Most Exciting

I can't believe that I forgot to write this: Last night I found out that IKER CASILLAS has a flat in Avila! What?

My First Procession

Had class this morning and then went on a mini-excursion with Serafin to see some iglesia just outside of the city. Did homework all afternoon and talked with Eric which was VERY nice (although skype SUCKS!)

This evening I skipped dinner and went with Courtney and Camilia to meet up with Raquel and her boyfriend a couple of their friends to get dinner and watch a procession for Semana Santa. We ended up eating at burger king (haha)because it's right in the center of the plaza and people here really like burger king/Mcdonalds.

The procession was really cool. It was a figure of Jesus on the Cross today and the music was ridiculously strong. Very powerful. I believe we are going to catch another one tomorrow. Interesting stuff. Raquel is so cute! This wireless here is ridiculous. My room must be a really bad one because I don't understand how it can be so poor. I can't keep going downstairs to use the internet! blah!

Also, it is way fun having a tuenti account (Spanish version of facebook) and getting friended.

Cada Dia Yo Te Quiero Mas

Another amazing song:

Kalemba

Saturday night was unexpectedly interesting...
After dinner I decided I didn't really want to do anything so I brought my computer downstairs and watched the Valencia game (0-3 WHAT?) and uploaded my pictures from the day. Pao and Manuel sat with me for a bit and talked and some people were doing a bolleton in the library.

After the game Manuel showed me some good Spanish music and we watched some semana santa videos. Pao decided to go out, but for some reason didn't have his key to the building so I gave him mine as I wasn't planning on leaving, but later I was talking with the people who had been doing the bolleton and they kept bugging me to go out with them so I changed quick and headed out with Manuel, Jose, Javier, Joni, and a girl who I should know her name, but I don't really know her...

We went to a couple different places and at Dolce de Vita we ran into Marta, Cris, and Patricia with some other people and I danced with them for a bit. It was a lot of fun actually. Eventually I wanted to go and Manuel walked me back because I didn't have a key to get into the building ha. I have no idea what time this was at, but due to daylight savings changes being during the night it had to have been really late/early because I woke up the next day a little before 7 pm. haha.

Also I love this song:

Toledo

So...Toledo.

It lived up to its reputation and there were knives/swords EVERYWHERE!!! I don't know what that is all about, but they are definitely the popular commodity. I slept on the drive there (about 2 hours) and then Serafin had some fun asking me about the discotecas in Avila. Then when we arrived we took an escalator up to the tourism office in the walls. That's right. An escalator. Outdoors. Built into medieval walls. The guy in the tourism office started talking to me about the US and how beautiful that Spanish language is. After this Serafin poked fun at me because he said the guy was flirting with me. Well...now we know the word for flirt: ligar...more or less. It more is like to score/tie up. o well.

Toledo is a very pretty city with lots of cool places to visit. I liked the large plaza we sat in for lunch. Then we got marzipan (a specialty i guess) for a little snack before continuing on through everything.

When we went to the iglesia is was 7 euros to enter and Courtney and I didn't want to pay so Serafin and Camilia went and instead Courtney and I walked around and found a shoe store that was super super cheap (shoes for 3-6 euros) so I bought two pairs of heels because i don't really have good clubbing shoes. I am very content now and the shoes are hot.

Also, Barcelona won today and I am currently watching Valencia play...if everyone was going out together this day would be amazing...but they are not :(.

Best Compliment

Toledo is very pretty/cool...Got the best compliment yesterday. I was talking with some American girls and they told me when they first got here that they thought I was Spanish because I know everyone and I speak well...YES!!!!!!!! Don't know if that's true in reality, but I will take it!

More Video Games

Yesterday was nice...easy day at school of just culture and language. When I got back the cleaning ladies wanted to clean my room so I got kicked out. I went downstairs to wait for lunch and the Argentine had returned...seems that he did something to his knee during his game last Sunday and was in Madrid all week doing stuff for it...yikes.

Went for a run and am having problems with my shin muscles again. I don't know why they do this, I stretched a lot before I left too...it makes it very difficult to stay in shape when you get so much pain when you run...blurg. After dinner watched some weird tv (I am beginning to think all Spanish tv is weird) with some people and then played a tournament of Pro Evo with Jonny, Jose, and a guy who I should know his name, but I don't. I actually tied TWICE and one once (against myself) as we all had two teams...this put me in the semi-finals. It was crazy because I am pretty bad. I think I am getting better though even...how exciting. haha.

Off to Toledo today!

Lonely

Today has been a lonely day. I have not seen the Argentine this whole week and it is hard to enjoy yourself when the one person that you really enjoy being around and speaking with mysteriously disappears. Who knows...

I am bored with school...I need semana santa...one week. I am also missing people...I don't know what happened today. ugh.

Pro Evo

I need to go to sleep. I found out tonight that I am still as horrible at video games as I was in the US...I don't know how I won at Pro Evo once sophomore year...I truly am horrible at it...sorry Cote d'Ivore...

Went and had some coffee with Raquel and Eva again today and they set us up tuenti accounts...the Spanish-only version of Facebook. funny. After dinner I watched a basketball game with Jose and then afterwords played some x-box. Some sexy female karate, need for speed, and Pro Evo. I was ok at the fighting, bad at the racing, and then I played in a tournament with Tono, Jose, and Natalia for Pro Evo...needless to say I got last place. I also stayed up too late and need to sleep so....good night!

4 Days...

Today was boring...Class then back for lunch (Paella - don't know why today...) and then finished some reading for class before a nap. When I woke up I sat outside for a couple minutes because it was SO warm. Then had class again from 6-9 which is seriously the worst time ever, but we found out that we don't have class for the next TWO weeks due to different spring breaks between our two universities. Nice.

Messi

Messi is RIDICULOUS! Another hat trick...amazing...I miss Xavi. Also, Silva: assist and a goal...good weekend. Except that Real won. gross. Still catching up on my sleep.

Silly Questions

I have found that I probably sound the dumbest when someone asks me the simplest question...I think this happens semi-often, but for example:

I just got back from a little walk through the town and Paolo (let's spell it like this because i don't know how it's spelled)was in the hallway so I started talking with him about last night and then we started talking about traveling and semana santa and then Mallorca, because he lives there and is going home for semana santa, and everything was fine and i was understanding and talking and then he asked me if I was going to dinner, but more like a statement like, "you are going to dinner tonight"...I was just confused and stared at him haha...then he re-said it and I could tell him yes, but it was so simple of a question after our conversation and it would just not compute in my head. haha.

Back Home

So tired. At dinner Cris and Marta invited me to go out again...so I did. I need to sleep. It was fun...but Thursday was more fun with everyone. I need to learn Spanish music so I can sing along with everyone...egh. ZZZZZzzzzzzz

Valladolid

Went and saw EJ this weekend. Very nice. We spent Friday wondering around the city, snuck into a museum, and then went out with his friend Leon to a couple bars. The place where we spent most of the night was a small bar with a TON of spaniards. We bought 2 huge pitchers of calimocho and I made friends with the bar tenders so we got a few free shots as well. It was fun and spoke a lot of Spanish with different people. Good time. Now I am just tired. ha.

Spanish Nights

So last night was my first REAL night of Spanish fiesta...met with the other students my age (all spanish speakers yay!) at 11:30 for a bolleton and then around 2 we left the residencia and went to a couple bars- I think maybe 5?. Got home and went to bed around 7:30...now I have to go to Valladolid...I mean I want to, but I am so exhausted...less than a 1/2 hour of sleep is NOT sufficient. SOOOOOOOOOOOo much fun though! Everyone here that I wanted to make friends with I think I am a lot closer with now. How exciting!

