Essaouira

For the last week of the trip, all the Legacy International kids are reunited in Essaouira. This is a beach town on the Atlantic Ocean. We still study and all that but we're staying in a hotel instead of home stays. 

Every day is pretty relaxed and a little more independent. We wake ourselves up, we get ourselves breakfast (from the hotel), get ourselves to school, etc. We're still supervised a lot of the time, but it's a different feeling than being dependent on a host family. 

We have two hours for lunch and we can go wherever we want. (Don't you worry, guys, we still have a government stipend). We also have about 3 hours of free time in the afternoon. It's really enjoyable. We can walk around the medina, go to the beach, go shopping, buy REALLY good shawerma, whatever we want. 

Today, though, we had the afternoon off. This meant 8 hours to do anything. I did some crazy shopping, about 4 hours actually. Shopping in the souqs are different and takes a while because of haggling. Which I did a lot of. I think I said "ana taliba" or "I'm a student" about 8,000 times today. I successfully got a djellaba price from 400 dh to 230 dh. I saved 11 dollars on Moroccan salt and pepper holders (because I bought five). And I walked away from more than one teapot. 

Rug store I unsuccessfully haggled in. 

It's interesting to be back with the kids that went to Marrakesh. It's kind of strange to go from the group dynamic of 12 people to the group dynamic of 29. 

I've been pretty good at budgeting my time. I do whatever after school: go shopping, to the beach, both. And study after dinner (both Arabic and AP World History). I've been really productive. I do my homework, get some reading done, and I reorganized my terribly packed suitcase. 

I like the fact that I can walk everywhere I need to go. This makes it really easy to get stuff done. It's also beautiful. The weather is nice. Windy, but id take that of liver humidity any day. 

Walking through the souq with my friends. 

False alarm at our hotel restaurant that overlooks the ocean. 

Candid af. 

Learn something today. 

Corie. 

Miscellaneous Pictures From My Life in Rabat

Note: this was written on 21 July 2016, but took 4 days to upload. 

Today I will be leaving Rabat. It's a weird feeling since I'm not leaving Morocco for another week or so. But there's still the bittersweet feeling of leaving somewhere for who knows how long. Our group from Rabat is meeting back up with the Marrakesh group in another city in Morocco. 

I am leaving my host family and my home in Rabat. I'm leaving the school and the places we hang out. I'm amidst the feelings of excitement for the next adventure and nostalgia for this one. In that, I have compiled some photos to look back on this past weeks in Rabat. 

This is a picture of a door in the Medina. During the past couple weeks, I branched out a bit and started venturing further from my neighborhood in Rabat. I have to take a taxi and a tram to get to the medina. All in all it probably takes about an hour, but it's worth it. The souq is the medina. The first time I got myself to the medina, it was so liberating. This was from the first time I went to the medina. 

This picture was taken after we went bowling. We went bowling on our first day off in Rabat. It was the first time we bonded as Americans and with our host siblings. This was also the first time I ordered for myself in Morocco. It was rough, I ended up ordering in English, but hey, progress. 

As I said, we got breakfast and lunch everyday at school. It was always delicious and the cooks were the first relationships I formed completely in Arabic. This picture is beautiful. It makes me really happy. The colors and the henna are aesthetically pleasing. I also remember taking this picture. I just wanted the fruit and my friend photobombed with her hand. I think it enhances the picture. 

This is my henna. The design on my hand with the watch is a traditional Moroccan design. It's very geometric, it's also different from the flowery henna you usually see. 

This was my first adventure without Moroccans. Sure, it only resulted in a poorly lit picture of my crepe, but I remember that was the first time I got home all by myself. 

This picture was taken at our Moroccan tea ceremony. We learned how to make the Moroccan tea I think I'm addicted to. I like this picture because of the teapot, the tea, and the carpet. 

These cushions and rugs were laid out for the tea ceremony. We ended up spending a lot of time out there. My friends set up a thing like this for me at my going away party. 

This picture is when we went out for my host parents' birthdays. They both had birthdays within a week from each other. This day, I really felt like part of their family. It was a really great night. 

This picture was taken the day of the tea ceremony. Some of us wore Moroccan djellabas. I love this picture because it's a classic study abroad pic. The diversity is pretty cool too. I also love these people so...

