Category: On the Road

Weekend Trip #1

So, I’m the only one that has school tomorrow morning, and really I’m not sure why I do and the others don’t… but I’m not asking questions because I want to get full credit… so yeah. I’m bringing my bag with me to school in the morning and the others are meeting me at 12 after I get out of class and we’re heading over to the train station. I’m taking a train! How exciting, right?

Now readers, you know I’m just stringing you along, because the train may be part of the trip but you clearly don’t know the destination yet. So, our train ride should be a few hours, and we’ll get into Tangiers (the top, pointy part of morocco where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet) around like six PM…

Then…. we’re going to take a ferry to SPAIN! That’s right, sail across the glorious Strait of Gibraltar and spend a day basking in the delightful sun of l’Espana! I mean, we’re only going to be there for a day, it will probably be pretty similar to Morocco… and its going to be ungodly expensive compared to our past two weeks but… you know what… I get to add another country to my map!  I’m excited. I want to buy a souvenir with a bull on it or something :D

I’ve never done something this spontaneous… I mean there was that spontaneous trip to Las Vegas, but I definitely had a place to stay when I got there. We have no place to stay so this should be rather interesting! Adventure, right?

That said, I’m leaving my computer at home so it doesn’t get stolen on our journey. So I will be incommunicado until Sunday evening. :) Leave me lots of lovely commentsto read and smile at when I get back! Hopefully I’ll come back with an interesting story or gorgeous pictures!

Note that the #1 in the title implies that there will be subsequent weekend trips! Probably not to other countries but hopefully just as exciting :)

Lack of Update

I really don’t want to miss a day of updating, but I always feel lame and cheap if I just put something (such as this) so as to “update” with my lack of anything to say.

Today for class we went to the archaeological museum, which had a lot of interesting things but kind of seemed like it’d been built in the 1970s and not updated since. Not that I was around in the 70s. But I guess I’ve gotten spoiled by going to really cool museums in the US that are all about fancy lighting and laser security systems and two inch thick glass and stuff. I mean there were these skeletons, a couple of the earliest complete skeletons found in the region, and if I had a mind to I could have reached down into the enclosure and touch them. Obviously this was out of the question, but a layer of vaccuum-sealed 2 inch glass would have made it even more out of the question.

I most certainly was not supposed to take this picture. Sneaky sneaky, flash set to "off!"
I most certainly was not supposed to take this picture. Sneaky sneaky, flash set to "off!"

The thing I found most interesting about the museum was the huge quantity of Roman artifacts found in all corners of Rabat. It really drove home to me how wide the span and influence of the Roman Empire really had been. I mean, you think about it in Europe and it sounds normal enough. Famous stories of Romans in Egypt, sure. Israel? Of course. But Morocco? More surprising and interesting, I think.

al-Hemem

Recipe for one Hemem (“turkish bath”)

One part sauna
One part YMCA locker room
Two parts massage parlor
One part questionable herbal soap

Mix well; marinate for about an hour. Rinse thoroughly with cold water.

That may or may not be the extent to which I’m willing to go into it. Lets just say that another woman scrubbed me (all of me….) within an inch of my life and my body now contains 0% dead skin cells. Indeed I feel clean and my skin looks radiant. All this for 80dh (about ten bucks).