Day 59: How to Number 2 in Morocco

Today begins our last week of class. We have Arabic monday to thursday morning with our final during class on thursday. In the afternoons we have Prof Green's class on Monday and Prof Sadiqi's class on Thursday, but are otherwise free to work on our two final papers. I walked three of the ways to school, had chicken tagine at home for lunch, and have begun studying for finals and working on my papers. Last night, I skyped Maddie for an hour before bed and watched sunday's episode of Game of Thrones.

I want to use today's post to talk about the potty. Moroccans take pride in their appearance and hold themselves to very high standards of personal hygiene. That being said, many of them smell absolutely terrible because custom dictates that you go to the hammam once a week. On the whole though, most Moroccans shower every day (everyone in my host family does) and try not to smell too bad. They also sweat a lot less than westerners do because they are acclimatized and have undergone generations of evolution to adjust to the temperature. That is why when I am in a t-shirt and shorts, I still see Moroccans wearing three or four layers without breaking a sweat. Most showers have a hose and moveable shower head, but the distinguishing feature is the lack of boundary between the shower and the rest of the bathroom. Unlike in the West, the drain for the shower is just on the floor and there is no tub or closet or glass doors or formal area you step into to shower. Sometimes, there is a curtain. It saves space, but the rest of the bathroom gets wet too. In Assilah, we had an issue because the drain was clogged when Meredith showered so water started coming out from under the door and spreading into the surrounding rooms.

In terms of excretions, bathrooms and practices vary. You have two types of toilets: Western and Non-western. The former is your standard issue Porcelain throne to which you'd bring a sudoku book or a novella and hang out for a half hour. The latter is also called a squat toilet and it's just a pretty looking hole in the ground. Squat toilets have a small hole about the circumference of a large water bottle and two foot pads to stand on. I tend to do the "one hand on the knee, one hand on the wall behind me" technique, but everyone's got their own style. To flush, there is normally a spigot and a bucket near the toilet, so you fill up the bucket and pour water around the toilet and down the hole. As a result, squat toilet restrooms tend to be much wetter. Urinals are not very popular and are rarely seen in public Moroccan restrooms. On the other hand, bidets are quite popular for reasons that I am about to discuss. In our main bathroom, there's a western toilet, and in the laundry room, there's a squat toilet. I'm comfortable using either so which one I use varies on my mood and availability.

Typical squat toilet with bucket/spigot combo. Also demonstrates typical level of cleanliness of bathrooms

For cleaning up after doing your business, Moroccans don't use toilet paper! As in much of the Middle East, they prefer what I call a "wet wash." This can come from one of four sources. 

1) The previously mentioned bucket and faucet is the default way of cleaning your crack in public restrooms. 

2) Small hose. Most private bathrooms, including the one in my house, have a small hose coming of the shower or out of the wall that is used only for washing your booty. 

3) Bidets. Only for wealthy Moroccans and hotels, a bidet combines the best of the West (sitting) and the best of the East (water shooting up your ass) into one device. 

4) Shower head. Before getting too handsy with your shower head, be sure to check that the bathroom has either toilet paper or one of the previous three methods to clean yourself. If not, that means that shower head you're about to grab has spent a lot of time washing your other cheeks too. 

Toilet paper is pretty widely available though, especially in restaurants, hotels, and homes that are less traditional; however, my house only offers the hose or the bucket so I have stolen a roll or two from ALIF. 

One of the strangest things of all though is that as a man, you can pee wherever you want! We've seen so many men just peeing on walls and on trees on the sidewalks in Fes, both inside and outside of the medina. Women would never do this, and as a foreigner, I haven't dared to try it, but it appears to be socially acceptable for Moroccan men to mark their territory as they please. 

Day 55: Burritos

Today I went to class like usual. I had a presentation on The Sand Child in the afternoon. I know you're probably thinking, "What! You're in school?! You have homework!? What kind of crazy plot twist is this!" to which I respond, "Yes? Yes. Yes. The plot was beginning to get a little dry anyways." The presentation was a little unorganized because I read the book and put the presentation together three weeks ago, but it went well. 