Before I ever went to the Medina alone, I went to this bookshop. A friend of my sister loves books like I do. She was telling me about this shop, and I wanted to go sooo badly. My friend (charlotteinmorocco.wordpress.com) and I took a taxi to the area this shop is in. We walked around for almost 20 minutes all over the area trying to find it. It turns out if was a 30 second walk down the street we got out of the taxi at. 

I've mentioned the Medina a lot. The old city of Rabat is located near the water. It's a center of crafts and trade, just like in Fes. I love going to the medina. It's a perfect place to practice your Arabic. Most shop keepers speak French and English but since I can pass for Moroccan they speak to me in Arabic. I also love haggling, and seeing all the different things for sale. I think the best purchase was when I accidentally bought crooked Moroccan flags. 

Right outside the souq in the medina, there is a mini carnival. This ride cost 15 dhs to ride. It was old, rickety, and probably very unsafe. It wouldn't have been scary if I had faith in it to not break. I swear I could feel the arm of it coming off. 

I really wanted to make a meal for my host family. I never got to make them dinner, but I did make them breakfast yesterday morning. What's more American than chocolate chip pancakes?

This picture was taken at our party last night. I gave a speech thanking my host family in Arabic. This is my host sister. I love her and I'm going to miss her so much. 

These past few weeks have been incredible. I want to take another opportunity to thank everyone who made my stay in Rabat wonderful. The best way to get to know a country is through its people. Morocco has some pretty great people. 

Learn something today. 

Corie. 

The Hamam // الحمام

Oh, do I have a story for you. 

Today, I went to the infamous hamam. They told us about it during orientation, and it was definitely a memorable experience. 

The Hamam was created back in the times when people didn't have showers in their homes. They would go to the hamam with their friends and get clean for the week. It's a public bath house. 

Hamams are still open to this day. Some are private, like a spa. Some are more traditional, and public. I went to the latter. I'm glad I did, because I feel like this allowed me to have the full hamam experience. 

During orientation, they told us that most Moroccans go to the hamam once a week. They told us it was a sauna where you don't wear anything and strangers scrub the dead skin off of you. Yes, that is exactly what it is. 

My host mom and host sister don't like the hamam, so I went with some of the other American girls and one of their host moms. We all went in, but kept our bottoms on. I knew going in that those bottoms we're going to get destroyed. I was right. 

So we got to the hamam. It's only women. Only women employees and customers, for obvious reasons. The waiting area looks like a large, communal bathroom. We all thought that was the hamam. Nope, but that's where you strip. So you leave your clothes, money, and whatever in the waiting room, you can get a cubby, but we had someone wait with our stuff. 

Once you enter the actual hamam, the heat hits you right away. The hamam is built as a series of three tiled open rooms. They're probably like saunas, but I've never been in one so I don't know how accurate the description is. The rooms are bare, no benches, chairs or anything. We went to the second room. The heat rises through all three rooms. 

The employees helped the host mother lay out mats and seats for us. I sat on a mat and try my best to feel at ease. There was one lady to "wash" each of us. 

So I sat on one of the mats and out of nowhere, with no preparation, the lady started rubbing me with henna. When I was in the spice shop in Fes, the salesman told us the uses for henna, but I forgot them. It's good for your skin. I think it's the same as the henna that you use for temporary tattoos, but I'm not positive. It's probably just similar. 

After rubbing henna all over, and I mean all over, the lady started scooping water from a bucket to rinse it off. The henna was everywhere, including my face, and I was just being splashed with water. When they started to reach the bottom of the bucket, they just dump the rest on you and get more. 

At this point, it was still a little weird. I didn't know what was happening, strangers were touching me, and the henna did not smell good, but I was fine. I was distracted from the discomfort by the absurdity of it all. Here I was, a 17-year-old girl getting washed like a baby. 

After the henna, they use an exfoliating glove (one you provide) to get all the dead skin off your body. It sounds painful, but you're sweating so much, your skin is soft and it actually feels really good. The lady positioned me on my back, on my side, on my stomach, etc to get me where she needed me. 

For whatever reason, I was under the impression they just scrubbed your arms and legs, but they scrub everywhere. You'd think the fact I was wearing underwear would stop them, but it did not. The scrubbing actually felt amazing, especially on my back. It wasn't weird like I thought it would be. 

After that, they rinsed me with the same process as before (straight up dumping water on me). Then they washed my hair with shampoo and my body with soap. After a couple more rinses, I was good. Thirsty, but good. 

