The Return of the Cockroach, Jellaba, and Mint Tea

Yes, that is correct. The cockroach came back! If you remember, I found a cockroach in my clothes last week while about to take a shower. Yesterday, while about to get into the shower, I see Mr. Cockroach, lying inside the bathtub, wounded. I did feel bad for him, but I was also screaming on the inside. So I may have kindly, sadly, drowned it....but then I was just too miserable and freaked out to do anything else, so I called Mama Hyatt and she laughed as she grabbed a tissue and just crumbled it up. Then I started to take my shower, but halfway through, I see baby cockroach in the bathtub!! No fun. I left that one alone though, and he scurried away. It was not a pleasant experience. Sad and confused.


In happier news, the other day, my family had me try on a jellaba! It is a Moroccan dress (usually there is a headpiece, but I didn't try that one on). This one they had me try on is for a Moroccan wedding. So if I were to ever have a Moroccan wedding, this is what I would wear!

Moroccan wedding dress

I'm looking a little pregnant here though, because the belt that goes around my waist was too big for me. Also, I recently learned that in Morocco, there is no such thing as boyfriends! It's either friends, fiancé, or husband. No boyfriends! (Sidestory: This makes sense now! The other day, a creepy guy was following me and asking for my number, and I just kept saying no, but he kept on insisting. After about 3 blocks of following, I tell him I have a boyfriend already, but he says it didn't matter to him, and that he just wanted us to be friends. No worries though! He finally left, and said "tu es une fille méchante!" ("You are a mean girl") Now I understand!)


Also a big Moroccan tradition is mint tea! Mint tea is delicious, and is usually drank daily during tea time. My family hasn't had tea time these past two weeks, but we do have it for breakfast every morning. They use fresh leaves from the garden to make the tea, and it is usually served on a silver platter, in little glasses. I will definitely be buying a set of teapot and cups to bring home to my family!

Typical Moroccan breakfast: bread, pancake-type things, cheese, mint tea, and more bread. 

Moroccan mint tea

Also, I now have an internet key! Which means I will have internet while I'm home, which means skype time with family and friends! My skype is awang4829, add me so we can talk!

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!