Hornazo

Today was Thursday. This means that I have the longest morning ever. 1.5 hours of history, 1.5 hours of Art and Architecture, and 1 hour of tutoring. After lunch I did a little little bit of homework before I left with Camilia and Courtney to meet with some girls from their Novela class at a cafeteria. Raquel and Eva are very nice and fun and I was glad to pass the WHOLE afternoon with them.

Went afterwords to buy my ticket to Valladolid for TOMORROW! I am very Very VERY excited to reunite with EJ. Should be a fun fun weekend. Camilia and I then went for a walk and bought some hornazo. It was delicious.


hornazo

Cerveza y Futbol

This is why I love Spain. Because of tonight. After dinner I came back to find that someone had paid to have the Barcelona game played on the TV! I sat down and was soon joined by my new Argentine friend. We chatted, had some beer with lemon and watched Barcelona MURDER Stuttgart. Yes. This is why I came to Spain...maybe not to meet and Argentine, but the general picture...

Who Wears Short Shorts

Yesterday it was so nice out I went for a run in shorts...SHORTS! My legs hurt from my previous long run though so it wasn't that fun. These hills kill my legs! uhhh.

Today I tried hornazo con atun. It's like an empanada (meat pie type thing) with tuna...delicious. Since Morocco when we had tuna sandwiches with tomato sauce for lunch I have wanted to eat tuna. It was very satisfying. Boring/fast day of class and then a nice long nap. Now I am trying to focus in on my reading...I am having trouble lately staying focused...I am at that point in the semester where I don't want to go to class, I don't want to do homework, I don't want to do anything except hang out with people and sit outside...

Also I think I am getting a stress fracture or SOMETHING in my foot from walking around so much in shoes not meant for being good for your feet...my heel really hurts when I walk...whattaya gonna do?

Yay

Yesterday was great. I did nothing I should have but it was more enjoyable this way.

The weather was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice! I tried to do homework, but was distracted so I went outside for a little walk (WITHOUT A JACKET) and all the Spaniard students my age were sitting on the wall in the sun so I joined them and talked with Sylvia and Patricia. Eventually people went back in but the Argentine came out so went for a walk. When we came back some people were sitting in the front room area so we sat with them...and I stayed there until I had to leave for class. Mostly listening and trying to follow the conversation, sometimes talking. For some reason the guy who runs the place brought us a plastic sword...dunno. Enjoyable though.

After class and dinner and took my homework (study Spanish culture)to the sala and watched some weird weird tv while some people tried to help me study. I finally am getting comfortable enough to sit myself in a group of people and be super awkward because I can't understand the majority of what they say because it's so fast - but I am making more friends and I think it's more enjoyable. I am going out this Thursday with a group of people...and WE DON'T HAVE CLASS FRIDAY!

Friday I am going to go to Valladolid to see EJ! yay!

Sorry.

Sorry Silva, but Barca just made your team a fool!!! MUAHAHAHAHA. Just so you know, this doesn't effect my love for you.

Mmmm.

Today I woke up and went out for breakfast to a cafe where I had tortitas con sirope fresa (pancakes) that looked just like THIS:
minus the ice cream thing.

And now I get to dress up to go to church. One of my favorite parts of the week because I get to look fancy and then I get paella! yay.

Also: here are some pics of Segovia.








Yes. That cave is a TOMB and there is Alcazar, the palace, and the aqueduct.

Segovia

uhhhh...don't feel like hooking up my camera and looking through my pictures right now...so...sorry. No pictures now...

WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, we went to Segovia. Lots of old pretty things. Etc. Etc. Went into a grave. Almost got stuck. you know...normal tourist things. haha.

After dinner Camilia and I were talking with Alex for a while about Great Britain and immigration etc...more normal stuff and then Courtney came back from church and then Cassandra came a little drunk and then some new guy arrived from Indiana! Then the guy who runs the place told us to go downstairs if we wanted to talk because we were being too loud. lol.

