Hello there,
this blog is just one of status and not of anything terribly interesting. I'm going to appologize for my ESL-ness. I feel my English getting worse by the day as I spend more time away from native speakers. I'm sitting in outside a cafe in Sevilla Spain, it doesn't feel like winter at all, it's fall-ish. Christmas has been nice to spend in a country that celebrates it. I've taken more pictures of lights and churches then I thought was humanly possible. I'll be posting them on facebook for all to see once I return to Morocco. I visited the palace here in Sevilla where Christopher Colombus asked for money to "discover" the new world. It's interesting to see the archeticture, it's like Morocco and Spain mixed. I could definately live here. No one asks where you're from, it doesn't have a paperatizzi feel to it. we can walk where ever we go and the church we attended on the 26th was the best feel of home (Stateside) that I've had since I left. We had coffee and chocolate at an elderly lady's house, we had the best time with her. She was soo sweet and we were able to hear about history that you'd never be able to read in a history book. Mostly about what happened after the Spainish civil war. I told my new and older friends that I love this place and could see myself spending some time here. I thought Paris was beautiful but Sevilla is livable. I think I'll have a hard time getting on the plane to go back to Morocco. Well I'm off to see a house that was built in the same style as Pontus Pilate. I'll be writing more soon.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Paris and Sacrifices
Wow, it's been a long time... I went to Paris, it was my first trip to Europe, I was so excited. Paris is beautiful. It's interesting how many people I know that have gone there and were disappointed. They must have done something wrong. Granted, since being in Morocco, my concept of what dirty is has changed, I've truly seen filth here and I appreciate how much Casa is relatively clean. I wouldn't eat off the floor or anything... Anyway back to pretty Paris, so let's see, in order to get to Paris we took a train from Casa to Fez then a grand taxi to the airport, took a plane, then a bus to the subway to our hotel, later I rode a boat and a bike, so I've only missed four legged transportation on this trip, I'll try better next time :)! Once we arrived at our hotel, which by the way was owned by a Moroccan family, and we arrived late so the only sandwich shop open was a Moroccan restaurant, there is a few bits of irony there, (so this was Thursday). Friday we got up early to catch breakfast, a hunk of bread with jam and butter, and hot chocolate, walked around the Latin Quarter, saw St. Michel, then walked to Notre Dame to meet our bike tour group. We biked through 6-8 neighborhoods in Paris, it was a great tour, biked along the Seine, and got to see lots of awesome architecture. We toured through Notre Dame and got to see the crown of thorns. Then we went to Sacred Heart, which was beautiful but you won't see any pictures, you aren't allowed, but they were doing an adulation music service 24/7, it was beautiful. From there was got to see the layout of Paris, which from above looks very gray. Then we went to the Eiffel Tour, we took lots of pictures, from daylight through dusk until dark, the tour "sparkles" the first 5 minutes of every hour, I got to take one picture of it until my camera died. We ate at a crepiere and went for a drink at an Irish pub. The next day we to the Louvre, and I'm sorry to say that it's just too much to take in... and I'm not that much of an art nut anyway. After an hour, we had covered the Latin wing and the Roman/Greek wing, saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus di Milo and a ton of other amazingly beautiful things. I wondered how the people that work there consider what is beautiful since they are surrounded by the worlds most beautiful things on a daily basis. After the Louvre we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe to get a friend a souvenir. Then we went to La Defense, a large mall. After that we went back to the Latin Quarter to have diner then went on a boat tour. I took the best pictures on that tour, it was amazing, raining and cold but very awesome, this was Saturday. Sunday we got up early took the subway to meet our bus to go back to the airport, but our connecting line was shut down, so the only well known thing that we hadn't been able to see and do was walk down the Champs d'Elysee and see the Arche de Triomphe which we did in search for a way to our bus! We ended up taxiing back to the airport flew to Marrakech and trained back to Casa.
Since our trip to Paris, work has been tough, we have a lot of changes coming up that we've announced but haven't fully communicated to the staff, so we will be starting that this next week. It's been a lot of work, but will be good and necessary for the future.
