Winding Down

I don't know if anyone still reads this blog anymore, hell I forget about it and I feel like all of the exciting stuff has come and gone, but I'm going to update it anyway.
So less than two weeks from today I will be flying home to America. I can't believe my semester abroad is almost done. I honestly don't know where it all went; I feel like I just stepped off plane from France and into Rabat, confused and jetlagged, a little unsure about everything in this strange country, afraid to eat the food, and not knowing a word of Darija.
And now I've tried so many new foods that it takes a lot to phase me. I've experienced being sick more times in the past 3 months than since I started college two and a half years ago. I lived with a family that  on a good day, I can have a successful 5 minute max conversation in French with, and who thinks it's weird that I want to shower every day. Sometimes I feel like a completely different person because I have lived a completely different lifestyle for three and almost a half months. Being surrounded by a Muslim community has taught me that people are people, and that doesn't change wherever you go in the world. I feel like I can confidently travel anywhere now...well except maybe other less developed parts of Africa.

I just hope I don't forget what it was like, leaving behind the comforts of a first world country, and being entirely pushed out of my comfort zone for a few months.
I don't want to forget the way I felt on Eid, when I witnessed my host family slaughter two sheep for a sacrifice, and how that was the first time I truly felt culture shock and honestly didn't know what to say when my host mom asked me what I thought of the holiday.
I don't want to forget that first lunch with my host family in Fes with my roommate, where nobody said a word during the entire meal, I wanted to just burst out crying because it was all so weird and foreign to me, and I probably ate about 5 bites of food and then said I was full, just because I was so scared of getting sick from food that I had never heard of in my life.
I don't want to forget my day of learning Darija and having absolutely no idea what was going on, and feeling stupider than I ever have in my entire life.
I don't want to forget the first time I bartered successfully in the old medina, and got a 400 dirham rug for 300 dirhams.
I don't want to forget how me and my friends became friends with some hanut owners and how they always laugh at our attempts to speak Amazight and count from 1 to 5. Sometimes 1 to 10, for my friend. I don't quite have that down yet.

But then I think about America, about being able to eat soooo much food, driving my car, seeing my friends and family, and living a truly free life, and I get beyond ecstatic.
I think about how much I've changed this semester, how many places I've visited, how many different people I've met, and you know, I think it's time to go back to America. 

Less than a month left

So it's pretty crazy.
I have less than a month left in Morocco. It feels like just yesterday I was talking to Rachel, guessing what life would be like in Morocco, wondering how I'd change, what I would experience, and how overall, it was only a tiny slice of time out of my life.
And now it's almost over.

It's weird. I can barely remember what everyday life is like in America. So I know that I probably won't remember most of what Morocco is like after a month back in the good ole USA. But I guess that's not what's truly important. I think what's most important is that I got out of America and was able to realize just how made we have it there. A lot of people complain about America, about politics especially as of lately, how it's crumbling...but honestly that's not true at all. America has everything you'd ever need and more. I think we live such a comfortable life in America that it blinds us to the reality of the rest of the world and makes us focus on problems that well, aren't really problems in the grand scheme of everything else. I hope that I remember that I should never take anything for granted in America. Because that's the most important part of the living abroad experience in my opinion.

Anyway though, now that all of the trips and traveling part of my program are over, I've been able to establish more of a routine in Rabat. It's been interesting figuring out what to do during the weekends here, since there are limited options. Usually I go out to eat with my friends, we walk around the old medina, maybe go shopping, and find a place to hang out. I've been trying to go to the beach more even though it's too cold to lay out or go swimming without a wetsuit just because it's so beautiful and something I'll definitely miss a lot. I used to complain about being bored in America a lot, but now I have a different take on being bored. Walking is a great cure to boredom. I used to hate walking, I never really saw the point of it, but now I've realized how much fun it can be to just walk around with friends, talk, and people watch. Simple solutions.

The other day I was at a hanut (it's basically a hole in the wall convenience store, they're everywhere in the old medina) and there was a worker standing outside stirring around some seeds in a pot that was above a fire. I was curious as to what the seeds were called, so I pointed to them and looked at the worker and said, "Shnu smytk?" which in Darija means, "What's your name?" and can be only be directed to people. So basically I butcher Darija on a daily basis and it's a huge joke. But it's all pretty funny. It's going to be weird not speaking 3 languages every day, well in my case, attempting to and usually failing. But hey, at least I try!

I tried posting pictures of my trip to Spain and France but I can't figure it out anymore. So I'll keep trying to, otherwise I'll just post stuff on Facebook.

Miss you all in America, less than a month! 

There are other holidays??

