MOROCCO!!

Alright, I realize it's now been over a month since I went to Morocco, but after I got back I was swamped with tests (believe it or not...), packing, and living life, so I just never got around to writing about it...but hey, better late than never, right?



Ok. I'd have to say that my weekend in Morocco was officially one of my favorite weekends the entire semester...crazy! Let's see, I loved it that much, that I basically have a play-by-play here, it's long and (maybe) detailed, so just warning.
I went with a program called Morocco Exchange, which is set up to cater just small groups of students, take them to parts of Morocco that one wouldn't get the chance to see or experience were they just traveling as tourists, and is basically the only way I'd want to go to Morocco...maybe because it's a country that is just so foreign to me--people, religion, culture, etc.--so what the program offered was just incredible, costs aside. haha.
Morocco was incredible. incredible. I honestly can't put into words my experience, I had soo much fun, made some amazing friends, and learned a ton! wow! . So I left Granada Wednesday evening on a bus to the port city Algeciras to spend the night in a hostal, cuz Thursday morning we all met up at 8 am to take the ferry across the Straight. Immediately I clicked with this girl, Jenny, she was wearing a track and field shirt, and so I just asked her about that, and luckily she turned out to be in my group! (there were 3 different groups going, ours was the best, we had the most dynamic people and we all bonded...according to yours truly.) So anyway, Jenny came with some other people from her program in Cordoba, a group of students from all over California, and she and her 'best' friend in the group, Jen, and I just all clicked right away, which was something I was actually fearing. Going alone and not with a group had worried me until I met our group...because if you know me you know I can be suuper shy, so I had told myself I COULDNT be timid or hold back because if I didn't make friends I'd be miserable the whole time, so luckily it all worked out. anyway,so basically in our group there was 16 or 17 of us, and our leader was Lindsey, a girl who was in the Peace Corps in Morocco a year ago for 2 years, and for the past year she's just been doing this Morocco Exchange program and living in Spain. It was her last trip as a leader cuz she's returning to the states for grad school, which made it really nostalgic and bittersweet for her, but she was an amazing leader. She speaks Arabic and knows a ton about the culture, the people, the history, etc. which definitely benefited our group...So we get to Morocco, we land in Tangiers, an up and coming port city that the king is trying to develop, and we exchange money, get our van, and head over to a more central location where Lindsey and all of us got out and basically just followed her around the crazy market while she bought us tons of fruit and snacks for later. This market was crazy. Crazier than in Chile. They sell ANYTHING and EVERYTHING food related you could ever possibly want or imagine. There were dead chickens hanging from strings, chickens with their heads still on but all plucked so it looked really funny and weird, tons of fruit and veggies, and other random stuff. it was really cool. After that we all headed over to a place called Darna, it's a women's center that provides lessons in tons of things to help women learn a skill so they can then find a job. They teach languages there, teach them how to use computers, how to sew and weave both traditionally and 'modernly', there's a salon where they can learn how to wash and style and cut hair, there's a kitchen where they learn how to cook, and then they sell their products, no matter what it is, and all the proceeds benefit the center to make it better. There we talked to 2 translation students from the university and one linguistics student. A side note: most Moroccans speak various languages: French, Arabic (both classical and Morocco's dialect), English and Spanish. We all sat and had tea together and we were able to ask them any questions we had, that we had thought about before, or that we had observed in the last 1 hr of being in Morocco. That discussion was reaaaallllllly interesting. We got to cover topics from politics, to religion to dating to homosexuality to school to free time. I mean, you're in this country that is an hour away from Europe, but is still so different, and it really gets you thinking. And then on top of that you add the whole religion element, since it forms a HUGE part of their life, and you're just filled with amazement and curiosity and bewilderment and excitement and a sense that you'll just never fully understand. But it's exhilarating, and that's basically how I felt the whole long weekend.
After that we all had lunch together, it was this delicious chicken tagine (?) dish served in some sort of broth with bread and veggies. Then we all got back in the van and headed off to the capital city of Rabat. But on the way, Lindsey 'surprised' us (most of us knew...oops) with stopping along the side of the road to ride camels on the beach!! Obviously I was stoked, so the camel experience was fun. It was just a short walk on the camel, like 5 minutes, but it was still cool. camels are WEIRD. and some are SCARY. especially when there is a pregnant one, the male one likes to try and attack her. it's scary. luckily they tied up the fierce male. Ok a note for whoever may ride a camel in the future: when camels get up and then go down, their joints are ridiculous. the advice lindsey gave us was just "hold on" oh man was she right. When they're standing up, it feels like you're going to fall off the back of them, and when their going down, it feel like you're going to go off the front of them. Luckily neither happened, though some pictures of me seem the opposite...haha.