I didn't go home for lunch so I would have time to work before I presented. Instead of having tagine, Tash, Meredith, Joe, and I went to McDonald's. I had a McChicken AND a Big Mac because I put on my big boy pants this morning. I didn't walk either direction today because I took a cab to school in the morning and in the afternoon, I started walking back to the medina, but then an empty cab just happened to stop in front of Meredith, Tash, and I just after leaving school. 

We all hung out in the riad because Elle's parents are visiting for a week and brought us some of the ingredients to make a proper Mexican fiesta! We had American tortillas, rice, refried beans, salsa, and spices, but all the chicken and veggies were Moroccan. We cooked it up in the kitchen of the riad and had a lot of fun. I spoke some with Elle's mom while we had a terrible time trying to cut the raw chicken off the bones because that was our assigned job. I faked cutting my finger, with salsa for blood, to lighten the mood. It only achieved moderate success and prompted stories from my FSP-mates to warn Elle's parents not to believe most of what I say or do. The burritos tasted delicious and it was nice to have some comfort food. I'm sad I won't be around this weekend to adventure with Elle, her parents, and Marissa, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the beach weekend I've got planned.

In the riad, I watched the new 21 Jump Street movie and it was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a while. Fun fact: the directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, both graduated from Dartmouth in the early 2000's and they also directed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs a couple years ago. Phil also went to my high school, Ransom Everglades, and Chris was in my fraternity during his time at Dartmouth. You could basically say we're in a three-way best friendship. 

After dinner, I skyped with my mom and Amanda. They are good. Then after that, I watched the original Batman from 1989, directed by Tim Burton. The third movie of the reboot of the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight Rises, comes out this summer, so I'm going to try to watch all 6 Batman movies between now and then. I haven't seen any of the original four films, so this was a good start. I went to bed before midnight in order to rest up for the 7:10 am train the next morning.

Day 52: Hot Hot Heat

This morning class was pushed back until 10. Unfortunately, Fes is even hotter now so walking at 9:15 would have been miserable. I was tired. I took a cab.

Strange interactions I had today with Moroccans:
- I saw a man with his half of his index finger up his nose while trying to sell groceries. Ewww
- I watched a man pick up a foot long stick and use it as an ear cleaner
- I saw a teenage Moroccan wearing a shirt that said "German and Sexy." He was neither.
- The man who charged me 6 dirhams for water in the morning charged me 8 in the afternoon. An excellent lesson in supply and demand (it was hot, I needed water, he had water) and understanding your clientele (he could tell I was too lazy to walk down the block and was willing to forgo the extra quarter).

I walked home for lunch, but then took a cab back. After class in the afternoon, I walked home. Because we have a week and a half of classes left before reading period, my only remaining work is my two final papers due May 29th and an Arabic final on May 24th.
When I went to the riad after class today, I watched 2 episodes of 30 Rock and the new modern family where they go to Disneyland and I laughed so hard.
After dinner, I skyped with my buddy Chris Gibson for an hour and with Maddie for an hour after that. There was no layover between conversations which was a little rough. It felt like running through an airport to catch your connection but without the airport and running parts, just the out of breath thing. Both of them are doing well.

After, I watched the new episode of Game of Thrones. It was great.
And to quote Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

Day 42: FaceTime Live

Today was a day of rest. I slept in until 9:30, so I got 11+ hours of sleep last night! I can guarantee no one who is reading this got that much sleep last night, especially if you are between the ages of 13 and 60. Today was pastry day too, so I ate a croissant for breakfast. Then I got back in bed and watched 3 episodes of Game of Thrones. It may not sound fun to you, but I rather enjoyed myself. 

Lunch was tagine chicken and dates with apple and strawberries for dessert. Afterwards, I got back in bed and finished game of thrones. At 3, I took a taxi at school to meet up with Elle, Marissa, and Joe and then we did some shopping. We bought some wine to take with us to the dessert tomorrow and then walked back to the medina. I was hoping to get some gift shopping done today but because it is the day of worship, most shops were closed. We ended up going to the riad and Elle and I watched some of the movie Horrible Bosses. 

