As I said in my last post, my Moroccan days have cemented themselves into a recognizable routine, namely one that does not include updating this blog and does include a lot of lying around doing nothing. Case in point, two weekends ago I didn't leave my house or change out of my PJ's for two whole days (stop judging, I did at least take a shower on Saturday). Two events have unsettled my usual schedule of eating, sleeping, and avoiding homework at all costs. These are the visit from my dad three weeks ago, and my trip to Paris last weekend.
The visit from my dad was amazing. It was so nice to see someone from home, when I haven't been home in seven months, and it's great knowing that when I go back the the US there will be at least one person who can picture Rabat, my host family, and Morocco in general when I talk about it. My poor parent had to put up with a very busy schedule during his trip to the Maghreb. Half an hour after his plane landed we were in a car with my independent study adviser driving to Sale to watch a candle festival annually held to celebrate the birth of the Prophet. The parade itself as really interesting, with the giant candles held by members of different organizations, the many religious brotherhoods with their own performances, and the crowd of celebratory Moroccan all clamoring to get closer to the action and being pushed back by police officers. My dad actually held up remarkably well and came out of the experience no worse for wear. That night we ate couscous with the host family and my French comprehension was put to the test as my Moroccan host dad (Baba for purposes of clarity) sees European/American and immediately thinks French. My family found great amusement and mild confusion with my dad's lack of language skills, but were pleased with his response to the food, so everything was fine.
On Saturday we headed over to Meknes and the Roman ruins of Voloubilis. It was a scorching February day with temperatures nearing the nineties. I got my first sunburn of the year and my dad got some nice exposure to the Moroccan countryside. The Middle Atlas region is particularly lovely. Sunday was spent running around Rabat, seeing the standard tourist sights, drinking overpriced mint tea in the scenic Kasbah, and souvenir shopping for the family back at home. My dad also got to see where I go to school and meet a couple of my AMIDEAST friends, which was nice. Monday was also pretty laid back and we ate dinner with my host family again Monday night. This dinner was much more amusing than the last, as it involved Baba tripping over the bread basket and almost falling into the tajine, as well as an intense shouting match over the meaning of one of my vocabulary words when Neda tried to help me with my Arabic homework. All in all, I was very impressed by my dad's ability to just go with the flow, and cope with my crazy, loud Moroccan family. He says that he particularly enjoys telling the folks at home about our trip to the neighborhood vegetable souq with my Moroccan mom, during which she advised me to hold his hand and make sure he didn't get lost or bothered by any of the neighborhood denizens.
After my dad left, I spent the next two weeks chilling in Rabat. I finally broke down and bought a pair of skinny jeans (ostensibly to wear when I went to France, but also to fit in better with the Moroccan crowd) and managed to find an English bootlegged version of The Ugly Truth (after having bought the same move twice before both times in French). We take our victories where we find them here in Morocco.
Anyways, by the time this past weekend rolled around I was in the mood for some adventure, and found it in PARIS! My friend Kathryn and I boarded a jet plane to the City of Lights where I spent the weekend hanging out with my roommate from last semester, Evelyn and my friend Janelle from AU. Friday Kathryn, Evelyn, and I wandered around Montmartre and Pigalle. We saw the gorgeous Sacre Coeur, street artists, an I Love You wall (a wall with I Love You written on it many times and in many languages...including MSA and Darija). Highlights of Pigalle included the Moulin Rouge and a three story sex store (the theme of this trip was pretty much do things that we can't do in Morocco). Friday night we ate great Chinese food, went to a bar, and watched movies. Absolute Perfection. Saturday we got a late start, saw Notre Dame, and I met up with my friend Janelle. Janelle took me to the oldest church in Paris, her school, and Bon Marche, Paris's most expensive department store. Janelle touched a dress that cost 1000 Euro and we sat on a couch with a 300 Euro price tag for one pillar. I got a death glare from a store employee when I impersonated Sherlock Holmes in a fabulous velvet arm chair. Upon return back to Evelyn's apartment, Kathryn attempted, and succeeded in making Moroccan food for Evelyn's French host mom, who talks all the time! She is never quite, it was really impressive actually, although slightly awkward when she would look at me and say "Oh your friend doesn't understand anything." (Which I totally understood!). Saturday night involved dancing the night away in Parisian club with Kathryn, Janelle, and Evelyn. Overall, a very good time was had by all and I cannot wait to get back to Paris! The only losers this weekend were my feet, who still hate me after forcing them to run all over cobblestones in high heeled boots. Ah well, wearing heels and not feeling like a prostitute was well worth the potential nerve damage.
Not much excitement is in the cards for the next week. I have begun conducting interviews for my independent study project, which is an adventure given the fact that I am more uncomfortable that my interviewees most of the time. I think I have an official from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Dar al-Hadith (an imam school) next week. What I am really living for, though, is my trip to Ireland in less than two weeks! I will spend my spring break touring around the Southwestern part of the Emerald Isle and I cannot wait! English, alcohol, and my 21st birthday, what more could I want! Anyways, I probs won't update this blog until after Ireland, so wish me safe travels and a Happy Birthday among the Irish!
