A Quick Update

Happy Couscous Friday!

(Or as my dad remembers it, happy Falafel Friday!)

Since our southern excursion, we have gotten back into our daily routine: three and a half hours of Arabic, lunch, afternoon sessions, tea, homework, dinner, and bed. It’s been nice to have a schedule and the routine has helped make me feel more at home- in the way that a schedule feels comforting. But the repetition also seems to bring many challenges. Being in the constant presence of others has finally caught up to my INFJ personality type- mostly the introverted aspect. But like most challenges on this trip, it is something I will deal with and figure out how to make the best out of the situation.

On a less gloomy note, here are a few anecdotes about my life the past few weeks:

-The U.S Ambassador to Morocco, Samuel Kaplan, and his wife (both Minnesotans!) came to the CCCL to talk to all of the students. He talked about his experiences as an ambassador, his view on Morocco, and Morocco’s relationship with other countries. It was a great talk and I really enjoyed the Ambassador and his wife. Also during the talk I noticed a girl who just arrived at the CCCL who looked familiar. I found out as I was talking to the Ambassador that she was, in fact, who I thought- someone I went to high school with, three years older, at a school of ~350 people. It turns out she is the daughter of the woman running the journalism program, one of the three programs at the CCCL. I’m loving all of these Morocco-Minnesota connections!

-I can now spell out words in Arabic based on how they sound- meaning I might not spell them correctly but I can write. This goes for reading too- I can read words based on how they look, not necessarily what they are, but it’s reading!

-Yesterday, my host family asked me if Spiderman was real.

-This weekend marked my first weekend staying in Rabat since the first weekend I stayed with my host family. Unfortunately, I had a lot of work. Fortunately, my friends and I discovered a café on the beach overlooking the ocean with regularly priced drinks and wifi. Needless to say, it’s a new favorite hangout.

-As I was walking home today, I was walking behind two men and overheard bits and pieces of their conversation. At one point I started understanding all of the words they were saying! I thought this was a breakthrough in my arabic learning. That was until I heard them say the arabic phrase for the Cross-cultural center for learning. 

-My latest obsession is trying different combinations of smoothies/juices at a juice place a little ways down the main road. So far some favorites include almond, avocado, and coconut (a turned-out-happy mistake when I thought coco meant chocolate) and amlou (the Moroccan version of peanut butter, which I looked up and found out to be ground toasted almonds, argon nuts, and honey).

Now, since I just had an arabic test, my mind is floating with random arabic words, so I'm going to teach you a few of my favorites (phonetically, of course):

zweeena-            beautiful

ndikadika-           tired

akooskakooso-    couscous

bzefff-                 a lot 

schwea-               a little 

schnoo-               what?

We are leaving tomorrow for our northern excursion, where we will stay in a remote village for four nights, then heading to Tnideq, Chefchaouen, and then my friends and I are planning on staying in Tangier for the weekend. I’m excited!