Afterwards I went home and had potato patties with stuff inside them that you cover in a tomato and onion spread and then put inside a piece of bread. It ends up being a sandwich within a sandwich aka inception sandwich. Then I did FaceTime with my sisters and mom. 

Live Blogging the FaceTime session:

10:21 - begin FaceTime

10:24 - FaceTime drops the call

10:25 - FaceTime gets the call again

10:31 - My mom got new sunglasses and a new plaid shirt from Old Navy. She shows them off

10:32 - She also has lost weight recently, so send her supportive emails and comment on how good she looks when you see her. Don't directly comment that she looks thinner but first mention that it looks like she might have gotten a hair cut recently or that the lighting frames her well. 

10:39 - Sarah leaves.

10:42 - Good quote from Amanda: "It's like I'm fat boothing my face without using Fat Booth"

10:45 - Another good quote from Amanda: "For some reason, I didn't think you were living in a real house." For the record, Amanda, mud huts tend to not be wi-fi enabled and I always Skype you from my comfy twin bed so deductive reasoning should have ruled out any possibility of me not living in a real house.

10:50 - My host mom comes in. I introduce them and then use my Arabic to 1) show off and 2) translate between the two parties. 

10:56 - Amanda and Mom recount having an intervention with Abigail about wearing deodorant more often

10:57 - Amanda: "No one had the heart to tell you that you wear the smelly kid in middle school"

10:57 - I shed a tear

10:59 - Mom asks why an old picture of me from Prom came up in her News Feed today. I explain it's because she has 95 friends and only 4 of them are people who actively use Facebook. Me, two sisters, and one other unfortunate soul

11:02 - FaceTime drops the call

11:03 - FaceTime resumes the call

11:06 - Mom "Go on Raider Net and see your sister!" Amanda "SHUT UP MOM!"

11:06 - In unison, "We can tell when your'e not looking"

11:07 - I admit to wearing the same pants for all 5 days this week

11:12 - Mom "You should wear you're travel pouch next week"

11:12 - Andrew "I'd really rather not"

11:14 - I come up with some bullshit excuse for signing off like "packing" or "it's 11:15 pm"

11:15 - Mom "Go check Raider Net" Amanda "Why would he ever want to go check Raider Net?"

11:15 - FaceTime is over

Yes, she did make faces like that the whole time we talked

Fun talking to you guys. I'll be sure to check Raider Net when I get a chance haha

Day 40: Friends with Benefits

This morning, I was so tired from staying up late studying that I accidentally squirted my body wash directly into my belly button. I'm not sure what kind of health effects this will lead to because I feel like the soap would kill any parasites that try to fester in it, but only time will tell. I'll let you know about any developments in the future and keep you updated on my progress in using Q-tips to get it out.

Arabic quiz went well this morning but the big focus of the day was on the midterm in the afternoon. It ended up being easier than expected but I wrote the wrong essay. I compared the protagonists's takes on the revolution in Year of the Elephant and Dreams of Trespass instead of Return to Childhood and Dreams of Trespass. It shouldn't be an issue though because I talked to Lla MJ about it and she said it was nbd so idc (if you don't know what this means, you are too old for this blog).

We were done early, so to celebrate, Elle, Marissa, and I ran back wine o'clock in the riad. We watched Friends with Benefits like we had wanted to on Sunday and laughed at the antics of Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis a fair amount. It was a nice way to unwind after a pretty stressful week. 

Afterwards, I went home and ate some spaghetti and some potato-beets-and-egg casserole. Lotfi has the first of his three interviews with Disney tomorrow to work at Disney World Orlando as a waiter so I worked with him for an hour on a cover letter/introduction, possible interviewing questions, and just to practice some higher level English and interviewing techniques. It was a fun way to hang out with my brother.

I spent the rest of the night Facebook chatting up the wazoo with friends back home. Maddie and I even got to talk on FaceTime for like 10 minutes, which was fun. I went to bed kind-of late.

