Marruecos

---

Thanks for tuning back in. Sorry this took so long. by the end it will all make sense!

On Friday, October 8th, the Marist-Seston group embarked to go to Morocco. Hardly any one of us knowing what to expect or where exactly we were going, we hoped on our flight on EasyJet and was Morocco bound. We should have known our adventure was going to be an interesting one when we sat on the plane for about 45 minutes because a passenger had checked in but did not board the plane. Of course my mind is running about a mile a minute but all ended well and we were cruising the sky. As there is a time difference of two hours, our flight was recorded in record speed. I found the runway and stopping point to be all outside, in other words, the pilot parked the plane outside and we had to walk out of the plane on steps in the open air! It was so cool. But even though I was in Africa, my third Continent, my primary priority was trying to let my family and Mike know I have landed safely. Unfortunately it did not. Oh boy. But I kept my head high and braced myself for what would be truly an opportunity of a lifetime.

We get to the airport and the man at the baggage checker waves me on (I wondered if he just assumed all the things in my bag were safe or what because other people put their baggage in the checker thing) and we proceeded to get our passports stamped (probably one of the most exciting things about traveling). After this we went to get some Euros exchanged. For every 1 Euro we received 10 Durham. I had a hand full of 400 Durham heading into the Moroccan world. After a few minutes of organization, our tour guide Alycia met up with us and braced us for the day. We walked outside and saw palm trees and that everything was in Arabic and French. What an interesting thing to see Arabic everywhere. Our group was excited for the start of our adventures, so we all piled onto a tiny bus and looked forward to about 5 hours of driving to the city of Rabat.

Our first stop was a visit at the womens center DARNA and here I had my first dish of kuzku (no idea how to spell it) doused with vegetables and some meat. At this place we talked with a female and a male; and boy did their views contrast. She was against arranged marriages, for wearing the typical dressage she vowed to wear at the age of 14, and he was all for arranged marraiges and practically countered everything she said. Different than the other group that we encountered, these people found America to be an evil empire or a force. It was a very interesting situation, but i found myself eager to discover what exactly people here, especially the youth think about us Americans. After we walked briefly through this town we headed back on the bus to head to the town of Asilah. But before I move on, i must let you all know, Moroccan children are the cutest children. They were waving from windows, and followed us in the streets saying, hola, bonjour, and s-salam ( hello in arabic). it was the cutest thing. There was even a pair of little girls who walked along side of the girls in the group looking with admiration and giggling. The children here were absolutely precious.

Anyways, back to the Moroccan adventure. So we are heading to Asilah, watching the sunset as we go. Suddenly, after the sun was about to go down completely, the bus stops, and we look out our window to the right (where the ocean was) and what do we see.....but camels. That's right, we got to ride camels, while the sunset, on the beach, in Morocco. My camel was a giant thing and I swear I almost fell off. While we went in circles on the beach the baby camels were practically gnawing at our sneakers and charging at the bigger camels. we all had no idea what to think about this other than the fact that we were currently riding camels in Africa. After this we walked quickly through the town because we were running behind and we saw some ancient 1400 Portuguese walls and climbed out over the water and just relaxed for a little bit. Then we hopped back on the bus to head back to Rabat where we would eat with our host families and go to bed (we were all grouped into 3 to go to these houses).
Upon arriving in Rabat, we discover our host parent(s) waiting for us in a meeting house. I'm anxiously waiting to see who my family would be. Would they speak English, would the father be here or the mother, would their be kids, what is the house like...? all these things are running through my head. Finally its my turn and two other girls as well. Our host mother is there. She is beautiful with an incredible smile and speaks fantastic English. We follow her through the city/town. It's like a maze. She tells us not to worry though she'd be bringing us back tomorrow to the meeting point. Excellent my mind can stop trying to figure out where exactly I am, especially because everything is in French and Arabic and its an excellent thing I speak English and Spanish.

