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 :)

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.

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!

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! 

Adventures with Alice!

Apologies for the late blog post! Things have been going pretty well.
People have come and gone over these past few weeks! My roommate Maggie left to go back to Italy, but now I have another roommate who is from Belgium! So that's pretty cool. My host sisters also left, just today, to go to camp/work in the northern part of Morocco. And unfortunately, they aren't coming back until after I leave. So we said our goodbyes last night! The students from the BU group also left on Sunday, and it was sad to say goodbye to them! I did meet some more people though, some from Princeton, another from Chicago, and even some Moroccans!

In other news, Alice Su came to visit this past weekend! We had quite the adventure.

Friday.
After picking Alice up, we went to eat at Sbahi with some other people from Al-Alhawayne University. Then later that night, we went to the CCCL, where there was a farewell party for the BU kids. It was such a fun event! There was Moroccan music, and lots of dancing and shouting. They would call out someone's name, and that person would have to go into the middle of the circle and start dancing! Both Alice and I were called into the circle....But we had a fun time! The Moroccan families of the BU students were there as well, so that was really nice.
Afterwards, we met up with Djali, Alice's French friend, and we went to the Kasbah, and later on to Cafe Blueberry for dessert!

Saturday.
I gave Alice the shortened, super-quick, 90-minute tour of Rabat. Needless to say, we only saw 2 sights. We went to the Tour Hassan and the Mausoleum. But while we were there, there was an American/English/European tour group, and we kind of latched on to them and listened in on their tour. And a kind old couple start talking to us in English! They were sweet.
After lunch at my favorite pasta place, La Mamma, we met up with Alex, and headed out on our voyage to the beach. After much hassle - involving chasing down Djali for Alex's bathing suit, asking bus drivers for the correct bus, finding the grand taxi stand, figuring out prices to go to Temara - we finally squeeze into the grand-taxi along with 3 other people, and head out for the beach! (Note: grand taxis are not grand. Neither are they big. They are simply regular sized cars, but they fit 6 passengers in at once. 2 in front, 4 in back!).
We finally make it to the beach, and we meet 2 Moroccans, who become our friends, and decide to be our escorts. Alice and I set off to find a bathroom to change, but we end up on a 40-minute adventure, down a sketchy beachwalk, where there were sketchy plastic tables and chairs on the side, and random broken carnival-like cars, just sitting in the mud. Looked like a scene from a bad horror movie. We return safely, and join Alex and the guys. After some time in the water, we go back to our stuff, and take a giant 2 hour nap/tan on the beach. When we finally wake up, the 2 Moroccans were still there, watching us, and they ask: "Is it normal for you people to come to the beach and just sleep?" Why yes indeed, it is very normal :)

Our journey home was just as adventurous! We get onto the street and again ask our way around to get to the right bus stop. But we didn't know which bus to take, and we also didn't know if the bus was ever going to come. Didn't look like it. But right then, Djali calls Alice, and says "Alice! I'm right in front of you!". He had driven past with his Moroccan friend and saw us! So we sprint across the street, and piled into the car! Yay! We make it back to Rabat, and Alice and I get off at Agdal, where we did some shopping. Then we went to Yoka Sushi for dinner - our new favorite restaurant in Rabat. Dragon roll. Boston roll. Miso soup. Cucumber salad. Teppanyaki. Delicious!!

Sunday.
Our new Belgium friend, Jitske, joined us for church in the morning! Then afterwards, while trying to decide where to eat for lunch, we decide that it's not too soon to go to the sushi place again. So off we went, and enjoyed another delicious meal! Then we dropped off Alice at the train station.


So all in all, it has been a fun two weeks! Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures this weekend. But go to Alice's facebook, because she has lots of great photos from this weekend!


Some other updates!
- The desert trip last weekend didn't end up happening, but it may be happening this weekend!! Very possibly. Will definitely post about that soon!
- My poor packages from the US still have not arrived, and it has been over 1 month! :( :( let's hope it gets here before I leave!!

And countdown to home: 11 days!