Showing posts with label host families. Show all posts
Showing posts with label host families. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
January: School and Beachy Vacations
The first month back at school has been pretty good. The first week was a little chaotic. I got a new roommate, another AU student named Rachel, and was told I have to do an independent study project in lieu of a third humanities class. My roommate situation changed when Rachel, who had requested to have a roommate, was put in a family without one. I am the year long student who lives closest to AMIDEAST and my family wanted another student, so Rachel moved in. At first I was a little wary as I had just started to settle into a roommate-less routine with the host fam, but Rachel is really great and settled right in, so all is well. She's different enough from Evelyn that the experience will not be comparable and the two of us are both AU Honors students. It turns out that we have tons of mutual acquaintances, but had never gotten to know each other. Rachel also speaks French, but is an Arabic beginner. Thankfully, my family has decided that they are only going to speak to me in Arabic, so I still get lots of practice there. It's actually kind of funny because my mom now only speaks Arabic to Rachel as well, so I had to play the role of translator for the Rachel's first week in the house.
As for the independent study project, I was supposed to take a sociology class about North Africa, but everyone else signed up for the class dropped it. My only other option was a French literature class (discounted for obvious reasons) and so I now have to an independent study project in order to have enough credits to keep my scholarship. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really want to do this project. It works out to more reading than any of my regular classes, and I spent all summer doing an independent research project. I also meet with the professor I'm working with twice a week for at least an hour, so it's a considerable amount of pressure. That being said, my topic of research, the relationship between the political and religious spheres in Moroccan society, really interests me, and my advising professor knows a lot about it. He's been pretty good about helping me sort out what kind of research will be feasible given me lack of sociology experience and French language skills. Given these rather important hole in my knowledge, all I'm hoping for is a reasonable well put together paper to turn in at the end of the semester. At least I should come out of this experience with a cool capstone topic to explore further next year.
My other classes are also fine. My Amazigh (or Berber) history and culture class is taught by the guy who practically invented the field of Amazigh studies, so it's interesting. My political science class is also OK, although we talk about a lot of things that I covered last semester, so not the most exciting three hours in my week. Surprisingly enough, my language classes are actually the highlight of this semester. My MSA class is taught by my Darija teacher from last semester, which had me slightly concerned in the beginning. As it turns out, my worry was needless because Toriyya is an absolutely fabulous MSA teacher. She is very receptive to questions and willing to work with us outside of class to fill gaps in grammar knowledge. She also holds us accountable for memorizing and retaining all of our grammar and vocab, which is more than any other Arabic professor I've had to this point. My class is also really small, 5 people, so it can be tailored to fit each of our needs. Darija is also good. My teacher is the head of AMIDEAST's Arabic program and she really knows her stuff. We use Darija to reinforce what we're learning in MSA and each of us has to give an in class presentation before the midterm.
Outside of class, life is falling into a pretty standard routine. I wake up, go to class, procrastinate by screwing around on the internet for a few hours at AMIDEAST, do some homework, go home, drink tea, avoid doing more homework, eat dinner, sleep. Pretty boring, truth be told. Last semester everything was new and exciting, now life in Rabat has the comfortable familiarity of routine. It's kind of nice, actually. My family seems to have achieved a certain level of familiarity with me as well. Neda and Sarah, having discovered that I startle easily, try to scare me at least three times a day. Rahma and I have conversations about school, cooking, and her family while I drink tea. My mom has finally started remembering my name with some consistency, and my dad told me I peeled my orange like a Moroccan last night. (Interesting side note, oranges are in season, and delicious so I'm averaging about three a day in consumption.) I've even managed to insinuate myself in neighborhood life. My tailor friend who I walk past whenever I take a cab home invited me in for tea last week, and the hanut guys all say salaam! when I walk past. It's nice to feel solidly comfortable with my family, my neighborhood, and my day to day existence.
I suppose I shouldn't feel too complacent though, as this weekend proved that there's still a lot of Morocco that I have yet to explore. This weekend was the first time that I've gotten out of Rabat since Erin went back to London. Emily, Shino (another AU person), and I went to Essaouira while all of the other AMIDEAST people went on the school sponsored trip to Fez. We started out our adventure on Thursday afternoon with a train ride to Marrakech. We spent the night in a hostel, and had an enjoyable evening chatting with four brothers who owned the soup stand we ate dinner at in the Jamaa alFna. The next morning we took a bus to Essaouira, a small beach side town and apparent tourist mecca during the summer months. One of the AMIDEAST administrators is from Essaouira and he reserved us a room at a great hotel, complete with a roof terrace and breakfast. Our first afternoon was spent walking along the dock, exploring the medina, and eating tapas at a fun little restaurant. Saturday found me knocked out with a weird stomach virus, but I rallied in time to enjoy an afternoon of ice cream eating, people watching, and sunset viewing from the dock. It was the perfect weekend after a month back in the school routine. Emily, Shino, and I spent hours chilling in a cafe, watching life go by and soaking up the seaside atmosphere. There was no rush, no hurry to see everything, or have a super-structured trip. It was relaxation, pure and simple. I was reluctant to return to Rabat on Sunday, but glad to see my host family again, especially when Neda greeted me with a yell of Catherine! and three kisses on my cheek. It was good to be home.