Keep checking out the pictures I've put up. If you haven't, you're falling behind! Also if you've found yourself really enjoying my blog recently, share it with your friends. This is Post #50 and you all have propelled me to over 2000 page views in the 5 weeks I've been here! Tell your friends about it, tweet about it, make memes about it, send the link to your myspace friends, discuss it on 4chan, blitz it to your list servs, tell Perez Hilton to read it, make youtube response videos, and, most of all, keep reading!

http://www.andrewinmorocco.blogspot.com/

Thank you all for encouraging me to keep writing!

- Andrew

PS If you don't know how to do half the things I mentioned in that last sentence, I repeat: you are too old for this blog. Go ask Quora for some help. Wait, you don't know what that is either? Haha

Day 34: Trials

Today was a looooonnnnnngggg day. Shower, toast, walk to school was how I kicked things off. Then began a 8.5 hour day at ALIF. In Arabic, we had a big quiz but all of our fretting the past couple of days was for naught because it was pretty easy. I skipped going home for lunch and went to Casa Nostra with Christie, Tash, Joe, and Meredith so that I could spend some time studying for our Gender in the Medina midterm during the lunch break. We had the first 30 minutes of class to respond to one of two questions in a two-page essay. I think it went pretty well too. She lectured for the remainder of class, but at 4 o'clock we still weren't done. We had a guest lecturer, Prof. Sadiqi's husband, who was going to speak to us for an hour about language and education policy. While the talk was interesting, most of us were too burned out to really appreciate his lecture. He also spoke until 5:30, which didn't make matters any better. 

"Leap Day William" from the 30 Rock episode

Free from class, we decided to celebrate by having wine o'clock in the afternoon. Although there is no where we can really drink, this has never stopped a Dartmouth man before. We decided to discretely take mixed drinks into the riad and just hung out and listened to music. We played a fun game with the Leap Day episode of 30 Rock where we had to take a sip whenever they said "Leap Day." We ended up hanging out from 6 to 9 and all involved parties had fun. Afterwards, I went home for dinner and to Skype my friend Abby Cohen. We had a lot of fun talking, laughing, and catching up. Afterwards, I watched some more 30 Rock on my laptop, packed, and went to bed. 

Day 33: A Discourse on Pringles

Today was a rough day because of the presentation I had to give and all the studying I have to do for Thursday. While the presentation went well (I got an email after from her saying I did a good job!) and the studying has been coming along well too, I will just ignore discussing these facets of my day in this post.

Usual start to my day: toast, 7:30 wake-up, skipped a shower, walked to school. I got chided by some of the people on my program who get to take cold showers every other day for passing up the chance to take my daily hot shower! Arabic in the morning, lunch at the center, and then Lla Mary Jean's class in the afternoon. I got caught up on Modern Family and How I Met Your Mother during study breaks in the riad and at home. I skyped with Maddie for an hour but didn't really communicate much with America otherwise.

This post has been curt because I'm struggling. For weeks now, I have been falling into a downward spiral, a black hole, a dark chasm… addiction. I have become addicted to red tubes of Pringles since I got here, eating a small one for 10 dh every afternoon on the walk home. There are three Pringles dealers I usually go to: the food stand at school where they only sell the Red and Green small tubes for 10 dh, the Australian women on the walk home who also sells the Paprika variety but ups the price to 12 dh (I like to justify paying the higher price as paying for service in English), and, lastly, the grocer just outside the Riad who, if I can hold out for that long, sells a full tube for 22 dh and even has multi-grain sour-cream and onions Pringles. While I have stuck to consuming only the Red Pringles, I have since recategorized them as "gateway potato chips" because I have also developed a craving for the Cheddar Cheese flavor, one that I haven't been able to find. I have also seen other flavors such as a mysterious purple tube of unknown taste sensations and a Jalapeño flavor, but I don't think I have fallen far enough to try to eat those. 

