The international language of Soap opera's

Today was THE day,

the day we went to live with our host families. Anxiety, excitement, fear, anxiety, happiness, nearly every feeling under the sun was building up in all of us in anticipation of this moment. We spent the morning at AMIDEAST and went through another hyper-intensive Survival Moroccan Arabic course. My word for you today is Kol shi bikhir meaning all is fine. You can use this as an answer to how are you, and you better! Then we gathered in a classroom and awkwardly waited as someone from our families came in to meet us. Of course almost all the Moroccan Arabic we had just been franticly learning disappeared from our minds, but we knew enough for the polite greeting. Fatima one of the girls in our family came to pick my roommate Brittini and I up. She is a tiny Moroccan woman who wears a headscarf and speaks what I would say is very good english and she only learned it from watching tv!

We then spent a good 10 minutes hailing a cab during rush hour. Our cab ride was crazy and included a moment when the cab drive, fed up with traffic, simply drove into the land lane of oncoming traffic to go around. Yikes! Luckily we did make it in one piece to the apartment. We met Rabia the house mother and Ali the shopkeeper who came home for lunch. Fatima left for her job with the ministry of energy, pretty impressive I must say. We unpacked and then sat down for lunch with Rabia a kind and welcoming Moroccan woman. We watched a Moroccan soap opera which proved to be pretty interesting. We communicated with Rabia as much as we could and she is very welcome to teaching and learning herself. Soap opera's are pretty universal it turns out, there was a cheating spouse, what we think was a depressed woman because she couldn't have kids, and even a villian who tried to choke another lady in a department store for not coming to work. Anger issues, I guess they've got them everywhere :)

We went to our rooms to relax then and I took a much needed nap. There are so many sounds here you notice when laying down. The call to prayer sounds 5 times a day, people on the street, people in the apartment above, and Rabia cleaning what seemed like the whole apartment and doing laundry. Needless to day I slept very well :)

We gathered in what seems like our women's room, because Ali hasn't eaten with us, for tea and snack time. So much bread and delicious treats and of course Moroccan mint tea complete with a cup or two of sugar. We talked while watching tv, most notably Kung Fu Panda dubbed in arabic. It wasn't quite the same without Jack Black but everyone still found it funny. Then we watched all of Catch Me if You Can with Arabic subtitles and at a light dinner of some sort of pasta in a bit communal bowl and clementine like fruits. So my homestay family is very kind and hospitable and I can see becoming very close with them. Also I am going to bed very full and must make a note to learn "I am full, thank you" in order to keep from gaining 1,000 pounds!

Layla saida (goodnight) from a happy apartment in Rabat, Morocco to anyone out there listening.

oh and lieu of new pictures for tonight and oldy goldy that makes me happy. This is not Morocco but rather high in the Sierra Nevada's, my happy place :)

YMCA

Sorry for the late post, internet freaked out on me last night but here it is!

Tired. Sums up the days end pretty well. Today was a day of information. It started off early when my alarm clock and phone accidentally went off at 6:15am, 2 hours early, someday I'll get it figured out. The morning was spent in orientation classes learning about Nonverbal communication in Morocco and Home-stays. The orientation classes pretty much consist of the 13 girls and Dohathe program manager, a beautiful and stylish Moroccan woman whom I can already see becoming our second mom while we're here. I learned that many Darija (Moroccan arabic) have nonverbal hand gestures. Forexample the word kyf kyf means same or all thesame to me and you can signify it by putting your index fingers together parallel to the ground and moving them back and forth, toward your bodyand away. Go try it out!

I also received my host family information. I am going to be living with another girl Brittany here with a family of 3 girls one my age named Sara, Amina, and Fatima, and a mother who is a housewife named Rabia and father who is a shopkeeper named Ali. I will meet them and move in tomorrow in their home, eeek!