This week we had a 5 day weekend for the Aid (which is the largest holiday in Morocco) it's the holiday of Sacrifice, where each family gets a ram or bull and kills it, roasts it and gives part to the poor and part to neighbors and eats the rest. So during this holiday I'm working at home each morning. But on the Aid I went to some friends' apt to spy on the neighbors to see how this all happens. We watched one family from their patio. I should give some background, the last two weeks, sheep pens have cropped up all over the city like fireworks stands around the 4th of July. You see guys stuffing sheep into taxi trunks and carrying them all over the city. It's actually humorous. My neighbors had a sheep, noisy thing, bah'ed all night, I think he knew he wasn't going to live much longer. So on the morning of the Aid, I got up quickly as I didn't want to be in the street when the sacrificing began as the mosque across the street was still doing chanting. On the way to my friends' apt it seemed like every guy that I saw was carrying a large knife and a bucket. All I could think was today wasn't the day to make anyone mad. So back to the spying... we watched as the men rigged up meat hooks to drain the rams. But the best part was when we decided to walk around, we walked out of their 4th story apt and 3 stories below on the landing were the neighbors doing their sacrifices. So from a safe (3 stories up) we watched as they slit the jugular, drained, hung, skinned, and gutted 3 rams. I'll have to get some of the pictures from my friends. If this wasn't disturbing enough we eventually ventured out and apparently they roast the heads whole, if that isn't a site to see a rams head complete with horns on a homemade spit. So needless to say it was worse than any branding day or butchering day that I've every participated in as a kid even if they were put in the same day. We went to the roof and found that was the best place to see a lot of sacrifices taking place. Its odd to be 8 stories in the air watching all the other people killing animals on their roofs. So the whole city smelled like burnt fur, and was hazy. I was so grateful for the rain that day to clear the air because that would have just been an awful stinky mess later, and frankly it still is. I was in my friends' neighbors building and the hallways and elevator stink like blood.
Last night some girls and I went to a cafe to meet a friend that one of them has made from France, we hung out with him and his Moroccan friends, it was the first time we've been able to sit and talk like adults with any Moroccan males. I know this sounds weird but, it's just discouraged of women to do, as being seen with a man other than a male relative could ruin her reputation. I'm very glad that my culture has moved past that. So we were asked to attend a rugby match, and we stuck a deal as a lot of us girls would like to go to a soccer game, but don't have enough male co-workers willing to go to a game to be safe. So I told them we'd go to the rugby match if they took us a to a soccer game (as 8 Moroccan guys with 3 American girls wouldn't be too noticeable versus a large group of Americans), little did he know that I like rugby and we would have gone anyway. But this way we get to go to a soccer match too :)
So today I'm going over to watch a Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version) marathon today. I miss everyone a lot and have started a list of things that I want to do when I'm back visiting.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Suprises and Sadness
Hi there,
so since I've been here I've lost 35lbs or if you like have lost 1 dress size, currently I have only a handful of things that I still can't wear. I spent this morning trying on pants that I haven't worn in about a year and a half. However... last Saturday morning while going to the atm for cash, I noticed a watch on the ground and turned it into the police officer across the street. Who by the third sentence in our conversation told me to go on a diet, and that he himself only ate a banana for dinner. While I was still thinking to myself "be nice Kris, getting into an argument with this person would be bad, you want them to like you!" he proceeded to ask me how much I weighed in Kilos (which I truly don't know and don't want to know, I have a hard enough time ordering meat at the grocer in kilos) and that I needed to walk more. (FYI conversation all in French) so I agreed he was correct, and then the conversation went to Islam in the states and that he though US citizens don't like Islam, which I reminded him that we have freedom of religion and that you can believe whatever you want and that is very important to us. So later that day in Marrakech, while walking in the market, a vendor told me "hey pretty lady, we have bigger sizes for you!" so I've been just hit upside the head that my progress in losing weight is just not enough for this country, I need to definitely be smaller! The other comments I've been getting is people asking me if I'm Dutch, I'm not sure if it's because my French is good enough that I just don't sound American, but my body is definitely not of a French lady... so I've looked up Dutch features, who sound very much like American features (can be anything) but they are "big" so... there you have it, by physical identity crisis has been in the forefront as of late. I would like to know how many miles I've walked since being here, because I can definitely tell you, that I've never walked so much! So I've been to Rabat, El Jadida, and Marrakech so far. I couldn't tell you which was my favorite to visit, I really want to head north next, maybe to see some trees that are changing color or see Chefchaouen to see the blue city. We have a trip to Paris planned for the first weekend in November (I'm very excited, and is only costing with air, train and hotel $250 ) and we have 2 other holidays in November that I would like