I didn't realize I had a Pringle problem until yesterday when it dawned on me while making a duck bill with two chips. I realized that I had used the phrase "Once you pop, the fun don't stop" 6 times this week, which is six times more than you are allowed to say it in your whole life. I also realized my addiction developed as a coping mechanism with a tajine chicken diet and the lack of chicken tenders in my life. I've begun working with my host grandmother to help me overcome my problem, as she used to be addicted to raw artichoke. This explains why she never eats it when we have it for lunch, which I had attributed to her being an old wise women who had realized decades ago that artichoke is not meant to be eaten raw. 

Never Again, Mr. Pringles

I'll let you know how my recovery goes. In the mean time, I've got a midterm tomorrow to study for. Anything to keep my mind of that salty crunch.

Day 26: Untitled

Today I had more toast. Yes, for those of you who have been keeping track, I have had something other than baguette for breakfast every day for more than a week now. What a game-changer.

We had a tricky quiz in Arabic class today, which was made even harder because we didn’t know we were going to have one. I think I did well though by cramming effectively. We had lunch at ALIF today, our weekly lunch with Lla MJ to check in and catch-up.

Class in the afternoon was long. Even though we’ve been doing this 5-hours-a-day schedule for a couple weeks now, I don’t think any of us will ever get used to it. It’s hard to believe I used to do 7+ hour days of class in high school, but I think the 45 minute classes (my attention span) and the variety of subject material covered in a single day made it more feasible. Sitting in one subject for over an hour and a half is just unbearable.

We went to Café Scorpion this afternoon to hang out and plan the upcoming weekend. We decided not to go to Jazzablanca in Casablanca because the price of tickets did not mirror the amount of love we have for the artists we would be seeing. Instead, there are two groups of us going to Chefchaouen, a city in the Rif mountains. It’s one of theplaces to visit while you’re in Morocco because the entire city is painted blue. If you don’t believe me, copy and paste the name into Google Images (trust me, you won’t be able to spell it correctly). It was also closed to all foreigners until the 1920 when the Spanish took it over. Only three foreigners (all of whom disguised themselves) had been within the city walls before that. Marissa, Elle, and I are going on Friday morning, doing an all day hike on Saturday, and coming back on Sunday, while the other group is going on Friday morning and coming back on Saturday.

While in the café, I skyped with Maddie for 20 minutes. While not the longest conversation, it was nice to catch-up with her. They went to a farm in the countryside all weekend where they rode horses and did some other fun gaucho things. She’s excited because she and a group of friends just booked a trip to see the Moreno glaciers and visit El Calafate during their week-long break.

I went home for a diner of meatballs and soup. I read some Scar Tissue and watched the first 45 minutes of the 4^th Pirates of the Carribbean movie before going to bed. Tomorrow we have an interview with the author Leila Abouzeid in the morning and no class in the afternoon so we are all excited to start the weekend early.

Day 24: The Day to Day

Exhausted after a fun weekend, I slept well. Lla Fatima surprised me by giving me toast again for breakfast. I walked to school with the usual crew and made it in time for Arabic class. Arabic has been getting a lot harder because the volume of what we have learned has started to explode as we have begun to learn verb tenses, verbs, and their conjugations. I went home for an artichoke-free lunch and then walked back to school by myself. I put on my djellaba with my headphones underneath and had a very introspective walk back. This week, we have four classes with Lla MJ to make up for having four classes with Prof. Sadiqi last week.

After class, Christie and I went to Maroc Telecom so she could buy a wi-fi stick and I could get mine fixed. Turned out, it has a data limit of 3GB per 200 dh so I had used all that up. I've got internet back though, so I'm happy to spend the money. We then went to the riad where I got some work done and skyped Mom and Amanda. They caught me up on what's going on at home and revealed to me the details for our June 2nd to June 11th trip to the Galapagos!

Afterwards, I went home and read some Scar Tissue after dinner. I have a presentation tomorrow on The Year of the Elephant so I spent some time preparing for it too.

If you still haven't checked them yet, check out the pictures I put up from the weekend.