It was basically a long shower in which I had to do nothing. I expected it to be weird, it was at first, but then I got over it. Yes, I was surrounded by topless strangers, but it really didn't matter. 

I'm very lucky to have had the experience. It was really cheap. Anything spa related in America is expensive, but this whole thing was $13. My skin is smooth, and I feel like a new person. 

Going to the hamam made me grateful to have other Americans to experience this with. I know a lot of people who would be weird about it, but we were all along for the ride. 

I also realized how normal the human body is. We all spend so much time and money trying to make everything look a certain way, but we all have bodies and they're all different but beautiful. Life is only as weird as you make it. 

I loved the hamam. I don't know why so many people hate it. It's amazing and I would definitely do it again. I might do it again. 

I don't have any pictures, for obvious reasons. I hope you enjoyed this. I know I did. 

Learn something today. 

Corie. 

Little Victories

Hello everyone. I hope you are doing well. 

Today I wanted to reflect a little bit on the Arabic learning process. You don't really think that 120 hours is a lot until you realize it's 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 6 weeks. That's when it seems a little daunting. 

I will have studied Arabic for 5 years in September. If you do that in some languages, you're fluent by then. Arabic is a really hard language, and it takes a lot of patience to become fluent. Especially, since most countries only use Modern Standard Arabic in formal settings. 

Darija is completely different from MSA, so it's hard to gage my growth by how well I can understand my family. It's great that I can take taxis, order food, and haggle in Arabic, but I want to be able to hold real conversations in Arabic. That's going to take a while. 

Here in Rabat, however, it's a lot of learning. That makes me really happy. It's intense, but the good kind. You know you're learning when you come out of class for break or lunch and your head hurts because it feels like you stuffed it with words so different they aren't even the same letters. 

The grammar in Arabic is complicated. I don't get grammar in any language, but Arabic, it's majnoona (crazy). Especially because all the concepts are explained in Arabic, because if you use any English, French, Spanish, colloquial Arabic, or anything besides MSA, you have to pay 1 dirham (10¢). Doesn't seem like a lot but in the last 3-4 weeks we have collected over $2 with 5 people in class. 

With that said, I actually understand the grammar concepts that I've just breezed through before. My reading skills are still slow and I'm not very good at formulating sentences on the spot, but my understanding is better when I hear people talk. 

Other things that helps encourage me is little victories. Obviously buying and ordering things in Arabic are little victories. As are being mistaken for a local. But then the victories get bigger like when I got myself home for the first time. Or when I left my phone on the checkout counter and got it back in Arabic. Today I played a game in Arabic where someone says a word and you have to think of a word that begins with the last letter of the word before that. (An English example would be "cat" then someone would say "tub" then "bank" then "kangaroos" and so on). This game made me realize that I have a lot of vocabulary. Not nearly enough to be fluent, but enough to remind myself I'm not a beginner. 

Arabic is hard. It is. But it's also the love of my life. I'm in it for the long haul, and I've made a lot of progress.

What I'm saying is: taking a summer to learn Arabic non-stop was one of the best decisions I've ever made. 

Sorry to cut this short, but I have Arabic homework to do. 

Learn something today. 

Byeeeee

Corie. 

The Blue Pearl and the Medina

The past few days, I've been traveling with the other Americans in my program. Including myself, there are 12 of us. We, along with 6 chaperones, plies into a hot bus and drove 5 hours to Chefchaouen. 

Pool views

More pool views

Chefchaouen is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is a town in the mountains in northern Morocco. The town is a very popular tourist destination because many of the buildings are blue. 

Alleyway in Chefchaouen

The first day, we checked into our hotel, got lunch, went for a swim, hung out, and had dinner. The hotel was beautiful and their food was amazing. 

Chicken Tangine

The Blue Pearl

The next day, we went for a hike. I remember being told that it was going to be an easy walk through the forest in the mountains. The beginning of the hike was like that, but the rest of it was crazy Indiana Jones type stuff. We climbed over rocky terrain, waded through the water, took impromptu swims, and risked the lives of our iPhones by crossing logs and twig bridges. 

It was not what I expected at all, and in the beginning, I was frustrated that I was so ill prepared. I quickly realized that my bad attitude was not going to make the hike easier. I tied up my pants so I wouldn't trip and channeled my inner mountain goat and did not fall. I almost lost my balance a couple times and saw my life flash before my eyes, but I'm good. 