So we went downstairs where some guys were watching Sevilla vs Deportivo. I sat down as everyone else left and started talking with this guy who just arrived a couple days ago. He is Argentinian but was living in Milan and now he's here and he plays soccer...not quite sure how it all fits together, but he was very cool. We hung out the rest of the night and drank with the group of police officers who had finished their exams earlier today. Fun night. I was lost a lost of time in the conversation, but eventually someone would talk slowly to me and explain words to catch me up. It was a lot of fun. Eventually people wanted to switch locations, but i wasn't really in the mood to go out in my moccasins so the Argentinian walked me to my floor and I went home.

R&R

Today has been/will continue to be relaxing. Classes were easy and kind of fun today (only language and culture) and afterwords I picked up a pastry for this afternoon and made a reservation in a hotel for my MOM and GRANDMA! Long way off, but still...

lunch was nice, we sat with a girl our age and because her group of friends are all gone already for the weekend she talked with us and was very nice. New friend? yay! Now I just need to read a little bit, and I will probably not do much with my day BECAUSE IT IS SNOWING! yes...that's right. Snowing. gross. I have been feeling "as if I could get sick" as well and might sleep and watch a movie. We leave early tomorrow anyways for Segovia. excited!

Also, if you have not seen this, then you must be a mole person.

Sherlock

"No girl wants to marry a doctor who can't tell if a man's dead or not!"

This morning has been a morning of great videos. First I watched the Jimmy Kimmel "Handsome Men's Club" video...best thing I have ever seen. And I've been taking study breaks with Sherlock Holmes, from which is the above quote...probably my favorite part.

Spanish Charm

Today I got my first real taste of Spanish charm. Little funny, but enjoyable. I slept pretty much all afternoon because I have been feeling tired lately and I kept almost falling asleep in class today. It was nice.

After dinner I went to the sala to watch the Real Madrid Champions League game...they lost (haha) and I sat with this group of guys who go to the police academy. One of them started talking to me about speaking with them in English if they needed it because they have a big exam on Saturday and there is an english portion.

Eventually I was talking with the four of them, and surprisingly I was understanding what they were saying and I felt decently comfortable talking. There was only one time when they said, no idea what you just said. haha. It was funny though because at one point the one guy said, "Beautiful Martha...or pretty Martha. Is there a difference between the two words?" And I explained that Beautiful was on a higher level and he said, "ok, then it is beautiful Martha." hahaha.

They invited me to go out this Saturday with them to celebrate finishing their exams. Could be fun...

Blurg

I just had the most pointless hour and 1/2 errand-run EVER! So my project was finished in time, but the file was too big to send through e-mail. I had to buy a flash drive this morning and I was going to deliver it to Serafin this afternoon when I had to go to the Mysticism University to print some reading.

All was well, I did some homework this afternoon and left on time while the sun was still shining. I first went to our University to see Serafin who was.....not there. O well, I'll just catch him tomorrow. So I went ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE CITY pretty much to the Universidad de Mistica to ask a girl to find me a book so I could photocopy a bunch of pages and pay 1.20 euros. Yay. Except when I got back to my room I figured out that I had printed the WRONG pages. 153-199 instead of 253-299. So I walked everywhere trying to accomplish things and I accomplished NOTHING! Also I have to spend another 1.20 euros to copy the right pages and then I have to read all those pages in 1 less day. blurg.

Paella

Yay for Paella! Just been working on my project all morning...blurg. I'm sad I missed Founder's Day on Friday and Livdahl's birthday on Thursday. Been watching lots of Bollywood through youtube for my study breaks...have no seen some WEIRD films.

Chocolate y Churros

Today has been fun. It seems to have passed quickly. Went to class today, learned some interesting things and then we had a tutoring session with Gabriela about how to write e-mails/letters in Spanish (greetings and salutations etc.) and about pastries that we need to try and how to order them.

