This fall semester, I will be studying in France, so read about my new adventures in La Belle Vie Parisienne!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Until next time...Inshallah!
I will miss......
- The breezy evenings, when the sun has set and the people are out and about, and the weather is perfect
- Orange juice! Freshly squeezed, and only 4dh at the side of the street!
- 7dh scoop icecreams
- 9dh sandwiches at Omar's
- Cafe Blueberry, out by the pier, cheesecake, tiramisu, icecream sundaes, pasta. Yum
- The ever so trusty La Mamma, where I ate a plate of Spaghetti Bolognaise, every week for nine weeks
- The staff at the CCCL - Nawal, Bouchra, Farah, Fadoua, Badrdine...and so many more
- The desert. Endless dunes, starry skies, and camel rides
- Shokran, salaam wa allais comme, inshallah, labass, hamdelilah...and all the other Arabic phrases I have learnt!
- The Medina. Despite the claustrophobic feeling when you venture onto Souika at 7 or 8pm, I have come to love the distinct smells and the feel of the Rabat Medina
- Label Vie - the market where I bought all my water!
- Sidi Ali, best water ever
- The kind street vendor that smiles and waves every day as I walk past. I gave him a pudding today!
- Mint tea, tajines, brochettes
- The tram - though they never did implement "Phase 2" of the project, each ride was still a well-spent 7dh
- Friends. Americans, Italians, Canadians, Belgium-ers, Russians
There are many more that I just can't think of right now. I'm sad to leave, but I'm also excited to go home. I do hope to come back one day.
Until next time, Morocco. Time to go home :)
- The breezy evenings, when the sun has set and the people are out and about, and the weather is perfect
- Orange juice! Freshly squeezed, and only 4dh at the side of the street!
- 7dh scoop icecreams
- 9dh sandwiches at Omar's
- Cafe Blueberry, out by the pier, cheesecake, tiramisu, icecream sundaes, pasta. Yum
- The ever so trusty La Mamma, where I ate a plate of Spaghetti Bolognaise, every week for nine weeks
- The staff at the CCCL - Nawal, Bouchra, Farah, Fadoua, Badrdine...and so many more
- The desert. Endless dunes, starry skies, and camel rides
- Shokran, salaam wa allais comme, inshallah, labass, hamdelilah...and all the other Arabic phrases I have learnt!
- The Medina. Despite the claustrophobic feeling when you venture onto Souika at 7 or 8pm, I have come to love the distinct smells and the feel of the Rabat Medina
- Label Vie - the market where I bought all my water!
- Sidi Ali, best water ever
- The kind street vendor that smiles and waves every day as I walk past. I gave him a pudding today!
- Mint tea, tajines, brochettes
- The tram - though they never did implement "Phase 2" of the project, each ride was still a well-spent 7dh
- Friends. Americans, Italians, Canadians, Belgium-ers, Russians
There are many more that I just can't think of right now. I'm sad to leave, but I'm also excited to go home. I do hope to come back one day.
Until next time, Morocco. Time to go home :)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Farewell, CCCL
Last Friday, I had a farewell lunch with the staff at the CCCL. It was a lovely event! Usually on Fridays, the CCCL staff get together and eat couscous for lunch. I was feeling a bit worried, because I have managed to skip 6 out of 8 couscous Fridays already. But the time came, and Brahim set up the tables beautifully, and they begin by serving some appetizers. Then he brings out the tajine, and opens up the pointy lid, and inside - tajine aux viandes et legumes! Meat and veggies! It was a delicious meal, and afterwards there was even watermelon and peaches.
After lunch, my supervisor got out a bag, and she gave a little speech, saying thanks for my work these past two months! It was so unexpected and wonderful. Then they gave me a present - a Moroccan jellaba! It's purple, and it is very beautiful and comfy. I put it on, and then we took lots of group pictures! They also gave me a card signed by the office, and some pretty CCCL earrings.
I'm definitely going to miss this place. I have two more days of work, not including today. This week I've just been finishing up the projects that I've been working on. But beside that, things are really coming to a close!
 |
| Tajines aux Viandes et Legumes |
 |
| Watermelon and peaches! |
After lunch, my supervisor got out a bag, and she gave a little speech, saying thanks for my work these past two months! It was so unexpected and wonderful. Then they gave me a present - a Moroccan jellaba! It's purple, and it is very beautiful and comfy. I put it on, and then we took lots of group pictures! They also gave me a card signed by the office, and some pretty CCCL earrings.