Fun-Filled Moroccan Weekend

This weekend was fun! On Friday, I hung out with Beka, Teneshia and Melanie, from the BU group. After work/class, we went over to the Hassan Tower, which I went to with my dad back when he was still here. It was a nice breezy evening, and we had lots of fun. Then we walked along the beach, and we come across this lovely mini theme park!

So we decide to go on 2 rollercoasters! We went on the "Supermontana Rusa", which turned out to be much scarier than expected. Also, being in Morocco, there was no electrical switch to work the carts - the guy manually pushed us onto the slope! We went downhill for a bit, then there was one long track upwards that was powered, but then from there on, it was, well, just gravity. Becca took an awesome video of our faces throughout the entire ride, and once she posts it, I'll link you guys there! For now, Melanie took some pictures of us on the ride.

We also went on a second, more tamer ride. It was one of those rides, where it just goes in circles and lifts you high off the ground. Here is a picture of Becca and I on the ride!

Saturday: Rebecca and I went to Sable d'Or with Rebecca's Wellesley friend who was visiting for the weekend, Cat. It was a beach about 20 minutes away, so we took a Grand Taxi. But we were badly ripped off, it turns out :( For three people, the cab driver charged us 200 dh one way. And when we came back, we were also charged 200 dh. But talking to the people at the CCCL today, they told me we could've just taken the bus for 4 dh each one way!! Booo. It's okay - a learning experience!

Sunday: I went to church! My friends Ryan and Mandy found an english-speaker church in the Rabat! It's called the Rabat International Church  However, Moroccan directions are always very vague. We were told to "Stop between the pharmacy and the school". The map they gave was also "Not drawn to scale". Suffice to say, we got very very lost. Little did we know that in Morocco, there are pharmacies on just about every block. At first, we were super excited to see a pharmacy, but turning around, we saw three other pharmacies on the same block. "Schools" are also very hard to distinguish, so we had quite the difficult time. Finally, this very very kind man understood my French and led us all the way to the church - a good 10 minute walk from where we had been searching! We had arrived at Chateau d'Eau in Takkadoum around 8:30am, but we didn't find the church until 9:30am! But it was so nice to be with English-speaking people again. There were Caucasians, African Americans, and even Asians! Koreans I think!
Indeed a fun-filled weekend.

Two Weeks

I have been in Morocco for about 2 weeks now! 7 more weeks to go! Work at the CCCL has been going pretty well. So far, I've done a lot of work in their databases, and also a lot of work with archives. I also did a little bit of translation, from English to French. Twas difficult...Next week I begin a lot of transcribing work with their lectures and such. The people I work with are all so sweet and kind. My immediate supervisors are Nawal, Bouchra, Youssef, and Rajae.

Yesterday, Saturday, my Wellesley friend Rebecca Turkington and I went out together! We first went to Chellah, an ancient ruins site. It was very beautiful, and it was cool to be stepping in such old ruins! What was interesting, is that a whole colony of storks have set up nest there! There are so many of them. Here are some pictures we took at Chellah:

Storks! 

View of Chellah from the outside

Inside the ancient ruins

More storks!

We had a lot of fun together, and we also went to visit the Royal Palace. Here are some pictures!

The mosque inside the palace grounds

The Royal Palace

And for our Wellesley friends: look what we found when we were walking outside the palace walls!!

The iconic Wellesley lamp-post!

Afterwards we took the tram (!!) to the next town over, Agdal. Agdal is much more modernized and developed than where I am in Rabat. There were lots of very expensive stores (Mango, Aldo, United Colors of Benetton), and the streets were well-kept. We ate lunch there and then just shopped around a bit. The stores were all very nice, but it made me want to run back into the Medina and buy super cheap $4 shoes!

Anyway, in other news, after two weeks, I have mastered the angry-walking face. When I walk, I put on my sunglasses (my invisibility cloak), I don't smile, and I angrily walk. When men approach me and say things, I just keep walking and since they can't see my eyes, they just give up! So that's been working well for me. Though the other day, a guy walks right up to my face and screams "WO AI NI!!" (I love you in Chinese). He was silly.
Also after two weeks, I have become a pro at crossing the streets. The trick is just to rudely barge your way onto the street, and wait until they let you cross. If it's a two-way street, you first make your way to the middle and just stand there as cars speed by behind and in front of you. Then you cross your way to the other side.