Ok so after that, we got back in the van, all of us needing to pee like none other, for a little bit more car ride. Once we got to Rabat, Lindsey brought us all to this one house, it was our meeting spot and the boys in our groups' host family, where we met our host families. Luckily we got to choose our roommates so Jenny and Jen and I hooked up and decided to wait for the family that wasn't there yet, and ended up waiting a good hour and drinking tea with this unknown yet so welcoming family that we can't even communicate with, to wait for our host sister to pick us up. It was during this time, and right when we got to the house to be introduced to everyone, when I really realized the importance of community in the Moroccan life. Everyone is community, and apparently up to 7 neighbors on each side of your house is normally treated as family. It's just so important in their culture, and probably my favorite part. So anyway, the tea there, MINT TEA, is to die for. First of all, they use about 25 spoonfuls of sugar per teapot, and man its just soooo good. haha when we were talking to the students earlier in the day we talked about the tea and how it's just something you can drink whenever you want--there's no certain 'tea time' in morocco cuz tea is perfect for every situation, I don't blame them. hah and then one student, when we asked approximately how often he drinks this tea a day, he responded, "usually 15 times" HOLY COW. AND, not surprisingly, diabetes is getting to be a problem in morocco. wonder why...?!
So anyway, our host sister arrives to get us, she's this absolutely gorgeous and outgoing girl, she wasn't dressed in the 'traditional' wear and wasn't wearing a scarf around her head, but instead was dressed trendily, which surprised us after what we had already heard and seen.

So she took us to her house, it was awesome! the traditional Moroccan house--now just the bigger ones--are designed to be 2-3 stories tall, you walk in to this big courtyard in the middle, with all the rooms just bordering. The rooms don't all have doors, are intricately decorated, and the walls are lined with curtains and are typically a room with, I forget what they're called, but they're pseudo couches/beds just lining the walls on all four sides, with pretty fabric and tons of pillows.


This is where they sleep. They don't have beds. But it's such a good idea cuz it saves space and it's fancy all at the same time! oh, and we ate there. awesomeness. so anyway, That night before dinner, our sister, Tima, took us three out to the market so we could see 'night life' in Morocco. it was crazy. absolutely crazy. and Moroccans are even more outwardly about staring and trying to get your attention, though somehow in a less creepy way than in Spain. hmm. Anyway, so at one point Tima grabs my arm and just says, hold on to me, I don't want you getting lost, and I care about you. um, I had met her like an hour ago. I know this may seem trivial, but its such a part of their culture... they are so overwhelmingly welcoming and caring to their guests. ok so anyway, she ended up taking us to a supermarket where she did some 'shopping'...the three of us concluded that she doesn't typically shop for food...haha. then we went home, had dinner which was this delicious soup with lentils and rice and chicken and veggies, and some potatoes things that were amazing. then we hit the sack. it was a long day.

