Tag: Morocco

Let’s Start Learning

We started classes today. Arabic from 8:30 to 11:45(?) and CORE class from 2:00 to 5:00. Each class gave us a break halfway through; don’t worry about me too much.

Arabic is, well, Arabic… today I began to learn the alphabet, which the teacher claimed was “not too hard” but HE WAS WRONG–it is way hard. I feel like a little kid, except my teacher goes waaayyy faster and I don’t have adorable little board books with apples and boats and cats. I’m totally getting gypped! In the last half of class he tried to teach me “Hi,” “My name is Staci,” and “I’m from America,” but he was going at light-speed and since I just started learning my letters today I couldn’t really decipher the words as quickly as he expected me to and there were no English phonetic transcriptions so it really is incumbent on me to learn these letters as quickly as possible. Maybe sometime I’ll get one of the advanced students to help me type some so I can show you how difficult it really is. Did I mention I am the only student in the class?

For lunch we had hamburgers and fries at a cafe THAT HAS BRAINS ON THE MENU. Yes you read that right. Brains. I was the only one who noticed because it said “cervelle,” and the others in the group don’t speak French and didn’t know the Arabic word for brain. Upon further investigation it was confirmed that yes, one can order brain for cheaper than a hamburger. GROSS RIGHT?!

The CORE class is our Moroccan history/sociology/politics/etc class and was a welcome breath of fresh air after crazy hard Arabic in the morning. Discussing Morocco is great and using two languages I know (English, litereally, and the language/vocabluary of Political Science, thank you) was MUCH BETTER.  But yeah the professor seems really knowledgeable and he explained things in a way that made 3 hours go by really quickly.

I have homework already!! Its actually kind of nice having something to do in my spare time (that is, something I HAVE to do).

My Host Family

I am now at my host family’s house… my house for the next six weeks. I was placed with them because they speak French! They are actually related to my residential director. I got here around four or five PM, and had nothing to do but shoot the breeze with my host dad… in French. My conversational French skills are completely lacking. There’s something wrong with my brain’s ability to convert thoughts into words… I can write OK in french; I don’t know what’s my road block as far as speaking goes.

Luckily I can communicate OK. I can only imagine what Brynn is going through. She had two “easy” years of Arabic and her family doesn’t really speak English. She wasn’t that confident in her ability to speak, so I guess I’ll find out tomorrow how it went. Like I said I am having an OK time communicating but they probably think I’m super boring because I can never think of a reply to any questions until like 5 minutes later–by that time we have moved on.

A note on dinner… here they eat dinner REALLY LATE! Like, not until 9PM! Luckily lunch is always humongous so I don’t really get hungry until then anyway. They keep forcing food on me! I am going to gain like a zillion pounds over this trip. Gym membership here I come!

Also, I took the bus today, with Selema (host family’s daughter, 18 years old). Is it bad I feel more confident on a Moroccan bus than I do trying to navigate the San Diego bus system? Also, the bus is SO CHEAP– about 4 dirhams one way which is like… 50 cents? Nice.

I Love Guided Tours

Its true–for as independent as I seem sometimes, I love me a good guided tour. Today after lunch we were led by a wonderful tour guide named Fatima to some of the most famous sites in Rabat. Fatima was awesome and hilarious! Like most people I have come into contact with, she speaks French and Arabic. She also speaks English and is married to a Japanese man. She said she is the only tour guide in Rabat speaks Japanese. If this is true she must get good work :)

Anyway we toured Chellah, which is the site of a fifth century Roman ruin and a fourteenth century Islamic ruin. Totally fascinating. The Roman ruin, she said is just likes ones you would actually find in Italy, with a forum, public baths, and the like. The Islamic ruin is just like madrassas you would see today.

After Chellah we toured the unfinished Hassan tower. When designed it was going to be 60m but the king died and construction was finished only at 44m tall. It was still beautiful! At the same place is a masoleum where there are two tombs of recent past kings.

The building with the green roof in the background is the masoleum. Did i mention there were only three of us?
The building with the green roof in the background is the masoleum. Did i mention there were only three of us?

Speaking of Kings, after Hassan tower we went to the palace–we were only allowed to go in because we were with a licensed, authorized tour guide. Very cool. Obviously we couldn’t go in the actual palace, but we got to walk up near it and take a picture.

Lastly we went to the Kasbah here in Rabat which is like a small city within a city with super narrow, twisty, turny roads. I am having a difficult time discerning the difference between roads, alleyways, and hallways. Actually I’m not even sure there is a real difference!  Fatima told us lots of intresting things about that part of the city, like that its where artsy-types like to live, and its where a lot of old people move in so they can retire. From the outside, not only of the Kasbah itself but the buildings and doorways it seems like everything is super small and cramped but in reality once you get inside, things are quite spacious. It really is an optical illusion. And even though it may be hot outside, thick walls keep things cool inside. :)

Uploading things to Flickr is a little much for this internet to handle, but I managed to get up about 5 pictures this afternoon. Check them out to the right!