As for the independent study project, I was supposed to take a sociology class about North Africa, but everyone else signed up for the class dropped it. My only other option was a French literature class (discounted for obvious reasons) and so I now have to an independent study project in order to have enough credits to keep my scholarship. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really want to do this project. It works out to more reading than any of my regular classes, and I spent all summer doing an independent research project. I also meet with the professor I'm working with twice a week for at least an hour, so it's a considerable amount of pressure. That being said, my topic of research, the relationship between the political and religious spheres in Moroccan society, really interests me, and my advising professor knows a lot about it. He's been pretty good about helping me sort out what kind of research will be feasible given me lack of sociology experience and French language skills. Given these rather important hole in my knowledge, all I'm hoping for is a reasonable well put together paper to turn in at the end of the semester. At least I should come out of this experience with a cool capstone topic to explore further next year.
My other classes are also fine. My Amazigh (or Berber) history and culture class is taught by the guy who practically invented the field of Amazigh studies, so it's interesting. My political science class is also OK, although we talk about a lot of things that I covered last semester, so not the most exciting three hours in my week. Surprisingly enough, my language classes are actually the highlight of this semester. My MSA class is taught by my Darija teacher from last semester, which had me slightly concerned in the beginning. As it turns out, my worry was needless because Toriyya is an absolutely fabulous MSA teacher. She is very receptive to questions and willing to work with us outside of class to fill gaps in grammar knowledge. She also holds us accountable for memorizing and retaining all of our grammar and vocab, which is more than any other Arabic professor I've had to this point. My class is also really small, 5 people, so it can be tailored to fit each of our needs. Darija is also good. My teacher is the head of AMIDEAST's Arabic program and she really knows her stuff. We use Darija to reinforce what we're learning in MSA and each of us has to give an in class presentation before the midterm.
Outside of class, life is falling into a pretty standard routine. I wake up, go to class, procrastinate by screwing around on the internet for a few hours at AMIDEAST, do some homework, go home, drink tea, avoid doing more homework, eat dinner, sleep. Pretty boring, truth be told. Last semester everything was new and exciting, now life in Rabat has the comfortable familiarity of routine. It's kind of nice, actually. My family seems to have achieved a certain level of familiarity with me as well. Neda and Sarah, having discovered that I startle easily, try to scare me at least three times a day. Rahma and I have conversations about school, cooking, and her family while I drink tea. My mom has finally started remembering my name with some consistency, and my dad told me I peeled my orange like a Moroccan last night. (Interesting side note, oranges are in season, and delicious so I'm averaging about three a day in consumption.) I've even managed to insinuate myself in neighborhood life. My tailor friend who I walk past whenever I take a cab home invited me in for tea last week, and the hanut guys all say salaam! when I walk past. It's nice to feel solidly comfortable with my family, my neighborhood, and my day to day existence.
I suppose I shouldn't feel too complacent though, as this weekend proved that there's still a lot of Morocco that I have yet to explore. This weekend was the first time that I've gotten out of Rabat since Erin went back to London. Emily, Shino (another AU person), and I went to Essaouira while all of the other AMIDEAST people went on the school sponsored trip to Fez. We started out our adventure on Thursday afternoon with a train ride to Marrakech. We spent the night in a hostel, and had an enjoyable evening chatting with four brothers who owned the soup stand we ate dinner at in the Jamaa alFna. The next morning we took a bus to Essaouira, a small beach side town and apparent tourist mecca during the summer months. One of the AMIDEAST administrators is from Essaouira and he reserved us a room at a great hotel, complete with a roof terrace and breakfast. Our first afternoon was spent walking along the dock, exploring the medina, and eating tapas at a fun little restaurant. Saturday found me knocked out with a weird stomach virus, but I rallied in time to enjoy an afternoon of ice cream eating, people watching, and sunset viewing from the dock. It was the perfect weekend after a month back in the school routine. Emily, Shino, and I spent hours chilling in a cafe, watching life go by and soaking up the seaside atmosphere. There was no rush, no hurry to see everything, or have a super-structured trip. It was relaxation, pure and simple. I was reluctant to return to Rabat on Sunday, but glad to see my host family again, especially when Neda greeted me with a yell of Catherine! and three kisses on my cheek. It was good to be home.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Rain in Rabat
It rained today and yesterday. This might not seem like a big, news worthy event, especially for all of you Pacific Northwest readers, but here in Morocco, rain in September is apparently almost unheard of. In fact, just last week Ranya told me with much conviction that it was not going to rain at all until January. I'm rather enjoying it, personally, as rain makes the place feel more like home, and lowers the temperature by a good 10 degrees.
Because it rains so infrequently this time of year here in Rabat, neither the streets nor the people can really handle it. I walked back from school yesterday, sans umbrella, which was fine for the first 10 minutes, when it was drizzling, and by the time the rain started in earnest I was too close to home to justify taking a taxi. Not that I would have wanted to anyways. Traffic in Rabat is frightening under the best of circumstances and the rain just made everything worse. The streets were full of standing water due to inefficient drainage and there seemed to be twice as many cars on the road as usual, which led to twice the amount of honking, shouting, and near death experiences for my fellow pedestrians and me at busy intersections. The rain did provide me with some nice Moroccan bonding experiences. I ran into a group of hijab and djellaba wearing women at one of the intersections along my route. They all had umbrellas and got a chuckle out of the fact that by this point I was definitely dripping wet. They got an even bigger laugh over the fact that instead of walking around puddles like they did, I decided to attempt leaping over them. A couple of the women attempted a conversation in Darija with me, but once they realized my language skills are still basically nil we had to make do with more laughter and hand gestures. When I finally arrived home, my sister Neda opened the door and began laughing her head off as soon as she beheld me in all of my clothes sopping, shoe squelching, and glasses fogging glory. I wasted no time in toweling off and putting on comfy clothes, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in my window doing homework and watching my host dad and our housekeeper cleaning off the patio.
