Blogs from Rabat, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Morocco, Africa - page 9

So I got back from Asilah at around 8 pm on Saturday night (4th of July) and as I got close to the apartment I heard really loud music. When I got to the apartment building entrance I noticed that a large truck was parked right up to the door and there were men in uniforms scrambling around carrying things up the stairs. As I made my way past them I was eyed cautiously because they were probably wondering "Who the hell is this French tourist crashing this family's party." I say French because in Morocco if you are white they assume you are French and will speak French to you. Anyways, as I climbed the stairs the music got even louder and I finally reached the enclosed patio and looked in to see around 50 ... read more

First off, I would like to give a warm welcome to Peggy Thompson. Her daughter, Emily, joined us in Morocco two weeks ago (around the last time I updated) and Mrs. Thompson found the blog through googling UVa and Morocco. Thanks for being a fan. Also, thank you to everyone who has sent me messages over the course of these six weeks. Sorry I have not responded (the blog website is strange about that) but I appreciate your messages. Tomorrow is our last full day in Morocco. Since I left off we have spent a weekend of service at a circus school for street children, heard discourses from the advisor to the prime minister and an author of a book we read, went to a Morocco-Togo world cup qualifier game and probably spent the best weekend ... read more

This post picks up from where the last one left off. So Jess went to have tea with a Moroccan family and Sara and I decided to take a cab to her neighborhood so she could figure out exactly where it was. After riding from Agdal to Hassan and walking around for a bit we found her house. She went inside and I continued to explore the area on my own. I walked to the Hassan Tower and took some pictures, spoke Arabic to horse mounted guards, and just wandered around aimlessly. Me, Sara, and Jess (from now on will be abbreviated MSJ) had decided to meet at 5pm at Bab al-Had, a big traffic circle just to the south of the Medina. At around 4pm I called Sara and asked if she wanted to walk ... read more

Well my first night here Michael took me to get some leather slippers to wear in the house. It was hard to find some that would fit me but once we found some we bartered the guy down to around $10 USD. The slippers are really nice, hand made. When we got home Rashid asked what I got and so I pulled em out and handed them to him. He thought they were cool and put them on. Yesterday I couldn't find them and asked Rashid where he put them. He got this sad puppy face and went and got them. He explained to me that he thought I got them for him as a gift. I didn't mean to convey that by simply showing him the slippers, I felt really bad. Oh well. I tested ... read more

The week has been pretty routine so far so I thought I would catch people up on what that means over hear. I am having a blast. It is constantly learning experience to be living in an Islamic country and getting used to the mix of semi-religious overtones, culture gaps, and language barriers. We are living with families and I was very lucky to get paired with Roger Connaroe. He is my year at UVa, Phi Delt, and his outlook on life makes him a great roommate. He's constantly exploring in our trips around Rabat. All in all there are like 25 of us in the group, most from UVa with like 6 people from different schools. I have been spending a lot of time with Roger, Christie Hercik, Michelle Lamont, Rachel Leeds, Dylan Chapman, and ... read more