to make plans for but can't find anything in my budget. But I really don't want to be here when the sheep holiday is going on, I don't think I can stomach it, besides it's a family holiday which will probably make me homesick then right after that will be Thanksgiving which will definitely make me homesick. For Christmas break there is a group of us going to the south of Spain, again looking for the cheap trips :) So I've seen lots of new things, someone said something that was very spot on for here, they said I feel like a celebrity, and it's true, you are stared at all the time, people are wanting to make sure that you are comfortable, and just want to see you smile and have a good time. Last night I went to a restaurant and asked to see the menu to make sure I could afford it, and the waiter immediately asked me where I was from, it's a little unnerving. Sometimes the attention is nice others, you are just so overwhelmed by it you don't know what to do. I'm still having a hard time with the inequality/oppressive treatment and view of women whom by the way I feel do at least 70% of the work in this country. But on the other side, I've been quite the little hostess at the house, I have about one thing a week, I like my apt, it's very nice. I have started to cook some Moroccan dishes, like their traditional salad, and FYI anything here cooked or not that is only vegetables is a salad. Someone told me once that "take the hardest way to cook something and that is how the Moroccans do it" (and this is because the women like to prove how good of cooks they are) and this salad was no different. I blanched all the tomatoes, peeled and seeded them, roasted and peeled and seeded my peppers (two hours of prep just for 2 items, mostly because I was making the salad for 12 people and so had to blanch 20 tomatoes but still!) The next thing on my list is to make this Moroccan flat breadish stuff called "insamim" or something like that I haven't been able to find the correct spelling yet. But there are a few other things in Casa that I haven't checked out yet, like the Dior, BCBG and La Perla stores, there is a whole shopping area that I've been eyeing but know I can't afford so haven't ventured to check out yet... So it's not hard for me to tell you I miss everyone, and am already looking forward to coming home to visit this summer. Love you all lots! Kris
so since I've been here I've lost 35lbs or if you like have lost 1 dress size, currently I have only a handful of things that I still can't wear. I spent this morning trying on pants that I haven't worn in about a year and a half. However... last Saturday morning while going to the atm for cash, I noticed a watch on the ground and turned it into the police officer across the street. Who by the third sentence in our conversation told me to go on a diet, and that he himself only ate a banana for dinner. While I was still thinking to myself "be nice Kris, getting into an argument with this person would be bad, you want them to like you!" he proceeded to ask me how much I weighed in Kilos (which I truly don't know and don't want to know, I have a hard enough time ordering meat at the grocer in kilos) and that I needed to walk more. (FYI conversation all in French) so I agreed he was correct, and then the conversation went to Islam in the states and that he though US citizens don't like Islam, which I reminded him that we have freedom of religion and that you can believe whatever you want and that is very important to us. So later that day in Marrakech, while walking in the market, a vendor told me "hey pretty lady, we have bigger sizes for you!" so I've been just hit upside the head that my progress in losing weight is just not enough for this country, I need to definitely be smaller! The other comments I've been getting is people asking me if I'm Dutch, I'm not sure if it's because my French is good enough that I just don't sound American, but my body is definitely not of a French lady... so I've looked up Dutch features, who sound very much like American features (can be anything) but they are "big" so... there you have it, by physical identity crisis has been in the forefront as of late. I would like to know how many miles I've walked since being here, because I can definitely tell you, that I've never walked so much! So I've been to Rabat, El Jadida, and Marrakech so far. I couldn't tell you which was my favorite to visit, I really want to head north next, maybe to see some trees that are changing color or see Chefchaouen to see the blue city. We have a trip to Paris planned for the first weekend in November (I'm very excited, and is only costing with air, train and hotel $250 ) and we have 2 other holidays in November that I would like to make plans for but can't find anything in my budget. But I really don't want to be here when the sheep holiday is going on, I don't think I can stomach it, besides it's a family holiday which will probably make me homesick then right after that will be Thanksgiving which will definitely make me homesick. For Christmas break there is a group of us going to the south of Spain, again looking for the cheap trips :) So I've seen lots of new things, someone said something that was very spot on for here, they said I feel like a celebrity, and it's true, you are stared at all the time, people are wanting to make sure that you are comfortable, and just want to see you smile and have a good time. Last night I went to a restaurant and asked to see the menu to make sure I could afford it, and the waiter immediately asked me where I was from, it's a little unnerving. Sometimes the attention is nice others, you are just so overwhelmed by it you don't know what to do. I'm still having a hard time with the inequality/oppressive treatment and view of women whom by the way I feel do at least 70% of the work in this country. But on the other side, I've been quite the little hostess at the house, I have about