While things have been going well, and I'm learning all sorts of new things, I am still terribly homesick. I miss long hot showers, comfortable beds (not couches), and not being stared at on the streets!
7 more weeks!

How a Cockroach Got into my Clothes

I don't really know how it happened. I was just getting ready to shower. I have to first take out all the things that are inside the bath-tub (empty buckets, old bags, rag towels). I did that, and then I proceed to take off my capris pants. But then I feel something - I thought maybe it was a loose string dangling on my legs? I look down, and you can imagine my absolute horror when there, on my left thigh, was a cockroach the size of my fist. (okay - that's probably an exaggeration, it was more like two fingers. but it really did look ginormous when I first saw it). I go into silent panic mode as I scream silently and flap around wildly. The bathroom in our house is also very small so I looked like I was going mad within a constrained bubble. It finally fell off me and scampered away into a dark hole. I proceeded to take my shower within 2 minutes, and run back to my room. Also in that time,  I lost the two hair ties that was on my wrist!! Now I really really don't know how that happened. I refuse to believe that they both fell off while I was having my panic attack, because they're pretty tight around my wrist....
Anyway, I was very very scared and sad. I also sprayed bug spray all over me when I went to bed. Sadface.

In other news, I'm doing well! Work is going pretty well. It's not too demanding, but I'm kept busy. In the mornings, I work at the Thaqafat association on mostly archives and data entry. In the afternoons, I go over to the Laalou annex and work with a lovely lady called Bouchra, and we do more proof-reading, data entry, and other computer work.

I also got two Morocco guide-books from the library and have been reading those. This weekend, my sisters and I are going to go ride camels hopefully, and visit Chellah and The Royal Palace. After that, I think I'll have visited all of Rabat? Then maybe one weekend, I'll be able to visit Fez or Marrakech! After work today, I'm going to visit the souqs on Rue Souika on Rue des Consuls. Will post pictures soon!

Couscous Friday

Hi all!

I have now moved into my host family and have begun work! Culturally, it is very different here and I am still slowly adjusting to Moroccan life. I miss home very very much! These are 10 things that I have observed from living with my host family.

1. Moroccans eat a lot of bread. For breakfast, I had bread with orange juice. Then for lunch, it was couscous with bread and l'ben. At tea time, I had bread and mint tea. And for dinner, I had bread and soup. Lots of bread.

2. Moroccans greet each other (woman to woman, man to man) with kisses on the cheek. Then we say salaam wa allais comme!

3. Generally, people here take showers once a week, at the hammam (public bath). But my host family is kind enough to let me take showers every day! They are very kind.

4. Moroccans eat dinner very very late. In my family, there is tea time at 6pm, and then dinner at 9:30pm. Sometimes even later. After dinner, we just clean up, I shower, and we go to bed. We eat dinner outside, because it's much cooler in the evenings out there.

5. In our free time, my sisters and I go to the souqs (markets). Here, you need to bargain for everything. Some stores have "prix fixes", where the prices are fixed, but most of them are not, and you have to bargain your way to a good price. It's very crowded, and it's just like a giant marketplace.

6. At meals, we eat with our hands. When we have soup, we eat with a spoon. But everything else, we just grab with our hands. Also, it's the traditional way to use your right hand.

7. Here, they really like to wear bracelets. My sisters have already given me bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry! They buy them at the souq.

8. A lot of people think I'm Japanese. As I walk down a street, there will be men who look at me, and sometimes they will speak French and ask me how I'm doing, and what my name is. But other times, men call out "konichiwa!" - the Japanese word for "Hello".

9. Oranges here are delicious! Very popular here is le jus d'orange (orange juice), and it is always freshly squeezed. It was very sweet, and very yummy!