When we returned we went straight to lunch which I was more than happy to eat after talking about food for a half hour with Gabriela. Had a little time to work on my project for Serafin which I found out how to do and that it is due Monday-ish. lol. The great thing about this program and that there are 3 of us is that everyone is VERY flexible and willing to teach us about things we want to know or allow us time to do things right...it's nice.

At 4 we went back to the school to watch a movie with our culture professor called "Tarde de Toros" and I guess there was some story line to it, but it was basically watching a bull-fight. Interesting. I have come to see some beauty in the sport. It's very interesting seeing different styles between toreros and coming to realize a good fight vs a bad one etc.

After the movie finished Camilia and I went to a cafe I found online that was supposed to have good chocolate and churros. It was true. It did. The chocolate was nice and thick (I needed to get a water it was so rich). It was what we had wanted because we have been having a hard time finding good churros or real chocolate. The waiter complimented us on our Spanish and called us guapa. lol. When we finished we went for a walk and ran some errands: I scouted the hotel my mom and grandma are looking at and Camilia looked for a book she needs for class.

Good day.

Mother

Also, it's my mom's birthday. So...Happy Birthday.

Viva España!

Went to class...then my day got fun.

This afternoon I went for a walk with Camilia and Courtney and we discovered some new stores and we walked along the river to the Four Posts where you can see the whole city. Then we walked through the walls and found a hill along the side of one where you can get really high up. It's a cool place. Bought a treat before returning for dinner.

Spain played today against France: 2-0 hahaha! Had a nice time watching with the Spaniards. I have made a friend I think, but I don't know his name. lol. I can't remember if he told me it before and I don't want to be rude, but I think I'll just ask him tomorrow. Nobody would agree with me when I expressed my love for Xavi. I think it's because they are all Real fans. I said Xavi and everyone would ask, "Alonso?" and then somebody would say, "Le gusta Xavi" and another would say, "Alonso?" it was kinda funny.

Supposedly I have a presentation next Monday for my 3 cultures class, but I don't remember being told this, but I found out because our professor told Camilia and Courtney in their other class with him. I e-mailed him to get some more direction and he sent out an e-mail that I didn't get, but Camilia and Courtney did...very confused. O well. PowerPoints are easy. I can throw one of those together.

D is for Delightful

I don't want to go to class. I just want to walk around Avila. But I do have to go to class and it's really cold so I don't want to walk right now. ha. Met a new guy from London who is leaving here for now. Nice guy.

Found a "creperia" want to try it.

Akon

In Morocco I saw this commercial a few times for Pepsi/world cup with Akon singing "Oh Africa" and now this song has been stuck in my head for 3 days!

Chefchaouen AKA: My Favorite City in the World

After lunch and some chatting we piled back into the bus to head to Chefchaouen where we would be spending the night. Chefchaouen is a little-ish city tucked into the mountains and not only is gorgeous, but everyone there speaks Spanish. This city was everything I loved about Morocco with the added bonus that I could converse with people. Awesome.


Another great thing about Chefchaouen: it is legal to grow marijuana there. Well...it's not illegal. As I have been told: the Rifis were the ones who did the majority of the fighting for Moroccan independence so the king looks the other way as they grow pot. I didn't see anyone smoking and we were instructed not to buy, but still...

We spent a couple hours after arrival walking through the market, though it was raining. I bought some gifts from a stall that had a tv broadcasting the Barcelona game so I stayed there a while and watched with the guys who owned it. One practiced his english a bit with me. It was a good time. They even switched the channel from Arabic to English for me. haha.

We all met back up to go to dinner. After Moroccan spaghetti this could be one of my favorite dishes: Pastilla. I have no idea what's in it. Spices, chicken, cabbage (?) and it's covered with filo dough and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. SOOOOOO delicious!

