot, or from dehydration, because I felt MUCH different several weeks ago when I actually was super dehydrated.
So, we talked, we laughed, we ate dinner and had more tasty petit fours. I continued to feel bad as the night went on. Then we went home and I realized that if I still felt that bad I should NOT go to class in the morning. I did take some cold medicine and was drinking loads of water just in case, but I wasn't feeling any better.
As the interwebs are all public-like, here is the basic version:
I felt crappy and stayed in bed in the morning. My family checked on me and I still wasn't great. They asked if I wanted breakfast, I said no. At lunch they insisted I get up to eat. I just wanted to be in bed with my eyes covered (I think it was maybe a migraine, but who knows).
But I got up, tottered out to the kitchen, sat down, and fainted. They moved me to the living room and force-fed me yogurt and soup and called the school because they were worried and I ended up going to the doctor who decided the headache and fever (because I was feverish, so that's why I'm not sure about the migraine) were due to a sinus infection (and I have had a cold that's been hanging on for about 2 weeks, it could be) and gave me a prescription for antibiotics and told me what headache medicine to take and all is well now.
The funny thing, though, is that they have re-told the story a bunch of times, and partly joking around, 'oh you're not going to do that again, right??' so it seems maybe like they don't consider it that big of a deal, though I can't imagine they often have students passing out. I did get told about one of the more recent students that ate a ton of olives and was so sick in her bed that they had to have the doctor come to the house (which is done here, but more expensive) and told her she couldn't eat any more olives. Well, that's what I got from the story, who knows what exactly the whole thing may have been if I had understood it all :)
Well, it started on Tuesday, really. At 2, when we got back to school, my head started to hurt enough that I wanted drugs. Luckily my roommate keeps some in her bag. I went to class, and wasn't feeling much better. We'd all been planning to have dinner, so I went over with everyone else and talked and helped make food, to try to distract me from the headache. Probably not the smartest approach, I know, but sometimes my head hurts for a bit and then stops. And I didn't think it was from heat, since it hasn't been that hot, or from dehydration, because I felt MUCH different several weeks ago when I actually was super dehydrated.
So, we talked, we laughed, we ate dinner and had more tasty petit fours. I continued to feel bad as the night went on. Then we went home and I realized that if I still felt that bad I should NOT go to class in the morning. I did take some cold medicine and was drinking loads of water just in case, but I wasn't feeling any better.
As the interwebs are all public-like, here is the basic version:
I felt crappy and stayed in bed in the morning. My family checked on me and I still wasn't great. They asked if I wanted breakfast, I said no. At lunch they insisted I get up to eat. I just wanted to be in bed with my eyes covered (I think it was maybe a migraine, but who knows).
But I got up, tottered out to the kitchen, sat down, and fainted. They moved me to the living room and force-fed me yogurt and soup and called the school because they were worried and I ended up going to the doctor who decided the headache and fever (because I was feverish, so that's why I'm not sure about the migraine) were due to a sinus infection (and I have had a cold that's been hanging on for about 2 weeks, it could be) and gave me a prescription for antibiotics and told me what headache medicine to take and all is well now.
The funny thing, though, is that they have re-told the story a bunch of times, and partly joking around, 'oh you're not going to do that again, right??' so it seems maybe like they don't consider it that big of a deal, though I can't imagine they often have students passing out. I did get told about one of the more recent students that ate a ton of olives and was so sick in her bed that they had to have the doctor come to the house (which is done here, but more expensive) and told her she couldn't eat any more olives. Well, that's what I got from the story, who knows what exactly the whole thing may have been if I had understood it all :)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
'Speaking' a language
My roommate here knows a whole lot more Arabic than I do. She's in 3rd year(ish) and I'm only in first. But who does our family *think* speaks better? It seems to be me. I've made an effort to figure out some of the local dialect, while she's been really focusing on the standard one. Result? They don't always understand her. It's pretty funny in some ways, and I'm sure frustrating.
At UT they take the approach that students should learn standard as well as one of the most commonly understood regional dialects - Levantine (Lebanon/Syria) and Egyptian. Most people say that sounds like too much work, and I hear it does try to take over your life, but now I can see much better why. For any other language (or almost any?) when you learn it, you can go and speak with people. You may sound a bit too formal, but they'll understand. With Arabic, they might understand, but might not. And even if they do understand, they may not be able to carry on a conversation like that.
Today I have had a CRAZY bad headache and had to try to communicate in Arabic despite it. Ouch. But I've managed to make due, mostly, though I don't think I got across that there is nothing wrong with my stomach and I am not sick from something I ate. Whatever, we do what we can!
At UT they take the approach that students should learn standard as well as one of the most commonly understood regional dialects - Levantine (Lebanon/Syria) and Egyptian. Most people say that sounds like too much work, and I hear it does try to take over your life, but now I can see much better why. For any other language (or almost any?) when you learn it, you can go and speak with people. You may sound a bit too formal, but they'll understand. With Arabic, they might understand, but might not. And even if they do understand, they may not be able to carry on a conversation like that.
Today I have had a CRAZY bad headache and had to try to communicate in Arabic despite it. Ouch. But I've managed to make due, mostly, though I don't think I got across that there is nothing wrong with my stomach and I am not sick from something I ate. Whatever, we do what we can!
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