Day 17: ArtiCHOKED

Let me begin my recap of today with a rant about lunch. I went home for lunch today where we had the usual tagine chicken and carrots. While this standard meal is pretty tasty, dessert was the opposite. The one piece of advice is I can give to any college student is: while abroad, you need to watch out for host families that enjoy artichoke. When I lost my artichoke virginity today, I was given a raw, unwashed artichoke at lunch and told to consume it. When you don't know enough of the language to yell, "Never! Give me some freedom fries," you unhappily begin to eat the artichoke. This entails peeling off the tiny individual leaves and eating the bottom 10 to 20% of each one. When I tried this, I ended up eating the bottom 30 to 40% of each leaf, which made me even crabbier. Once done with that, you will feel like Spike from The Land Before Time, who I always believed never talked because he was too disgruntled with the fact that he was a plant eater, but had the most badass name of all the characters. So after stomaching 20-something leaves that I knew my body did not have the chemicals to digest, I put down the bottom of the artichoke and was happy to be done with the trial. ALAS, I WASN'T DONE. No part of the artichoke is wasted in this country. They cleaned up the stem till it was one huge piece of artichoke and played charades with me until I could no longer pretend to not understand that they desperately wanted me to eat that chunk of chlorophyll-filled plant tissue. I thought, "hey, I'll just eat like a bite of it and just casually run off to class an hour early." When I implemented the aforementioned plan, my brother said "put the whole thing in your mouth!" I didn't even have enough time to think, "that's what she said" before he shoved the rest of it into my mouth. I ate it, don't worry, but a small part of me died today. I have since taken two massive fiber-filled dumps, but, no matter how relieving they were, the ends do not justify the means.

To continue complaining about food, I had my usual breakfast of baguette and nutella before school. Arabic class today was fun and I did the walk to and from school 3 times today. It was real hot so I had some nasty back-sweat showing through my button-down whenever I got to my destination. After Professor Sadiqi's class in the afternoon, we decided to all go to Cafe Clock for milkshakes and then to the riad to finally watch the Hunger Games. My chocolate milkshake wasn't very good, but it was fun to sit in a cafe together like real Moroccans do. Watching the Hunger Games was also a good time. I had to explain a lot of stuff that happened in the books that the movie doesn't do a good job of explaining, but everyone seemed to really like the movie. Afterwards, I got home just in time for dinner at 8:30. After dinner, I just read some Steve Jobs, did some homework, put pictures on Facebook, blogged, and skyped with Maddie. She spent the weekend in Iguazu Falls and is having a fun time in Argentina. I was able to do all of these online activities because Ariel and I traded wi-fi sticks. Her Maroc Telecom one wasn't working well in her house and my meditel one wasn't working that well in my house. However, after switching for the night, our "new" modems are working so well that I think the switch will be a permanent one. 

Day 9: Road Trippin

Adventure time! Lla MJ and Si Abdellatif planned a day trip for us to see all the big sites around Fes. We left at 9 in the morning (it was supposed to be 8:30 but none of the guys' alarms went off so we left late) in a tour bus just big enough for all of us. We drove out of Fes through some gorgeous countryside. Check out the pictures I put up; it was so green! There were huge rolling hills and endless fields. We stopped near a picturesque reservoir to take pictures (redundant, I know). There was a stand there where the man let us try some almonds, figs, and olives. I went to pee on a wall before we left, but as I was about to start the bus lurched forward. Happy April Fool's day from the rest of my group haha. We continued to wind our way up the mountains to see the Roman ruins of Volubilis.

Volubilis was a roman outpost situated 170 km inland. The ruins are very well preserved but much of it is still covered by the earth. Our guide took us around for an hour or two and we got a lot of great photos. It was more fun than visiting ruins in Italy because you could climb on anything, touch anything, walk anywhere; there were no restrictions. We saw the remnants of homes, which even had intact tile mosaics on the floors, parts of the aqueduct, huge arches, a brothel, a temple, and a church. The ruins were built before Christ was born and stood pretty well up until the Lisbon earthquake in the 1700's. Since then, scientists have been trying to rebuild and restore them as much as possible.