It was raining pretty much the whole time we were in Chefchaouen (on and off) and the streets were like rivers. It was so cool. The riverbed, which I have been told is usually a trickle, was roaring.

After dinner we sat in the restaurant and talked a while. The people on the trip with us were all very nice and we got along really well. Lots of laughs and people to get a hold of when we travel to Grenada in about a month. When we returned to the hostal we sat in a room and held a little candlelight meeting about what was striking to us and our favorite moments and how we were changed etc. For me there wasn't anything super crazy. Turns out my college courses have been good and things are as I figure they will be, but the trip was AMAZING and it is so beneficial to go see in person and experience the people and their culture. Other people though were like, "my life is completely changed, my whole world-view has been turned upside down". Some crazy stuff.

Alan gave us all musk (from an antelope's gland?) and a desert rose (camel pee?) before we went to bed.

Woke up for a 7:00 walk through the city and up into the mountains before leaving. The city is so beautiful. I like it a lot a lot a lot!




The trip back was smooth. We had to split because the half going to the airport took the bus and the rest of us jumped into taxis to Ceuta, which is a Spanish city in Morocco, so we got to walk across the border to the port and took a much larger and nicer ferry across the Mediterranean.



Amazing trip and I can't believe I am back in Spain. It is kinda nice though because I am much more comfortable here than there and it feels a lot more like home now. Classes were fine today. After dinner some guys asked us about the trip and I told them I thought the food was better there and they were so offended. It was funny. One guy was just like, "you don't like the food here?" and he laughed about it.

Into the Mountains

Got a little food poisoning or something...was a little sick Friday - Saturday. Still ate though seeing dinner on Friday was "Moroccan spaghetti" which used spaghetti noodles and some sauce that was possibly the best thing I have ever tasted. This is no joke. THE BEST!

Saida's husband was home Friday night so we got to see him a bit. Spoke french with Camilia and was ADORABLE with the kids. Seemed like a very nice and cool man.

Anyways, we woke up on Saturday and ate a breakfast of tea and Ethiopian and some other flat bread. Said goodbye to Saida and Sufyan before meeting up to go to the mausoleum in Rabat before hitting the road. At the mausoleum there are guards in their full gear and two sit on horses at the entrance and this one guy (the guy in the picture), I felt so bad, had this lady petting his horse and he kept saying, "Madam, Madam..." but she wouldn't stop. It was kinda funny. He looked like he hated life though.

Stopped in Wezzin (?) on our way into the Rif Mountains for some tea. Used my first Turkish toiled in Morocco there. Our house had a western toilet, but we had to throw our toilet paper in a garbage can...

Met up with Hamid and Abdu here and went to Hamid's village to his house to meet with him and his wife and kida. Abdu was his translator, but was very interesting and had grown up in a similar village himself, but went to school and university and now is getting his masters in English Discourse (I want to say) and wants to be a journalist. Cool guy.

Anyways, we dropped off some food at Hamid and Farida's house and met their kids Fatima and Mohammad Ali before going for a walk in the mountains. There had been so much rain lately that it was so muddy. Everyone had mud all over their shoes and we had to walk across a log at some point to avoid the mud-puddles, but in the end we got to the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life. We were in the mountains, on a peak pretty much, overlooking valleys and other mountains and a river, and everything was green. So pretty. When walking across the log I almost fell and Abdu told me to talk belly dancing lessons to help with my balance. haha.

We all sat in Hamid's house for a bit and talked about their lives and Abdu's life and some aspects of Moroccan society etc. Very interesting. Hamid heard that a house in a village nearby had some daughters so he visited one day and met Farida, the talked a couple times and decided that they liked each other and got married. They are cute though and it seems that they like each other. The other house that the other group went to was an arranged marriage.

Farida makes amazing cous cous and we ate lunch with them while talking with Abdu about Muslim/Arab ideas of beauty and his background, and perceptions of women in Morocco. Good talks. A girl in our group had asked if physical beauty was an important and Abdu said something about piety to God is the most important thing, but then he said later, "for me, I want a beautiful wife." haha.