So today was my very first Eid. In case you didn't know, it's a Muslim holiday where every family sacrifices a sheep to commemorate the day when Abraham sacrificed a sheep in lieu of his son Isaac.
So I got to see the slaughtering of 2 sheep. It actually wasn't as disturbing as I thought it'd be...or maybe I just tried to block it from my memory. Anyway, the most disturbing part was watching my host siblings and cousins go through the body parts and clean them. And I'm pretty sure my host dad ate the testicles for dinner tonight. There are currently 2 sheep bodies hanging in my kitchen. But the meat itself is very good. It has a unique texture and a fairly mild taste.
It's just a very different culture though.

Before I came to Morocco, I didn't know a lot about Islam. And I still don't, but I do know that they are very devoted to their religion. For them, religion isn't a personal choice or belief-it's a lifestyle. And I respect that a lot. For a lot of people in the United States, I feel like they can act so religious-by going to church nearly every week, posting Bible statuses on Facebook, whatever, but when you get to know the heart of their personality and actions, well sometimes it doesn't seem to match up with their beliefs. But here, people actually act in accordance to their religion and it's refreshing for a change. Or maybe I just have that illusion here, I don't know, but that's just how to seems to me. I guess I just got kind of deep, but religion can be a very confusing thing. But here it doesn't seem that confusing. That's also due to the history of Morocco and how closely knit politics and religion are though. I mean, I'm not going to convert to Islam or anything, but I just find it amusing how it's primarily characterized by its extremities when in reality the great, great majority of its followers are a thousand times more devoted to their religion than most Christians are, and are nothing like how the media portrays them to be.

Alright, I'm done with that rant. Anyway, tomorrow is Spain, and I couldn't be more excited! It will be a more than welcomed break from Africa. And Tuesday is Paris-a city I've been dreaming of since I first started studying French.
Life is good.

It's been awhile

So I guess I haven't really blogged for awhile. Since the last time I wrote on this thing, I've been to the Sahara Desert and a Berber village.
So the Sahara Desert was pretty amazing. It was a 4 day trip, a 10 hour drive from Rabat. We stayed in really nice hotels with not so nice buffets. After sleeping on Moroccan mattresses, which are almost as hard as rocks-no joke, any sort of hotel standard mattress was well welcomed. We got to ride camels into the sunset and climbed up a dune. The next morning most of us woke up before sunset. My friend Kati and I were walking in the dunes when a Berber (native Moroccan) man stopped us and told us that we needed to go out further to get the best view of the sunrise. So he took us out as far as we could possibly walk at 5 in the morning and we sat and just talked with him for an hour. He told us about his culture, that he could speak about 10 languages, and just about life in the Sahara. It felt so surreal, sitting on a dune in the Sahara while the sun slowly peaked over, listening to a Berber man ramble on.

This past weekend we visited Ain Leuh, a mostly Berber village. We stayed with families there. We were warned ahead of time that most families only spoke Amazigh and Darija and would probably only have a squat toilet, but somehow Kati and I lucked out and our family spoke English and French and had a Western toilet. We ended up listening to Justin Bieber and watching MTV with our 16 year old sister and her cousin and dancing to Gangnam Style on Friday night. On Saturday, all of us went on a 5 hour hike in the Middle Atlas Mountains. The first half hour was a challenge, to say the least, but after we warmed up it felt pretty effortless. We passed more sheep than I've seen in my entire life, and had tea with some nomads.

So it's safe to say that I've had some pretty crazy experiences already. Morocco has turned out to be everything I expected it to be and everything I didn't expect it to be. In two weeks I'll be heading to Spain and France, and I can only imagine what it's going to be like there.

Sunrise in the Sahara.

Our footprints in the sand.

I miss it already.

 The backyard of one of the hotels we stayed at.

 Experimenting with shutter speeds while in a cab.

 One of the houses in the village of Ain Leuh.

 The entrance to the same house above.

 The beginning of our 5 hour hike!

 An aquifer?

This reminded me of Lion King, except minus the trash.

 View from the mountains.

 The village of Ain Leuh. The trees in the photo are cherry trees-what this village is "famous" for.

 Now are pictures of my house in Rabat. It's beautiful, 4 stories and all. This is an open-air roof.

 Our first floor. We eat all of our meals at that table.

 A sink when you first walk into our house.

 A sitting room. We occasionally eat meals here, but not usually.

 The main living room.

 Stairs up to the second floor.