10. Couscous Friday. Ah, yes, couscous Friday. Every Friday, Moroccans go home during lunch time and eat couscous with their family. Today, I went home as well from work to eat couscous with Mama Hyatt and my sisters Sara and Ghita. Mama Hyatt made a giant bowl of couscous, with carrots, vegetables, chicken, and cucumbers. Then everyone just takes a spoon, and starts eating, right out of the giant bowl. (I don't know if it's like that in every family, or just mine.) It was quite the experience. We also drink l'ben along with our couscous. L'Ben is a drink that is a mix between milk and yogurt I think..I'm not quite sure but I drank it. As most of you know, I am not a fan of couscous....but I ate my couscous today! Mostly because I could mix it with the chicken and eat that. But I will definitely have to get used to it, because it's Couscous Friday every Friday!

And here is a photo of my room:

In other news, I have met some Americans! Woohoo! There is a group from BU here, so I ate dinner with them last night and they're all super friendly. They are beginning their home stay today, so perhaps I will even be neighbors with some of them! Also, I met another girl also from Wellesley who is working in Morocco, so we are going to try to meet up as well! 

Celebrating the big 2-0 in Casablanca!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, friends! Today, to celebrate the big 2-0, my dad and I took a trip to Casablanca. We took the train from La Gare de Rabat-Ville, and went to Casablanca Port. It took just over an hour. Once we got there, we walked along the ocean, and had lunch at Rick's Café! This is where the movie Casablanca was filmed! It was very cool. Here are some pictures!

Rick's Cafe

Birthday cheesecake! The waiter said: "Juste pour vous, mademoiselle!" (Just for you, miss)

The decoration in Rick's Cafe 

After lunch we went to the famous Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. It's the largest mosque in Morocco, and our tour guide told us that during Ramadan, they have over 105,000 worshippers come fill the mosque inside and out!

Once we finished that tour, we walked over to Place Mohamed, and across the street was a little square area, where there were a million pigeons! They kept flying in cool circles, but I felt like they were going to fly into my face. Here's a picture:

We finally finished off the trip and headed back on the train to Rabat and had dinner. Then it was back to the hotel! We had to do some packing, because tomorrow I'm going to the CCCL, and beginning orientation. I'll be taking all my stuff with me, and then moving in with my host family! I don't know how frequent internet will be after this, so bear with me if I'm MIA for a little bit! Papa Wang will also be leaving after this, so it'll just be me by myself! Hopefully I'll make some friends. Moroccan friends perhaps? We'll see. Good night! 

Day 2!

Today we had some ups and downs as we explored Rabat! But we are quickly getting the hang of being here and the kind of culture the Moroccans live in. Here is a summary of our day.

Downs:
- Speed walked our way into the Medina to try to find the CCCL, but we got lost! Road signs are invisible here.
- We got scammed by a fake tour guide when we visited Kasbah des Oudaya :( He just kept following us, and explaining things to us even when we said no! At the end, he asked us for lots of money...But Papa Wang came to the rescue and scared him off. We ended up just giving him a little bit of money and he left angrily and we went in the other direction
- There are lots of woman in the street who tried to give me henna and there was a very large needle involved...I was scared.
- Crossing the street is no easy task. Drivers think pedestrians are invisible as well and simply keep driving. We almost died many times today. Also, the light for the drivers and the light for pedestrians change at exactly the same time. So the moment the pedestrian sign changes red, is also the exact moment the drivers light turns green. More chances for death there.
- We have been living an hour behind everyone else these past 24 hours. Apparently, there is a five hour time difference with the US, not 4 hours as we had thought, and appropriately set our watches to. We only found out because at one point this evening, our watches told us it was 5pm, while a local clock said it was 6pm!! Confused.

Ups:
- Tajine (photo credits: google) is very yummy! Perhaps I won't have too much trouble with food here as I thought i would! Still haven't experienced couscous Friday though...
- Tramway system. Super awesome! It's so pretty-looking, and the people are so nice. It is still in its early stages because the system started only less than a month ago! So there are lots of people working as service people, and they hand out brochures and maps. The tramway system makes my dad and I very happy.
- The Hassan II tower and the Mausoleum is very beautiful. Architecture here is generally very intricate and amazing. We got up nice and close and took lots of photos!
- La Gare de Rabit-Ville. The train station - very clean and modern. The garden is also very pretty! We will be taking the train tomorrow.

