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!

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:

"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!

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!

The Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Morocco

Souika. Bustling with people, pushing and pulling, some trying to make their way home, others trying to shop. The sound of men, yelling at the top of their lungs, "Solde, solde!", trying to attract you to the heap of clothes and shoes lying on the table. The smell of sweet corn, roasting. The smell of popcorn, popping in a black cauldron. The smell of snail soup (still haven't dared to try it!). The smell of freshly squeezed orange juice by the side of the street. 4dh.
The distinct smell of leather as you approach Rue des Consuls. The smell of scented aromas and oils. The smell of black soap, used in the hammams. The smell of mint tea, brewing at tea time.
The sound of the waves as you leave Rue des Consuls and approach the beach. The sound of the whistle as the tram guy blows it frantically, telling you to get off the tram tracks because the tram is coming (despite the fact that the tram is moving at 3mph!).
The smell of an empty Medina, when the shop-keepers have left and you realize how wide the street actually is. The smell of over-flowing trash, overflowing into the street.
The sound of the 4:30am call to prayer. The sound of the 5am parade that went by this morning (!!). The sound of the rooster at 6am, going off every single minute (I counted). The sound of honking.
The traffic. The cars coming at you as if he will never stop. The sound of screeching tires. The sight of the bus-stop, when masses are waiting for the bus. The sight of teenagers riding on roof-tops of buses, because the bus is full. The sight of masses gathering in front of the parliament building, carrying signs and shouting chants of protest. The sound of Moroccans, singing together as they wave the Moroccan flag.
The sound of silence. Which is rare, and precious!

Three weeks from today, I will be on a plane, heading home to the US! I am two-thirds of the way done! After six weeks here in Morocco, I am thankful for the experience I have had so far. I am thankful for all my French teachers over these years, because I would've never been able to make it here without the French! I'm thankful for the cockroaches, the tummy bugs, the man who scammed me for money, the lady who won't let me return my broken internet key, the many Jawal cards I used up trying to figure out how the minutes here work, the couch that is now my bed, the impossible task of crossing the street, the cold showers, the spiders in my shower, and all the things in between! I'm thankful because they are all learning experiences that have helped me appreciate the comfort of being at home! Though I am much more comfortable here now than I was six weeks ago, I still have lots to learn and experience. But for now, I am thankful.

And so, the countdown for home begins. 21 days :)

P.s. Souvenir shopping has begun! Taking any present requests now!