So we get back to the house. Its wonderful. The inside is tiled walls, a giant couch in the middle with separate rooms. The top was just recently enclosed otherwise where the living room is would have been completely under the stars. And in the top on the wall is an open window where you can see right outside (this has meaning later i promise). Although we aren't hungry and more tired because it is 11, our host mom insists her American princesses eat. and eat more. She knew we were American, of course what American doesn't love pasta, so she made us some pasta with chicken, and the best flan i've ever had. We were talking with her during dinner and she was asking us all sorts of questions about where we were going, how long we were here. Her poor mother who was also at the table didnt speak a word of English so sat their and watched their Sultan on the tv and randomly said things to her daughter. Something I will never forget is during the viewing of the Sultan, I asked her if she liked her King. She said to me " my king makes Morocco go from good to great." And she smiled. A part of me sadly smiled because I am truly blessed in the United States to have as many freedoms as I do and as many opportunities as I currently have. As I passed through the cities, with stray cats, the smells of the water systems, the hygiene of things, the garbage on the sides of the roads, the tin roofed houses that made up villages of THOUSANDS of people, I silently hoped that this Sultan truly was making things better. We continued to talk with her and we learned that her husband was working in the States in Michagin with a trade with Canada and that she was a school teacher. By the time we were stuffed and finished talking it was close to 12, and we were off to bed. our room was more of sofa style beds that we slept on with a sheet over ourselves. Either way we all knew we were going to sleep. But before we did, we wanted to check out the bathrooms and thank goodness no turkish toilet. Us girls had lucked out and went to sleep.

One thing about being in an Islamic country is that if you don't know, you will learn about how they pray five times a day; starting with a 5 am wake up prayer. Local mosques have speaker systems so that the morning prayer is amplified through the city and the whole area can hear the song and pray. This morning, the three of us were startled to hear this 5 am wake up call, in beautiful voice no doubt, but being we were in the dark, in an unfamiliar place, in a unfamiliar language, and seeing as it lasted for a half hour, it took some time to get prepared and adjusted to. Either way we woke up again about 2 hours after this and prepared for our day. I peeped out the door of our room to see what was going on and i look up to the window and see birds chirping and literally flying through the living room. Que cosa! They were flying about and landing on the floor picking up the bread crubs. it was so neat to see. For breakfast we had lots of bread and the best coffee! To put on the bread we put a chocolaty frosting and a apricot jam. It was delicious. So after we finished getting ready, including baby wipes for a shower, we were off to start our day, keep in mind, without umbrellas or extra changes of clothes.

This day was probably my favorite day. We went into the city and met with a group of Moroccan boys to talk about sterotypes and any questions we had about cultures, totally an open an relaxed situation. We talked about terrorism, generalizing everything, greed, and the media that affect perceptions about each other's cultures. I wish I could write all of the things we talked about but just what sticks out most is that these boys my age, had nothing against America, in fact, they wished in positive ways they had opportunities we had. They just wanted us to understand that they don't hate us and they want to help. They were just like us American kids who wanted to live life to the fullest and learn and experience as much as possible. One kid even skipped class this day to participate in the discussion (he later told us that he rarely goes to class as he's the rebel of the group, because he'll be just fine for the final exam), but the fact that they each wanted to be there was saying something, especially when they didn't have to. We concluded the discussion with some amazing mint tea and cookies and just had some random side conversations because later that day we would meet up with these guy in smaller groups and explore the city.

Following this we dove into downpours of rain. Because no one had extra jackets, umbrellas or clothes it was perfect timing. We explored Mausoleum of King Mohammed V, where I got a snappy shot with a guard. After this we drove to the Roman ruins Chellah, where we saw beautiful gardens and ancient cemeteries and things of the liking. ( on the bus ride i tried a fig and some apricots for Poppy- i loved them). Here we bought an egg to throw into the fertility pond. If the eels eat the egg its good news, you'll be pregnant or be fertile. We got the man with the stray cats to throw it in, and good news he's going to be fertile. Good luck to that woman. (Generally this fertility pool is for females who are having problems, and seeing as no one wanted to throw it in, this guy got the job. Also, the image of the egg and the eel is suppose to be very vivid and a very obvious representation to help with the fertility process. interesting.) Following this we went back to the house for some warm lunch, amazing soup we had that was like minestrone but definitely better 😊 Here we also relaxed for a little bit and tried to dry our clothes. Luckily my host mom was more than willing to lend her jacket because mine was soaking wet and I failed to bring more long sleeves.