I'm definitely going to miss this place. I have two more days of work, not including today. This week I've just been finishing up the projects that I've been working on. But beside that, things are really coming to a close!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Saharan Dunes - An Unforgettable Weekend
What an amazing weekend! The desert trip was incredible, and I had such a wonderful time with wonderful people. I can't even begin to describe the beauty of the desert, the endless dunes that lay ahead of us, the skyful of stars that we slept under, the breath-taking feeling of sitting atop Erg Chebbi and watching the sun rise, and the impeccable silence of the desert. A picture is worth 1000 words, and this weekend I took 365 photos! I just want to capture it all down forever! I'll try to summarize most of our adventures here.
Friday
Alex, Kevin, and Mark came to pick up Jitske and I around 11:30pm, and we head off to their apartment. Our other plan with the car rental? Failed. But thank goodness! Everything worked out for the best. Instead of driving ourselves, Kevin's friend's brother had a grand taxi and he said he would drive us there and back for a pretty reasonable price. We agreed to leave at 1am. So, at 1am we pile into the grand taxi - Jitske in front, then Mark, Alex, me, and Kevin in the back. We slept on and off most of the way, and managed to take just one break at 5:30am to have some tea and use the bathroom.
Saturday
Our driver also drove super super quickly, so by around 9:30-10am, we were in Rissani! We begin looking out for signs to Auberge du Sud, and soon found it. The sign told us to take a left turn. This is what we saw when we looked to the left:
Just nothingness! But we turned onto it anyway, and just decided to drive in that general direction. The road was very sandy and rocky, and before long, we were stuck. Stuck in the sand. We got out and all helped push the car (more like Mark and Kevin pushed the car....). We managed to get it out a little bit, but it was pretty stuck.
Eventually, a van drove past and we asked him for some help. We even tried lifting the tire out of the sand! But it also didn't work. Finally, we were able to get through to the hotel on the phone, and they sent a jeep out, and he pulled us out of the sand with his jeep! We were stuck for about an hour and a half, but we finally made it to the auberge!
We sat down to lunch, a great view, and a nice and refreshing swimming pool. It was very pretty! Unfortunately, none of us brought our swimsuits, so undies and bras had to suffice. We figured, we'd only be in a swimming pool by the Sahara once in our lifetime!
We then got to stay in a temporary room that the hotel gave us, so we took that time to get some rest. Then at 7pm, we headed out on our camel trek! We camel-ed for two hours into the Sahara, and we stopped on the way to admire the sunset. Then it was onwards towards Erg Chebbi. Here are some photos!
In the evening, we had dinner at our camp-site, and then watched a short musical performance that they gave us. There were other campsites there as well, but just the 5 of us at this one. After the performance, it was around 11:30pm, and the girls headed to bed while Mark and Kevin climbed half-way up the dune. We all slept outside on mattresses, and looked up to a sky full of stars. It was breath-taking! The stars felt so close, and there were so, so, so many. We could see constellations, and part of the milky way! Sadly, we couldn't take only photos in the dark. But it was truly beautiful.
The next morning, we woke up at 5:45am and climbed up the dunes to the top of Erg Chebbi to see the sunrise. It was quite the climb! The hill was steep, and the sand kept slipping out from under my feet. But the view was worth it.
After that we had breakfast, and then camel-ed for 2 hours back to the auberge. Then began the roadtrip home. Because of traffic, a 1.5 hour detour...., and dinner in Meknes, we didn't make it back to Rabat until about 10:45pm. But it was an amazing weekend, and I'm so thankful I had this opportunity!
Today it is back to work! Only 4 more days until I go home! I will most definitely miss this place, and I've had some really wonderful funtimes these past few weeks. Sadly, facebook isn't letting me upload photos right now for some reason, but once it does, I will definitely put up the rest!
Will keep you all posted on this last week in M-CO!