The next day we woke up early had an AMAZING breakfast of this sort of fried bread/pancake thing, and mint tea. We met up with the group and all headed out to talk to a professor at the university to ask her any questions and to hear more about Morocco, the culture, the people, everything. This talk was different because she gave more realistic answers, and not really sugar-coated like the other students did the day before. She was more objective and real about it. Let me just say that Morocco is a world you could never imagine. I was just so incredibly confused and amazed about it all, in a good way, and while I had a lot of my questions and confusions and doubts answered, there is still so much more to it than I could ever imagine. after that, we headed over to some old roman ruins where an old king is buried, i think, and a super ancient mosque and gardens. there were soooo many stork's nest there it reminded us all of a dr. seuss book or something! then we went to the big mosque and mauseleum where the last king is buried i believe, and it was just after prayer time and the mosque had just closed, so we couldnt approach it or look in, but we got to stand out side where there were all these pillars where there were going to build somthing a long time ago but never did, and got to watch all the men coming out of the mosque. it was really incredible. i just cant get over how religion just rules this country.
Next, we all went back to our host family's houses for lunch. and typically in morocco, families eat couscous--typical Moroccan cuisine--one day a week, and luckily for us that day is Friday, so we all, or at least in my house, got to try homemade delicious couscous. Our host mom was an amazing cook, and basically couscous is traditionally served and eaten out of this giant dish. there is couscous on the bottom, like tons of it, and then on top is basically huge vegetables and meat if the family likes meat. and then we all just sat around the table eating directly out of the dish. After that we met with the group again to go get in small groups and talk and walk with university students. They walked with us around the city, showed us some sights, and then we all went to a hookah bar together.
After that, we went to this Arab bath house, called a hamman. For people who don't live in the city, they come in to a city like Rabat that has them once a week to bathe, and the other people I talked to typically went once every 1-2 wks. Here's how it works: obviously, girls and guys are separated; you get down to your underwear or naked, whichever you prefer; there are 3 rooms, all varying in heat; there's one that's really hot and steamy and has super hot water, and its like hotter than a sauna, there's a middle one, still hot and steamy and sauna-y but with a tad bit less hot water, then the last one, still hot and steamy. haa. So you get this bucket, fill it with water, and sit on the ground in this crowded room and bathe yourself. The ladies there were really nice and gave us their special soap and their scrubbers and showed us how to do it. Basically after being in there for 10 minutes in the heat and steam makes you skin just come off when you scrub it. it's awesome. You get soooooooo clean. I was so obsessed with scrubbing myself I didn't want to stop, the only thing that convinced me to get out of there was the heat. But I scrubbed my body from top to bottom, had my friends scrub my back, and ended up scrubbing my face--I was afraid it'd like peel off my freckles or something (is that stupid?!)--but that was the best decision ever, cuz I left that place with baby soft skin everywhere!
Then we all either went home or to get henna. We went to get henna. The two daughters at the main meeting house did it to the tops of our hands. Then finally we all went back home for our last night with our host families, even though at that point it was 11 pm. We got home to our dinner waiting for us in our room, I had no appetite but decided to eat a little, it was sardines (that she had bought the night before due to a joke jen told at the supermarket...jenny and I were so mad!) and rice and veggies and some other stuff. i tried the rice with sardines but just couldn't do it...I'm telling you this cuz i'm blaming the sardines on what would happen the following day.
So the next day we get up super early to head out to the next city. It was Saturday at 7 am and Tima got up and made us breakfast and ate with us, really sweet. then we all got into the van to head out to a more rural place where we were going to eat lunch with a family up in the mountains, mroe conservative, etc. The drive was super long and windy, like 3 hrs. We were in the very last row of this 16 seat bus. I normally don't get motion sickness like ever unless I'm sitting backwards, but I'm convinced the sardines mixed with the bumps and turns made me go bad. I ate a banana on the way...luckily nothing else. I was fine the whole time until we got to the house in the mountains. I mean, I felt awful and sweaty and not normal, but i just tried to keep it to myself, thinking it'd go away right away. wrong. we're all siting at the house on the ground, they just brought out the food to make delicious sandwiches with, i had no appetite, so i just took a nibble at a carrot slice and then i felt it. i stood up and basically was like, "if i have to throw up where do i do it?" so lindsey brought me over to some trees, i didnt throw up, but i ended up laying down in the house, trying to sleep but not being able to, my stomach pounding with pain, and oh man. so i miss the lunch and the talk the group got to have with the family --apparently extremely different and interesting, oh well-- and then just couldnt stand lying down anymore so i sat up and that's wehn it really hit me. i ran outside, started throwing up in my mouth but covered my mouth with my hand till i got to the trees, so it started spilling out and it ended up comign through my nose! gagg!! anyway, I end up throwing up my banana and the tiny bite of carrot and like a ton of other stuff...it just wouldn't stop coming out it was weird. too much information?!?! Then I felt better, sorta, still not normal, so I just sat outside and waited for them to finish talking to the family. and so then like 15 minutes later we're about to start walking towards the van when I was like holy cow. I ended up vomiting for 5 minutes there. I don't even KNOW what I was throwing up. I just couldnt control it!! so we get back in the van, start making the drive to our last city Chefchaouen, it was like an hr drive, I switched seats with someone up toward the front, and thought all would be fine. wrong. I asked Pablo, the Brazilian guy sitting next to me at the PERFECT time for a plastic bag just in case I needed it, and he handed it over to me right in the perfect moment for when I needed to puke. haha. so they stop the van, i get out, vomit, the driver gets out, starts talking to me in arabic to get on my knees and pours water over my neck, then pours some in my hands apparently telling me to drink it, but i thought he meant to splash my face, so i splash my face and the whole van starts cracking up, and phewwww. i had vomit all over me!! so i sat up very front with the wind blowing in my face till we got there, and all was good! so we get to chechauoen, its a pretty touristy city, it's in the north so a lot of spaniards go there and everyone speaks Spanish, and we were just there for the night to go shopping and eat and sleep in a hostel so I thought I was fine. I mean, I still felt kinda queezy but fine. so I bought a sprite to try and get something in my stomach, I sip on that, me and Jenny and Jen all go shopping, all is fine. we go to this place where they guy gives us a deal on the earrings and ends up being really nice to us three, helping us find each other when we couldn't find eachother etc. haha. so i'm looking at some stuff, and I was like, I don't feel good, I'm sorta sick and he was like, here, sit here. and so I sat. and then i was like, oh no. so he grabs me and runs me over to this public fountain where people can get water (its like a faucet, not your fountain fountain) and i get there at the perfect moment to throw up all the sprite i had drinken. and then some. dear lord it was weird. so I sat there for a bit while the other two shopped, then went and bought a shirt/dress thingy and sucked at bargaining so ended up paying way too much for it haha. oh well.. Needless to say I skipped out on dinner that night and made an attempt at sleeping...to no avail.