one thing a week, I like my apt, it's very nice. I have started to cook some Moroccan dishes, like their traditional salad, and FYI anything here cooked or not that is only vegetables is a salad. Someone told me once that "take the hardest way to cook something and that is how the Moroccans do it" (and this is because the women like to prove how good of cooks they are) and this salad was no different. I blanched all the tomatoes, peeled and seeded them, roasted and peeled and seeded my peppers (two hours of prep just for 2 items, mostly because I was making the salad for 12 people and so had to blanch 20 tomatoes but still!) The next thing on my list is to make this Moroccan flat breadish stuff called "insamim" or something like that I haven't been able to find the correct spelling yet. But there are a few other things in Casa that I haven't checked out yet, like the Dior, BCBG and La Perla stores, there is a whole shopping area that I've been eyeing but know I can't afford so haven't ventured to check out yet... So it's not hard for me to tell you I miss everyone, and am already looking forward to coming home to visit this summer. Love you all lots! Kris
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Cool people most of the time :)
I've been here nearly a month, and it has been great. I feel like I'm finally getting my feet under me getting around and working with in the community here. I'm still not comforable with the taxi's that play chicken with the other cars on the road, I know I've said on more than one occasion that the traffic here is crazy but you really have to be here first hand to live the adrenaline rush of the way people drive here. Saturday was fantastic, since being here I've been told many a time that I need to lower my expectation on what I want to accomplish in a day. For those who know me well are probably chuckling to themselves now... That is really difficult for me to do, as I am demanding of myself and those around me and lets face it I would like to organize just about everything I come into contact. So back to what will be known forever as the mecah of all Saturdays, I went apartment shopping in the morning starting 9:30 am until 1pm saw 3 apartments varying to boondocks ok to boondocks royalty to average on the edge living for Casa. Then I was abl e to go to Radio Shack, yep they are everywhere! to return a transformer for my hair straightener. I think I shocked the sales guy when I brought back the first one and (thank you dad for teaching me a little bit about electricity) a list of the requirements for the straightener, volts hertz and watts. He asked me about 3 times if this info was accurate, because apparently it pulls a lot of power, apparently Moroccon women wouldn't need something so heavy duty :) After telling me on this second visit he didn't have the item at this location but "Sister if you would like to come back tomorrow, I will personally bring it in." (but he forgot he told me that the first time, and when I told my coworkers about this nice young man one chuckled and told me "ahh you need to know that here that doesn't mean anything, as I was told 6 months ago my shade of lipstick would be in tomorrow" So this nice guy refunded my money which is unheard of here, and gave me the name of the sales clerk at the other radio shack in town that had the item. I then ordered a pizza with some coworkers for lunch, to be picked up shortly. Did I mention that I've been using my trusty columbia back pack that everyone has told me that I've fantastic, which it is. We went to what one of the English girls called a "cobbler" you just have to love them! I went to a shoe guy that had a wooden booth on the side of a street that charges 20 dirham to fix just about anything, so that is about 2 dollars. So I explained to him in french that I wanted my shoes fixed, and a nice guy standing there translated my french into diriga (Moroccan Arabic) who told me they would be ready in 4 hours that same day. So as I walked away with my friends, I said "I just left my expensive shoes with a guy that I don't know and who doesn't even speak french" , who told me to blog about it to people back home :) So then we ate, grabbed a taxi to the next radio shack, got rather lost got directions a couple times, and met this really nice girl that is in her 3rd year of college in international business that would really like to work in the states, who by the way probably walked about 2 miles out of her way to personally take us to the radio shack that she didn't know where it was, but was so fantastic that she kept getting directions for us and took us all the way there. She was very shocked that I said we should get together and I would help her with her English and work on my french together too :) We then got the transformer, and walked around some more. We found a store that carries Clinique, which I'm running low on, but they wanted $43 for what I would be $20 back in the states. So needless to say I'll be finding a new skin care solution :(. We walked around some more, then went and caught a kamakazi taxi back to pick up my shoes, had someone over for dinner and got my internet charged. So basically I was able to get about a weeks worth of chores done in a day! We went to the Habbous today, which is another market and bought a $3 scarf and exchanged my only american pen for a key chain from a very cute little vendor (he looked to be about 60 :) ) took a ton of pictures so check them out. This weekend is a holiday 3 day weekend, that some are looking to go to Rabat. I'm hoping that it will work out that I will be able to go with them. After all that :) people have been fantastic I'm looking to see what everyones like when they can eat and drink regularly. I've been reading "Eat Pray Love" it's been awesome. I'll try to update more often on here,
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Medina, what's the dollar equivilant to a camel?
