tea pong

The start of the week came bright and early 6:30 Monday morning, something I am already getting sick of. After classes we had a talk by Michael Peyron a white haired kind faced englishman. He gave us a quick history lesson on the Berber of Amazigh people of North Africa. He is going to be our tour guide on the three group trips we will be taking this semester. He was a very entertaining, jolly man and I am looking forward to being led our trips by him. Around the end of the talk a wonderful storm took place outside. Pouring rain pounded on the roof, thunder sounded, and bright flashes of lightning lit up the sky. I stepped onto the school balcony to listen to the sounds and watch the wind whip some clothing hanging on the rooftop nearby. That night we met our Moroccan language and culture partners who are Moroccan college students that we are paired up with and who are invited to all of the cultural nights which happen about once a week. At first it felt 8th grade dance -ish

as we stood separate in the room. We started to branch out and I first met a Moroccan named Younes, but really It's My Life which I eventually understood to be his nickname. We then played a get to know you game, again 8th grade summer camp-ish, but I know I'm not alone in saying it was super fun. I finally met my very own partner whose name is Mouna a 20 year old student at Muhammad V University who loves the OC and likes to dance and sing for fun. We hit it off and I can already see us becoming great friends in the future.

Tuesday after school Brittini and I came home and headed straight to the roof, which we joyously discovered is accessible earlier this week. We spent a few hours up there reading, eating chocolate, admiring the rooftops of Rabat and Atlantic Ocean stretching on to eternity.

Oh the beauty of this world.

Wednesday was the day of my first quiz in Darija arabic, yikes! Despite the knots in my stomach telling me I wasn't going to do very well I believe that I did, though I can always use more practice Insha'alah. It was another drippy and windy day in Rabat and we made it home relatively dry only to curl up in our beds and listen to the wind gusting outside out window. It took a lot of self-encouragement but I pulled myself out of bed at 7 and headed out into the dark stormy night for the first time alone to meet up with some friends. It was actuallyrather liberating and I found that with my hood up, under a shroud of darkness (my blond hair hidden) I was relatively unnoticed on the street.My friends and I made our way to the Medina, my boots completely soaked through after only a few minutes of walking After meeting up with a few others we headed to a real live Moroccan elementary school for a party. I know what you're thinking, whaaaat? I am still thinking the same thing. Apparently the dad of one of the Moroccans in the group owns or runs the school or something, so after hours they decided to use the space for a party. And a party it was. There was food, drink, music coming from a laptop and speakers set up in the room. There were about 7 Moroccans and the rest us American students but I still got to meet some other great Moroccans my age. We talked, ate, drank, danced, sang, and played tea pong. That's Beer pong minus the beer, plus Moroccan mint tea, sooo good. It was a fantastic time had by all! I returned home giddy with the energy of a teenager coming home from a school dance.

Now here I am about to depart on my first traveling adventure in Morocco. I and four others are catching a bus today at 2, for a five hour journey, headed to the Northwestern city of Chefchaouen. Get ready to be bombarded with pictures upon my return, the town is painted blue!

B'salma for now friends.