My host family and I are still getting along well, and I've had a few good bonding experiences in recent days. Last night, Neda and Sarah decided to help Evelyn and I study for the Arabic quizzes that we had today. Neda took charge of Evelyn, who is in beginning Arabic, because Evelyn speaks French. It was so funny watching Evelyn say or write a word only to be told "Non!" or "La!" very sternly by Neda who would then proceed to say the word again repeatedly or force Evelyn to rewrite it. As part of my graduation to Arabic 202, I've moved onto a new book that gives me three times the vocab my old one did. Sarah's contribution to my studying was having me read all of my thirty plus vocab words out loud while she corrected my pronunciation. It was actually very helpful and funny as Sarah is a huge tease. I also learned that Sarah is a fellow Stevie Wonder fan, and has been to one of his concerts, of which I am extremely jealous!
This afternoon, Neda took Evelyn and I to the souq to by the things we need to go to the hamamm, or public baths, namely special soap and a scrubby glove. The expedition turned into a visit to all of Neda's favorite stalls, and Evelyn and I ended up purchasing shoes, 5 dirham panties (with 8 dirhams to the dollar that's really good), and 20 dirham knock off designer brand perfume that was mixed right in front of us. The perfume stall was a lot of fun, as the employees there were very chatty and one guy wanted to improve his English so he talked to me for a good 10 minutes. He told me that I need to speak Darija all the time and invited me to come back to the stall for a visit if I ever need someone to talk to. He was very nice about listening to my terrible MSA and laughed when I attempted Darija, but it was all good, or mashee mushkeel (not a problem), in the local tongue.
Tomorrow I am heading to Casablanca for the day with a group of girls in my program. I think it should be fun. My host mom seems rather anti-Casablanca trip though, as she immediately pointed out that it is supposed to rain when I told her what I was doing. She also told me that she was going to make couscous tomorrow and asked if I didn't want to see her make it. I made Ranya tell her that I really did want to help with the couscous (which I do!) and that I couldn't back out of my plans as I already told the other girls I was going with them. She agreed to push back the couscous making to Sunday, but still seems skeptical of the trip.
I really like my host family, but sometimes it's weird living with them as I'm just not used to having parents around all the time. At school, and this past summer, I rather got out of the habit of telling people where I was going and when I would be back whenever I left the house. The language barrier also complicates things. If I had known that the couscous making and a trip the the hamamm were on the agenda for Saturday, I would not have agreed to my Casa trip, but I did, and I want to go, so now I'm missing host family bonding time. I have to keep reminding myself that I am here for nine months, and that I don't have to do everything right away. There will be other trips to the hamamm! All that aside, my family does seem to be getting used to Evelyn and mine's presence, as is evidenced by the fact that I am now only urged to eat more twice a meal, instead of every two minutes. At dinner tonight, we had a celery and beef tajine and Evelyn and I had a great time trying to explain eating celery with peanut butter and also stir fried beef and snow peas to our host mom, as she didn't immediately understand our description of peanut butter and Evelyn had to draw a picture of the snow peas before anyone could even begin to conceive of such a vegetable.
Well, regardless of my host mom's disapproval I am off to Casablanca at 9:00 AM tomorrow, so be on the look out for my first non-Rabat centered Morocco posting!
Also, just a random interjection here at the end. Evelyn and I were told by our host dad that Ranya was leaving Wednesday for Canada, but she is still very much here in Rabat. I guess that Moroccans plan trips differently than we do in the US, as when I asked Ranya when she was leaving, she looked at me like I was crazy and said that she is leaving when she decides to buy her plane ticket...which might be tomorrow...or next week...I have no idea. I have a feeling I'll come home from school one day and Ranya will just no longer be here!
Because it rains so infrequently this time of year here in Rabat, neither the streets nor the people can really handle it. I walked back from school yesterday, sans umbrella, which was fine for the first 10 minutes, when it was drizzling, and by the time the rain started in earnest I was too close to home to justify taking a taxi. Not that I would have wanted to anyways. Traffic in Rabat is frightening under the best of circumstances and the rain just made everything worse. The streets were full of standing water due to inefficient drainage and there seemed to be twice as many cars on the road as usual, which led to twice the amount of honking, shouting, and near death experiences for my fellow pedestrians and me at busy intersections. The rain did provide me with some nice Moroccan bonding experiences. I ran into a group of hijab and djellaba wearing women at one of the intersections along my route. They all had umbrellas and got a chuckle out of the fact that by this point I was definitely dripping wet. They got an even bigger laugh over the fact that instead of walking around puddles like they did, I decided to attempt leaping over them. A couple of the women attempted a conversation in Darija with me, but once they realized my language skills are still basically nil we had to make do with more laughter and hand gestures. When I finally arrived home, my sister Neda opened the door and began laughing her head off as soon as she beheld me in all of my clothes sopping, shoe squelching, and glasses fogging glory. I wasted no time in toweling off and putting on comfy clothes, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in my window doing homework and watching my host dad and our housekeeper cleaning off the patio.
My host family and I are still getting along well, and I've had a few good bonding experiences in recent days. Last night, Neda and Sarah decided to help Evelyn and I study for the Arabic quizzes that we had today. Neda took charge of Evelyn, who is in beginning Arabic, because Evelyn speaks French. It was so funny watching Evelyn say or write a word only to be told "Non!" or "La!" very sternly by Neda who would then proceed to say the word again repeatedly or force Evelyn to rewrite it. As part of my graduation to Arabic 202, I've moved onto a new book that gives me three times the vocab my old one did. Sarah's contribution to my studying was having me read all of my thirty plus vocab words out loud while she corrected my pronunciation. It was actually very helpful and funny as Sarah is a huge tease. I also learned that Sarah is a fellow Stevie Wonder fan, and has been to one of his concerts, of which I am extremely jealous!
This afternoon, Neda took Evelyn and I to the souq to by the things we need to go to the hamamm, or public baths, namely special soap and a scrubby glove. The expedition turned into a visit to all of Neda's favorite stalls, and Evelyn and I ended up purchasing shoes, 5 dirham panties (with 8 dirhams to the dollar that's really good), and 20 dirham knock off designer brand perfume that was mixed right in front of us. The perfume stall was a lot of fun, as the employees there were very chatty and one guy wanted to improve his English so he talked to me for a good 10 minutes. He told me that I need to speak Darija all the time and invited me to come back to the stall for a visit if I ever need someone to talk to. He was very nice about listening to my terrible MSA and laughed when I attempted Darija, but it was all good, or mashee mushkeel (not a problem), in the local tongue.
Tomorrow I am heading to Casablanca for the day with a group of girls in my program. I think it should be fun. My host mom seems rather anti-Casablanca trip though, as she immediately pointed out that it is supposed to rain when I told her what I was doing. She also told me that she was going to make couscous tomorrow and asked if I didn't want to see her make it. I made Ranya tell her that I really did want to help with the couscous (which I do!) and that I couldn't back out of my plans as I already told the other girls I was going with them. She agreed to push back the couscous making to Sunday, but still seems skeptical of the trip.
I really like my host family, but sometimes it's weird living with them as I'm just not used to having parents around all the time. At school, and this past summer, I rather got out of the habit of telling people where I was going and when I would be back whenever I left the house. The language barrier also complicates things. If I had known that the couscous making and a trip the the hamamm were on the agenda for Saturday, I would not have agreed to my Casa trip, but I did, and I want to go, so now I'm missing host family bonding time. I have to keep reminding myself that I am here for nine months, and that I don't have to do everything right away. There will be other trips to the hamamm! All that aside, my family does seem to be getting used to Evelyn and mine's presence, as is evidenced by the fact that I am now only urged to eat more twice a meal, instead of every two minutes. At dinner tonight, we had a celery and beef tajine and Evelyn and I had a great time trying to explain eating celery with peanut butter and also stir fried beef and snow peas to our host mom, as she didn't immediately understand our description of peanut butter and Evelyn had to draw a picture of the snow peas before anyone could even begin to conceive of such a vegetable.
Well, regardless of my host mom's disapproval I am off to Casablanca at 9:00 AM tomorrow, so be on the look out for my first non-Rabat centered Morocco posting!
Also, just a random interjection here at the end. Evelyn and I were told by our host dad that Ranya was leaving Wednesday for Canada, but she is still very much here in Rabat. I guess that Moroccans plan trips differently than we do in the US, as when I asked Ranya when she was leaving, she looked at me like I was crazy and said that she is leaving when she decides to buy her plane ticket...which might be tomorrow...or next week...I have no idea. I have a feeling I'll come home from school one day and Ranya will just no longer be here!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Day 1 with the Host Family
I met my host family for the first time last night. It's much easier to believe that I'm really going to be here for nine months now that I've seen the space that I will be living in. It's so intense!
So, to back up a bit. Yesterday morning/afternoon all of us in the program participated in an event called Rabat Survivor, which is a scavenger hunt all around Rabat. It was pretty cool, and forced me to use my darija as some of our tasks involved talking to random Moroccans. My favorite place that we went to was the Kasbah (probably not the correct spelling, but it's phonetically OK). The Kasbah is a walled section of the city right near the Atlantic Ocean. My group got a little turned around and instead of finding the garden that we were supposed to visit, we wound up wandering around the most beutiful residential area I have seen yet. Everything was pained blue and white, and with the tall walls and tiny doors I felt like I was in Greece. We stopped in a small pottery shop to look around, and stumbled upon the most amazing view of the ocean. I really must get pictures up at some point, hopefully soon, so you can see for yourself how utterly gorgeous the Kasbah is.
The funniest part of our adventure came right at the beginning, when we were directed to go to the Tour Hassan, which I've already told you about, and find out how many windows there are on the minerat. Well, between the three of us in my group, not one person could remember the word for window in French or Arabic. Luckily we had a guidebook, so we came up to a guide and began flipping through the pages trying to find a picture of a window to show the guy. Unfortunetly all of the pictures were wide shots, so it was impossible to point to an invdividual window. One of the guys in my group had a pocket knife, and in a stroke of genius or utter stupidity in hindsight, he pulled out the knife and used the tip to point to a window. This could have gone really, really badly, but the guide took it in stride and told us the name for window in both French and darija. After all this, he didn't even know the answer!
After returning to AMIDEAST and debriefing, our host families picked us up. I felt bad for mine as I had three suitcases, and my partner had two, but we somehow managed to cram all five suitcases and four people (my host sister came with our mom to pick us up, as she speaks English) into a four-seater car. It was pretty impressive. My host family lives within walking distance of AMIDEAST, which is good, and their apartment is gorgeous! Everyone has their own room, my partner Evelyn and I share, there is a bathroom, a shower room, a lovely sitting area, and a huge open courtyard with a kitchen where my family eats. My host family is a lot more western than I expected them to be! My sister who is leaving in a week to study abroad in Canada loves fashion and high heels ans speaks excellent English. She was wearing a dress with a halter top when she picked us up and changed into shorts and a tank top when she got home. She was eager to chat with Evelyn and I while we unpacked and her room (which is the one we are staying in), is covered in pictures of singers and actresses from magazines, including Brittany Speares. My other host sisters also seem like lovely, welcoming people, and the three of them laugh and tease each other all the time. My host mother owns a beauty salon, which is cool. She does not cover her hair and was wearing jeans and a tank top. My host dad is so friendly. He drove Evelyn and I to AMIDEAST this morning and chatted the entire time. We arrived early and he drove us around for 15 minutes, pointing out places we might need along the way. My host brother seems like a typical 15 year old boy, although I haven't interacted much with him.
Last night, Evelyn and I had ftour with our family and one of their friends who stopped by. It was a strange meal with everyone talking in a mix of French, Darija, and English. I couldn't follow much of the conversation, but my youngest host sister, Renya, talked to me in English and my host mother kept urging me to eat more, which I did, so I need to learn how to say no or else I'll come home weighing 300 pounds. The food is SO good here! After dinner the women hung around drinking tea and talking for an hour, which was a lot of fun. The family seems really open and chatty and I look forward to learning more Darija so I can take part in conversations. Evelyn and I went to bed pretty early, but I'm going to try to stay up later tonight.
Just a few more notes and I have to be at class soon. First, I think I might try to fast with my family next week, so be waiting for updates on that front. Also my host family doesn't have any internet so I probably will only be able to post a few time a week when I can take time to use the internet at AMIDEAST. Finally, just randomly, the clothes I brought (T-shirts and sweaters), are surprisingly conservative for my host family! Renya probably thinks I'm the least fashion forward person in the world. As soon as she saw me in my sweater yesterday, she exclaimed, you look so hot! Take it off! I guess some clothes shopping is in order for the weekend!
I have to go to class now, but expect another post Monday.
So, to back up a bit. Yesterday morning/afternoon all of us in the program participated in an event called Rabat Survivor, which is a scavenger hunt all around Rabat. It was pretty cool, and forced me to use my darija as some of our tasks involved talking to random Moroccans. My favorite place that we went to was the Kasbah (probably not the correct spelling, but it's phonetically OK). The Kasbah is a walled section of the city right near the Atlantic Ocean. My group got a little turned around and instead of finding the garden that we were supposed to visit, we wound up wandering around the most beutiful residential area I have seen yet. Everything was pained blue and white, and with the tall walls and tiny doors I felt like I was in Greece. We stopped in a small pottery shop to look around, and stumbled upon the most amazing view of the ocean. I really must get pictures up at some point, hopefully soon, so you can see for yourself how utterly gorgeous the Kasbah is.
The funniest part of our adventure came right at the beginning, when we were directed to go to the Tour Hassan, which I've already told you about, and find out how many windows there are on the minerat. Well, between the three of us in my group, not one person could remember the word for window in French or Arabic. Luckily we had a guidebook, so we came up to a guide and began flipping through the pages trying to find a picture of a window to show the guy. Unfortunetly all of the pictures were wide shots, so it was impossible to point to an invdividual window. One of the guys in my group had a pocket knife, and in a stroke of genius or utter stupidity in hindsight, he pulled out the knife and used the tip to point to a window. This could have gone really, really badly, but the guide took it in stride and told us the name for window in both French and darija. After all this, he didn't even know the answer!
After returning to AMIDEAST and debriefing, our host families picked us up. I felt bad for mine as I had three suitcases, and my partner had two, but we somehow managed to cram all five suitcases and four people (my host sister came with our mom to pick us up, as she speaks English) into a four-seater car. It was pretty impressive. My host family lives within walking distance of AMIDEAST, which is good, and their apartment is gorgeous! Everyone has their own room, my partner Evelyn and I share, there is a bathroom, a shower room, a lovely sitting area, and a huge open courtyard with a kitchen where my family eats. My host family is a lot more western than I expected them to be! My sister who is leaving in a week to study abroad in Canada loves fashion and high heels ans speaks excellent English. She was wearing a dress with a halter top when she picked us up and changed into shorts and a tank top when she got home. She was eager to chat with Evelyn and I while we unpacked and her room (which is the one we are staying in), is covered in pictures of singers and actresses from magazines, including Brittany Speares. My other host sisters also seem like lovely, welcoming people, and the three of them laugh and tease each other all the time. My host mother owns a beauty salon, which is cool. She does not cover her hair and was wearing jeans and a tank top. My host dad is so friendly. He drove Evelyn and I to AMIDEAST this morning and chatted the entire time. We arrived early and he drove us around for 15 minutes, pointing out places we might need along the way. My host brother seems like a typical 15 year old boy, although I haven't interacted much with him.