Hi There,
Went to the Old Medina today, which is an old Moroccan Market down town which is what you think of when you think Morocco barter area. We walked around and looked at "butt covers" which we've found to be the better of shirts as most men here are ass men, and looked at some purses and other trinkets. While shopping a friend had the best quote of the day after a shop keeper said "oh you speak english I give you good price" to which she said yeah that' s a line I've heard before. I learned that my southern co-workers however petite are the most feisty of barters and are not to be messed with. (side note, I have noted all the gramatical and spelling errors I've been making... just haven't corrected them all yet :) ) So the highlight of my day was when we were shopping a shop owner told my friend that he'd give her 50,000 camels for me, why he thought that he should ask her, I'm not sure as she is asian and obviously doesn't look like a family member, and so I started laughing and he raised his offer to 55,000 camels. At that point we walked away, but it has been bugging me all day... what's the dollar equivalent to that? I've tried to google it but haven't been successfull. Hopefully no one tells my dad or he may take him up on the offer :) Anyway that was a first for me, I'm not even sure if it was a good offer, another friend in our group said it was a great offer and that it would be enough money she wouldn't feel guilty after selling me... I think she was joking... but if not you can find her teaching social studies at the school if I ever go missing! Later I told my friends I should have taken a picture with the guy that offered 55K camels just so I could consider it later if my confidence ever went down :) So please feel free to let me know if you ever find the dolar equivalent to a camel :)
Went to the Old Medina today, which is an old Moroccan Market down town which is what you think of when you think Morocco barter area. We walked around and looked at "butt covers" which we've found to be the better of shirts as most men here are ass men, and looked at some purses and other trinkets. While shopping a friend had the best quote of the day after a shop keeper said "oh you speak english I give you good price" to which she said yeah that' s a line I've heard before. I learned that my southern co-workers however petite are the most feisty of barters and are not to be messed with. (side note, I have noted all the gramatical and spelling errors I've been making... just haven't corrected them all yet :) ) So the highlight of my day was when we were shopping a shop owner told my friend that he'd give her 50,000 camels for me, why he thought that he should ask her, I'm not sure as she is asian and obviously doesn't look like a family member, and so I started laughing and he raised his offer to 55,000 camels. At that point we walked away, but it has been bugging me all day... what's the dollar equivalent to that? I've tried to google it but haven't been successfull. Hopefully no one tells my dad or he may take him up on the offer :) Anyway that was a first for me, I'm not even sure if it was a good offer, another friend in our group said it was a great offer and that it would be enough money she wouldn't feel guilty after selling me... I think she was joking... but if not you can find her teaching social studies at the school if I ever go missing! Later I told my friends I should have taken a picture with the guy that offered 55K camels just so I could consider it later if my confidence ever went down :) So please feel free to let me know if you ever find the dolar equivalent to a camel :)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Class, Ramadan, and other random things
Hi There,
So I've never been so aware of class as I am here, in the US there are some seperation but most are taught that regarding people to be of a certain class and treating them differently is NOT ok, in fact I think most would say you have no class by marking the difference.
However here is different, and it is hard to realize that by treating everyone the same is foundation shaking. It's had for me not to smile and greet everyone, (I know, I know the men thing is duely noted, side note I really dislike the phrase duely noted!) But at the school there are guards and maintainance workers that you can greet but at a distance, a demure wave and Bonjour. Nothing too friendly ever, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's how I can show respect to them is by maintaining their culture...
Ramadan has been interesting, eating in private, or just going to lots of western restaurants. However, on Sunday TGIFridays did something here that would never happen back home. After church we went to TGIF and unfortunately they were closed until 8pm (during Ramadan you can only eat during the dark hours, you are even discouraged from swallowing your own spit) so there isn't much business during the day, but for us they opened the restaurant! So during their prep hours they served a group of 50+ people. Other than that and McDonalds, we've been eating in private since they eat lunch here 2ish and dinner 8-10ish... yeah that part once Ramadan is over may take some time to acclimate. Things I won't miss from Ramadan is the 9 o'clock service on the outdoor PA system for an hour of chanting, along with the 3 am ( yes that's right in the middle of the night) there is another hour long service that is broadcasted.
