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Published: January 20th 2013
January 19-20, 2013
The 19
th was raining, windy and super cold and we had school. BUT, we have some great pictures for Sunday, the 20
th! Make sure to look at them, because they really capture the awesome flavor of Rabat. The main differences between our trip to Central America and now are: (1) it is cold; (2) the women are very conservatively dressed; (3) and this is a big one, we cannot communicate, not even slightly; (4) eye contact is not popular; and (5) the food is Moroccan.
We headed out for the sights with a group of people with like-minded ideas. When all was said and done, we walked about 5.5 miles today. We saw many people, the Atlantic Ocean, a huge cemetery, shops, stalls, the Kasbah, the river, and an 11
th century mosque. We witnessed the Muslin call to prayers and the faithful coming to attend, saw the Mausoleum of His Majesty King Mohammed V, and spotted a Christian church. Mostly importantly, we got to personally observe and experience the culture of Rabat. The photos really trap the flavor of these things, so please take look at them. Our group was kind enough to allow us to
post some of their photos here so you can see some really, awesome people!
At the Hassan Tower (construction began built in 1195), Ann was approached by a woman who wanted to give her a Henna tattoo. She declined. (smile) The old medina (market) was everything we imagined and more. We ate a sandwich in the old market made right there - - fresh bread round, cut open on one side and filled with fried egg, eggplant, onion, tomato and some sauce. It cost less than $1 US (5 DH) which we were able to share between ourselves AND with some of our group. Some people in our group purchased some inexpensive pastry which was SO good, I wish we could share it with every one of you reading this post! Not surprisingly, when we finally found a place for lunch (in a more touristy area with a menu in French) we paid $8 for our shared meal (between the two of us) of a very small pizza with gyro (schwarma) meat on it, a small order of fries and two bottles of water. We will surely become more savvy as time goes by and we certainly look forward
to sharing many more market experiences with you all.
Tomorrow we will be schooling it again, so today was a very welcome, personal cultural introduction on our terms. We LOVED it!!!
Shoo-kran (phonetic for “thank you” in Darija) for hanging out with us (we will try to share a little bit of language as we learn). We really wish we could share the intense energy here which is generated from this group of very excited, unbelievably diverse US volunteers. We are very proud to be here and humbled to be able to represent our country with this fabulous group of people. We have a big responsibility in Morocco, to represent our country to the youth here, and we look forward to fulfilling that duty to the best of our abilities. In such a short time, we feel we have made some really good friends and are developing a support system. It is our goal, via this blog, to share our experiences, so that you feel like you are here and a part of this wonderful journey, too. Of course, this blog is dependent upon an active internet connection. We will do our best to keep posting but we
have no idea what is to come. From what we have seen and learned, Morocco is completely awesome.
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Karen Huff
non-member comment
Memories
This photo really reminds me of being a kid in Morocco....all that's missing is the hanging sides of beef.