We walked along a stream, and many times in the stream to cool off. The view was breathtaking and totally worth it. 

I climbed an extra rock for this picture. 

Homies were in front of the hut so I made them smile. 

God's bridge

The hike was exhausting. But it was a different part of Morocco. I'm glad I had the opportunity. Something that makes the hard parts of exchange easier is remembering how lucky you are to be there. Now that I'm clean and hydrated and sitting in AC, I can look back fondly on this mountain adventure. 

I'm really sweaty in this picture, but you can't tell because of the pose. 

After we rested, ate, and got our energy back, we walked to the medina (old town) in Chefchaouen. We explored the different shops in the souq. I had my first experience haggling. The first time, I made a rookie mistake and paid 50 dirhams more than I wanted to. That's literally 50¢, so it's not like it's a huge financial loss. 

The second time, however, I successfully haggled for a beautiful leather bag. The first shop I went to would not sell me the bag for under 200 dirhams so I walked. Literally down the street was another leather shop. I was with another girl who also wanted a leather bag. We haggled and paid 150 dirhams for it instead of 240. I declare success. 

Medina in Chefchaouen

The next morning, my friend and I got up early to take pictures and explore Chefchaouen. There was no one out and it was nice and peaceful. I also could pose for pictures without being embarrassed. 

Looks candid, but is actually posed. 

This purse is my child. 

That afternoon we went to Fes, another city in Morocco. That night, we just ate dinner in a mall and went back to the hotel and watched a movie. 

The next day, after breakfast, we got a tour of the medina (old city) of Fes. In the old days, Fes was a center for handicraft. It still kind of is. 

In the medina we saw old schools and the "first university." It was built by a woman. Back then, Italians traded a kilo of marble for a kilo of sugar. The Moroccans won because the marble is still there and the sugar is long gone. 

Oldest university in the world

Homie checking out a very old classroom. 

"Whoever you are, be well-behaved."

At the end of our tour, we went to a leather processing shop, a spice shop, and a cloth weaving shop. I bought spices for my family and I bought saffron for a really good price. We saw how a fourth generation cloth weaver made blankets and scarves by hand. We saw the process leather goes through to make bags, belts and shoes. 

Shopping for spices. 

Shelves of the apothecary. 

In the cloth weaving shop they tied scarves for us in varying Moroccan styles. 

This trip was amazing. We did so much in so little time. We all bonded and became so much closer. 

On top of that, I got to use my Arabic with strangers. The whole trip I bought things and ordered food in Arabic. I greeted people and asked questions in Arabic. More than once, people asked if I was Moroccan. When I said I was American, they told me I spoke Arabic really well. 

I had a wonderful time on this trip. I saw new parts of Morocco and it was refreshing. 

Thanks for reading. 

Learn something today. 

Byeeeee

Corie. 

عيد مبارك سعيد

مرحبا بكم. كيف الحال؟

I won't blog in Arabic but that's mostly because I can't. 

EID MUBARAK SAEED EVERYONE.

Today is Eid Fitr, the holiday after Ramadan. They thought it was gonna be today, but there was a slight chance that it could've been tomorrow because it's all based on the moon. But it was, indeed, today. 

First things first, we ate breakfast. I ate food with my family in the daylight. There was a lot of food. My host dad joked that they were making up for the past month. 

Every Eid I learn that Americans are missing out on amazing inventions of food. During Eid el-Adha, I discovered French Fru Sandwiches in Egypt. This Eid, my mom made a sauce for breakfast that was just honey and melted butter. Both of these things are simple, but America did not think of them (as far as I know). 

After breakfast, I donned one of my host mom's djellabas and we went to visit my host father's family...'s graves. It sounds sad and not like something you'd want to do on a holiday. But it was surprisingly fun and enlightening. 

Djellaba twinning

The cemetery was massive and full. There were tens of thousands of tombs and graves. It is literally full, like no one can be buried there anymore. 

So we managed to find my host grandma in the maze of tombs. Two cemetery workers came with us. One of them cleaned the grave and picked weeds from the tiny garden on her tomb. The other sang verses from the Quran. My host father also bought a bottle of flower water to pour over the grave. That's what I'm holding in the picture. I promise I'm not getting drunk with my late host grandma (رحمها الله). 

They did the same thing for my host uncle (رحمه الله). The cemetery is so big, we literally could not find him for like ten minutes. 