Last night, Evelyn and I had ftour with our family and one of their friends who stopped by. It was a strange meal with everyone talking in a mix of French, Darija, and English. I couldn't follow much of the conversation, but my youngest host sister, Renya, talked to me in English and my host mother kept urging me to eat more, which I did, so I need to learn how to say no or else I'll come home weighing 300 pounds. The food is SO good here! After dinner the women hung around drinking tea and talking for an hour, which was a lot of fun. The family seems really open and chatty and I look forward to learning more Darija so I can take part in conversations. Evelyn and I went to bed pretty early, but I'm going to try to stay up later tonight.
Just a few more notes and I have to be at class soon. First, I think I might try to fast with my family next week, so be waiting for updates on that front. Also my host family doesn't have any internet so I probably will only be able to post a few time a week when I can take time to use the internet at AMIDEAST. Finally, just randomly, the clothes I brought (T-shirts and sweaters), are surprisingly conservative for my host family! Renya probably thinks I'm the least fashion forward person in the world. As soon as she saw me in my sweater yesterday, she exclaimed, you look so hot! Take it off! I guess some clothes shopping is in order for the weekend!
I have to go to class now, but expect another post Monday.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Darija, Sightseeing, and Host Families...Oh My!
When I started this blog, I vowed to update it every day, or at least as often as I could given the somewhat tenuous internet situation here in Morocco. Clearly I have already failed in this objective, but then again, you all will probably appreciate reading this blog more if I give you the cliffnotes version (read only the most interesting things I've done). There, I've just rationalized my poor communication to myself and feel much better.
Ok, back to Morocco. The past few days have been good, but intense. I have been arriving at the offices of AMIDEAST every morning at 8 and spending the day taking lessons in Moroccan safety protocols, cultural adjustments, and darija, or Moroccan colloquial Arabic. Darija is enough like Modern Standard Arabic, which I what I've been taking classes in for the past two years, that I can generally remember the words that we are taught, but some things, like the numbers are difficult, first, because Arabic numbers are just ridiculously complicated in general, and second because the darija numbers are just different enough from MSA numbers that I get the two of them confused. Unfortunately numbers are rather important when doing things like, oh say, buying food... Oh, well I'm sure I'll get the hang of them eventually. We also had a really fun lecture about Moroccan nonverbal communication, as Moroccans tend to use lots of hand gestures. We learned all of the nonverbal signs for commonly used darija words, and those of us in the program have had a ton of fun practicing them. My personal favorite is the sign for maka neeshan, which means dishonest, and the gesture is moving your hand like a fish, to show that the person does not follow a straight path. That and muzzeean, which means great and is the thumbs up sign. It's all fabulous.
When we're not in class I have been busy exploring Rabat. I've paid another visit to the souq, but my favorite place so far has to be the Tour Hassan. This is the sight of what was going to be a huge, massive mosque, which was never completed. There are the beginnings of a minaret and a large open plaza full of the ruins of what were intended to be the columns supporting the structures ceiling. The best part, though, is the stunning view of the surrounding city and Atlantic ocean. It is so peaceful and I definitely plan to spend a lot of time there in the future. Unfortunately, Tour Hassan is about as close to a real mosque as I'm going to get, seeing as how non-Muslims are not allowed inside.
Speaking of Islam, as I mentioned in my last post, Muslims in the world are observing Ramadan. This means no eating or drinking period from sunup to sundown. This makes living in Rabat a little strange. Most restaurants and bakeries are closed, and it is inappropriate for anyone to be seen eating out on the street. There are a few shops and bakeries open during the day, many of which sell traditional ftour (the first meal eaten after sundown) delicacies. I have eaten traditional ftour meals soup, pastries, dates, eggs, bread, and tea almost every evening since I've been here and it's a good thing I like it, seeing as how it will be eaten by my host family (and thus yours truly) every evening for the remainder of Ramadan. I am not obligated to fast, seeing as how I am not, in fact, a Muslim, but I might try to for a couple of days while I'm with my family.
Families! I am going to be moving in with my host family tomorrow! I am still really nervous, but I think it's going to be OK. AMIDEAST has decided to put two Americans in each host family (with a couple of exceptions), and I do have a roommate. She seems great, and we should get along well. Plus, she speaks French (I do not) and will be able to get answers about important questions regarding things like bathrooms, laundry, and transportation from our host parents. My family seems pretty cool. I have a mom, dad, three sisters, and one brother. Two of my host sisters are in their 20s, one is exactly my age (I suppose that means 20s too, eep!), and my brother is 15. My 20 year old host sister is leaving to go to Canada for study abroad in a week, the study abroad coordinator said that our host mom is looking forward to having us, as she will be missing her own daughter. Apparently the family is quite open-minded and has hosted American students before, with consistent positive feedback. This is a bit of a relief to me, as it would be really hard to be a first time study abroad student with a first time host family. Talk about the blind leading the blind! My favorite part about my host family is that in the pets section of the sheet given to me, it says that they have one bird and three chickens! Muzeean!