Later after lunch we went to our firstSurvival Moroccan Arabic classes. We split up according to previous Arabic knowledge. We were waiting in the classroom when in walks the hyper hard to understand woman from the arabic placement tests. We then had an hour long session learning Darija with her. She was funny and quite energetic for someone with gray hair, sorry mom, and I did learn a lot. However we all came out of it feeling quite overwhelmed. No sooner were we about to leave when we were whisked away to a cafe nearby to practice ourjust learned language skills. The cafe was modern and had a dj, awesome! We ordered delicious coffee and danced to YMCA and Night at the Roxbury music. Another highlight of the day was dinner with the group as well as some past students and the staff in the Medina. I finally got to try Tajir, a traditional moroccan dish, in a vegetarian version this time. We were all fooled during dessert when delicious yogurt in ceramic cups turned out to be Dannon. Haha. After we went on a walking tour in the Medin, which is the old part of town inside a large wall consisting of a maze of alleyways and walkways lined with shops and venders selling everything and anything. Dead chickens, live chickens, boots, you name it! We were looked at much and even called spice girls, my favorite greeting yet :)

The night ended with my hotel roomate sara and eyediscussing feminism and literally passing out in bed. Well at least she has, I am not far behind!

Layla saida (Good night) my loves.

Borken arabic and avocado smoothies

My day was doomed from the start, and by the start I mean the night before when some other girls in the program and I grudgingly met up to study arabic in preparation for our placement tests today. Once again my alarmclocks failed, my roommates went off though neither of mine did, I had forgotten the planned time of departure anyway. Thus I ran into the group of test takers as they were leaving, grabbed some bread so go, and ate on the road. We made our way over to AMIDEAST, nerves in at least my stomach. The first part of the test, the written part, was scheduled for 2 hours. I took about 1 and a half and finished also about half of the test :)

Finishing early I went on a walk around the city with a new friend. We walked around the huge, beautiful, and modern library which we are expecting to do much studying in. We passed a construction site which at the moment is a ginormous hole in the ground with little around to keep people out. Finally we ended up at a smoothie place where I purchased a papaya passion smoothie of delicious goodness! Alas the mouth watering fun had to end and be replaced by yucky a yucky arabic oral placement test. This I did less than good on (the testers accents were hard to understand!) but they way I see it I could use to re-learn some arabic concepts.

At night a big group of us tried to catch some cabs and head to the Medina, a popular and cheap area of Rabat, for some dinner and shopping but it grew difficult and we were mostly hungry and tired so we opted for an easier option. We ended up back at the smoothie place which also had quite inexpensive food. I got a four cheese panini and, get this, an avocado smoothie for 25 dirhams which is roughly $3! Gotta love a good conversion rate.

I finallyended my day in my hotel room chatting with Caroline, my roommate from home, and havingmyfirst video chat with travis since I've been here, much needed. Now I am at peace and ready for a good nights sleep before it's on to more; more adventures, more smoothies, and more Morocco!

Falling in love

My day began as I jolted awake, looked at my watch, and realized that it was 8:30 when we had planned to meet for breakfast and anhour after our alarm had been set for. My roommate and I jumped up and got ready in record time beforeheading to our breakfast of mini pastries, bread, jams, sliced cucumber?, and perhaps the best orange juice I have ever tasted. The group, 13 of us total, walked to the AMIDEAST offices together, about a 30 minute walk. We had some very helpful orientation workshops. Thus far the AMIDEAST staff are all very welcoming, kind, and super informative. Awesome!

We had a short break

in the middleof the sessions for traditional Moroccan tea and small treats. Moroccan tea is minty and probably more sugar than water but wonderfully delicious. Mmm. We then boardeda bus, and when I say bus I mean a stumpy European-esque van. We drove a bit around Rabat but mostly focused on 3 stops, one to Chellah, Oulja, and Loudaya. Chellah is a necropolis and complex of ancient Roman and medieval ruins in Rabat, and also quite breathtaking. We spotted ornate designs in the ruins, ginormous stork nests (with storks in them), what wasleft of a mosque, many cats,saint houses, and a grave dating back to the 1300's! The Oulja was a store with anything from Moroccan rugs, to slippers, furniture, and books.