Good day in the mountains with good company and good food.

Hamam

A hamam is a Turkish bath house. You go in, get a bucket of hot water, sit in what is essentially a steam room, cover yourself with olive-oil based soap and wait. Eventually you scrub with a kiss which is a glove for exfoliation and watch the dead skin roll off. Crazy place. One girl passed out from the heat. ha...funny? maybe not. anyways...crazy experience. Lots of older larger ladies. Soft skin now.

Friday: Day of Cous Cous

Breakfast in our salon before meeting to go to Saleh, Rabat's sister-city for a conversation with Moroccan students about "images of each other" etc. My phone's alarm went off even though the phone is turned off...it did this every morning and I can't turn the alarm off because I don't know my pin number to turn on my phone...soooo weird.

In Saleh we had tea and treats and interesting conversation with the three students there. Afterwords I talked with one of them and he started talking about his studies and his ideas about interweaving belief in religion and science and between religions...interesting.

The trip was about connecting with people and learning about Moroccans as people and so forth so they took us to see a slum which was a little awkward. We pulled up in our tourist bus thing to look...felt weird. o well.

When we returned to Rabat we went to Chellah which is an old Roman city that's all ruins and a lovely garden. So beautiful.
































We returned home for lunch because Friday, being THE religious day for Muslims is special and it is typical to make cous cous. So delicious. Heather brought two of her friends from school because they have an apartment and no one to make them cous cous...sad life. Cous cous is eaten from a communal bowl with spoons working your way from outside - in and is eaten with a weird sour milk drink that tastes like drinking sour cream. I tried it and drank some, but did not like it.

After lunch we met back up to go for a walk through the medinah/wherever our Moroccan guides wanted to take us. Camilia and I went with some girls from the other group and 2 guys and a girl guide. Esmat (i want to say this is how you spell it, but probably not) and Simo (Mohammed) talked to me a bit, but they liked talking to each other more and with Camilia in Arabic once they found out she was Tunisian.

Bought some hand-of-Fatima earings, got a date from a spice stall, tried to cocolate- almond fudge type treat of Simo's and went to a cafe-type place for apple soda. Decent afternoon. Fun to walk through the market.

Rabat: Meet Your New Family

In Rabat we got our host family: Saida. She is very nice and has two sons - Sufyan is 5 and Said is 9 months. Her husband is a body guard/secret service type guy for the king so he is gone. A girl from the university was there as well and it was nice to have her so she could explain some things. Saida didn't speak much english (hello, you're welcome, etc).

As soon as we arrived and were settled we were served tea and sweets. Moroccan tea is AMAZING! It's really bitter and gross so they add tons of sugar. haha. I liked it. Sweets are also amazing. We made a pact to eat as much as we could/wanted in Morocco so we ate a LOT!



Sabah, the neighbor is 12 and took us for a walk at night. The streets are similar in feel to India, but there are a LOT less people. Is less busy and more people strolling and sitting on benches in the parks. Brick roads and many venders. People selling food that smelled awesome. One area in the medinah was completely filled with smoke because all the grills were set up to sell kebabs and other meats.

Saturday 2/27 is Muhammad's birthday so there are lights on the main road (Muhammad V). It was a nice warm temperature outside and there are pretty gardens and fountains everywhere.

Morocco is great for one's self confidence/a little annoying because pretty much any guy you see under 30 will cat-call you or say something as you pass by. It's entertaining because they will rattle off 4 different languages hoping you understand one of them. Or they will say something like "hey spice girls" or "i like your hair movement". One guy even started singing "the way you make me feel" by Michael Jackson.

When we returned Saida sent us back out to pick up some sweets and Sabah bought us some peanuts. When we got back it was time for dinner. We had told Saida we only wanted a light lunch...breads and sweets on arrival are filling...so we ate sandwiches of melted chicken and cheese and Moroccan soup while the boys slept under the TV. Camilia speaks fluent French and can get by with her Arabic so it's nice to have her to communicate with Saida.

Arabic:

Shukran: thank you
Mouzzien: very good
inshallah: similar to "let's hope" kinda
yahlah: let's go
that's all i knew to get by.

First Views of the Atlantic

Our first stop along the Atlantic coast was at the ocean where we got to ride camels...felt super touristy. It was raining a bit, but the ocean was beautiful. Got a shell. Continued to Asilah.









Asilah is a smaller beach town that's very touristy in the summer I guess, but it was pretty quiet due to the time of year and it was drizzling a bit on and off. The medinah of the city (old city)is very beautiful. Each year they repaint everything white and people pain murals on the walls or blue to ward of mosquitoes in the summer. Views of the ocean were amazing.

When we first entered a man was selling sweets to Alan bought us all something. I had a baklava with peanuts-type thing. Very delicious. We had a guide, but he didn't do much except walk in front of us and tell us about the wall painting and that the design of the bricked-ground was the represent the waves of the ocean.


Got back in the bus for 3 hour drive to Rabat. Stopped about 2 hours in for a bathroom break and snacks: dates, figs, cookies. Had a nice nap in the bus before we discussed our home-stays.

Oh Africa: Morocco

After we ate breakfast in the hotel we walked to the port, which wasn't too far away and met us with everyone. There were two groups of 15 on the trip, but half of our group came by plane from Madrid so only half of our group took the ferry. Interesting experience. Our leaders were Alan and Rachel. Alan is like the director of the program so it was nice to have him because he knows pretty much everything and Rachel was training to become a "guide", but was amazing and spoke the Arabic dialect of Morocco and french.

We had orientation and coffee on the boat which did not like to run smoothly. The trip was pretty rocky. Even I felt kinda sick and there were girls with us who had decently bad motion sickness usually. Couple people sitting on the group with heads in trash bags...

About 2 hours later we arrived in Tangier. We walked through a market and bought some dates and figs...the meat section smelled pretty nasty, but the fish market was fun. We went to a woman's center second where we got a tour and a chat with some students from Tangier.

The women's center is a place where education is given to women who have come from hard backgrounds including divorce, single mothers, etc. It's not a place to empower or build feminism, but a school to incorporate all women into the workforce so they can care for themselves and their family. There were classes for reading and writing, traditional sewing, how to use modern sewing machines, etc. Very interesting place.

We got a tour from 3 students: Majid, Khadija, and another girl that I can't remember her name. There were very interesting though because after the tour we sat and had lunch and talked with them about Morocco and life and different things. It was nice to have a male and two different female perspectives - Khadija is 27 and wears a hijab and the other was a senior in high school and a bit less traditional. The disagreed on topics like dating, what to do for fun, voting, and the state of the government. VERY interesting.


We had chicken tajin? for lunch (a dish of chicken and vegetables like it was in a crock-pot)and Khadija talked with Camilia and I a bit about living in the US as a Muslim. Afterwords we hopped into our mini-bus and went driving south.

Algeciras Here We Come

Wednesday was a long day. A guy came to the residencia and drove us to Madrid where we had to catch a train to Algeciras. Turns out there is construction on the rail lines in the south so half way through "Marley and Me" we had to get off and take a bus the rest of the way. It was ok and we watched some movie with Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear (if that's how you spell his name) and then the program put us up in a nice hotel where we each got our own bed, watched some Olympics, and had a bomb breakfast.

Downside: Only women's long distance speed skating on...sorry, but boring. The comedor had packed us dinner of sandwiches with jamon serrano so we were well fed for free.

Home?

I am back in Avila. Yay? Morocco was easily one of the best experiences of my life. NEED to return. It's to late to post pictures yet, but tomorrow I promise lots of stories and photos. Tired.