All this exciting host family/Rabat exploring/ftour eating aside, the best part of my week was probably getting my suitcases. My baggage arrived yesterday afternoon, and I took a cab to the Rabat airport with another guy from my program whose bags had also been found to retrieve them. The cab ride was pretty excellent as my companion speaks a good deal of Arabic and French and was able to chat with our driver. I understood about 70% of their conversation, which was cool, and the man really took a shine to us. He pointed out landmarks as we passed, taught us some dareeja, and when we got to the airport, came inside and helped us get our bags. He even introduced us to some guy he knew who was at the airport. It was great!
So now, I am preparing to move bag and baggage into my host family's home. The plan for tonight is to repack my suitcases in a more efficient manner and practice some darija so I can talk to my host family at least a little tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Also, I've been trying to upload pictures but the internet just can't handle it! I'll try again when I have a better connection, sorry folks!
Ok, back to Morocco. The past few days have been good, but intense. I have been arriving at the offices of AMIDEAST every morning at 8 and spending the day taking lessons in Moroccan safety protocols, cultural adjustments, and darija, or Moroccan colloquial Arabic. Darija is enough like Modern Standard Arabic, which I what I've been taking classes in for the past two years, that I can generally remember the words that we are taught, but some things, like the numbers are difficult, first, because Arabic numbers are just ridiculously complicated in general, and second because the darija numbers are just different enough from MSA numbers that I get the two of them confused. Unfortunately numbers are rather important when doing things like, oh say, buying food... Oh, well I'm sure I'll get the hang of them eventually. We also had a really fun lecture about Moroccan nonverbal communication, as Moroccans tend to use lots of hand gestures. We learned all of the nonverbal signs for commonly used darija words, and those of us in the program have had a ton of fun practicing them. My personal favorite is the sign for maka neeshan, which means dishonest, and the gesture is moving your hand like a fish, to show that the person does not follow a straight path. That and muzzeean, which means great and is the thumbs up sign. It's all fabulous.
When we're not in class I have been busy exploring Rabat. I've paid another visit to the souq, but my favorite place so far has to be the Tour Hassan. This is the sight of what was going to be a huge, massive mosque, which was never completed. There are the beginnings of a minaret and a large open plaza full of the ruins of what were intended to be the columns supporting the structures ceiling. The best part, though, is the stunning view of the surrounding city and Atlantic ocean. It is so peaceful and I definitely plan to spend a lot of time there in the future. Unfortunately, Tour Hassan is about as close to a real mosque as I'm going to get, seeing as how non-Muslims are not allowed inside.
Speaking of Islam, as I mentioned in my last post, Muslims in the world are observing Ramadan. This means no eating or drinking period from sunup to sundown. This makes living in Rabat a little strange. Most restaurants and bakeries are closed, and it is inappropriate for anyone to be seen eating out on the street. There are a few shops and bakeries open during the day, many of which sell traditional ftour (the first meal eaten after sundown) delicacies. I have eaten traditional ftour meals soup, pastries, dates, eggs, bread, and tea almost every evening since I've been here and it's a good thing I like it, seeing as how it will be eaten by my host family (and thus yours truly) every evening for the remainder of Ramadan. I am not obligated to fast, seeing as how I am not, in fact, a Muslim, but I might try to for a couple of days while I'm with my family.
Families! I am going to be moving in with my host family tomorrow! I am still really nervous, but I think it's going to be OK. AMIDEAST has decided to put two Americans in each host family (with a couple of exceptions), and I do have a roommate. She seems great, and we should get along well. Plus, she speaks French (I do not) and will be able to get answers about important questions regarding things like bathrooms, laundry, and transportation from our host parents. My family seems pretty cool. I have a mom, dad, three sisters, and one brother. Two of my host sisters are in their 20s, one is exactly my age (I suppose that means 20s too, eep!), and my brother is 15. My 20 year old host sister is leaving to go to Canada for study abroad in a week, the study abroad coordinator said that our host mom is looking forward to having us, as she will be missing her own daughter. Apparently the family is quite open-minded and has hosted American students before, with consistent positive feedback. This is a bit of a relief to me, as it would be really hard to be a first time study abroad student with a first time host family. Talk about the blind leading the blind! My favorite part about my host family is that in the pets section of the sheet given to me, it says that they have one bird and three chickens! Muzeean!
All this exciting host family/Rabat exploring/ftour eating aside, the best part of my week was probably getting my suitcases. My baggage arrived yesterday afternoon, and I took a cab to the Rabat airport with another guy from my program whose bags had also been found to retrieve them. The cab ride was pretty excellent as my companion speaks a good deal of Arabic and French and was able to chat with our driver. I understood about 70% of their conversation, which was cool, and the man really took a shine to us. He pointed out landmarks as we passed, taught us some dareeja, and when we got to the airport, came inside and helped us get our bags. He even introduced us to some guy he knew who was at the airport. It was great!
So now, I am preparing to move bag and baggage into my host family's home. The plan for tonight is to repack my suitcases in a more efficient manner and practice some darija so I can talk to my host family at least a little tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Also, I've been trying to upload pictures but the internet just can't handle it! I'll try again when I have a better connection, sorry folks!
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