We then met up with the boys in the square and grouped off. My group had two of the boys and there were three of us from our marist group. We all talked about everything, and it was so much fun. We talked about inspirations, dreams, and things we liked to do. One of them reminded me of my brother because he wanted to be an Arab rapper and go to new york city and California and learn how to rap well like Eminem, Topauc, Biggie and all them and also find his true love. His favorite movie was Dear John, and he was such a nice kid. The other rascal was a bit of a dare devil and was more of a free spirit. Either was it was great to hang out and just talk about random things. One thing we talked about that I thought was funny was that we played a guessing game with them about what ethnicity we were because they couldn't believe we could be more than one thing because they don't really mix racially. How funny is that! They actually didn't understand and we had to explain to them that Americans are generally mutts. But a few things truly hit home for me, that made me realize as an American girl I am truly privileged and just how much these Moroccan boys wished they could one day expand their horizons, though not in a jealous or envious way. The first thing that hit home for me was that the chances of these boys to travel outside of Morocco was slim to none. They need to have about 75000 Durham in their accounts in order to guarantee that they will return (equivalent to about 7500 euros or 11000 USD. Thats what they NEED to remain in their accounts so if they don't return the government takes it. On top of this, outside countries probably won't accept them for visas or even if they do, upon inspection, patrol personal will meticulous search for something wrong. Interesting right. And then the second thing involves work. We asked them where they would take a girl on a first date. And the three of us cracked up when he said mcDonalds and said thats a sign of a sure dump of you took a girl there in the states. he responded by saying; let me explain. A meal at mcDonalds for two approximately costs 100-150 durhams (10-15 euros). Now per month for about 6 days a week of work and about 6 hours of work per day, you get about 2000 durhams. These kids work for the same amount for 3 days, as Americans in New York work per hour at minimum wage. So that is why they go to McDonalds because it takes them a couple days just to pay for the one meal. I understand that economies are different and taxes and demands are different in the US but the fact that the difference in pay and value of money is so much different truly boggles my mind. All throughout talking we walked through gardens, sat and had mint tea and walked through the city as well as the touristic markets. Before we said goodbye I had one final question for the boys and it was, "If there was one thing you could incorporate into Moroccan society that the United States culture has what would it be?" Surprisingly both boys had the same answer. Both liked the freedom of relationships and the ability to make connections with whomever and however they wanted. Of course they asked the same question and I without hesitation responded that I wish the US had more kids with drive like these two (not saying that American kids don't have drive but let me explain). I felt that the youth in Morocco were so driven that they took ever opportunity they had to learn and to gain knowledge. For example, they each knew at least 2 different languages (they are only about 20 years old) and know them well, slang, bad words good words the works, and furthermore on a basis in Morocco you need to know at least 3 languages to get a good paying job (especially because of tourism). One of the Moroccan boys taught himself English simply by watching American movies one summer and paying close attention to subtitiles and everything. It was incredible to hear their stories and they have inspired me to achieve all I can achieve. I mean i've been taking Spanish for YEARS, and no way am I close to being as fluent as this kid in English, in just a year!

The day had come to a close and we returned back to the houses to prepared for the hammam.The hammam was a public bath, and would you believe I participated in it. After being soaked to the bone, sweating, and overall feeling gross I decided to go for it. And let me just say, all the girls from the group bonded on whole knew levels. We weren't completely undressed but close enough. We doused ourselves in the olive oil like soap and used a scrubber exfoliater to get rid of all the dead skin. It felt good, and after a while you didn't even realize you were in a public area pouring water over your head. After this session we went back to eat and to sleep after a much needed long day.

We woke up again at 5 am, then again at 7. Our host mom told us the story about how her mother rushed in at 215am worried that the girls (us) were cold and that she should go make sure we weren't cold. But our host mom said that she couldn't because our door was close and she prayed and couldn't sleep because she hoped we weren't cold! She said she stayed up until the 5 am prayer and then couldn't sleep well after that. So then she asked us if we were cold. We felt horrible because we were so tired we had no idea we were cold so of course we said we were just fine and she sighed in relief and said, "Thank you my God for my sister were warm last night, thank you my God." and she smiled and we continued to eat. She was really an amazing host and I felt so comfortable in her house and actually looked forward to going back and talk with her. She walked us to our meeting point we hugged goodbye and I got her email address. She said I am always welcome back to her home because I will have a place in Morocco. She was really too sweet.

We loaded the bus again on this Sunday to start a 3 hour bus ride to Rif Mountains. Along the way we stopped for some mint tea and to pick up our translator, who would be accompanying us to the mountains so we can communicate with the family we would be visiting. The bus drives to our destination, and I see everything ranging from houses on the mountains, to above ground irrigation systems, tin roof homes, people on donkeys , horses pulling carts on the roads. Once we are in the mountains, its all dirt roads and a steady drive upwards. We get off at a certain point and hike a little bit, in the mud of course, but the view was beautiful. We hike downwards and over to a small community where the family we are visiting lives. There is a well outside, a mini stable, a clay hut for making bread. The family just got running water and electricity as well as a road within the last 10 years. Here we talked to the family about things they do for fun which consisted of tv and what their aspirations for their children were, which was to get away from the village and see the world. Walking through the village was something else. People came out of their houses and watched us pass through the street, and you could tell by they way they looked at us that they were happy we visited and that they wished one day their child in their arms would have the same opportunity as us, especially the women and their little girls.

So after eating with them we headed back on the bus to head to Chefchaouen. Here we walked around for a little bit and stayed in a hostal/hotel for the night. After getting settled in we did some shopping. My accomplishments of the day included two amazing blankets that i bargained from 200 Durham's a piece to 250 Durhams for the both of them. I also picked up a sweet deal for the boy and the little brother because they were just too cool to pass up on. It was a lot of fun, and luckily here people spoke Spanish. I forgot just how much I loved speaking it so it was a nice treat instead of speaking English so much with the people. After a few hours of walking and shopping in the rain, we met up for dinner. Here I had Delicious eggplant, and the pastilla for dinner which was chicken in a sweet postre like outershell sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar,, and for desert chocolate creppes. Yummy I know. Following dinner we went back to the hotel and talked about everything we've encountered good and bad and then went to sleep.
This morning, i'm not sure if Chefchaouen has special rituals, there was a wake up call at 3 am and and again at 5 am. And luckily Suzanne picked the room with the window, closest to the speaker haha. Either way at that point I was so tired and cold I just somehow manage to fall back asleep and woke up to her alarm for our hike outside the city gates so we could see the view of all the mountains around us. Excersie for that morning....check. We returned about an hour later and packed all of our things and headed to breakfast as a group. Then once we finished we said our goodbye to Chefchaouen and went back to Tangier and waited in the airport for our flight to take off. Interesting side note about the flights in Morocco, they do not check anything, liquids nada. Of course no sharp objects but I literally looked like i had a turtle shell on my back with waterbottles and everything and they didn't think twice! oh man.
So after our flight we returned safely to Madrid, back within human contact, taking with us some very important things. For me this is what I still have with me:

1. After talking and meeting with the Moroccan people, I have come to realize that material things don't make a person happen. These people where happy beyond a belief and lived the most simple ways of life I have ever seen. For fun kids hung out in the streets and played soccer, families watched tv. An interesting thing too is that these people don't understand what depression or suicide is. It's unheard of. So I have taken back with me a deeper appreciation for what I am blessed with, for the people in my life, who truly make me happy.
2. Gratefulness for the country I live in and the opportunities I am blessed to have. The kids in Morocco may never get to see beyone their country. So after visiting, I hope to take ever opportunity I get to travel and to experience new things, because you never know when you will next have the ability to do so.
3. That things aren't always what they seem. I admit I went into Morocco scared of what I would find and I was surprised by the attitude and the hospitality of the people. Granted I was in a large group with extreme control, but the people I encountered made my feel comfortable and safe when I wasn't expecting that. So I learn and share with you to try so hard to stay opened minded. Do not let people or things dictate what you believe. Learn from your own experiences and don't be afraid to share them and stand up for them.
4. This may come off comical but in reality i'm serious. I have learned to always always always go to a foreign country with anitbotics from the USA. I'm not kidding. After Morocco despite the amazing experience, I got pretty sick with a stomach virus or food poisoning that got kinda rough I almost went to a doctor here. I however, I accredit a decent recovery to my medicine from my doctors, as well as my Senora Any (and of course that 4 am wake up call for my mom with a bazillion texts to light up the room so she'd get up and talk to me because I wasn't feeling well and didn't know if i should go to the doctor or not...love you mom!) . I was pretty much unable to eat for about 3 days and stuck in bed for the remainder, the worst ideas ever being going into school and walking to the metro. However, all that matters is I'm better now but I'll always be remember travel with medicine from your doctor because it helped me so much!!!!

Anyways. Morocco was incredible. I'm not so sure if I'll go back, I'm not ready anytime soon too, but it really was an experience I'll never forget. I won't forget the conversations I had with the group, with the people I saw on the streets and the host family I stayed with. Each experience brought a new internal realization that inspires me to take in everything I can and to keep exploring and learning new things.

(so the reason it took so long to publish was because between being sick and there being so much information i needed a solid 3 hours to write this sucker! another entry to follow about a bullfight a weekend of bonding with my senora and midterms oi!)

As always thank you to all the supporters at home. Thank You so much for everything especially for when I was sick. Couldn't do it without you guys (or the 4 am wake up call mom...you're the best!)

---