I apologize that I haven't updated this weekend but it has been a crazy few days (but a wonderful few days!) I am now safely living with my host family and starting school but I'll catch you up starting with Friday for now....
We finished the lyrics and worked on some last review things and for the last 30 minutes of class I told them more about me and gave them my facebook and e-mail if they ever want to contact me. I showed them where Michigan is on US maps I gave them a lesson on how to point to where I'm from on their hand. I then gave them chocolate covered cherries from Michigan and showed pictures of my friends and family. They laughed at my old ballet pictures, the boys asked if Shannon (my college roomie) was married and if I could put in a good word, and the girls wanted to know if Kelsey was married (once they found out that he was my BROTHER and not my BOYFRIEND hahah). So that brought on a lot of laughs. So Kelsey, if you ever want to date a pretty Moroccan girl... I know a few that would LOVE to meet you ;D (Same to you Shannon- there are some boys with an eye on you!)
I pulled out a camera to take a class pic after talking for a while and that just lead to a frenzy of everyone (plus chads class) pulling out their camera phones to take pictures with me and Chad. It was hilarious and I really wish I had pictures to share with you but I used Jayme's camera and it didn't have the memory card in so who knows if we will be able to get the photo off :( I hope my students post the pictures to their facebooks so I can steal a few! I'm really going to miss my class, they were so much fun and I learned a whole lot while gaining more much needed confidence in handling new situations. One of the students asked me: "tell your family about me" but he rephrased it a couple times and I think he meant to say "give my regards to your family" or something of that sort. He was in Chad's class and had written a whole letter which he read out loud to him in class! How nice is that?! We definitely felt very special on our last day.
At home we still had no internet and nobody was going to the Cafe since many of them were leaving the next day anyway so we just lazed around and played banana grams (and I worked on my paper... with a break for dinner and banana grams lol). I interviewed Khadija that night and it went really well. I found out a lot of cool stuff and that I write wayyyy too many questions for interviews. It took forever but she was very gracious and let me prod her with questions until I was blue in the face. She is a very intelligent and strong woman, but very respectful of her faith and family all at the same time. I really admire her in many ways.
I have to get ready for my entrance test in a few mins so I'll write more about saturday and sunday later if I can!
Tah Tah!
Friday
We showed up to school and two of the ladies gave me and Chad little wooden boxes as goodbye gifts. One of them told me that she hopes her daughter grows up to be like me which really surprised me since she is one of the more conservatively dressed women and I wouldn't expect that she would want a daughter like me hahah, but I definitely felt honored that she would say that. They were thoroughly confused when I tried to explain why and where I was staying in Rabat the next 6 weeks but finally they realized I was going to study Arabic and they offered to help me learn if I came back to see them! They are so sweet :) We finished the lyrics and worked on some last review things and for the last 30 minutes of class I told them more about me and gave them my facebook and e-mail if they ever want to contact me. I showed them where Michigan is on US maps I gave them a lesson on how to point to where I'm from on their hand. I then gave them chocolate covered cherries from Michigan and showed pictures of my friends and family. They laughed at my old ballet pictures, the boys asked if Shannon (my college roomie) was married and if I could put in a good word, and the girls wanted to know if Kelsey was married (once they found out that he was my BROTHER and not my BOYFRIEND hahah). So that brought on a lot of laughs. So Kelsey, if you ever want to date a pretty Moroccan girl... I know a few that would LOVE to meet you ;D (Same to you Shannon- there are some boys with an eye on you!)
I pulled out a camera to take a class pic after talking for a while and that just lead to a frenzy of everyone (plus chads class) pulling out their camera phones to take pictures with me and Chad. It was hilarious and I really wish I had pictures to share with you but I used Jayme's camera and it didn't have the memory card in so who knows if we will be able to get the photo off :( I hope my students post the pictures to their facebooks so I can steal a few! I'm really going to miss my class, they were so much fun and I learned a whole lot while gaining more much needed confidence in handling new situations. One of the students asked me: "tell your family about me" but he rephrased it a couple times and I think he meant to say "give my regards to your family" or something of that sort. He was in Chad's class and had written a whole letter which he read out loud to him in class! How nice is that?! We definitely felt very special on our last day.
At home we still had no internet and nobody was going to the Cafe since many of them were leaving the next day anyway so we just lazed around and played banana grams (and I worked on my paper... with a break for dinner and banana grams lol). I interviewed Khadija that night and it went really well. I found out a lot of cool stuff and that I write wayyyy too many questions for interviews. It took forever but she was very gracious and let me prod her with questions until I was blue in the face. She is a very intelligent and strong woman, but very respectful of her faith and family all at the same time. I really admire her in many ways.
I have to get ready for my entrance test in a few mins so I'll write more about saturday and sunday later if I can!
Tah Tah!
What a great experience that was for you! I'd bet that was way more valuable than most study-abroad programs.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear about the new program and your host family. Hope the test went well!
<3
So cool. Hey, I'm going to suggest something I didn't do and wish I had, when I first began traveling: make sure you keep in contact with the folks you meet along the way. Keep in touch with them from time to time; life has a way of bringing people full circle back to each other, if you leave those doors open. That personalized 'Butterfly Effect,' again.
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