Pistachio Milkshake

I'm sitting on the patio of the internet cafe on top of the Acima building sipping a pistachio milkshake and watching the sun start to set over Rabat. Hay Riad, the neighborhood I'm in, is kind-of on a hill that looks over the city and I just realized that I can even see the ocean from here. When I first arrived in Morocco, the city seemed so big and daunting to me, but now that I look over it from my little perch, I realize that it has shrunk. Not literally of course, but it has become smaller as my sense of awareness has broadened... if that makes any sense. I just finished frantically organizing my sources for the paper I'm writing and looked up to realize that there's a world out there still. I tend to become overwhelmed when work and school start to gang up on me, but I refuse to let that happen to me here. I'm in too beautiful a country to be missing the sunset because I'm too focused on my duties. The sun just went down behind a cloud. If I hadn't just looked up and around when I did, I may have missed it.

Over all, I think this week has been testing me. The internet is down when I need it the most, but I realized today that I really enjoy getting out of the house more often to go to the internet cafe. I never would have seen this beautiful view from the top of the Acima and I may have not thought to try a pistachio smoothie. The internet really messed with my plan for teaching class, but I think if I had done what I originally had planned, I wouldn't have had to get as creative and my class wouldn't be participating and having as much fun as they are now that I have had to find new ways to get them involved. Also, the whole situation with Amerispan just makes me laugh now. I am more at ease since I heard from the lady who will be sending me my placement information. People still ask me if I know where I'm staying yet, I say that I still don't know, but now I can laugh it off and I see it more as a surprise than an inconvenience. I have faith that they will place me in a home, either that or they will find a spot for me in the dorm or an apartment. I will be fine and there is no need to worry, I can't afford to waste my time worrying while there are sunsets and pistachio smoothies to enjoy ;)

As for the happenings today, our good luck with our room yesterday didn't carry over to today. We were once again locked out of the cafe and the lady who assigns the rooms was nowhere to be found. A student asked a cleaning lady to unlock it and she claimed that the back door was open, but it wasn't. There was a window cracked open, so we joked about sending someone through it to unlock the door. A student finally found someone who gave us permission to use the computer room, but there was no white board in there anymore. Some guys went to get a white board and came back with the one we left in the cafe.... so they had unlocked the cafe for us to get the white board, but not for class. This NEVER gets boring hahah... We went over directions again and played hang man since one of my students, Ayoub requested it. That was fun, but I had a hard time finding phrases that they considered just right... it was either "too hard!" or "too easy!" ...oh la la... ay dios mio! After class Ayoub invited me and Chad to come hang out and 'tour' Rabat with him sometime this weekend. I'm trying to figure out if my schedule will allow it or if I'll be too engulfed in my work and packing to want to venture out farther than the Acima or the Mahaj Riad down the street.

I got a lot done on my paper and made a cool lesson plan for tomorrow when I went to the Acima after work. Then we had lunch and Abdullah took us to an archaeological museum and an art museum or gallery of some kind. The archaeological museum had all kinds of artifacts and info on stuff from the Chellah ruins in Rabat, the Volubilis ruins near Meknes and a bunch of other sites around Morocco. It was very cool, especially the guy who followed us around explaining a bunch of the sculptures and pieces. One statue from roman times had no head or hands but he pointed out that they were meant to be like that since every time there was a new person in charge, they would just put the new bust on and different objects in the hands! So much easier than having a NEW statue made every time hahah :D He often pointed out the difference between the roman and berber people by the noses. The romans had that bump or the sharper nose while the berber people had a softer smoother looking nose. One bust I was looking at was of a berber prince or ruler of some kind who had supposedly married Anthony and Cleopatra's daughter! Very cool.

At the art museum there was some modern art and a lot of cool photography pieces on display. They also had a gorgeous outdoor theatre and gardens that I can imagine would be beautifully etherial when lit up at night for a concert or show of some kind. My favorite of the photos was one of an old lady and her llama that was taken in Peru. The lady was holding the llama around the neck with one arm and her extremely wrinkled face showed some strange emotion that  seemed to be a mix between strong serious pride in her possession (the llama) and an ever so slight glimmer amusement around the corners of her lips. The llama, on the other hand was looking straight at the camera (with one eye of course) with a cool look of indifference and aloofness. I wish I could post it for you, if I find it online I will surely share it, but hopefully the comedy and pure genius of the photo can be slightly conveyed to you through my description :D (And yes I did try googling it and you have NO idea how many pictures there are of old ladies and llamas!!)

Well my pistachio shake is donezo and I'm starting to get cold since the sun is down... soooo peace!