After this, we went back home to rest. Then we went to the beach. Now that Ramadan is over, I can swim! It was fun and relaxing. We went to a town called Kenitra. This was a town that was famous for housing a huge American military base. 

What's an Eid without camels?

We stopped by a café for some beignets and tea. It was wonderful. 

On the way back to Rabat, we drove through a part of Morocco I hadn't seen before. It was completely different from my westernized neighborhood. It was run-down, people seemed poorer, it was more rural. I saw so many horses and so many goats. It looked like a different Morocco. 

To finish off the night, I tried escargot. My (natural) mom, a decent picky eater, loves escargot. I, on the other hand, did not enjoy the eating the slimy shelled creature. But I tried it. That's all that matters. 

Tomorrow, I will be travel king to other cities in Morocco with my fellow Americans. I look forward to seeing even more of this wonderful country. 

Though I didn't have a traditional Eid with many different distant relatives, I had a culturally enlightening day and I am very grateful. 

Eid Mubarak Saeed. 

Learn something today. 

Byeeee

Corie. 

Driving in North Africa: Egypt vs Morocco (vs America)

Some of the most vivid memories I have of Egypt is the streets. The traffic, trying to cross the streets, and the insane driving. These things were all a bigger threat to my safety than any extremists, protestors, or whatever.

Before coming to Morocco, I had about three days of orientation. Then we flew to Casablanca. Then we had yet another orientation. One of the guys that did our orientation in Morocco said he loves everything about this country except the traffic. He even compared crossing the street to frogger. Having been to Egypt, I was so ready. I knew what to expect; I was prepared. 

One thing I've noticed in the past couple weeks is this: Driving in Morocco is a walk in the park compared to Egypt. Oh my goodness, these people have it so well.

Traffic Lights

Morocco actually has traffic lights. It's so wonderful. The traffic lights aren't as well organized, and people tend to slam on their brakes in the last second every. single. time, but at least there is some sort of rule following. 

There was no such thing in Cairo. I lived there for a little under a year. I explored most parts of the city, but I can only recall about 2 traffic lights. TWO!! Morocco has at least 8 times that amount and Rabat is much smaller than Cairo.

Lanes

Lanes are more of a suggestion than anything else in Morocco. They tend to stick to them on highways, but city streets, it's like they aren't even there. Especially at stop lights. Moroccans think that the closer they get to the intersection the sooner the light will be green. So if there are two lanes, there will be three cars at the edge of the intersection, and if you think that fourth car isn't going to try sneaking in, you better think again.

While people tend to ignore lanes in Morocco, everyone ignores lanes in Egypt. Lanes? Eh da? (What's that?) If there is a two lane street, five cars will manage to fit across. It is actually insane. Patience is a virtue Egyptian Drivers do not have.

Traffic/Horn Usage

Morocco is more low-key about using their horn. Partly it's because there is less traffic. It is currently Ramadan, so not a lot of people are out in the first place. But even before Iftar, the Rush Hour traffic isn't bad compared to Cairo. 

Moroccans use their horns to make people go, make sure that guy on his cell phone isn't gonna hit them, and to make the girls on the side of the road look at them. Basically all the normal reasons. But, something that Moroccans do at night instead of honking, is flash their lights at cars instead of honking. Fascinating.

Egypt, however, oh la la. If traffic is completely stopped for miles, cars will honk. Like, there is no possible way the car in front of you can move because the car in front of them is stopped and the one in front of them and so on and so forth. But does that stop them front holding down the horn for 10 minutes? Nope.

 Crossing the Street

MOROCCO HAS CROSSWALKS!! You heard me. This country has beautiful, marked crosswalk signs marked with (wait for it) PEDESTRIAN CROSSING SIGNS THAT LIGHT UP. Oh my goodness. It's a wonderful life. Crosswalks, however, do not mean cars let you cross. It's still a game of frogger, but it's like the beginner version.

There was not a single crosswalk in Egypt. I am lucky to be alive.

(vs America)

Since October, I have been a licensed driver in the state of California. I miss my car and the ability to go anywhere anytime (within reason), but I would literally die driving here in Morocco. 

Americans honk, change lanes without signalling, and slowly inch forward while the light is still red. But it's still pretty easy to drive in the US.

Hope you enjoyed this exposé on driving around the world. 

Drive safe and learn something today.

Byeeeee

Corie.