Weekend adventures

So unfortunately I don't have any pictures to post this time.
    However, I do have a few somewhat entertaining stories. This was my second weekend staying in Rabat, and my friends and I are [slowly] starting to gain a sense of direction and overall gist for Rabat. I spend the weekends here just a little bit differently than I do in New Orleans. On Friday night, I went with a few friends to Agdal. It's just across the river from Rabat, about a 5-10 minute tram ride. We walked around for a bit in desperate search of a place to eat, and ended up eating at this "pizzeria". By "pizzeria" I mean I ordered a margarita pizza and was served literally cheese on very thin bread. On the tram ride back, we passed...Pizza Hut.
   The next day, I went ocean kayaking. The hardest part wasn't the actual kayaking, but lugging the kayaks from the ocean to the kayak place. In the end, a local Moroccan saw us struggling and stopping literally every 5 yards for a break and ending up basically bringing all of our kayaks back for us. Then we went to Marjane, basically the Moroccan Walmart. My grand purchase was a fan. If you didn't already know, all of the Lyons are basically addicted to a fan during the nighttime. I'll just say that I honestly haven't slept better since Saturday. It also helps drown out the call of prayer a little bit and the Alzheimer's guy. But just a little bit.
    On Sunday I was just walking around the medina with a friend when some random Moroccan guy comes up to me. He first introduces himself, then asks if we can stay in contact. I told him I wasn't sure (classic, I need to just be more affirmative), and then he replied, "This is life. It's just starting now. It's how these things happen." Then I just told him I wasn't interested, sorry. Moroccans are pretty different than Americans...I think most of them meet their significant other randomly on the street or via Facebook. Either way, it's just taken a little bit to get used to their assertiveness. It's not a bad thing, it's just very, very different than how it [usually] is in America.
    But this weekend we are going to the Sahara desert! That includes a sunset camel ride and apparently nice hotels. I'm pretty excited and I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.

Until then, I am very envious of y'all in America. At night I dream and dream of food...specifically fried chicken, mac & cheese, Chinese food, and McDonald's flurries. So healthy. As usual.

weekend beach trip & rabat

 The first camel that I've seen here! On Saturday I went to a beach town called Kenitra. Apparently the beach itself is called Mehdia. It was only a couple of cab rides and a train ride away from Rabat. A "friendly" local helped me and a friend find beach towels, and then stormed off when we didn't want to buy a "parasol", which ended up being an umbrella. I thought he was asking us if we wanted to go parasailing. Hahaha.

 A view of the beach from the restaurant we ate at. We had a delicious meal of shrimp & avocado salad, seafood pasta, paella, and wine (the drinking age is 18 here!), for only like $10 each. I love the dirham to dollar ratio.

 It might not be the cleanest beach, but it's a beach nonetheless.

 On Sunday my family asked me to join them out, and when I asked where we were going, my host mom hesitated for a second and said, "La foret!" I think we have a bit different perceptions on what a forest is. I would say it was more of a park. But for Moroccans, this is probably their idea of a forest.

 The forestry here is so different, but beautiful.

 Artwork outside of the La Bibliothèque nationale du Royaume du Maroc (essentially the National Library of Morocco).

 The entrance to the library. It's very spacious and state-of-the-art inside. It definitely gives Howie-T (Tulane's library) a run for its money.

 Gardens outside of the library.

 Still the library.

 An art exhibit outside of the library...I guess the library's kind of a big deal.

The road that my house is on. The yellow archway leads to a mosque.

So all in all, I am getting quite used to life in Rabat. It isn't so bad. I might gain thirty pounds after having cookie, cake, and khobz (bread) at daily afternoon tea [and a few cavities], but the food here is actually pretty good. For dinner we had fish...with all of the bones intact. My host family thinks it's weird that we eat our fish without the bones. I had to tell them finally that I just can't eat bananas right now for certain reasons...I think only my host mother understood that. Studying abroad really makes you learn a lot about your body. Anyway, that might be a bit too much.
I'll just end this with saying that I didn't really expect classes abroad to be quite so serious. But they sort of seem serious, which kind of sucks. But it's probably good for my brain. I guess you learns lots abroad!

The ocean.

So I guess the primary reason why I wanted to study abroad in Morocco was due to its exotic appeal. In my mind, I'd be right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. I definitely envisioned myself sipping on a tropical drink while "doing my homework" on the beach everyday. Needless to say, I had yet to see the beach until today, and while I had enjoyed Morocco, I'll admit I was a little disappointed because I love ocean/water scenery. I grew up in Michigan where Lake Michigan is a mere 45 minute drive and then went to school in New Orleans, right on the Mississippi River and a pretty quick cruise to Lake Pontchartrain.
Then today I finally stumbled upon the Atlantic Ocean. And finally everything came together and I remembered what first attracted me to Morocco.

There are so many wild cats here...

That guy was unreal.

It's hard to take a bad picture in Morocco.