I don't know how to begin this blog post other than by saying that Morocco was easily the most amazing experience of my life. Putting into words exactly what I experienced is impossible, but I will try my best!
We (the 15 American students studying in Barcelona, 3 of us were from my program) arrived in Morocco on Friday afternoon after a pretty non-eventful flight. We were met at the airport by Colleen, our guide from the Morocco exchange program. We were immediately ushered onto a bus, driven by the smiley but quiet bus driver, Mohammed. We drove for a little under two hours to a small village called Amizmiz (pronounced ahs-meez). We went to the house of Latika, one of the more wealthy women in the village. That house was our meeting place for the time we were there. We met up with our host families at the house. Hillary and I were assigned to Sanaa (pronounced Sen-uh), a girl in her last year of their equivalent of high school. Sanaa lived with her mother.
We could tell by their house that they were very poor, and it was definitely a culture shock. They had no shower (they go to a public shower house once a week), and the toilet was, I kid you not, a hole in the ground. It was a little unnerving, but I told myself that it was all part of the adventure! Sanaa spoke some English and some French, which Hillary also speaks, so we were able to communicate fairly well. Her mother, however, only spoke Arabic and the local dialect, Bourbour, so Sanaa had to translate.
They were wonderful and caring people. Sanaa's mother (we never figured out her name) cooked an amazing meal that consisted of a "tajib," which is a clay dish with a sort of conical top that has some mixture of meat, broth, and vegetables in it, tons of bread, Moroccan salad (which is basically salsa - all peppers and tomatoes!), and beets. It was delicious.
After dinner, it was very late and we were exhausted from traveling, so we went to bed on the couch-bench things in Sanaa's living room (I even managed to make myself use the squat toilet before bed...I was very proud). I fell asleep for maybe 2 and a half hours before their rooster started cock-a-doodle-dooing at THREE IN THE MORNING and continued to do so every 20 minutes until we got up at 7:30. I dozed a little, but barely got any sleep.
I think I was so excited the next day that it made up for my lack of sleep, though. We met up at Latika's house again, and then took the bus up a mountain. We hiked down and around the mountain through some beautiful countryside and farms, and then through the nearby village. We also got to ride a donkey to cross the river!
In that town, we went to an association where old, widowed women work making couscous. We got to watch them work (very tedious!) and ask them questions with Latika translating. One of the things that moved me was when they were asked what they thought about Americans, and they said everyone was equal. One of the women said something along the lines of, "We are all going to die eventually, whether we are rich or poor. We might as well spend the time we have being kind and generous with everyone we meet." Truly unforgettable.
There was also the funny moment where we were asking the women about their lives, and we asked one of them, this tiny REALLY OLD lady, if she would marry again. She said, "Well, if I did, I'd marry him!" and pointed to Ryan, one of the guys on our program. It was hilarious...they posed for pictures together later on.
Afterwards, Mohammed met up with us with the bus, and we rode back to Amizmiz for lunch with our host families. My stomach wasn't doing great, as usual, but I had a little of the green bean, chicken, and olive tajib and a lot of bread. After lunch, our host siblings took us through Amizmiz. We saw the market, the place where they make the clay tajibs and other pottery, the blacksmith, and some other local places. On the way back, we walked along a river, since it was the fastest way back. Problem was, sometimes we were actually walking THROUGH the river since there was not enough space to walk on the sides! Our Moroccan friends found it pretty hilarious how we were attempting to not get wet.
We went back to Latika's and spent a couple hours talking, singing, and hanging out. We learned that for some reason, Moroccans LOVE the movie Titanic, so we all sang Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." It was great. A bunch of the girls got henna tattoos (mine looks amazing!), as well. Somewhere along the line, our Moroccan friends thought it would be hilarious to put on a fake Moroccan wedding, so they grabbed my friend Hillary and Will, one of the guys in the exchange program. They got all dressed up and put on this whole fake wedding. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe! It was so much fun.
After all of those shenanigans, Hillary and I went back with Sanaa to her house, and she cooked us some dinner (delicious omelets! My stomach was relieved to have something familiar). That night, there was a festival in the village because their soccer team had won some sort of local championship. There was music and awards and dancing...I barely understood any of it because it was all in Arabic, but it was fun nonetheless! One of the host brothers who spoke English very well even got up on stage and read a speech he had written for his "gorgeous and wonderful American friends." It was the sweetest thing ever, he talked about how much he loved us and would miss us when we left. Many of us were moved to tears.
It was really depressing to leave Amizmiz the next morning, because we had grown so close to our new Moroccan family in such a short amount of time. We took a ton of pictures and exchanged many hugs and kisses before we finally got on the bus to head to our next destination.
These people were flat out AMAZING. They knew us for approximately 48 hours and yet welcomed and loved us like we had been around for their entire lives. They were the friendliest and most charismatic and inspiring people I have ever met. They have so little, and yet so much to give. They also gave me a new way to look at Muslim people...some of the things we see in the media are so stereotypical, prejudiced, and just plain wrong. I am thinking about starting some sort of awareness program at RWU when I get back to the states about how the negative images of Muslim people are so unlike who they actually are. I was so touched by the people I met that I can't imagine people thinking negatively about them just because of the actions of a few individuals or their government.
Anyway, we then headed to Marrakesh, a large Moroccan city. We were staying in a hotel with real toilets and showers (hooray!). We had a bit of time to finally shower, which was good because riding in that little bus with 15 other unwashed college students was not exactly a pleasant experience! After that, we went for lunch at a restaurant, which was delicious, and then with a tour guide to see the palace (which used to be used for the head of the Moroccan version of Parliament) and the mosque (from the outside).
Later in the afternoon, we were divided up and shown around the city by Moroccan university students. They were very eager to practice their English with us. I had a long conversation with one girl, Dunia, about movies (they watch TONS of American movies!). They thought our accents were funny because they learn the British version of English from a Moroccan teacher, so the way we spoke was new for them! They took us through a huge covered market and taught us how to bargain with the shopkeepers (the best technique is to barter to the price you want, then when they say no, just say okay and walk away, then they chase after you and say its fine because they don't want you to go to another shop for the same item!). Afterwards, we went to a rooftop café and had a long conversation about the differences between relationships and marriages in the US and Morocco. It was really interesting seeing the viewpoint of people our age from a totally different culture.
We went back to the hotel and had dinner at the hotel restaurant with some of the Moroccan students who had time to stay, then we had another couple hours to go explore the city on our own. It was SO CROWDED! Everyone was out and about, even on a Sunday night! I went out with Hillary and three other girls and the most terrifying thing was trying to cross the street. As pointed out by our guide earlier in the day, the crosswalks are basically "just decoration." We got some delicious ice cream, did some more shopping, and then headed back to the hotel.
Our group had a reflection session about our experiences up on the roof of the hotel with the sounds and lights of the city all around us. We talked about how amazing and friendly all the people we had met were, and reflected on the moments that were most striking for us. It was a good way to end the night.
I slept very well in the hotel (no rooster!). We got up early to have breakfast and then head to the airport for our flight back to Barcelona. I wish I could have stayed in Morocco for longer, it was the most incredible place I have ever been!
I leave for Prague tomorrow in the early afternoon, so I just have tonight to recuperate and repack!
My internet is not being very cooperative with posting pictures to this blog, so just check them out on Facebook!
Look for updates on the rest of my spring break adventures early next week (I get back from Vienna on Sunday night).
Miss and love you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment