(The restaurant sneaked it in with my all carbohydrate meal, because they couldn't get my order right even after several promptings. Oh well, there were some tasty, non-liver covered fries.)
I also got to play with chameleons and boxes of turtles.
(You can buy all kinds of things in the medina or Rabat including, on the animal front, hamsters, guinea pigs, and fish.)
What else have I done recently... Let me think...
1) I finished my first Arabic course, which went very well. Now I'm moving into Arabic 102, which will be a lot harder... Uh-oh.
2) I went to the hammam (Turkish bath where naked old women scrape off your skin for you) again with my family and didn't burn myself this time! Score for me! (Also, my previous hammam burn is healing up nicely. It should be totally gone in week or two.)
3) I saw a double rainbow while it was raining over the mountains behind my house. The sky was also grey and gold. I was pretty sure the world was going to end/it was going to rain on me as I walked to school, but it didn't.
4) I have played with many cute children. It's totally acceptable to play with strangers' children here in Morocco. After playing peekaboo the parents will often bring the child over so you can kiss it. I'm going to develop some bad habits that will make me seem really creepy back in the states... Fortunately, American children are far less cute than Moroccan children. Thank goodness for small blessings.
5)
6) I bought bracelets with little bells and eye-balls on them. I don't think they're a very popular item here in Meknes, since the shopkeeper gave them to me for almost nothing. I think they're super awesome though... I'm not sure what that says about me...
7) I found out that "Al Manbat" is actually a private high school, which means that you can learn how to be batman. Why didn't I go there?
8) Every time I think my French is improving, I have a conversation with someone and they flat out tell me that I can't speak French... Apparently some terrible non-language is coming out of my mouth... Oops.
9) About a week ago, I was trying to get into my apt. and the door was sticking. Pushed harder and finally got in and saw that the reason the door wasn't opening was because there was a woman passed out on the lobby floor. There was no one around and I couldn't get her to wake up. Finally a maid from another apt. came down and we moved her off the floor onto a couch and got her to wake up and drink some water. All this was done with me speaking no Arabic/Darija and both the maid and the sick lady not speaking any English. That is the scary story from my trip so far. I now understand what Clara was talking about when she said that I put her into "emergency mode." I'm sorry about that, Clara. At least you have some form of first aid training (unlike me. My response was to try and wake her up by yelling at her in English. Not helpful.)
10) On a lighter note, here are some random pictures from my trip!
Me with the columns in Rabat that were stolen from Volubilis (Roman ruins near Meknes)
Roman ruins - Grainery
Roman ruins turned field. Waste not, want not.
The sky full of birds over the ocean in Rabat. Those of us who had never seen Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" were very excited about this. Those who had were less so.
This is the castle I go to school in. Parts of it are much pinker than this.
This is my Arabic professor and the drawing of a mouse he made for us.
I wasn't lying about Al Manbat. Also, you all probably care a lot less than I do. So be it.
Pottery at a ceramic house in Fez. The entire room was packed with thousands of different pieces.
AJ, Karissa, and I in our beautiful djellebas AKA most comfortable articles of clothing on earth.
I hope everyone is having a happy March!
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