We ended our tour at the Loudaya which is the old area of the city surrounded by a large red wall. There were tons of Moroccans millin

g around. We think we spotted a famous Moroccan woman wearing a fedora and surrounded by body guards. Also I was informed that a lot of young couples in secret relationships go there to escape their families since most live at home until they are married. This area was beautiful, some greenery, narrow alleyways painted blue, a

nd a beautiful lookout over the ocean.

I stood there with the wind lightly lifting my hair and realized I am going to fall in love with this place. I am already falling in love with Morocco.

Oh the places you'll go....

From the sleepy town of Medford Oregon; along the coast to the waters of the San Francisco Bay; Across the Atlantic to Paris (Bonjour); and into the sky once more to the coastal city of Rabat, Morocco. What a journey this has been, and to think it's only just begun! I said goodbye to parents with teary eyes in Medford, kissed my love one last kiss in San Francisco, navigated treacherous lines of travelers in the Paris airport, and nearly hit at least a dozen pedestrians on my first taxi ride in Morocco. I can honestly say it's been one hell of a trip thus far.

I was able to look out and see the Mediterranean sea and the straight of Gibraltar from my airplane and then the firsts coastlines of Morocco which we followed to our descent in Rabat. Rabat appeared to me with boxy spanish looking buildings crowded together slowly turning into dirt roads and colorful half standing houses with lines of laundry strung from them. I made my way through the tiny airport out into the sunshine to meet my AMIDEAST representative and our driver. As we drove through the countryside toward the city of Rabat we passed women covered in headscarves squatting in a field, crowds of youngsters playing soccer,a man (with a huge cigar in his mouth) woman and baby on a tiny motorcycle, and roadside fruit sellers. The city became more compact and busy as we passed a mosque and a palace that we were still passing nearly 5 minutes later!

Finally we arrived at the hotel and I was escorted to my room by a kind Moroccan man who turned the tv on to a scratchy Moroccan soap opera for me before he left. I was alone for only a few moments before others in the program knocked on my door and we headed out to explore and eat. After some wandering, forcing myself to run in front of moving cars (or else you'll never get across), and clearly looking like tourists we settled for some pizza. I enjoyed a nice meal with new friends before wandering back to the hotel through the transformed night version of Rabat with neon signs and groups of singing boys. Finally at 10:05 pm after nearly 24 hours of traveling suffering a bit of culture shock, I am ready to surrender to the sleep man.

Also I forgot to not use the tap water for brushing and just went right ahead and brushed, here's to hoping my body accepts the water!

:)

My personal credo

I believe in actually physically stopping to smell the flowers

I believe in staying in bed all day to kiss and cuddle

I believe that if nothing else you can always have hope

I believe in ice cream at midnight with whip cream on top

I believe that it’s only human to be wrong, sad, jealous, or angry sometimes; but don’t make a habit of it

I believe in equality, for all people, at all times

I believe in a good cry

I believe that weird people make life more interesting

I believe in the power of music to brighten a day, inspire dance, or change the world

I believe that we create our own reality

I do not believe that hate, despair, or a bad attitude have ever accomplished anything good.

I believe in the slap of my shoes on the concrete and the wind rushing through my hair on a morning run

I believe in the ability to laugh at yourself

I believe in the touch of a dog’s wet nose to make everything better

I believe that the grand city of San Francisco and my small hometown of Medford Oregon each hold beauty and adventure

I believe in mountains, trees, rivers and lakes

I believe in coffee shops, local bookstores, and farmer markets

I believe in the ability of the human body to always exceed expectations

I believe that a kiss on the neck will always give me shivers

I believe in the power of love to heal, inspire, comfort, ignite, confuse, create, enlighten, and shine, brighter than the sun the moon and all the stars in the night sky.

- Amelia Clay

So what do you believe in? Explore yourself and enjoy writing your own personal credo. It really is quite fun! The only hard part is not saying too much. Alright, ready...set...GO!

When I Grow Up I want to be a forester run through the moss on high heels

good sounds, good colors, good moves. GOOD.