Friday
Alex, Kevin, and Mark came to pick up Jitske and I around 11:30pm, and we head off to their apartment. Our other plan with the car rental? Failed. But thank goodness! Everything worked out for the best. Instead of driving ourselves, Kevin's friend's brother had a grand taxi and he said he would drive us there and back for a pretty reasonable price. We agreed to leave at 1am. So, at 1am we pile into the grand taxi - Jitske in front, then Mark, Alex, me, and Kevin in the back. We slept on and off most of the way, and managed to take just one break at 5:30am to have some tea and use the bathroom.
Saturday
Our driver also drove super super quickly, so by around 9:30-10am, we were in Rissani! We begin looking out for signs to Auberge du Sud, and soon found it. The sign told us to take a left turn. This is what we saw when we looked to the left:
 |
| "Left" |
Just nothingness! But we turned onto it anyway, and just decided to drive in that general direction. The road was very sandy and rocky, and before long, we were stuck. Stuck in the sand. We got out and all helped push the car (more like Mark and Kevin pushed the car....). We managed to get it out a little bit, but it was pretty stuck.
 |
| Stuck in the middle of nowhere :( |
Eventually, a van drove past and we asked him for some help. We even tried lifting the tire out of the sand! But it also didn't work. Finally, we were able to get through to the hotel on the phone, and they sent a jeep out, and he pulled us out of the sand with his jeep! We were stuck for about an hour and a half, but we finally made it to the auberge!
We sat down to lunch, a great view, and a nice and refreshing swimming pool. It was very pretty! Unfortunately, none of us brought our swimsuits, so undies and bras had to suffice. We figured, we'd only be in a swimming pool by the Sahara once in our lifetime!
We then got to stay in a temporary room that the hotel gave us, so we took that time to get some rest. Then at 7pm, we headed out on our camel trek! We camel-ed for two hours into the Sahara, and we stopped on the way to admire the sunset. Then it was onwards towards Erg Chebbi. Here are some photos!
In the evening, we had dinner at our camp-site, and then watched a short musical performance that they gave us. There were other campsites there as well, but just the 5 of us at this one. After the performance, it was around 11:30pm, and the girls headed to bed while Mark and Kevin climbed half-way up the dune. We all slept outside on mattresses, and looked up to a sky full of stars. It was breath-taking! The stars felt so close, and there were so, so, so many. We could see constellations, and part of the milky way! Sadly, we couldn't take only photos in the dark. But it was truly beautiful.
The next morning, we woke up at 5:45am and climbed up the dunes to the top of Erg Chebbi to see the sunrise. It was quite the climb! The hill was steep, and the sand kept slipping out from under my feet. But the view was worth it.
 |
| Sunrise on Erg Chebbi |
After that we had breakfast, and then camel-ed for 2 hours back to the auberge. Then began the roadtrip home. Because of traffic, a 1.5 hour detour...., and dinner in Meknes, we didn't make it back to Rabat until about 10:45pm. But it was an amazing weekend, and I'm so thankful I had this opportunity!
Today it is back to work! Only 4 more days until I go home! I will most definitely miss this place, and I've had some really wonderful funtimes these past few weeks. Sadly, facebook isn't letting me upload photos right now for some reason, but once it does, I will definitely put up the rest!
Will keep you all posted on this last week in M-CO!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Dominos in Morocco?!
Yes, that's right! We found a Dominos in Morocco! I didn't think they would exist here, but the other day my friend said a Dominos guy delivered pizza to her door, because he got the wrong address. It was meant to be for their neighbor. But that meant there was a Dominos here!
So after research and google-mapping, we found it, in Agdal of course. The cooler part of Rabat. Yesterday after work, my friend and I head to Agdal for some shopping in the sales. There were sales alright. But there were no small sizes :( Everything was either X or XL. Afterwards, we went on our hunt for Dominos. After finding the right street, we walk and walk - almost giving up hope. But finally we pass a small construction side, and on the other side, there was the blue and white Dominos sign!
The store was quite small, and there was only one other couple there. We ordered boneless chicken kickers and cheesy bread. A familiar and iconic Wellesley order.
I must say though - it didn't taste nearly as good as how the greasy cheesy bread tastes when it finally arrives at 1:59am in front of Severance Hall at Wellesley. But it was good. It was a nice taste of home!