We did a scavanger hunt on Monday, and I had a blast, exploring the city with others, learning how to hail a taxi, and just buy things was fun. I still need to learn my neighborhood. I'm looking forward to doing that, my downstairs neighbor has been great and we're going to check some things out this week.
The coolest thing that I did today was having tea as a co-workers house and going to this store in Dar Baouzza called Natty Natty (said Naughty Naughty I think that my been a freudian cue) they sell the best ice cream, chorizo, and french cheeses, oh and the best mustard! The ice cream I bought today was creme brulee... I let you know how it is :) People have been great, I've equated it to the fact humans when they are about 6months on discovering the world with their mouths, and a lot of the people helping us aclimate are in that stage and I'm glad to reap the benefits.
I love you all and will continue to keep you posted :)
So I've never been so aware of class as I am here, in the US there are some seperation but most are taught that regarding people to be of a certain class and treating them differently is NOT ok, in fact I think most would say you have no class by marking the difference.
However here is different, and it is hard to realize that by treating everyone the same is foundation shaking. It's had for me not to smile and greet everyone, (I know, I know the men thing is duely noted, side note I really dislike the phrase duely noted!) But at the school there are guards and maintainance workers that you can greet but at a distance, a demure wave and Bonjour. Nothing too friendly ever, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's how I can show respect to them is by maintaining their culture...
Ramadan has been interesting, eating in private, or just going to lots of western restaurants. However, on Sunday TGIFridays did something here that would never happen back home. After church we went to TGIF and unfortunately they were closed until 8pm (during Ramadan you can only eat during the dark hours, you are even discouraged from swallowing your own spit) so there isn't much business during the day, but for us they opened the restaurant! So during their prep hours they served a group of 50+ people. Other than that and McDonalds, we've been eating in private since they eat lunch here 2ish and dinner 8-10ish... yeah that part once Ramadan is over may take some time to acclimate. Things I won't miss from Ramadan is the 9 o'clock service on the outdoor PA system for an hour of chanting, along with the 3 am ( yes that's right in the middle of the night) there is another hour long service that is broadcasted.
We did a scavanger hunt on Monday, and I had a blast, exploring the city with others, learning how to hail a taxi, and just buy things was fun. I still need to learn my neighborhood. I'm looking forward to doing that, my downstairs neighbor has been great and we're going to check some things out this week.
The coolest thing that I did today was having tea as a co-workers house and going to this store in Dar Baouzza called Natty Natty (said Naughty Naughty I think that my been a freudian cue) they sell the best ice cream, chorizo, and french cheeses, oh and the best mustard! The ice cream I bought today was creme brulee... I let you know how it is :) People have been great, I've equated it to the fact humans when they are about 6months on discovering the world with their mouths, and a lot of the people helping us aclimate are in that stage and I'm glad to reap the benefits.
I love you all and will continue to keep you posted :)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
First Days
Hello there,
so my journey began a while back to get to this point, so be ready for some back fill :) later. I wanted to keep everyone up on my experiences because each person I know has contributed in a way to get me here. So one Sat. the 7th at 7:30 PM I flew from Boise to Salt Lake City, then from SLC to JFK. Oddest thing in SLC, they have a smoking room, I have been in my fair share of airports and I've never seen a smoking room, and Salt Lake City UTAH has one? really?!? odd, but anyway my plan was to sleep on the flights as night and then be ready to go once a arrived in Casablanca (which everyone here refers to as Casa). However, the child sitting behind me from SLC to JFK did get the consept, nor did her parents... have you ever seen parents treat an 8 yr old like a 2 yr old?, it's sad. So I only had 2 hours of sleep going into Sunday, a 13 hour layover at JFK, which wasn't very fun, I just hung out at the airport walking around to stay awake. Did you know that you can't serve alcohol in New York before 12 noon, but apparently their bars stay open until 4am. So while I was waiting for the Air Morac counter to open up I was able to run into a co-worker that was on the same flight as me, and she and I chatted, and met Morase, the cutest old jewish man you ever did meet! He's 75-80 years old and lives on 5th ave, in NYC and travels a lot all by himself, (to go on group tours) but wow, I would like to be that independent at his age. We sat with Morase until we boarded, which by the way I saw an Airbus 380, it's HUGE! I didn't take a picture of it though, silly me. While we stood in line to board we met a man who's wife was on the board of directors for the school, small world huh? Then once we were abord the girl sitting next to me had an internship for a week at GWA last spring, even smaller world :) So the flight to Morocco was it's own cultural experience, first, the meal was awesome, caprese salas, regular salad, chocolate cake, dinner roll, cheddar cheese, spaghetti, coffee and drink (non-alcoholic, I'll get to the more later). Really good food, then Clash of the Titans (new version) was played, then another newer movie, then was Leap year, I slept about 4 hours on this flight. So besides the food, people just wandered all over the cabin like it was a lounge, oddest thing, getting themselves extra food and drinks. We were served breakfast too, yogurt, croissant, chocolate muffin and coffe. Once we landed it we deboarded into 100 degree heat with50+% humidity, and not too many places have AC... we went through customs and everyone's baggage was there so yeah!!! The school driver was there to meet us, (mini plug for something later, I smiled and waved at the toll booth attendant so kinda smirked and then really smiled, I'll get abe to this too) and we went straight to the school. I was given another don'ts list, which once is making eye contact with men, so of course I told my co-worker about the toll booth and she had to tell me how what I did was received... "Hey Baby, how you do'n, I think you're hot". Great! the girl that never flirts is doing it from the get go! So then we dropped off my bags, and then I went to the supermarket to get some toiletries, where I smiled at the male cashier (and I told my co-worker that he was looking at me first, I feel like I'm having to defend something that is just considered good manners, but oh well) I came home unpacked, went to dinner with my downstair neighbor where I almost fell asleep at the table. So one of the first things I noticed is that women do wear some tank tops, not very often, but T-Shirts are totally ok. So I've talked to some of the other co-workers and we've errored on the side of cautiousness with our dressing but am really glad that I brought t-shirts! So I went to bed around 10ish my time and slept like a log, woke up to the morning call to prayer and got ready went to school with the neighbor and helped in the library, went to the supermarket again and then to a dinner at one of the staffs house, there are about 30 of us new staff. I'm just starting to think about all the running around I'm seeing the HR Staff doing right now and thinking, ok this will be me next year! But these guys drive... yeah so driving, california drivers have NOTHING on Casa drivers, cars share lanes, people use horns as a greeting to let people know you're there, and using the road is an option (saw a Bus using the ditch when traffic was backed up...) so the motorcycles ride the lines or in between the cars, along with the pedal bikes, and rolar bladers, and the pedestrians constantly walk into traffic, I personally think they have esphixiation issues. Oh and they pile up on the left hand turn sometimes 5 cars and then all turn all at the same time... and it works however there are a few accidents, I've seen 5 since I've been here 3 days! We went to the beach today, and someone brought a bikini berka, what's that you want to know? well it's like a moomoo but it has embroadery and this one was sleaveless and had slits up the sides to the knee hence the "bikini" part. Since there was no one on the beach in a western style swimsuit over the age of 4, I just waded in the water, Marc our lucky English (from Whales) man of the day got to escort us, yes we were chaporoned. I've had to check my ego and realize that in order to make a difference here I'm going to have to be approachable and that changes my strong independance just while I'm here, besides it keeps us safe. I started orientation today too, so my goal is to write some each day and each person can read when they like... So since I've had you waiting to hear about the non-alcoholic drink thing from the plane... Moroccians aren't supposed to drink alcohol, so the aisle of shame (as it is being refered to) is an aisle that has a guard, and roll up door, you go in unescorted, they close the door behind you (but you have to show your passport to buy wine since they don't want natives drinking it) and they don't turn on the light so you have to bring your own light source to see the labels. So Ramadan started today, the chanting across the street was about an hour long, kinda pretty, but I've heard having a good voice is not a prerequeset, and that one isn't so good... I'll let you know.... More soon! see pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69762&id=1020933390&l=0c2f374890
so my journey began a while back to get to this point, so be ready for some back fill :) later. I wanted to keep everyone up on my experiences because each person I know has contributed in a way to get me here. So one Sat. the 7th at 7:30 PM I flew from Boise to Salt Lake City, then from SLC to JFK. Oddest thing in SLC, they have a smoking room, I have been in my fair share of airports and I've never seen a smoking room, and Salt Lake City UTAH has one? really?!? odd, but anyway my plan was to sleep on the flights as night and then be ready to go once a arrived in Casablanca (which everyone here refers to as Casa). However, the child sitting behind me from SLC to JFK did get the consept, nor did her parents... have you ever seen parents treat an 8 yr old like a 2 yr old?, it's sad. So I only had 2 hours of sleep going into Sunday, a 13 hour layover at JFK, which wasn't very fun, I just hung out at the airport walking around