The next and last morning we got up early to take a hike up to a site to overlook the city at sunrise, it was cool and pretty. I felt a whole lot better then, just weak and sorta hungry, probably dehydrated. so then we got back in the van and headed back to a city called Ceuta, which is on teh african continent but is actually spanish territory, so we ended up walking across the 'border' between morocco and spain. kinda cool. then we took the ferry back across the straight to catch our respective rides home.
Morocco. I loved it. The weekend went by way too fast. I would've loved to stay there a lot longer. i just LOVE cross-cultural exchange. I think it should somehow be mandatory, cuz its sooo important to learn about other cultures to be able to understand them and why they do the things they do. I could say a trillion other things about it, like all the details and quotes from the weekend, but i think I've said enough for now! It was also on this trip that I realized I love traveling, but I love the type of traveling where you get to KNOW the people, culture, etc. I mean, going to Hungary and everywhere else is cool, but when you travel like that you're only seeing the outside. You don't get to know the ins and outs of their life, which I think is way more interesting and important than simply historical buildings and statues. And I suppose especially in a place like Morocco, where it's like no other country you've ever been to...well, out of South America and Europe... If I hadn't gone with this exchange program, there's no way I would've learned what I did and seen what I did. half the places we saw and went were places that tourists would never see. And I got to talk to Moroccans! And relate with them, and live with them!
gosh!

so yes, that's it. my long weekend in a big nutshell!