Also - I am going to the desert! This weekend! I found some great people to go with - my Belgium roommate, two American students who study at Princeton and are working in Rabat, and their friend visiting from London for the weekend. We are renting a car, and leaving Saturday early morning (5am? 6am?), and driving down to Merzouga. Should be an estimated 8-9 hours drive. From there we will be meeting with our hotel guide, and heading into the Sahara by camel. Yay! It's finally happening! I have wanted to go to the Sahara since I found out I 'd be going to Morocco, so I'm very thankful things are working out. I will definitely post pictures when I get back!
And some other odds and ends:
- After 8 weeks of being here in Morocco, I finally found the shortcut in the Medina from my home to work! For 8 weeks, I was taking the main streets, because who knows what can happen inside the Medina streets. And once you get lost, you get really lost. I've tried it a few times in the past, and I always ended up at the wrong place. But the other day, I took some new turns, and found the shortcut! Hooray!
- Today, people asked me for directions! I guess I look like I know what I'm doing now? I was walking down the street, with my usual angry walking face, and I see a group of Caucasians. They weren't speaking English (maybe Dutch?), but they approached me and asked me about any restaurants in the Medina, because they were very lost. So I helped them out, and was able to give some directions! That was cool.
- One of the ladies I work with at the CCCL told me I gained weight yesterday. I walked in, and she looked very surprised to see me, and she said "Oh Amy! You got fat!". She meant it as a compliment, and she is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. But it was silly! It must be all those desserts, chocolates, gummy bears, and cakes I've been eating...And I haven't been able to tell, because I've been busy wearing stretchy Aladdin pants and long flowy skirts. Oh dear!
Well, that's it for now. Countdown to home is now only 8 days!
So after research and google-mapping, we found it, in Agdal of course. The cooler part of Rabat. Yesterday after work, my friend and I head to Agdal for some shopping in the sales. There were sales alright. But there were no small sizes :( Everything was either X or XL. Afterwards, we went on our hunt for Dominos. After finding the right street, we walk and walk - almost giving up hope. But finally we pass a small construction side, and on the other side, there was the blue and white Dominos sign!
The store was quite small, and there was only one other couple there. We ordered boneless chicken kickers and cheesy bread. A familiar and iconic Wellesley order.
I must say though - it didn't taste nearly as good as how the greasy cheesy bread tastes when it finally arrives at 1:59am in front of Severance Hall at Wellesley. But it was good. It was a nice taste of home!
Also - I am going to the desert! This weekend! I found some great people to go with - my Belgium roommate, two American students who study at Princeton and are working in Rabat, and their friend visiting from London for the weekend. We are renting a car, and leaving Saturday early morning (5am? 6am?), and driving down to Merzouga. Should be an estimated 8-9 hours drive. From there we will be meeting with our hotel guide, and heading into the Sahara by camel. Yay! It's finally happening! I have wanted to go to the Sahara since I found out I 'd be going to Morocco, so I'm very thankful things are working out. I will definitely post pictures when I get back!
And some other odds and ends:
- After 8 weeks of being here in Morocco, I finally found the shortcut in the Medina from my home to work! For 8 weeks, I was taking the main streets, because who knows what can happen inside the Medina streets. And once you get lost, you get really lost. I've tried it a few times in the past, and I always ended up at the wrong place. But the other day, I took some new turns, and found the shortcut! Hooray!
- Today, people asked me for directions! I guess I look like I know what I'm doing now? I was walking down the street, with my usual angry walking face, and I see a group of Caucasians. They weren't speaking English (maybe Dutch?), but they approached me and asked me about any restaurants in the Medina, because they were very lost. So I helped them out, and was able to give some directions! That was cool.
- One of the ladies I work with at the CCCL told me I gained weight yesterday. I walked in, and she looked very surprised to see me, and she said "Oh Amy! You got fat!". She meant it as a compliment, and she is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. But it was silly! It must be all those desserts, chocolates, gummy bears, and cakes I've been eating...And I haven't been able to tell, because I've been busy wearing stretchy Aladdin pants and long flowy skirts. Oh dear!
Well, that's it for now. Countdown to home is now only 8 days!
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