After Volubilis, we rode the short distance to Moulay Idriss. It is one of the most sacred sites for Moroccan muslims because it contains a tomb of Moulay Idriss. He was the man who brought Islam to Morocco in the 8th century and established a dynasty there. He also was the one who began the construction of Fes. Six trips to the shrine at Moulay Idriss are equivalent to one Hajj, or a pilgrimage to Mecca. As non-Muslims, we were not allowed to enter the shrine but Tash went in because she is a Muslim. Instead, we went to an overlook where you could see the whole backside of the city and sort of look into the shrine. The city is nestled up in the crook of some mountains and situated on top of a hill.

After that, we drove to Meknes, a bustling metropolitan area, for lunch. We ate at a restaurant that overlooked the biggest plaza in Meknes, the Plaza El-Hamid. There were street performers like dancers, multiple snake charmers, and general show men who tried their hardest to make people laugh. Because it was during the 3 hour lunch hour, there was a lot of activity in the square. We had an hour and a half after lunch to walk around the plaza and the adjoining medina. The Meknes medina was much wider and had more open than the Fez medina, but equally as overwhelming. We could really tell how much more comfortable we had become over the past week as we walked through the Medina. That's not to say we walked around with money in our teeth, but it was much easier to relax and take in the sights rather than being preoccupied about being mugged or pick-pocketed. We spent the last half hour of our break in the plaza watching the street performers. There was one man who had a monkey that pulled Alice into the middle of his circle and turned her into a comedy show. None of us had any idea what was going on, but all of the Moroccans were laughing pretty frequently so it must have been a good show. 

Afterwards, we visited an old granary of the king of Meknes, back from when Morocco was not united and each city was a city-state. It was huge. We then drove to see a mausoleum in the city and saw the royal palace where the King of Morocco stays when he visits Meknes. Each Moroccan city has a palace like that for the King to stay whenever he wants. Though we could only see the outer walls of the palace, we were allowed to enter the mausoleum. None of us had any idea what we were looking at or who was enshrined in the tomb, but a Google search should reveal all of the answers. After the mausoleum, we went to an old jail. We had fun hiding behind columns in the massive dark caverns and scaring each other, but it was funny to think that they could have fit thousands of prisoners in there without any individual cells. Petty thieves and murderers were all lumped together in the caverns, so it must have been more chaotic and violent than today's prisons. 

We drove back to Fes, getting home at 5:30 and in the mood for dinner. We trekked back to Casa Nostra for some more delicious pasta and Italian food, and had a good time eating together. During dinner, it started pouring relentlessly, so we had a long walk back to the hotel in the rain. I spent some time on the computer, uploading pictures and skyping home. We tried to watch the Hunger Games again, but couldn't get it to work. One day, we'll finally get to see Katniss triumph over the other Tributes in the Arena. Went to bed at like 1 after spending two hours planning crazy adventures for the next couple of weekends.

Next post will include a calendar of my planned adventures.

Over a hundred new pictures are up too.

Day 8: Easy Saturday

Today was our day off and hence our lazy day. I woke up at 10:30 but most people didn't wake up until noon. It was a welcome respite because it had been a long week filled with lots of class and activities. At 1, after some computer time, we decided to trek to an Italian restaurant called Casa Nostra. It was so delicious and a nice change of pace from the typical meals of Tagine. I had some steaming hot lasagna but everything that we ordered looked good. A nice bonus was that they gave us free almond ice cream for dessert!

After lunch, we just hung out at the hotel and banged out some homework. Our day trip on Sunday was going to keep us from doing any work on Sunday except for reading in the car. I skyped with Maddie for about a half hour which was nice because I had not seen her since spring break! We all did work for a couple of hours and then for dinner, we split up into small groups. I went with Elle and Marissa to a convenience store and fruit store where we got yogurt and fruit juice. I got a kinder egg clone that was not very good and we were unable to get the toy to stay together. Maybe next time, I'll have to pony up the extra dhiram and get the real deal. 

Back in the hotel, we hung out together in one of the girl's rooms, chatting and laughing for hours. It was a relaxing, low-key day.