to stay awake. Did you know that you can't serve alcohol in New York before 12 noon, but apparently their bars stay open until 4am. So while I was waiting for the Air Morac counter to open up I was able to run into a co-worker that was on the same flight as me, and she and I chatted, and met Morase, the cutest old jewish man you ever did meet! He's 75-80 years old and lives on 5th ave, in NYC and travels a lot all by himself, (to go on group tours) but wow, I would like to be that independent at his age. We sat with Morase until we boarded, which by the way I saw an Airbus 380, it's HUGE! I didn't take a picture of it though, silly me. While we stood in line to board we met a man who's wife was on the board of directors for the school, small world huh? Then once we were abord the girl sitting next to me had an internship for a week at GWA last spring, even smaller world :) So the flight to Morocco was it's own cultural experience, first, the meal was awesome, caprese salas, regular salad, chocolate cake, dinner roll, cheddar cheese, spaghetti, coffee and drink (non-alcoholic, I'll get to the more later). Really good food, then Clash of the Titans (new version) was played, then another newer movie, then was Leap year, I slept about 4 hours on this flight. So besides the food, people just wandered all over the cabin like it was a lounge, oddest thing, getting themselves extra food and drinks. We were served breakfast too, yogurt, croissant, chocolate muffin and coffe. Once we landed it we deboarded into 100 degree heat with50+% humidity, and not too many places have AC... we went through customs and everyone's baggage was there so yeah!!! The school driver was there to meet us, (mini plug for something later, I smiled and waved at the toll booth attendant so kinda smirked and then really smiled, I'll get abe to this too) and we went straight to the school. I was given another don'ts list, which once is making eye contact with men, so of course I told my co-worker about the toll booth and she had to tell me how what I did was received... "Hey Baby, how you do'n, I think you're hot". Great! the girl that never flirts is doing it from the get go! So then we dropped off my bags, and then I went to the supermarket to get some toiletries, where I smiled at the male cashier (and I told my co-worker that he was looking at me first, I feel like I'm having to defend something that is just considered good manners, but oh well) I came home unpacked, went to dinner with my downstair neighbor where I almost fell asleep at the table. So one of the first things I noticed is that women do wear some tank tops, not very often, but T-Shirts are totally ok. So I've talked to some of the other co-workers and we've errored on the side of cautiousness with our dressing but am really glad that I brought t-shirts! So I went to bed around 10ish my time and slept like a log, woke up to the morning call to prayer and got ready went to school with the neighbor and helped in the library, went to the supermarket again and then to a dinner at one of the staffs house, there are about 30 of us new staff. I'm just starting to think about all the running around I'm seeing the HR Staff doing right now and thinking, ok this will be me next year! But these guys drive... yeah so driving, california drivers have NOTHING on Casa drivers, cars share lanes, people use horns as a greeting to let people know you're there, and using the road is an option (saw a Bus using the ditch when traffic was backed up...) so the motorcycles ride the lines or in between the cars, along with the pedal bikes, and rolar bladers, and the pedestrians constantly walk into traffic, I personally think they have esphixiation issues. Oh and they pile up on the left hand turn sometimes 5 cars and then all turn all at the same time... and it works however there are a few accidents, I've seen 5 since I've been here 3 days! We went to the beach today, and someone brought a bikini berka, what's that you want to know? well it's like a moomoo but it has embroadery and this one was sleaveless and had slits up the sides to the knee hence the "bikini" part. Since there was no one on the beach in a western style swimsuit over the age of 4, I just waded in the water, Marc our lucky English (from Whales) man of the day got to escort us, yes we were chaporoned. I've had to check my ego and realize that in order to make a difference here I'm going to have to be approachable and that changes my strong independance just while I'm here, besides it keeps us safe. I started orientation today too, so my goal is to write some each day and each person can read when they like... So since I've had you waiting to hear about the non-alcoholic drink thing from the plane... Moroccians aren't supposed to drink alcohol, so the aisle of shame (as it is being refered to) is an aisle that has a guard, and roll up door, you go in unescorted, they close the door behind you (but you have to show your passport to buy wine since they don't want natives drinking it) and they don't turn on the light so you have to bring your own light source to see the labels. So Ramadan started today, the chanting across the street was about an hour long, kinda pretty, but I've heard having a good voice is not a prerequeset, and that one isn't so good... I'll let you know.... More soon! see pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69762&id=1020933390&l=0c2f374890
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