So that was today! Tomorrow, we are taking a day trip to Casablanca, and Wednesday I will begin training and orientation at the CCCL! Hopefully I'll continue to have enough internet to keep posting!

The Mausoleum 

Kasbah des Oudaya

Le Centre-ville de Rabat!

The fabulous tramway. Pretty? 

My new buddy in front of the Mausoleum

Mausoleum 

Hello from Morocco!

We have arrived! After 17 hours, 1 missed flight, and many frustrated waits in line, my dad and I have safely arrived in Morocco! We had quite the adventure.
We took the 11pm flight from Boston out to Paris, and that wasn't so bad. On the flight, there were lots of movies available to watch, including Harry Potter 7, so I figured, why not. So I watched it! Not bad, I must say. I was more than confused most of the time, but it was still fun.
In the morning, Paris welcomed us with a beautiful sunny day, but our excitement was soon diminished when we found out how big the Paris airport was, and conversely, how slow people were. Note: we only had 1 hour between this flight and our connecting flight to Rabat. It first takes us about 30 minutes to taxi because the airport is just so big. We just kept driving and driving...when we finally got off, we got on a shuttle bus that took us to the terminal. As soon as we get in the terminal, we see that our flight is currently boarding, so we quickly search the screen for our next terminal. We get on another shuttle bus, and after what felt like 10 slow laps around airport grounds, we finally reach Terminal F. We hurry in, pass through a very very slow security checkpoint, and rush upstairs to our gate, where the lady is just closing the system. Sadface.
But no worries! We then proceed to the counter to get new boarding passes for the next flight, but so is another group. And this sneaky group has just one person stand at the counter...but as soon as that one person is done, another person from the group swoops in and takes the spot from us. We stand by, and let person after person slide in front of us, until finally, an hour later, we get the boarding passes we need. The next flight to Rabat is 6 hours later. So for the next six hours, my dad and I eat lunch, battle with the silly phone machine that kept eating up our money, and sleep on the most uncomfortable airport chairs I have ever experienced.
Then finally! We get on our plane to Rabat, and at 7:30pm local time, we finally make it. But we were in for more adventures! The Rabat airport was a very small, single building. There were no ATM machines around, which is what we needed to get moroccan money and get around! But lucky for me, my dad bargains with a taxi driver to accept euros, and we safely arrive at our hotel. The rest of the evening, we walk around the city, and eat a light meal on the rooftop of our hotel. Now it's time for bed!
Tomorrow, I am meeting with the homestay coordinator of the CCCL, and we will be having an orientation. After, my dad and I will hopefully get to walk around the Medina a bit and get to know the area better. I'll try to update more as the adventures continue! 

T-8 days!

Paper submitted. Books returned. Bags packed. I am finally done with sophomore year, and ready to head off to Morocco! 8 more days until I fly off to the city of Rabat. I will be working at the CCCL for two months, and I will be staying in a French-speaking family. While there, I will try to blog about my Moroccan adventures and all the exciting things that are happening over there! So if you'd like to follow along, please subscribe!

Preparation for Morocco is a lot harder than I thought it'd be! Things I have yet to do....
- Pack!! Must go shopping for lots of long flowy skirts and dresses
- Get all my medicine and pills ready - want to stay happy and healthy while I'm there
- Write down a list of all the important addresses and telephone numbers for when I'm there
- Get a French dictionary!! I can write an analytical french paper...but I'm not sure if I can communicate things like "I accidentally clogged the toilet" in French

I have been told that, while there, I'll have a lot of free time in the evenings. I am trying to compile a reading list, so that I can get books from the library to take with me there. If anyone has any suggestions, please post them here so that I can go get the book! I'd love any suggestions!

While this is all very exciting, it is also very scary! But I'll try to keep this updated, so that you all can follow along! For now, I must continue with the packing process. T-8 days!!